Page 87 of Resistant

Knox pounds on my bathroom door. I slip the phone back in its hiding place, holding a towel in front of my dripping body.

“Brynn, open the fucking door, now!”

“I fumble with the lock and open the door a few inches and Knox bursts into the room looking around.

“What the fuck are you doing, Brynn?”

“I’m taking a shower, Knox. Was there a rule about that tonight?”

My insolence does not go unnoticed, his eyes darken.

Knox pulls the shower curtain back, opening drawers and scrambling through the meager contents in the room.”

“An unauthorized device has connected to my network. Where the fuck is it, Brynn?”

“What are you talking about Knox?”

Fear races through me.

He tosses towels to the side and finding nothing stares at me with indignation and fury.

My brain unhinges from its normal state, and I notice how handsome he is, even when he’s enraged. It’s easy to forget your monster is a monster when he is all you see day in and day out.

“A device, an unknown device, connected to my network.”

His hands grasp my chin painfully and I struggle to keep my features neutral.

“I only have what you have given me, Knox. What about the other guests, could it be someone downstairs?”

His grip on my chin tightens and I momentarily close my eyes breathing through the pain. He holds my gaze for long moments, saying nothing, not looking away. Finally, he huffs out a breath and turns and walks out.

I step back into the shower, lather my hair with shampoo and jump when his voice bleeds through the curtain.

“I’ll be removing the lock from this door tomorrow, Brynn. You are to have no secrets from me. I’ll look into the guests, but if I find out that you are hiding something from me there will be severe consequences. I can’t prove this was you, but this little stunt has convinced me you don’t deserve any news about Declan’s progress.”

Disappointment washes through me. Adrenaline remains, Knox is ruthless. I count to fifty, waiting for him to come back, and when I don’t hear any movement from outside the door I reach over and turn the phone off.

I’ve been too scared to turn it back on. I know I have messages from Declan but have no idea if it’s safe to access them.

I fantasize about leaving the compound and reading Declan’s messages. According to the limited news I have access to, stable internet networks seem to be few and far between. But there must be some infrastructure, otherwise the phone wouldn’t work at all.

A month has passed since the incident at the party Knox held at this house. He has not invited any other guests, and my world has grown small, quiet, and disturbing.

While Knox has not forced me into his bedroom, he is aggressive and speaks of my unfulfilled requirement often.

He’s been gone for a week, and I expect when he eventually returns that I will be pressed into service, back into the Trade Game.

I’m sitting in his library, thumbing through the pages of a book I’m only superficially interested in. I hear the ticking of a clock and the low hum of a vacuum running somewhere in another wing of the house. I scoot around on the chaise lounge laying on my belly and swinging my feet back and forth in the air. I don’t have much in the way of clothing that I want to wear. My own things were mostly left behind and Mrs. Winkles seems to find joy in shopping for me. She tends to buy formal dresses, gowns and the like, but I only wear the sexy dresses when I have dinner with Knox, and only because its expected.

I have a t-shirt of Declan’s and I wear it frequently. It’s been washed so much that it’s faded, but I don’t care. The shirt is gigantic, and it reaches the tops of my knees. I’m customarily alone, so I don’t bother with pants.

I flip another page and feel a hand grasp one of my swinging ankles and I scream and kick out. Another hand roots itself in my hair and pulls me backwards until I can see Knox peering down at me.

“Come upstairs Brynn.”

I follow him to my room, and he passes it by, opening the double doors adjacent to my room. He holds the door open for me and I walk in before him. This is not a bedroom, it’s a suite. A gigantic bed sits center stage and I look around the space. He leads me to a door and opens it to reveal a closet as large as my master bedroom in my house. He opens a drawer rifling through it for a minute.

“Strip.”

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