Captive by Carter Aimée

Author:Carter, Aimée [Carter, Aimée]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780373211289
Publisher: Harlequin HQN
Published: 2014-11-25T08:00:00+00:00

XI

HEARTBEAT

Hannah’s dislike hadn’t dissipated in the eighteen-odd hours since we’d been introduced. She eyed me like a cat sizing up a mouse, and for the first time since Knox had spared me that morning, I let myself acknowledge the fact that I was terrified.

“Heard you had a bad night,” she said. “Still want to refuse my husband’s offer?”

Mercer’s offer, not hers. The significance wasn’t lost on me. “I’m happy here,” I said stiffly.

She snorted. “Happy? Is that what the kids are calling it these days?” She jerked her head and started toward the door, indicating I should follow. I hesitated, but the guards on either side of me left me with no real choice.

It wasn’t until we were both outside and walking through the cold that she spoke. “Jonathan also heard what happened, and he’s insisting you remain with us for your own safety. The girls in this section can be dangerous, and he has no desire for anyone to hurt you.”

“But he’s fine sending three other girls off to be hunted like wild animals,” I said before I could stop myself. To my right, I sensed Rivers stiffen, but Hannah barely glanced at me.

“Consider yourself lucky. Every single one of these girls would kill to be you.”

That was because they had no idea what my life was really like. Hannah did, though—she’d felt the III underneath my VII, yet as far as I knew, she still hadn’t said a word to anyone about it. I could come up with a dozen reasons why she might want to keep that between us, but at the end of the day, because Hannah knew the secret that had so far kept me alive, that made her the biggest danger of all.

“There’s possibility here, you know,” said Hannah half a block later. “It may not seem like much, especially compared to the lifestyle you’re used to, but your stay here doesn’t have to be miserable. If you let us help you, you could have a life here. A family. A real shot at happiness. It’s not all gloom and doom.”

“Which one of us are you trying to convince?” I said. A strange expression flickered over Hannah’s face, and she paused.

“I was in your position once,” she said, gesturing for the guards to give us space. They backed away, forming a wide circle around us. Enough to offer some semblance of privacy, but not far enough to give me the chance to make a run for it. As if I had anywhere else to go. Though why we had guards today and not the day before, I couldn’t fathom.

“What position is that?” I said. “The one where you went from a VII to an X because your uncle decided you weren’t useful anymore, or the one where everything in your life worth loving vanished because you took a gamble and lost?”

A faint smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. “You think you’re so alone, don’t you? You think you’re the only person in the world with your problems.

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