Page 115 of Coercion

Every single one of them.

They’re bat shit crazy but there’s nothing I can do. No way I can get out of these bindings and even if I could I don’t have the strength to stand, let alone make any sort of escape attempt.

Ruby

“How are you doing, baby?” She says, standing at the end of my bed.

I glare back at her. Is she for real? It’s been two days, Two days of being spoon-fed like a baby and watched as I hobble to the toilet, like they think I might throw myself out the window.

Not that that’s an option because the damn thing is nailed shut.

My neck is killing me from the angle I’m holding my head at. My hands and feet have gone numb and no amount of wriggling them seems to fix it. Every time they cut me loose, the blood rushes back and I get the most excruciating hit of pins and needles.

“I want to go home.” I say.

“You are home, Ruby.” She replies.

“My home is with Preston.”

She tuts, tapping her foot irritably. “Enough. We’ve been through this.”

“You could work with them.” I say. “Nico would listen, if you went to him I’m sure he’d agree…”

“To what, Ruby?” She cuts across me. “You think he’d just let me have takeover, that he’d allow that?”

“He won’t stop you.” I say. “He’d make a deal.”

She laughs before her face goes hard. “I’ve already made a deal. I’m already getting what I want and I don’t have concede anything to that bastard.”

I draw in a low breath. “How could you do this?” I say quietly. “How can you do this to me?”

She sinks onto the bed beside me, brushing my hair back off my face. “I’m doing thisforyou. I’m ensuring our future.”

“I have a future. With my husband.”

She shakes her head, slamming her hand down onto the bed right by my face. “When will you give that up?”

“I won’t.”

“He doesn’t love you. No man truly loves you, Ruby. That’s the nature of what they are. All women are a means to an ends. If you’re smart, you’ll realise where your place is and you’ll learn how to rise in spite of them.”

“Preston loves me.” I say back.

I know it.

I know he does because if he didn’t, he would have just walked away after what he did to me.

He wouldn’t have gotten on his knees, he wouldn’t have taken care of me.

She sneers. “Even if he did, he won’t for much longer. He’s already shown you how he deals with betrayal. Imagine how he’ll react when he realises you’ve lured him to his death.”

My eyes widen. All I can think about is the tracker in my arm. Is that what she means? Is that what I am right now, a trap waiting to spring. I slump into the mattress, feeling that awful hopelessness hit me again.

“There’s a good girl.” My mother says, no doubt seeing the defeat in my eyes.

“I have to pee.” I say quietly.

She gets up, slowly undoing the ties. “Come on then.”