Chapter Five
The next day was moreof the same abuse from Ranelle.Shampoo, rinse, repeat.The woman was permanently stuck in high school mentality.Probably wanted to be an actress but eventually settled on an admin job.
She delivered the mail and ignored the gossip girls as much as possible.At lunch, she avoided the lunchroom and ate in the mail room.Betsy found her but Cora wasn’t in the mood to talk about anything, so she just listened to her friend prattle on.
Hades and the previous night replayed over and over in her head.He had managed to drive the nightmare out of her dreams, and for that she was thankful.
“Are you even listening to me?”Betsy asked.
Cora blinked, coming back to the present.“Sorry.I was thinking...”
She trailed off.What could she say?How could she explain?
“Did you meet someone?”
Surprised, Cora’s eyes widened.“How did you know?”
“You have that I’m-distracted-by-lust air about you.”Betsy playfully knocked her shoulder.“So, who is he?”
“I met Hades Sinclair last night.”
The name was a big, neon warning sign turning on.Betsy shook her head.“Oh, no.That’ s not a man you should be dreaming about.In fact, he’s a dangerous, bad man who, I’ve heard, has a thing for fingers.Or, if rumors are to be believed, removing them.”
Cora didn’t know how to interpret that statement.“He was very nice to me.In fact, he was a complete gentleman.”
Doubt crept onto Betsy’s face.“Sure.Just promise me you’ll be careful.Everyone knows he runs the dark side of the streets.”
She nodded, agreeing.It wasn’t like she was going to meet him again, right?
That evening, footsteps on the tiled floor echoed down the empty corridor as Cora made her way to the elevator.Without the shouts and frenetic movement of employees, the place was downright eerie.The sound of a door slamming shut had her jerking around to see Steven, arms crossed as he stared at her.Her heart rate exploded with fear, thumping so hard in her chest she felt a little lightheaded.
“Cora, Cora, Cora.”His taunting tone scraped along her nerves.
“What do you want?”
He spread his arms out.“Is that anyway to talk to your friend?”
“You’re not my friend.”
Anger swept over his face.He took a step forward, and she took a step back.
“Leave me alone.”Instead of sounding confident, she ended up sounding scared.He must have noticed, because a menacing grin spread over his face.
“See, you saying that only turns me on more.”
Then he moved toward her, and she kept backing up.Fear took over her brain, but she forced herself to think clearly to get out of this.She’d never survive if he raped her.
“I have a friend who’ll hurt you if you harm me,” she warned, glancing at the elevator.There was no way it would open before he rushed at her, and that wasn’t something she was willing to try.Steven scared the shit out of her.
“What makes you think you’ll be alive to tell this friend of yours?”
