Gemma

I was so cold.My body wouldn’t stop shaking. The room was pitch black. My hands were tied behind my back, and although the skin around my wrists was tough from past scarring, I could still feel the slight burn of some type of rope binding me. I wanted to reach up and feel my eyes to see if they were actually closed instead of open. Maybe my body wasn’t allowing me to open my eyes because of fear.

The fear settled deep in my belly. My stomach was twisting in unfathomable ways, and my heart had been pounding since I had regained consciousness. I wasn’t sure how long I’d been out. My head throbbed with each breath I took, and if I even moved a little bit, the throbbing would be so intense that I would whimper.

He took me.

I sniffed the air softly, trying to calm my senses with the realization that I wasn’t in the basement. There was no smell of mildew or dirt. The floor beneath my knees was cushiony instead of lined with the grittiness that laid over the concrete in that godforsaken area underneath Richard’s house.

Isaiah.

My heart cracked in between the thundering beats. It had always been the plan to slip right through Isaiah’s fingers, but it wasn't the plan to land in Richard’s. Isaiah was making sure of that. He will never touch you again. But we were too late. We were too careless.

It wasn’t Isaiah’s fault. I’d waited until the very last second to let my guard down with him, which only made the pain that much worse.

He knew what Richard had done to me. He knew what he had planned. And he would know that Richard was the one to take me. The worry of his worries ate away at my stomach like little insects burrowing themselves.

Survive.

I was done fighting for freedom. If Gemma Richardson disappearing was what Richard wanted in the end, then I’d do it for Isaiah, to keep him safe and untouched.

I wouldn’t strive for freedom.

I would strive for Isaiah’s safety.

I would gladly trade myself for him. I’d do anything Richard wanted if that meant keeping Isaiah safe.

The stronger voice in the back of my head whispered lies and flawed ideas of a future where I could keep Isaiah safe and still escape Richard’s plans, and it had me pausing for a moment.

What if? What if I could do what I’d been doing for years? Playing into Richard’s hand but still finding a way out? Would I ever really give up? Was it just my fear talking? Shifting plans didn’t mean I was giving up. I just had to be smarter.

Fuck him. I wasn’t giving up.

The door opened, and I realized right then that my eyes were, in fact, open. The bright glow from the hall was like a punch to the head, and I cried out, dipping my chin to my chest. “There’s my good girl with her little sleepyhead eyes on.”

It was like nails on a chalkboard.

My chin stayed dipped to my chest as I refused to look at him. I was too afraid of what I’d see if I met his gaze. Would my resolve fall? Would I become submissive and do as he said to survive? Or would I fight back and hope that Isaiah was as strong as he said he was.

Isaiah wouldn’t back down from Richard, and Richard wouldn’t back down from Isaiah.

My only concern was that Richard had powerful friends that Isaiah didn’t.

What was I going to do?

The lights overhead kicked on, and although my eyes were hardly open, the blinding light still hurt like hell. I remembered that he’d hit me really hard before I fell to the ground in my room. I hoped Sloane was okay. She would have told Isaiah everything. Panic skated right through me. What if Richard took her too?

“Enjoying your new room?” Richard’s shoes appeared in my line of vision, and I almost spit on them. “I know your mother sure didn’t.”

That had my head raising. The second I glowered into Richard’s disturbing eyes, his hand grabbed onto my arm, and he pulled me to my feet. The room moved before me, and I fought back nausea with the pain that surfaced.

I scanned the room slowly, wanting nothing more than to whip his disgusting fingers off my arm. I was surrounded by white. The walls looked as if they were made of clouds. Hundreds of them. Puffy, white cushions surrounded every single inch, and my stomach rolled again. I bent forward and bit my tongue so I didn’t throw up. This was the same room. The memory came at me like sprinkles of broken glass. My mom gripping me. Richard throwing me out of the room and into the hallway.The two men in black medical attire taking her away.

“So, you’ve taken me to the Covens. How sentimental of you.”

Tags: S.J. Sylvis Romance
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