Page 180 of Innocent Intentions

Before I can say a word, he speaks, fast and breathless.

“I found her. We’re heading your way.”

For the first time in a week, I can breathe.

Relief crashes over me like a wave.

Hold on, sweetheart. I’m coming for you.

Chapter 80

Margot

The door to my cell creaks open, but I don’t even lift my head to see who it is. It can’t be good, and I don’t have the energy to care.

I’ve refused every meal they’ve brought me. Partly out of fear of being drugged again, but mostly out of spite. It’s the only thing I can control. The only way I can defy them and fight back.

They don’t care. But still, I rebel.

The only problem? I’m weak. So weak.

I don’t know how long it’s been since I ate at the gala. The days have blurred together. I’m lost to the darkness. With no windows, time doesn’t exist.

At first, I tried to keep track, sleeping in intervals, listening to my body’s circadian rhythm. But now, I can barely stay awake long enough to form coherent thoughts. I sleep most of the time. It’s easier.

I thought I knew what it meant to be kidnapped when Matty took me.

I thought I knew fear.

But now I understand, I was never really his prisoner. And he never truly scared me.

Back then, I was in silks and satins, falling in love in a gilded cage. Now I’m wasting away in a concrete cell.

I’ve been dragged by my hair. Slapped. Kicked. Punched. I’ve been hauled in front of Viktor more times than I care to count.

At first, I fought. Even knowing I couldn’t escape, I still fought.

Even when it ended in bruises.

Even when it left me hurting.

But eventually, I ran out of fight.

Ran out of strength.

Ran out of hope.

Now, I just exist. Succumbed to my captivity. A shell. A shadow.

Every time I faced Viktor, I gave him the same answers. But last time, he said something that struck.

“If Montclair cares so much, why hasn’t he come for you yet?”

That hit me harder than any punch.

Why hasn’t he come?

Maybe he’s still looking.

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