Page 54 of Velvet Cruelty

The words ring in my mind like broken bells, shattering my insides. I’m too scared to cry, too hurt to breathe.

He turns his back on me. “Enjoy the last days of your life, Pryntsesa.”

I lie in the dark, listening to the water drip from the ceiling. I count three thousand nine hundred and thirty-three drops.

Money.

Freedom.

Marriage.

Death.

These are the four choices my future holds. The only paths I can hope to walk.

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