A bulldozer starts shoving the door open. Except it’s not a bulldozer. It’s a terrifyingly powerful person.
I fight Mary with everything I’ve got, placing my hands flat against the door.
“Miss Montgomery.” Her voice is strained. “Please.”
“Go.” My body works as a unit to keep the door shut. Sweat beads on my forehead. I cry out when my heels slide forward, refusing to stay in place. “Away!”
“I urge you to come out. You’re perfectly safe here, I promise.”
An idea takes shape. Maybe, hopefully, if I appeal to her conscience, she’ll stop. She might even be able to talk tohim.
“He stripped me.” I plant my heels back where they were, only to have Miss Holt push them another few inches forward. “He touched me while I was out.”
She doesn’t answer. Not verbally.
Her body does.
One last shove, and the door slams open, throwing me off balance. I stumble forward, my hands reaching for the vanity before I can fall.
Once I steady myself, I whirl around fast, gasping and throwing my arms over my body. A feeble attempt to cover myself up.
Mary’s heels clink as she steps inside without hesitation. As I try to recover, she simply fixes her dark hair that’s graying at the temples, her brown eyes already locked on me.
Petite beneath her black, knee-length dress, she looks to be in her sixties. But her age isn’t what I focus on.
It’s how deceptively unthreatening she seems.
Mary is a menace, much like her boss and Herbert.
“Listen, I don’t want a box. Not your warning. Not this asshole’s money. Nothing.” I glance to my left, relieved to find a shelf full of clean towels. I quickly snatch one and wrap it around myself. “Give me my clothes back, please. I’m getting out of here.”
“No one’s holding you here against your will.” She folds her hands in front of her, a polite smile curving her lips now that she’s had a second to catch her breath. “Just remember, if you walk away from this, you’ll lose your house.”
My mouth opens, then snaps shut.
That monster, he knew. Not only that, but he had to shame me by sharing the information with other people.
“My house is none of your business,” I clip once I find my voice again. “Why are you even taking his side? Can’t you see how insane this whole situation is?”
“He may be cold.”He, The Restorer. “But he isn’t unreasonable. At the end of the day, he’s helping you with your finances, isn’t he?”
“May be cold? Not unreasonable?” Is she insane? Didn’t she see the unhinged collage outside? “Helping me?”
When she doesn’t say a word, I gesture to myself, then to the bedroom, my hand flailing in the air as if to say,Look!
“Elowyn, I—can I call you that?”
“Fine.” As if being on a first-name basis changes anything. She’s already seen me naked. “What?”
“As I mentioned, there’s a box waiting for you on your bed. In it is just a…dress.”
“Not my bed.”
“Of course.” She plucks a robe off a nearby hook and holds it open for me.
Humiliation stings hot across my cheeks. I hate having to accept anything from these people.
As if I have a choice.
