Page 40 of Merciless Sinner

I walk outside the bedroom and close the door behind me. Keeping my steps light, I make my way across the landing. The automatic light snaps on, but as they’re on a time-sensitive program, they aren’t as bright as they were earlier.

I’ve been contemplating the idea of escaping since the thought infiltrated my mind.

I know it’s risky as fuck to even think about it, and if I get caught, Virgo might not be so forgiving just because I’ve stepped in the shoes ofhis Olivia.

Escaping would also break every term in that contract I agreed to with Virgo, but I can’t stay here. It was nice to meet Seamus and hear all the things he had to tell me about my brother and family, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I needed to take back control over my life. None of these people can help me, and I don’t want to be part of their world of danger.

In this mafia life.

Not that I was entirely safe in Monte Carlo, but I wasn’t married to the mob. I took care of myself and decided what I did and didn't do. My one bad mistake of getting involved with Flavio was my bump in the road. I won't make such a mistake again, and I definitely won't hang around here and wait for something bad to happen to me.

Or worse, allow Virgo to make me crazy. I can’t come this far in life only to lose myself to a man who will end up hurting me eventually, whether he intends to or not.

After my little encounter with him, I went for a walk in the garden. There I saw a path leading into the woods where the cameras stop. You can reach that same path from outside the basement.

When you're on the run like I’ve been, you always look for ways of staying hidden, and ways to escape when you need to.

I'm going to check it out now, but… if I get my chance to leave, I'm going to take it.

I’ve come to learn that you have to strike while you can because you may not get another chance, but that’s where the bulk of the risk comes in because I have no plan.

And I’m not prepared.

All I’m wearing is a pair of jeans and a hooded sweatshirt. Inside my sweatshirt is my phone and my purse containing my bank card. I have close to a thousand dollars in my bank account from my last paycheck. It’s not a lot, but that should see me through for a few weeks, and I might be able to get passage to South America or somewhere far.

I haven’t thought that far ahead yet. If I do get a chance to leave, then all I want to do is get as far away from here as possible and don’t get caught.

Carefully and quietly, I make my way down the steps. When I get downstairs, I look around, checking to make sure no one is around.

I also make myself look like I’ve just come downstairs to go for a walk around the house. There are cameras in here, and I'm sure the guards on surveillance will be watching.

Outside of Virgo’s personal guards who escorted us back from Monte Carlo, ten guards work on the grounds at all times. Two by the gates, two in the surveillance room, two outside the doors, and four who patrol the grounds.

It was Eden who told me that information on our tour. It was clear she was trying to assure me that I was safe, but she wasn’t to know that I’d file the information away for my escape attempt.

I walk down the hallway and keep going toward the kitchen. The entrance to the basement is in there. When I reach it, I check to make sure again no one is watching before I slip right through the door. I take the wooden steps down and quicken my pace when I pass the darker corners.

The door I need is just ahead of me.

I walk faster but slow down when I hear a shuffling sound. The sound grows louder, and I stop to look around.

When I find nothing, I decide it must be some kind of creature, like a squirrel or even a rat. The grounds of this property are huge with the woodlands and the lake; that would attract all sorts of animals.

I continue to the door and try to open it, but it’s unsurprisingly locked.

Pulling a hairpin from my hair, I shape it so I can fit it into the lock. This is the one useful skill Flavio taught me when he wasborrowingcash from his cousin. He broke into his apartment and took it from under the bed. It wasn’t until Flavio fell off the face of the planet that I found out he didn’t even know the man who lived there.

I shuffle the pin inside the lock until I hear it click. The door opens, but I hear the shuffling sound again, and it turns into solid footsteps.

Before I know it, a light snaps on, brightening the area and showing me Virgo walking out of the shadows like the Grim Reaper.

At first my mind freezes, then I try to think of some lie I can tell him, but in the same thought I realize the lie won’t work. It’s obvious what I’m doing. The hair pin is still in the lock, and as his gaze flicks from the lock to me, I can see that he knows I was trying to escape.

"Going somewhere?" he asks with a mocking smirk that makes my nerves shiver.

The smirk turns into a full-blown devilish smile, and my senses kick into overdrive when I contemplate what he might do to me now that he’s caught me. This was a bad plan.

Now the only thing I can think of doing is…

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