Page 101 of Before Eve

Bile rises in my throat.

Having the three of them in my room shrinks the space. Palpable fear pushes in on me from every direction.

“Stand,” Grayson commands.

I obey, moving from my desk chair to the center of the room. Amelia approaches. She circles me, not touching me, just surveying before coming to stand in front of me.

She looks me dead on in an all too familiar dark and calculating way. “I want you to know that I support Grayson in whatever he wants to do with you. Your mother was a weak woman. I was bred for politics. I have the stomach for things that need to be done. I want to make clear that I am Grayson’s ally, not yours. Do you understand?”

No wonder her daughter is a shell. There’s no telling the abuse that girl has already endured. “I understand,” I say.

“Good.” She turns her back on me, going to stand beside Grayson. Her hand caresses his shoulder, moving down his arm to link pinky fingers with him.

Noah approaches me. The bile in my throat rises, filling my mouth. I don’t want to swallow, but I have to.

He notes the movement with malevolent amusement.

He too circles, so close his body heat radiates. He smells like onions and cologne. I fight the urge to cower and focus on a ramrod back. One finger trails the skin of my neck. Despite my best efforts, I flinch. He chuckles, low and dark.

He comes to stand in front of me. Even though fear pounds through me, I focus on showing him anything but. Without an expression, he boldly palms one of my breasts. I knock his hand away.

He punches me in my stomach.

I go down hard, gasping.

He grips the hair on my head and drags me to my feet. He palms my breast again, squeezing hard. I don’t fight him. I can’t. It doesn’t matter. I won’t win. I glare at Grayson, still standing across the room, his pinky linked with Amelia’s.

Noah releases me. “Show me your back.”

“No.”

He slaps me. “Show me your back willingly, or I will make you, and I assure you, you don’t want me to make you do anything.”

My gaze darts to Grayson again, though I’m not sure why. He approves of whatever Noah wants to do. I’m still wearing the dress from earlier, and reaching around, I unzip it.

“Turn around,” Noah commands.

Nerves that I fight quiver through my body as I turn, exposing my scars—some old and others raw with newness.

He trails a finger down my spine, tracing an older mark down low. “It’s too bad you marked her up, Grayson. I would have truly loved a blank canvas. But…I suppose this will do.”

He presses one still raw and I suck in a breath.

“Oh, I am going to have so much fun with you,” he says, slowly zipping my dress back up. The air shifts as he moves away from me. “I’m ready whenever you are.”

“Give me twenty-four hours to cement a few details, and she’s all yours,” Grayson says. “And when you’re done, make sure I get her body back. I’ll need it for the spectacular funeral to come.”

They leave, locking the door behind them. My whole body shakes as I walk over to the bookshelf. “Brynn, please tell me you got that.” Tears overwhelm my next words. “If not, then…goodbye. I love you.”

CHAPTER 49

For eight hours,I pace my room. I don’t sleep. I alternate between checking the camera, though I don’t know why, looking at the time, and staring out the window into the night.

I pray Brynn got my message.

In the distance, sirens pierce the early morning hours.

I still. Please, God, let those be for me.