Page 43 of Toxic
“Yes.”
I shove that away for another time as my brain starts to spin. “But how did youfindme?”
With a sigh, he gestures with one hand. “I knew when I got back to the house you were gone. There are only so many outlets from Michigan, and I assumed you’d stick to a well-known city you thought you could loseyourselfin.”
I swallow thickly,waiting.
He glances down at my hand where my wedding ring should have been. “I knew you’d need money, so I checked all the pawnshops around your house first. When that didn’t work, I started in Detroit. It took a couple of days, but eventually, I found where you unloaded your rings. You got taken on that deal bytheway.”
Son of a bitch. “And they just gave you my information? Justlikethat?”
He lifts a brow. “Anyone can be bought. You just have to find the right price. From there, I checked the nearest transportation, which of course were buses. Of the hundred or so possible choices, only three fit—New York, Dallas, and Los Angeles. I figured you would have gone as far as you could. I wasright.”
“The police? Why aren’t they looking for you? Us? Did you buy them off, too?” At this point, I wouldn’t besurprised.
“I work and do business under an assumed name. Gracin Kingsley is my real name, one with a verifiable history for those who thought to check, but that name won’t lead any of the authorities to this place. I own it and several others under the name I use to dobusiness.”
My head spins. “What about me? Why did you do thistome?”
He pauses, his first during my little interrogation, and then says, “I needed helpgettingout.”
“I was just collateral damage, is what you’re saying.” I nod, furious with myself that a confirmation of what I had already known makes me want to cry again. “I guess I alreadyknewthat.”
He doesn’t apologize. Maybe he already knows it would bepointless.
“You can stay here until I neutralize the situation with Sal. Whatever you need will be provided for you. Whatever you want,”hesays.
“I want toleave.”
He sighs. “That’s the one thing I can’t let you do. They’re still looking for me, and letting you go now would just put you right back in danger. You are free to explore the property,though.”
“What does it matter if I’m in danger?” He just looks at me. His electric green eyes heated with whatever words he’s refusing to give me. When I’m certain he isn’t going to answer, I say, “Then I guess we’re done here,aren’twe?”
He starts to walk away, and I call out to his back. “You’re no better than Vic was, keeping me locked up, thinking you know what’s best for me, pushing me around, manipulating me. You told me I deserved better. I guess what you really meant is that I should exchange one prison foranother.”
He walks out of the dining room instead ofanswering.
Marie appears to lead me back tomyroom.
The doors are kept lockedat all times. You’d think with a house this size that someone would forget to close one of them . . . or at least leave a window cracked or something, but no. Gracin must have trained them well because over the next week, I test them all for points of weakness to noavail.
If I’m let outside to get some sun or fresh air, it’s only to go to the back gardens, which are walled off and the only gate is padlocked. Scaling them is an impossibility unless I want to risk being sliced and diced by razor wire. It reminds me a bit ofBlackthorne.
By the end of the week, I think I’ve scoured all the grounds and searched through all the rooms that aren’t locked. If there’s a trace of who Gracin is behind all the masks he wears, I don’t find one. I do find the libraries, as in more than one, a glass-paned conservatory, and an indoor pool. It would almost seem like a vacation if I weren’t being shadowed by one of Gracin’s men night and day. On the handful of occasions that I’m not being watched by a person, I know there is a camera recording my every movement. Sometimes I flip them off just knowing he’swatching.
Each day starts with breakfast in the south conservatory. The fare varies, but it’s always served at seven. Coffee steaming, fresh fruit, and spicy sausages or crispy bacon with eggs. After I eat, I go to my room and change into a swimsuit that just showed up the day after I found the swimming pool, and I swim until my limbs are numb and my brain is comfortably fuzzy. If I weren’t so incredibly wired all the time, I would have enjoyed exploring the library, but I can’t seem to sit still anymore so if I’m feeling up to it, I do a couple rounds in the gym or prowl the mansion back and forth until it’s time fordinner.
Sometimes Gracin joins me, but sometimes he doesn’t. Our conversations never vary past what I’ve been up to that day, and they never last long because I give clipped answers to all of his questions. He’s lucky I haven’t taken the silverware and stabbed him in the neck. Maybe that’s why he eats at the farthest end of the table acrossfromme.
I don’t want to question him about why he saved me that day. I’m afraid if I do, I may kill him instead of justimaginingit.
I don’t know what it will mean if I kill someone in cold blood. That’s a lie. It will mean I’m no betterthanhim.
I’m exploring the third-floor rooms the following weekend when I come across another locked door. I look around, surprised to find my shadow gone and not a single camera pointed in my direction. I turn back to the door, curious. This one is different from the others. I can’t say why. Maybe it’s the lack of surveillance, as if Gracin doesn’t want any record of who comes and goes from this room, or maybe it’s a gut instinct. Still, I know this place is special. I know it belongs to him as surely as I am aware I’m going to open it, regardless of the consequences. It’s by pure luck that I manage to open it using pins from my hair and a hard shove with all myweight.
His scent assaults me first, and I nearly stagger backward. It’s the one thing I can’t fight whenever I’m near him, and it only makes me hate him more. The fact that he still, after everything, can make me want him without doing a thing isinfuriating.
His room is huge, maybe double the size of the one I’ve been given. The bed is situated in front of me, and it has a sleek nightstand on each side, and atop each nightstand is a contemporarily styled lamp. A long chest of drawers sits to my left with a tall mirror at the top. On the opposite side, there is a wall mounted flat-screen.