“Let me guess.I’m the boy.”
“I know you want to keep the ones you love alive and safe.But lack of freedom is a death in and of itself.”
He leaves me staring at Inara’s desperate face, feeling more unsettled than I did a moment ago.
Inara
I’ve goneover every inch of the bedroom and its contents, looking for weakness.The door is solid.The furniture is sturdy enough to use as a battering ram, but I’m not strong enough to brute force the door open.The air ducts are up by the ceiling and too small to fit through.
There are no obvious knick-knacks lying around to use to pick the lock, but I learned a thing or two from my fellow inmates at the group home.One of the girls there who liked to sneak out to buy cigarettes taught me how to break out of locked rooms.
I don’t have a hairpin, but I’m angry enough to take the bed apart, which is when I find some cuffs and chains attached to the frame.Most mansions don’t have kinky implements in their guest rooms, but it fits with what I expect from Rex.
I can’t believe he would do this to me.I can’t believe I let him lull me into a false sense of security, thinking I was special.My psychic sense didn’t warn me.It told me he was safe, and I wanted to believe that, so I let myself indulge in him.
Now I know the truth: there’s nothing he won’t do to get his way.He acted like he cared about me, but the moment I made a decision he didn’t like, he treated me like a pet who tried to run away.He’s made it clear that he doesn’t think I’m his equal.
My heart is a cauldron of hurt and longing, so I ignore it and focus on my anger.I’m going to make him regret locking me in here.
I pry one of the chain links apart, breaking a nail in the process, and use the sturdy surface of the bed frame to hammer the metal flat.I need to act fast.I have no idea how long Rex will leave me alone.
I use my makeshift pick to tinker with the lock.The metal filament is too short to maneuver easily, but I somehow get the pins into place, and at last, the door clicks open.
I hold my breath and slip into the hall.I take a left and continue as quietly as I can.
I have no idea how I’ll get out of this place or, once I’m out, how I’ll get back to the city.
But I have to try.
Rex can’t win.
The hallway ends at another locked door.I pick this one, too, gritting my teeth so hard my jaw aches.
The room is dark, but I can sense how large it is.
When the lights come on all at once, I stifle a scream.I’m in the long, red-walled room Rex uses as a dungeon.I’ll have to cross it to escape.
I creep past the spanking benches, St.Andrew’s crosses, and other heavy wooden contraptions fitted with iron chains that belong in a medieval torture chamber.
I’m halfway through the room when I hear his voice right behind me, “Hello, little bird.”
I startle and break into a run, dashing toward the door ahead of me and freedom.
I’ve almost reached it when Rex’s arms close around me.“No!”I shout, but he lifts me easily off my feet.
I fight, but it’s no use.He’s bigger and stronger, faster and way more used to grappling with enemies than I am.He drags me to the floor and pins me face down.Even with me thrashing and flailing, he overpowers me.
My screams ring loud in my ears.I’m a wild creature full of panic, unable to think or reason.If I had a weapon, I’d stab him.
He isn’t the man who comforted me last night.
He isn’t the dom who gave me the pain and pleasure I needed.
He’s the monster dragging me into darkness.
I can’t give in.
There’s a hiss like a valve releasing, and I realize Rex has triggered a mechanism in his gauntlets that releases a plume of chemical-scented air.I breathe in a thick gas of some sort, and it clings to my face, filling my nostrils.
