Page 38 of Provocation (Den of Deception #3)

Somehow putting one foot in front of the other, I do as he says, stopping in front of him a few steps away and staring at the space between his eyes.

‘You’ve done well today,’ he says, ‘and, for that, there won’t need to be a repeat of what you forced me to do last time.’

My jaw ticks, anger and terror at war with each other inside me.

‘But you’re not to speak about your few experiences out there in the world to Lizzie. Understood? She’s a delicate and sheltered girl, much like you are. She’s easily excited and talk of the outside makes her anxious.’

She didn’t seem anxious. She seemed interested. Also I’m not delicate and sheltered. But I don’t say anything.

‘It’s important that you learn this lesson,’ he continues as he straightens, moving around the desk and sitting down.

His eyes move past me, and I hear the door to the library close behind me with a bang that has me jumping and turning quickly.

Marcus is standing behind me, his eyes moving over me boldly.

‘So,’ Joe says, waiting for me to turn back to him.

When I do, he goes into a drawer, and he pulls out a black wooden box. It’s elaborate and elegant. The wood matches the metronome that I’m still trying valiantly to ignore. He puts the box on the desk and turns it to face me with a flourish, his eyes boring into me.

‘Go on,’ he says, tone deceptively soft. ‘Look inside.’

I glance back at Marcus to see that he’s still in the same spot, and I step forward, opening the lid of the box slowly.

A little grey box with black straps and a tiny light that glows red when it’s— I gasp as I recognize it, skittering backward without thinking, but Marcus is waiting. His hands take hold of my upper arms tightly, not letting me go as Joe calmly stands.

I’m plunged headlong into a specific moment at The Heath, one of many.

I’d bent down to fix my sock that was rucked up in my shoe and one of the blanks had noticed I wasn’t sitting up straight.

The resulting zap jolted me forward, making my hit my face on one of the chairs in front of me. I’d had a black eye for days.

I have a hundred stories like that.

Joe takes the GED out of its satin-lined home.

‘What was the nickname for these at The Heath?’ he asks casually, fingering the thick black straps.

I don’t answer and try not to make it apparent that terror has won over the anger that I was feeling.

‘Stingers,’ Marcus laughs nastily.

‘Oh, that’s right,’ Joe chuckles. ‘Ingenious device. This one’s a bit different from the one you used to wear on your leg. The sting has a little more kick.’

His small smile is terrifying. He wants to put it on me. He wants me to give him a reason to hurt me.

‘You have a choice,’ he says, coming to stand before me with the GED hanging from his fingers.

I try to hide my shaking, my splayed out hands.

‘You can strap this to your leg right now, and we’ll see how much you can take, or, you agree to lose the dress.’

I blink at him, trying to understand. ‘Pardon?’

‘The stinger goes on, or the dress comes off. Your choice, Marguerite. But, no matter what you decide, it is your decision so long as you make one. You’ll definitely remember to keep your chats with LiLi to a list of preapproved topics after this. Now, choose, or I’ll choose for you.’

‘The dress,’ I say, my eyes not leaving the device in his hand until he steps back and puts it in the box out of sight. I breathe out in relief.

‘Go on.’

My shaking hand goes to the zip on the side, but I can’t grip the tiny tab.

Joe sits on the desk again, looking amused.

‘As promised, you can do the honors, brother.’

Marcus lets out a low laugh. ‘Finally.’

He rips the zip down and pulls the dress off my shoulders to my waist. I cringe as my top half is bared to them both, but before anything else can happen, we hear Lizzie’s voice in the hall.

‘Sure, mom. They’re in the library. I’ll just grab them for you.’

I’ve never heard anything better in my life, I decide, as the brothers’ eyes meet and, with a snarl, Marcus pulls my dress back up just as Lizzie barges into the room.

‘Oh!’ She stops short. ‘Marcus. Joe. Apologies. I didn’t know you were in here.’

She looks around them at me and her eyes move over me so quickly that I know the men don’t notice.

‘Higgins says the car is ready to take you home, Marguerite,’ she says. ‘You better get going. You have that Shakespeare play to catch up on for class next week, right?’

‘Right,’ I say faintly.

And I suddenly realize that Elizabeth planned to interrupt. She just saved me from her brothers.

‘What do you need, Lizzie?’ Marcus asks impatiently.

‘Mom’s glasses,’ she answers. ‘She said she thinks she left them in— Here they are!’ she says brightly.

She takes one last look at me, and leaves.

Marcus’ eyes narrow at me and then he turns and goes through the door. A second later, I hear a pained cry and a dull thud followed by a whimper and some low, hissed conversation.

Marcus just did something to Lizzie. I’m sure of it.

I look at Joe who’s leaning on the desk again like the past few minutes haven’t happened.

I was so afraid after I shot that man that I was a psychopath. But as I look into Joe’s eyes for his allotted five seconds, I see what one truly looks like. Even with two murders under my belt, I’m a pink, fluffy teddy bear with a heart on its tummy compared to the dead-eyed man in front of me.

‘Until next time, Marguerite,’ he says with a faux-warm smile as he gestures that I can go. ‘I can’t wait.’

I turn and leave the room. I keep my back straight and my gait unhurried. At the door, the butler lets me out and I blink in the dying light at the black car that’s going to take me home.

I get in and, thankfully, the drive back to the KIP house doesn’t seem to take so long as it did on the way.

When we pull up, I’m trying to open the door before the car has even stopped.

I practically throw myself out of the car without waiting for the driver to open it, but resist the urge to run inside.

The driver is theirs and he’s likely a spy.

I wait until he drives away before I swipe my card and let myself inside.

I close the door behind me and sink against it for a second before I pick myself up and go into the kitchen. A few of the guys are playing cards.

One of the sophomores notices me.

‘Hey, Daisy.’

I try to give him a smile. But I don’t have it in me. Instead, I grab the bottle of something that’s on the table between them and take a long pull straight from the square glass container.

It burns going down, making me cough, but I gulp some more anyway.

‘She’s drinking whiskey like it’s water,’ one whispers.

‘Message the Seamen,’ I hear one of them murmur back.

I take one more gulp before I put the whiskey back on the table.

‘Thanks,’ I say, and turn away so they can get back to their game.

When I get to the stairs, I see Mav coming down with his phone in his hand.

All at once, I don’t know what to tell him.

I don’t want the guys to know about the Stinger, or how they were used at the Heath to keep me in line, about the things that Marcus and Joe did this afternoon, and how terrified I am.

I throw myself into his arms, breathing hard. ‘Don’t ask me about it,’ I say. ‘Please.’

MAV

I hold Daisy tightly. What happened to her with those rich assholes? She looks exhausted and frightened out of her mind.

‘Okay,’ I say quietly even though I’m burning to know more.

Maybe Shade can get it out of her later. I don’t want to press her. I can already tell she’s close to not speaking at all.

‘Where are the others?’ she asks.

‘At Wrath. They were going crazy waiting for you to come back so they went to be productive.’

I give her a smile, but though she tries to return it, it’s clearly forced and doesn’t meet her eyes.

‘But not you?’

I snort. ‘Nope, I just killed myself in the gym for three hours to pass the time.’

I look down at the horrible starchy clothes they made her wear. The fuckers dressed her up like an ugly china doll. That’s how they see her. They don’t know her. They don’t value her.

‘Want to get out of that?’

She nods and I help her upstairs. She’s already a little unsteady from the whiskey that she just gulped down according to the message I got.

In her room, she rips down the zip on the side of the dress and shudders as she pulls it off, letting it fall to the floor and stepping out of it like she can’t get it away from her fast enough.

I notice the black underwear set doesn’t look like anything we’d buy her.

it doesn't fit her properly and it looks like polyester.

I frown as an unwelcome suspicion forms in my mind.

‘Did those come with the dress, Tulip?’

She glances at me and then looks at the floor miserably, nodding as she takes them off too.

‘Why didn’t you say?’

‘Say what?’ she asks. ‘There’s nothing you can do. There’s nothing I can do. Only sell Envy and try to get the hell out of here before I have to marry into that fucked up family.’

She shakes her head.

‘And I thought the Novelles were messed up,’ she whispers.

‘Do you want to talk about it?’

‘Not now,’ she says adamantly, but then sighs dramatically. ‘But I will. No more secrets, right?’

‘Right,’ I agree, smiling a little at her petulant tone.

‘I’m going to take a shower, and then can we go back to the club?’

‘Of course. You like it there, don’t you?’

She nods.

‘I feel safer there. No one knows where I am when I’m in the lab, you know? It’s like a comfy bubble.’

‘Yeah,’ I say quietly. ‘I know.’

She leaves the room with a towel wrapped around her and I take out my phone.

She’s back but upset. Hasn’t said what happened, but I think we need to come up with a better plan than waiting until we have the cash to leave. We need this wedding stopped. I don’t want her to have to see them alone again. She’s terrified of them.