Page 48 of Cruel Master

Once I was free, I hurried into the bathroom in the hopes that there’d be something else to cover up with. Thankfully, I found a red silk robe hanging on the back of the door. I snatched it off and covered myself, tying the belt tightly to keep it from falling open.

Gaven might have thought he had me trapped and locked tightly away, but I wasn’t the innocent teenage girl he’d married anymore. I was a woman who’d been through fucking hell, and I’d learned to survive it. I sure as hell wasn’t ready to be captured and locked up forever. I had things to do. Clients who were relying on me and … a sister that I had to deal with lest she find me and kill me herself.

That, at the very least, was one thing that Gaven had made me realize by capturing me and imprisoning me. I couldn’t let this go on. If I ever wanted a life free of looking over my shoulder, then she would need to be dealt with.

Swallowing the lump in my throat at the thought, I moved towards the door I’d come in from and tried the handle. My lips stretched tight and down as I realized that, too, was locked. Gaven was nothing if not a cautious man. Of course, he’d lock the door. Not that I would let it stop me.

Turning back to the room, I returned to where I’d discarded the metal clamps. The small rings of the chain wouldn’t work on a door lock, but … I unscrewed the small piece that tightened the clamps and let them fall completely open. They were made of thin pieces of metal, but no matter how adequately made, thin metal could almost always be bent and reconstructed.

After finagling out a small but more sturdy piece from the clamps themselves, I moved back to the door and got on my knees to insert the piece into the lock. This time, I heard the click right before the lock twisted. I didn’t even think to clean up after myself. Gaven would realize I was gone the second he entered the room anyway. So, I just left the piece in the door, grabbed the handle, jerked it open, and fled into the hallway.

Time was of the essence, and I was nearly out of it.

22

GAVEN

The epitome of arrogance was thinking you knew all and that nothing could surprise you. As I stood in the empty private room I’d left hours before to meet with Archer, I had to admit, I was surprised. The emptiness of the room was especially shocking considering that when I left it there had been a sleeping woman in the very bed that now sat with its sheets in disarray.

The woman, however, was nowhere to be seen. A low whistle sounded behind me. “Looks like your pretty little bird flew away.”

Cutting a dark look to Archer, I didn’t dignify his words with a response. Instead, I returned my attention to the room before me. How the hell had she managed to unlock her cuff? The answer was scattered on the floor at the foot of the bed.

I strode forward and crouched down, lifting the thin chain with one metal nipple clamp still dangling on one side. The cuff had been left behind with a piece of metal still sticking out of it.

A low chuckle rumbled in my chest. I shook my head as it bent down and my eyes shut.How shortsighted of me,I thought. I hadn’t given her enough credit. I reopened my eyes and stood up, turning back to the others.

“Looks like your wife,” Ian’s brother—though not by blood—Jensen began, looking over the room as he spoke before stopping on me, “wants a divorce.”

My fingers closed around the chain, my grip tightening. “She won’t get it,” I snapped. “The three of you know as well as I do—once a mafia princess marries, she doesn’t do so again.”

Ian sighed and stepped forward between his friends. Though he wasn’t taller than me, he was undoubtedly wider. He gestured to the room and then to me. “I doubt you’ll let something like this stop you,” he said. “But if she’s smart enough to leave the club undetected, then I have no doubt she’s smart enough to evade you again.” Despite the calm tone, Ian’s words were not meant for reassurance.

I’d gotten cocky. I’d thought myself invincible. I thought I’d had her right where I wanted her.

I’d been wrong.

So incredibly fucking wrong.

I shook my head. “The only one of you I need is Archer.”

Archer, in response, groaned. “Come on, man. I’ve already told you before—Hadrian is a much better—”

I didn’t let him finish his sentence. Before the last syllable of that last word had left his lips, I’d reached into my jacket and withdrew my gun. Without blinking, I centered the barrel on him and paused with my finger on the trigger.

“Friend or not, Archer,” I said in warning. “I will find my wife and if I require your assistance, you will provide it.”

Without hesitation, Ian stepped in the way. “Put. Your. Fucking. Gun. Down.” The man’s nostrils flared and he seemed to swell with rage as he stood before me.

Archer, unperturbed, poked his blonde head around him. “How the hell did you manage to sneak one in anyway?”

I shrugged. “You have your ways, and I have mine.”

He sighed and shook his head. “You know I was gonna help you, you asshole. Put it the fuck away before Ian blows a gasket,” he said. “I was just complaining.”

The gun was returned to its holster, but Ian didn’t move as he glared at me. I waited, half curious and half already knowing how he would react. He moved forward until we were nearly chest-to-chest. “If you ever bring a weapon into my club again without my permission,” he said, his voice low and cold, “I’ll shove it up your ass and pull the fucking trigger.”

Silence stretched between us. My nerves were laced with a barely repressed rage, and though I knew none of it was directed at him, I needed an outlet. Seconds passed until finally Archer broke the tension with a short, “Kinky” sending Jensen into a fit of chuckles.

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