“You’re not a monster. You’re a woman in love… I can’t turn it off either. These feelings… they’re real.”
She exhales slowly, a shaky breath that tells me she’s still wrestling with these forbidden emotions. “I tried so hard for so many years, but being here… being inside you, Ronnie, felt like coming home. It’s fucked, but this has been my truth long before this happened.”
“No, Isaac,” she says, a tear escaping her eye and slipping down her cheek. “It’s not home. It’s just a prison… this love is a fucking prison.”
We sit there, the pain and fear a tangible entity between us. The reality of what we have done, of what we have become, is far too real now.
“Things will never be the same between us, never. Iz… if we get out and I’m pregnant… I’m not sure if I could…” Her voice trails off into a whisper, the words falling to the floor like shattered pieces of glass.
“It’s okay, I respect whatever you wanna do. We will deal with the consequences. First, we just gotta get the fuck out of here.”
Ronnie falls silent again and wraps her arms around herself. Tears fall to the ground as sobs begin to wrack her body. This is tearing her apart. She’s held it together for far too long, but this is killing her. She’s thinning out. I need to find a way out, and soon. I hear her cry until there is nothing left but peaceful sleep,and I'm glad it is over. Hating that even in her dreams, she can’t escape our reality. I don’t know how long I watch her for, or how much time goes by, but suddenly the sky is dark. I hear soft footsteps approach, followed by the opening of the door. Priscilla appears from the shadows, motioning me to stay quiet as if I would scream. Why would I possibly want Ronnie watching me fuck her just hours after I was inside her?
A sinking dread fills my gut at the sight of her. Priscilla reaches out to touch my face, her fingertips cold. I move away, grabbing her wrist and forcing her toward my cock. “This is all you get.”
Her eyes widen in surprise, but she doesn’t resist as I push her between my legs. It doesn’t take long for her to writhe herself on top of me until she finds what she’s looking for. It takes even more out of me to hold the urge to vomit down as she takes all of me with small whimpers. “I’m sorry.”
Her apology does nothing. “Show me by helping her.”
She shakes her head, small sniffles escaping her. “I don’t know. I’m. I can’t.”
I don’t even acknowledge her or bother to respond to her as she rises to her feet and fixes herself before turning on her heel and walking away. Only to come to a stop at the doorway and turn back to look at me with wide, hopeful eyes. “Give me a week,” she whispers, before stepping out of the basement and closing the door behind her.
Chapter Twenty Four
Isaac
Each day, it gets harder to watch my precious butterfly lose her need to fly. I look at my body and want to scrub it clean. To realize the man I’m becoming is a far cry from who I used to be. However, the plan is working, and that gives me hope and the strength to endure unwanted touch. The next couple of days become a routine. Priscilla laces the water with God knows what, and they fall asleep. While I give her what she wants from me, all while I drown in repulsion. Happy that there’s no mirror to reflect me—what I’ve become. I wonder if Ronnie would see past all this and still choose me. Accept this version of me. Or will she run back to the safety of Max? It makes me sick to my stomach to have to sneak around just hours after being forced to be inside with Ronnie. I don’t know how much more I have left to give. It’s driving me mad. The confinement. The lack of nothing but an endless cycle of abuse. The mask I put on to give Ronnie room to grieve. Every night, I become less and less of myself. Betraying my heart all over again fucking the enemy while she’s fighting hers in her sleep.
“He likes her, you know,” Priscilla mutters. Her words cause me to shift my attention from Ronnie to her. Feeling my temperature rise, causing my skin to tingle as sweat begins to gather on my forehead.
“Of course he fucking likes her. Why do you think he was sneaking around to rape her?” I snap, causing Priscilla to flinch.
“I'm just saying this might be a little difficult,” she adds as she lowers her nightgown.
“Maybe don’t say anything and just hold your end of the deal. Make it happen,” I bite back, fighting the urge to snap her neck. It’s been a nagging itch that I’ve been dying to scratch. Sometimes when I’m inside her, I think of grabbing her throat and choking the life out of her. It would be over so soon, but one look at Ronnie crumpled up on the floor, fighting her nightmares, reminds me of all I have to lose. My attention falls back to Ronnie, who sleeps peacefully for the first time in weeks, and I'm thankful for that. Priscilla mumbles something under her breath, not that I bother to look her way. I don’t really give a shit about what she has to say that doesn’t involve getting Ronnie out of here.
“He wants to kill you, Isaac. If you can’t prove useful to him, he will kill you and replace you.”
I shrug. “What do you think happens to her if he kills me?”
“Not sure.”
Slowly, I turn to face Priscilla. She looks concerned, her thin eyebrows knitted together, her golden-green eyes locked on mine. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this, it really wasn’t,” she mutters, tugging at the end of her braid. “Isaac… all I know is that you're on borrowed time,” she adds. “You should be more worried about yourself.”
My sore muscles stiffen at her words, my hands clenching into fists at my sides. My lips curl with disgust. “I don’t care about what happens to me,” I say through gritted teeth, pointing over at Ronnie. “I care about her, getting her the fuck out of here.”
She shakes her head, her eyes grow wide with fear. “I can’t. He’s obsessed with her, and I'm certain if she falls pregnant, you and I are as good as dead.” Her tone tells me she is serious, and that’s the only reason I answer.
“Then we kill him first. You just need to release me or place him within reach.”
Priscilla's head tilts to the side, her eyes narrowing as she studies me. Her mouth falls open before it takes the shape of an ‘O’. “Kill Harry?”
I nod slowly, my gaze never leaving hers.
“I don’t think I can. I don’t know.”
I pull on my ear, trying hard to reel in my emotions the best way I can. There is no clearer option than the one I present to her. She will either choose to help, or I will have to come up with another plan because clearly this one isn’t working. Right now, the ball is on her court, and all I can do is wait. I open and close my hands, picturing all the ways I would do it. “Kill or be killed? You just confirmed he would kill you. Ronnie could be pregnant right now. And it will be mine. Then what?”
