Page 59 of Longing for Liberty
He definitely knew. I struggled to take in air and push it back out, my lungs only managing small puffs. I couldn’t look at him. Words escaped me.
“Answer the question.”
“A little,” I blurted, shaking. How did he know? Had we been so loud and distracted that we hadn’t heard a drone watching?
“Listen carefully, Liberty.” Fitzhugh took my shoulders and squeezed them, making me look into his intense, thunderous eyes. “You will no longer have relations with your husband. Do you understand me?”
His words hit me with more power than his wife’s smack.
“Yes,” I whispered, horrified.
“You won’t so much as kiss him.” I nodded. Each of his words was like a low threat. “You tell him that as soon as you see him.No more.”
I kept nodding like a fool. “I understand.”
Finally, he released my shoulders and took a step back, jutting his chin toward the door for me to leave.
I gathered my things and rushed out. On the sidewalk outside, as the warmth hit my face, my eyes began to water just as a drone zoomed past. It reversed and hovered beside me as I walked, clearly seeing the emotion on my face. Pain lanced my abdomen and morphed into a dull throb that made me want to curl up in the grass.
Get it together!
I blinked several times and then widened my eyes and stood taller as I walked, forcing a small smile onto my face until the stupid drone was satisfied and buzzed away.
The bus ride home was a blur as my body came down from the shock. By the time I made it home, I wanted to pass out from mental and emotional overload. But I couldn’t. Because there was Jeremy, giving me a cute grin until his light brown eyes saw that I was not okay. Before he could ask, I told him. It came out robotic, disjointed.
“Secretary Amos Fitzhugh has ordered that you and I no longer kiss or have marital relations.”
His entire face fell, blanching, before he caught himself and gritted his teeth, wiping his hand over his mouth and jaw. It took him so long to respond. Finally, he said, “All right, then.”
Our eyes met like fire against fire, the tension thick between us.
“I’m going to change our sheets and do a load of laundry.”
He nodded. I was still shaking as I walked past him into the room, stripping the light blanket and sheet more roughly than was necessary. I pulled the bed out from the wall farther than I usually did when I made the bed and cleaned, far enough to look down and see a small, cylindrical black thing attached to the bottom of the box spring. It was a place I’d never thought to check before.
My heart went erratic as I stared long enough to process and then backed away. Jeremy was watching me from the doorway. His eyes went from me to the gap, then back to me. I gave him a minuscule nod and pretended to scratch my cheek, then touch my ear.
Yes,I silently told him,there is an audio recorder there.
His lips pursed, and I watched his jaw rock back and forth as his eyes clouded with thoughts and his shoulders rounded in fight mode. He had to have felt as disgusting and violated as I did.
Finally, he said, “I’m going for a walk.”
“Good idea,” I told him, needing for us both to cool down. “I’ll start dinner.”
As I shoved our sheets into the small washer and then began to brown the venison, questions ran through my mind. How long had they been listening to us? Was the device put there at the order of Fitzhugh, or did all bedrooms have them? It would make sense if they did…loose lips and pillow talk. We needed to warn Rebecca and Stanley. Maybe that’s what Jeremy was doing now.
Well, at least I had answers, though they weren’t at all what I’d hoped.
It turned out Amos Fitzhugh was not done with me yet. Nope. Just the opposite.
TWENTY-EIGHT
STATE NEWS: TWO WORKERS IN STOCKADES OF C1 FOR STEALING FOOD!
I was alonein the penthouse. The quiet consumed me as I forced down the scrambled eggs. My eyes darted to every corner, and the nervous pain in my belly was back. I quickly finished eating and washed everything.
Before I could even be excited about the possibility of Fitzhugh not being home today, he walked through the door in his gym clothes, hair damp from sweat. My belly flipped. He eyed me from head to bare toes before setting down his bag.
