Page 117 of Vows of Silence

Someone had taken my phone.

Someone had made decisions about my body while I drifted somewhere between sleep and waking, close enough to know it was happening and too far gone to stop any of it.

I stared at the ceiling for a long time.

Then came the knock at the door.

Chapter 39

The Flame

At first, I ignored the knocking, pulling the blanket tighter around myself and squeezing my eyes shut. I had been dreaming of a life outside this place. Where I was safe. Where no one knew me. I wasn’t ready for reality to bleed back into place yet.

With every passing second, with every blink back into my nightmare existence, I was becoming more and more aware of every muscle in my body and how badly they ached.

My skin felt bruised from head to toe, my throat was sore from screaming, and my entire body seemed determined to remind me of every stupid decision I had made over the previous twenty-four hours.

Unfortunately there were far too many of them to count.

The knocking came again, louder this time, followed by a third sharp rap that rattled the door hard enough to make me flinch.

“Go away,” I muttered into the pillow. It wasn’t Silas. He wouldn’t have had the decency to knock. And I wasn’t interestedin seeing him, nor anyone else, so I didn’t care how rude I sounded.

Shockingly, whoever was outside failed to listen.

The door opened.

I rolled onto my back with a groan and immediately regretted it as pain shot through muscles I hadn’t even known existed. Honestly, how many muscles could one person possibly possess? Because I was rapidly discovering new ones every few seconds.

When I focused on the doorway, I saw a new guard stood glaring at me.

“Can I help you?” I practically spat at him.

He wasn’t one of the familiar faces that occasionally accompanied Silas around the property. This man was older, broader, and looked as though smiling would physically pain him.

After last night, I wasn’t in the mood to see any man. Yes, it was unfair to tar them all with the same brush, but it had been Silas, a man, who had violated me, and it wasn’t making me feel very favourably towards their sex.

“Good morning to you too,” I said dryly when he didn’t reply to me.

Clearly another member of the Falcone School of Communication.

Wonderful.

“Mr Falcone requires your presence.”

I laughed.

Actually laughed.

The sound came out slightly hysterical, but I felt it was justified given the circumstances.

“Tell him I’m disinclinedtoacquiescehisrequest,” I said, channelling my inner Elizabeth Swan.

The corner of his mouth tipped up ever so slightly, but he didn’t reply to me. He simply stepped further into the room, carrying a large white garment bag, which he placed carefully across the armchair near the window before returning his attention to me.

My stomach immediately dropped.

No.