Page 12 of Cherished By the Sinners

“Then move, I’m on a schedule.”

His frown melted into another lecherous grin.“No.”

Darlene pulled out her cellphone again and began typing.

Until one of the female guests, who’d just been sitting on the couch, grabbed her wrist and plucked the phone out of her hand.

How had she gotten over here so fast?

Darlene reached for her phone, but the woman slid away, too quickly, too far.

A cold wave swept over her, chilling her skin, and a knot solidified in the bottom of her stomach.

Something was wrong with these guests, with how they moved, with how they looked at her.As if she were nothing more than an ant on the floor waiting to be squashed.It went beyond bad manners or a cultural misunderstanding.They didn’t see her as a person at all.

They were all staring at her with flat faces, devoid of any emotion.She’d seen that expression once before, on the face of the man who’d cut up her back.

The cold froze her in place, but she had to get out or she was dead.She knew it with every cell in her body.

Her phone buzzed.

The woman who held it, dropped it on the floor, as if she’d never held a phone before and the incoming call surprised her.

“I hate those...those...things,” she said, making no move to pick it up.“They should be banned.”

Banned?What hole had she been hiding in for the last twenty years?

The phone buzzed again.

There were only three people who might be trying to call her.Louise, Mason, or Magnus.

That’s right, she wasn’t alone.Not anymore.

She had to bluff, that’s what Sam said to her one time.She had to pretend to be brave and stand up for herself even if she didn’t feel brave at all.Sometimes, it was the only way to get out of dangerous situations.

“If I don’t answer the phone,” Darlene said with a sigh.“Someone will be here shortly to check on me.”

“Why would they check on you?”The woman who’d taken her phone asked.

“Because I work for the Brezniks and they take care of their people.”She glanced at the man standing even closer to her now than he had been a moment ago.“And we take care of them.”

The phone stopped buzzing.

The woman bent down and picked it up with just the tips of her fingers.She shook it as if it were a piece of spaghetti hanging off her hand.Nothing happened.

A loud knock on the door drew everyone’s attention.

No one moved.

Darlene took a step to the side to go around the man next to her, but he grabbed her by the arm.

Tight.Too tight.Ouch.

The door beeped, opened, and Mason walked in.

He looked at the man and Darlene, and his face twisted into an angry mask.“Release her.Now,” he snarled.

The man holding her didn’t move.“She’s a servant who doesn’t know her place,” he said.“You need to school them better.”He sucked in a deep breath.“And she smells delicious.”