It’s only been twenty-four hours since I last stood in my bedroom, but it already feels unfamiliar and foreign. Perhaps I should have told Storm I don’t own anything of value, sentimental or otherwise, but I was too embarrassed to admit that. He has everything he could ever want, and I have nothing worth owning.
My eyes brush over the single bed in the corner, the worn mattress I’ve spent many sleepless nights trying to get comfortable on, so unlike the cloud I slept on last night. The paint is peeling from the walls, and there isn’t one piece of furniture in this room that isn’t broken in one way or another. I’ve never allowed myself to think about another life, not when I was trapped in my harsh reality, but now I’ve seen how other people live, I don’t want to return to this. I don’t care if it makes me sound vain or conceited, and it’s not even really about the stuff. I just want a simple life, with simple things.
Muted voices in the lounge room drag my attention back to the situation at hand. How did my life become such a mess? I’m tempted to turn around and go back to Storm, but instead I step further into the room and pull my overnight bag from the top of my old wardrobe. I can’t imagine I’ll be packing anything more than that. Hell, I’ll be lucky if I can find enough in this room to half fill the thing.
I place the bag on the bed and look around again, spotting a few photos I keep on my dresser. A photo of Sarah and I one Halloween. I never noticed it before but she looks like she would rather be anywhere but beside me. Another is at my high school graduation, the smiles on my parents faces are forced and fake. I knew they resented me, disliked me even, but how did I never notice the hatred they have for me?
I open my top drawer and peer inside at the plain cotton panties in muted tones that line it and I’m reminded that that’s exactly what I am.
Plain.
I grab a handful and shove them in the bag before moving on to the assortment of beige bras. I follow the same motions with each drawer I open, falling more and more into despair. How did I never notice how utterly boring I am? I’ve never lived a day in my life because I’ve been merely existing.
A loud crash in the lounge room drags my attention from my pity party and I step toward the door only to come face to face with Sarah, her eyes wild and angry.
I gasp and take a step back instinctively. She’s the last person I wanted to run into and by the fury on her face, it seems the feeling is mutual.
“Sarah,” I force through gritted teeth.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” she snaps.
“Getting my stuff and going.”
“How could you do this to us? You have no idea how much trouble you’ve dropped us in.”
“Excuse me?” I hiss. “How much trouble I’ve caused you? You fucking sold me! God, even saying it out loud sounds fucking ridiculous. Did you consider what could have happened to me? What those men would have done to me?”
“Frankly, I just didn’t care. The day you were born was the worst day of my life. And look, you’re just the gift that keeps on giving.”
Her words hit right where she intends, a sharp pain stabbing through my chest. Tears well in my eyes but I blink them away. I refuse to show her just how deeply her words hurt. She doesn’t deserve the satisfaction.
“Do you think you’re any safer with Storm Saint James than you were with Adam and Andrew? Don’t you think he’s going to chew you up and spit you out the same way whoever ended up with your boring ass would have?”
“I…” But I don’t have a response because she’s right. I have no business with someone like Storm, and all he’s going to bring me is pain, just like every other person in my life.
“You’re so fucking naive, Ayvah. You have no idea about the real world. I was doing you a favor by giving you to people who could have taught you the harsh realities of life.”
“Stop,” I whisper, not trusting my voice not to break. God, I’m fucking pathetic. I can’t even handle my bitch of a sister saying a few mean things, how the hell am I meant to survive on my own?
“How long do you think you can keep Storm entertained? Hmm? A week? A month? And then what do you think he’s going to do with you? In that time, you would have seen too much, even if he’s careful, you’ll know too much and he’ll have to get rid of—”
“Enough,” Storm roars from behind Sarah, his eyes wild with feral rage. Until now, I haven’t seen the ruthless man I know he can be, but right now I can’t help but step back until my back hits the dresser and knocks the air from my lungs.
Sarah’s face pales with fear at the anger in his voice, and I don’t blame her for being afraid. The man standing in front of us now is nothing like the one who looked after me last night. This man is the monster Storm hides behind his expensive suits and well put together demeanor. He’s the beast that lurks beneath the surface and preys on innocent women just like me.
“Ayvah,” he growls, regret flickering in his gray eyes when I flinch at the harshness. “We need to go.”
“What?” I whisper. He never said there was a time limit, but perhaps I should have assumed a man as busy as him doesn’t have time to mess around waiting for a silly girl like me.
“She called the people who employed Adam and Andrew. Everett tapped their phones before we came in, just in case.”
I turn to my sister who looks a mixture of self-satisfied and scared. She’s too selfish to care about the fact she’s put the entire family in danger, but she’s smart enough to be afraid of the way Storm is looking at her. He’s murderous.
I drop to my knees in the middle of the room, not giving a fuck Sarah and Storm are watching and push myself under the bed until I see what I’m looking for. A loose floorboard no one knows about. The only things I care about are under that board, and I’m not leaving here without them.
I tear it loose and reach for the wad of cash I’ve been saving over the last few years, and then a few other things that I don’t want to be without. My high school transcripts, my graduation certificate, the cap I threw on graduation day. I realize how lame it is that the only things that have any sentimental value to me are to do with my education, but it’s not like I care about family heirlooms or like I had any friends growing up. It’s always been just me against the world, and it looks as if that’s how it’s going to be moving forward as well.
Once I’ve emptied my hiding spot, I shimmy myself backward and blink as the bright light fills my vision, dizziness coming over me. Not that I’m willing to admit this to Storm, but I’m still feeling some of the effects from the drugs I was dosed with, and the change in lighting makes my head spin.
“Ayvah.” Storm steps forward around my sister, concern tugging at his brow.
“I’m okay,” I whisper, pushing myself to stand. I shove everything I gathered into the bag before spotting my school stuff on the desk in the corner of the room. An old laptop that barely works most days, a few textbooks, and a couple of office supplies. I scoop it all up and dump it in the bag before reaching to pick it up, but Storm takes it, throwing it over his shoulder without a word.
“Is that everything?” he asks.
I nod. “Yep.”
He looks around the room and his lip lifts in disgust just the way mine did when I stepped in here. The difference is, this is the room I’ve lived in for eighteen years, Storm’s lived in a mansion with everything he’s ever wanted his whole life. “Let’s go.” He reaches for my hand and pulls me into his side.
I meet Sarah’s scared eyes, but I can’t bring myself to feel sorry for her, not after all the pain she’s brought me. She deserves to be as scared as I was last night when I lost the use of my body, when I could barely maintain consciousness as strange men ran their hands up my thighs. She deserves to be fucking terrified.
“You can’t do this, you can’t take her.” My father blocks the hallway so we can’t get past, his body acting like a barricade. But Storm towers over him, and I’m not surprised when he steps forward and shoves his palm into my father’s chest so hard he flies back, hitting the carpet of the lounge room in a heavy thud.
“I think you’ll find I can,” Storm rumbles. “I think you’ll find I can do whatever the fuck I want because I own this city.”
His words settle over me like lead, and panic grips at my throat. Am I trading one prison for another? One family who loathes me, for one that will control me? Maybe what Sarah said was true.
Maybe Storm Saint James is going to chew me up and spit me out. But maybe I don’t care.
