Page 76 of Brutal King

But he doesn’t come back. I beg and beg, and nothing. Then, I go quiet, hoping he’ll believe I’ve given up. Minutes pass, an hour. Whoever he was never returns.

Eventually, I do give up. Of course he’s not coming back. He was obviously one of Gideon’s employees. I bet he knew aboutme, which is why he was down here stocking the food stores in the wee hours.

I slide down the door and hug my knees to my chest, feeling completely alone. Tears prickle in my eyes, but they never make their way out. I’m heartbroken and defeated, but I’m also tired. So, so tired.

My plan is to stay here until Gideon finds me in the morning. Maybe he’ll take pity on me, if his black heart can feel anything. Maybe he’ll just carry me back upstairs to bed. Either one would be a win.

In the end, one of the cats takes both possibilities away. He begins to snoop through the grocery bags and attempts to crawl into one.

With a sigh full of resignation, I get up and unpack the remaining groceries. For fun, I move things around. Gideon will have a stroke when he can’t find his orderly pantry exactly as he likes it. I giggle to myself in a crazy person sort of way. It’s the little things in life that brings us pleasure, and pissing Gideon off, even a bit, will make my day.

I go upstairs to my bed, pausing only slightly to glance at Scarlet’s old room. For just a moment, when I woke up, I wondered if it had been her spirit alerting me to the man’s presence. I still can’t be sure. The kitchen is too far to have heard anything.

Touching the door, I say, “Thank you.”

It might have been a failed venture, but at least she tried. The thought renews the fight in me. If she hasn’t given up, neither should I.

I get my wish and sleep past nine. There were no cats using me as their mattress, no Gideon waking me for breakfast.

After a long shower, I head down to the kitchen to rummage for snacks. As soon as I reach the pantry, I notice everything’s been set back to normal. All my work to dismantle Gideon’s perfect organization has been undone.

“Damn, he’s fast,” I mumble.

“Actually, it took me over an hour.” I whirl to find Gideon leaning against the doorway, taking a bite of an apple. “That was very naughty, Little Bird. I came down to make us breakfast and couldn’t find a damned thing.”

I ignore the sinfully delicious sight he makes, the way he takes a bite of his apple, a suggestive look in his eyes. “It was just a bit of fun. No harm done.”

“Mmm.” He finishes his fruit and tosses it into the rubbish bin. “Come with me. I have something to show you.”

Setting my things aside, I follow him up the stairs and to his suite in the south wing. “What’s in here that I need to—” I freeze, staring at the bed. Well, not the bed itself, but the photos strewn all over it. “What is this?”

“Don’t you recognize yourself?”

I walk to the bed and peer down at the dozen photographs and gasp as I realize exactly what I’m looking at. They’re the photos Gideon took last week when he came into my dark room and fucked me on the counter.

“How did you get these?” I demand.

“Better question is, why did you lie? You told me you destroyed the film.”

My cheeks burn. I intended on tearing the film to shreds, but my curiosity got the better of me. I wanted to see what he saw. Wanted to know what I looked like to him as he fucked me.

Perhaps I should have gotten rid of the prints after, but that kinky part of me that seems to take over whenever he’s around begged me to hide them instead.

“You went through my things?” I divert.

“I can search anything I want at any time. Everything in this house is mine.”

“Including me?”

“Especiallyyou.”

I clench my jaw and glare at him. “Fine. I kept them. You caught me. Will that be all, sir?”

“Sir?” He blinks and then laughs in that amused way he has that makes me want to slap him.

“Can I go now?”

“No.” He sobers and picks up something I hadn’t noticed. A shiny chrome thing. “Do you know what this is?”

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