Total pages in book: 260
Estimated words: 245483 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1227(@200wpm)___ 982(@250wpm)___ 818(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 245483 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1227(@200wpm)___ 982(@250wpm)___ 818(@300wpm)
“I didn’t poison anything, my princess.” With those words, he brings the ceramic mug to his lips. I watch in horror as the truth of the situation hits me full in the chest. If he drinks that tea, he’s going to die. I’ll have killed the only person to ever show me an ounce of respect and tenderness.
He tips it back, and I can’t help myself any longer.
I reach out and whip the mug from him, scalding hot water splashing against his skin. He yells with a mix of anger and pain as the mug shatters on the ground. I stare at it, chilled to the bone. My heart pounds in my chest and then when I look up at Gio, it stills with fear.
Anger stares back at me, attempting to pin me in place.
My heart thuds once, and I bolt. He takes a large step toward me as I reach for the cage, and my fingers grip onto the bars as he latches onto my hip.
“No!” I scream out in horror. He’s going to beat me. I rip my body from him, hurling myself into the cage. Scraping my knee against the metal and bashing my forearms against the grated floor. He reaches for my ankle, still outside the cage and I look back at him, whimpering.
His chest heaves as he releases me, and I crawl to the back of the cage. I pull the blanket to me by the hem and cover myself with it as though it’ll keep me safe.
He was going to hurt me. He was going to beat me.
I know he was.
For the first time in a long time, tears spill from my eyes and I can’t keep them back.
I hear him pacing in front of the cage, and then he kicks a piece of the broken mug. My body jolts at the sound of it smashing into the back wall. It’s not close to me, but his fury is what’s frightening.
I almost killed him. I was almost free. And now I have to suffer the wrath of my captor.
I sob into the blanket and try to ignore all the warring emotions within me. The guilt and sadness, the betrayal, the anger. I don’t know what to feel.
The door clicks and beeps as Gio leaves.
I’ve spent so many days and nights in this cage.
But I’ve never felt this alone and broken.
Chapter 13
Gio
I can’t believe she did that. Anger explodes through me as I pace the living room, slowly waiting for my mind to calm itself.
She never showed any aggression toward me before. Lashing out like that was strange, extremely unlike her. I quickly go into the control room and sit down at the monitor, watching her in the cage.
I can see her trembling, practically shaking. I can’t hear any noise, but I know that she’s crying. I watch her carefully, the anger slowly melting away, replaced by curiosity.
Then she moves. She rolls over and looks around the room, her eyes wide. She quickly crawls out of the cage, moving as fast as she can. She grabs a large shard of the broken ceramic cup and crawls back into her cage with it. The piece is large and jagged, and I watch as she finds a hiding spot.
She goes back to her old position, not moving at all this time. I lean back in my chair and sigh, shaking my head. I know she’s scared because I got mad, but she knows better than that.
What the hell is going on with her? Maybe this is a part of her process. That must be what this is. I need to be firm, and her ass is definitely going to be punished for this.
I thought we had something. Feeding her, speaking to her, bathing her… it was something I’d never experienced before. Touching her skin that way and not taking her was more erotic than anything I’d ever experienced. My blood still rings for her, and my cock’s still half hard. It took every ounce of my willpower not to slide my fingers along her skin toward her tight, soaking little pussy, and part of me wishes I had.
But then there’s the anger and the teacup and now this. I can't allow her to have that shard. I don’t want her to harm herself. I’m not worried about her hurting me with it, because I know I can easily disarm her and overpower her if it comes to that.
But I don’t want her to turn it against her own skin. She might even be able to kill herself with it. Either way, I don’t want another scar on her body, at least not because of me.
There’s a small problem, though. I can’t just kick in her cage and steal the shard back from her. I have to coax it out of her or at least convince her to leave the cage so that I can go retrieve it. I promised that she’d be safe while she’s in there, and I’m dedicated to keeping that promise.