Her face drains of color. She looks like she’s going to be sick.
"That’s... that’s sick," she whispers. "You’re a monster."
"I’m thorough," I correct her.
I push her shoulders gently. She collapses onto the bed, too weak to resist.
I pull the duvet up over her, tucking her in. I’m tucking her in like a child, after kidnapping her and stripping her naked. The dichotomy fuels the darkness in my soul.
"Sleep, Ivy," I say. "You have a big day tomorrow."
"What happens tomorrow?" she asks, clutching the duvet to her chin.
"Tomorrow we establish the rules."
I walk to the door.
"Silas?"
I stop, my hand on the handle. I look back. She looks tiny in the massive bed, swallowed by the black silk.
"Is the door locked?" she asks.
I look at the keypad on the wall. The red light is blinking.
"From the outside," I say. "You can't get out, Ivy. The elevators are coded to my prints. The stairs are alarmed. The windows are reinforced glass."
"So I am a prisoner."
"You’re a guest who isn't allowed to leave," I say. "Get used to the view, little bird. This is your cage now."
I turn off the lights, plunging the room into darkness, save for the city lights glittering outside the glass walls.
"Goodnight."
I close the door. The magnetic lock engages with a heavythud.
I stand in the hallway for a moment, listening. I wait for the scream. I wait for the sobbing.
But there is only silence.
She’s not crying. She’s adapting.
I smile, touching the wet spot on my shirt where her face had pressed against my heart.
Good girl.
CHAPTER 5
THE SHRINE
POV: IVY
Light is the first intruder.
It doesn’t creep in like the dusty, gray dawn I’m used to in the Lower East Side. This light is violent, absolute, and blindingly bright. It floods through floor-to-ceiling glass, hitting my eyelids with the force of a physical blow.
I groan, rolling over, burying my face in the pillow to escape it.
