Page 124 of Paper Doll
I might be leaving Corvus College, but I’m taking some of it with me. My anger has twisted me up, spat me out as a different version of the girl I was when I arrived here.
It takes a moment for the truth to settle in, and I’m not sure if it makes me feel better or worse. I glance sideways at Gideon, who seems content to let me stew in my own thoughts, staring out the window like he’s lost in his own.
The silence stretches, and I can’t stand it. “You guys were gone a long time,” I venture, hoping he’s finally ready to fill me in on why they had to leave so suddenly in the first place. “Where were you?”
“Abroad,” Gideon replies, and it sounds too smooth, too easy. Too rehearsed, like he knew exactly what I was going to ask and exactly how he was going to answer.
The knot of suspicion in my chest tightens, squeezing the air from my lungs. “You couldn’t call?”
The calm, aloof expression he turns on me makes my skin crawl, because I’ve seen it before.On his son. “No phone service.”
“The airport, though?” I press.
“It was a madhouse,” he says with a low chuckle. “We barely had time to make our connections, let alone check our phones.” He clears his throat, abruptly changing the topic of conversation. “So, how have things been at school?”
“Oh, you know,” I sigh, shrugging. “Studying, late nights in the library, typical girl drama and boys being boys. I’d rather wait and talk about it at home with Mom.”
“Of course,” he smiles, reaching into the pocket of his slacks and pulling out his phone. “I’ve got a few emails to send off anyways. We’ll be on the road for a while, why don’t you kick back and nap or something? Aren’t you college kids all starved for sleep?”
“A nap actually sounds amazing,” I laugh, folding the arms of my sweatshirt over my hands and tucking them up against the window, resting my head. I’m exhausted, both from the letdown of adrenaline and lack of sleep. I tossed and turned all night, anxiously awaiting my six a.m. escape, and now that I actually pulled it off… well, I can finally get some much-needed rest.
I pass out for a couple hours, judging by how high the sun is in the sky when I blink my eyes open again. I glance out the window expecting familiar surroundings, but rather than the manicured hedges of the suburbs, I see asphalt and glass.
“Are we in the city?” I ask, blinking against the light as I sit up.
“Just have to make a quick stop,” Gideon supplies, flickering me a sideways glance. I see another glimmer of Raf in his eyes; of the look he gets right before he’s about to do something especially heinous. It catches me off guard, sending my pulse racing.
“But wouldn’t the mansion have been on the way?” I ask, brows drawing together in confusion. “Couldn’t you have at least dropped me off?”
“You were sleeping so soundly, I didn’t want to wake you,” he drawls.
That’s a lie. It has to be. It’s too neat and tidy, and my neck prickles with warning. It’s the same way I felt when I first met Wes; the same as when the other Kings entered the boathouse loft. It gives way to the same nagging sensation telling me I should run while I still can– the red flags I once ignored, but am now starting to recognize.
Something’s wrong.
My stomach churns with anxiety as the car turns off the street, descending down a ramp into an underground parking garage. Darkness descends, the shadows clinging to the sharp edges of Gideon’s profile with haunting precision.
For a second, I could almost swear it was Raf sitting next to me.
“Where are we?” I ask nervously, eyes darting back and forth as the car slowly pulls into what looks like a delivery bay.
Gideon doesn’t answer, but he also doesn’t have to when the look on his face says it all. My muscles coil, body bracing itself for a fight. He holds my gaze as footsteps sound.
“I’m sorry, Ava,” he murmurs, almost sounding like he means it.
The door beside me flies open, and in the next blink I’m being dragged from the car by gloved hands that are too strong to fight against. I barely have time to scream before a needle pierces my arm, a thumb depressing the plunger. My muscles immediately slacken as the drug takes hold, eyes focusing on Gideon watching from the car with calm detachment, like he knew this was going to happen all along. Like he planned it from the very beginning.
My knees buckle beneath me, the same hands that nabbed me from the car hoisting me up and turning me around. My vision swims as a blonde woman in a crisp white suit strides toward me, her stilettos clipping the pavement with every step. She stops in front of me, and her red-painted lips spread into a chilling smile.
“Welcome to the Dollhouse.”
TO BE CONTINUED
