Page 10 of Taming Liberty

“I bought you. You’re no longer a manor whore… It’s good that we’re both on the same page now. Feigning obliviousness when it comes to you was beginning to get tiresome.”

“Well,” I huff. “I would hate for your deceit to inconvenienceyou.”

He stands stone-faced, but I can see the wheels turning in his mind while he thinks through his next retort. I speak before he has a chance to.

“I don’t want you to buy me,” I say, my chest stuttering with my broken breaths. “I never want to fucking see you again.”

His jaw tics, but his expression remains otherwise impassive. “It’s already done.”

“Then undo it,” I snap, my voice raising.

He arches a brow. “This is what you wanted, remember?”

“I’m not going to be your fucking slave, youmonster!”

He scoffs. “As if you ever had a choice.”

My jaw drops, and it drags the last intact piece of my heart down with it. I swear, Angel either grows a foot or I sink into the floor because suddenly, he’s towering over me, his commanding scowl like a dare for me to go against his will.

I could cry.

I could scream.

But instead, I choose to be angry. I choose to take him up on his dare. I rear my palm back and slap him across the face. His eyes close, but his head doesn’t budge, as if he was expecting it. My red handprint forms on his cheek, yet he stands as rigid as a statue.

When he opens his eyes, I go to slap him again, but he grabs my wrist and squeezes, closing the distance between us so my neck is craned to look up at him and my chest touches his abdomen.

“Liberty…” He closes his eyes and sucks in a long breath as if he’s trying to steady himself. His face softens some, then I watch the lie begin to take shape, another lie to put me into submission.

I don’t let him. Ican’t. Because honestly, part of me hoped he’d have a good lie to soften this blow, but it’s too late for that. Iwishhe could fool me into thinking he was sorry. I wish he could convince me that he isn’t like Robert or Sawer or any of the other men on this godforsaken island. I wish he could make me want him the way I used to so I could burrow into his chest.

But he can’t. He just fucking can’t, and I shouldn’t let him try.

“I should’ve killed you when I had the chance.” My words slice through the air, and with the way he cringes, it looks like they literally cut him.

He lets go of my wrist, and I take a step back, bumping into the sink. I turn before either of us can say anything else, and I head for the back door. I don’t hear Angel behind me when I storm through his backyard, but I can feel his eyes.

My pace quickens until I’m running and forced to choose a path. But I don’t have a destination in mind. I’m not going back to the manor. I may not truly know Angel, but I don’t think he would’ve bought me without a reason, and my guess is going back to the manor would be a horrible idea.

So instead, I continue uphill. My lungs and my legs burn as I scale the mountainous terrain, but I don’t stop until I’m bent over in a coughing fit.

I spot a large boulder jutting out up ahead, and when I catch my breath, I climb onto it.

3

Angel

That could not have possibly gone worse.

I trudge through the trees searching for Lib, as I’ve been doing for the last half hour.

I tuck my flashlight under my arm and cup my hands around my mouth to form a megaphone before sucking in a deep breath. “Liberty!”

Leaves rustle in a canopy above me, and I shine the flashlight just as I hear a bird’s chirp. I sigh and carry on, calling Lib’s name every couple of minutes.

Darkness ascends slowly, making way for a new day, but there’s still probably another half hour before sunrise.

My chest heaves with my heavy breaths, and I start to worry I won’t find her. I have no doubt she’ll come back to the house—because where else would she go? —but I can’t bring myself to leave her out here, and I’d rather wander the island in search of her than sit in my home, wondering how I could’ve been such an idiot.

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