“You forget something, my princess?”
I shake my head and hit the button to pop the trunk. “I realized I need to finish this semester before leaving.” I give him a fake smile.
He smirks—he can see straight through my bullshit.
Instead, he grabs my suitcase and drags it behind him.
I fight the urge to cry because I don’t want him to see me weak. I need to figure out how I’m going to get to him.
But how?
Lilac
Iknow I can’t emotionally manipulate Irvin, and I can’t escape him mentally. He beat me in our games. It hurts. Because not only has he caged me physically, but he’s got me mentally. I don’t know how it happened, but I know I need to escape him.
I pop one of my pills in my mouth—the one for hallucinations. I study the bottle, then shake it, rattling the pills. My smile grows like a tree. Then I pick up my bottle of sleeping pills. I think I have a way to escape Irvin. I can’t beat him mentally, but I sure as hell can drug him—and then actually leave him.
I’ll be risking my life because I don’t know how he would respond. We’ve never gone toe-to-toe physically, not really. He would physically remove me from places when I wasn’t supposed to be there. Am I capable of actually doing something that bad? I’ve never drugged anyone before, and I’m desperate to get away from him. What if I get caught?
I look at myself in the mirror and brush my hair into a tight bun. What would he do if he catches me? I would have to besmart about it. I would have to not act overly suspicious. The one thing I hate about Irvin is that he knows my every mood and reads me like a map. He knows my mind from the inside out.
I grab my laptop from the nightstand, convinced he has a tracker on my phone. It would explain how he knows where I am at all times. I wasn’t born yesterday, and given the way Irvin is controlling, it wouldn’t surprise me. I need to look for places, but first I’m going to head to Chicago. He already unfroze my accounts like he promised, and I have a car. I’ll leave my phone here and get a prepaid one at a local gas station. I booked a hotel in Chicago. I don’t know where I’m going to go, but for now I just need to get away from my husband. I know we’re not divorced, but I did ask Lyrical if other couples live separate lives, and she told me they do. So I won’t be punished by the American Billionaire Club. We’re just married on paper.
I close the laptop.
This has to work, or I am fucked.
I’m not much of a cook, and if I were to make Irvin something to eat, he’d think something is up. I did get an A on my midterm, the paper he helped me with about his ASPD, but I can use that as a way to celebrate. I crush the pills into his bourbon bottle and switch them.
If I come on too sexually, he’ll know something is up. If I offer him the bottle, he’ll also know something is up. If I act too friendly, he’ll definitely know something is up. I straighten my spine. He’s about to walk into the bedroom. I’ve already made it seem like I had a few shots.
He walks inside, removing his tie from his neck. He sees the shots of empty glasses on the side of the bed.
“Why are you day drinking? It’s unlike you.”
“I was celebrating my paper. I got an A for my midterms, and I thought I’d celebrate.”
My heart thunders in my chest. Can I go through with this? Guilt eats at me like a disease. I feel sick about what I’m about to do to him. But once I cross this line, there is no going back.
“Good. I’m proud of you.”
I don’t want to urge him to drink, I’ll only seem too eager.
“I’m sorry that I drank your bourbon. I bought you a new bottle.” I point to the unopened bottle in the case. Google showed me how to make it seem like it hasn’t been opened.
He reaches for the bottle. “Thank you, princess, but you didn’t have to replace it.”
“I needed to. You’re the reason I got the A in the first place. My professor was fascinated with it, and she wanted to know how I knew the topic so well. I didn’t tell her anything, it’s none of her business.”
He nods. I watch him unscrew the bottle and slowly pour the amber liquid into an empty glass. I swallow thickly, trying to even out my breathing.
“You didn’t buy the cheap stuff,” he says.
I shake my head. “I know you like the best, right?”
Now he’s watching my every move, like he does when he knows I’m up to something. Is he onto me? He can’t be.
He opens it smoothly. I made sure the pills were crushed enough to go undetected.
