She looks to him with an almost comedic pout, but her phone rings, pulling her attention away. “Hello?” she picks up, pressing a finger to her ear. “Daddy?” I watch her face wrinkle as she steps away. She’s quickly distracted with her call, leaving Emmett and I in a stand-off.
I lift my chin and straighten my shoulders in resolve. I don’t know what I expected him to do with Vivian, but at least now his intentions are clear. I was just a convenient fuck while he has me as his prisoner. And I’d say as much to him if Bernadette wasn’t standing right there. If I make it out of this, I don’t need Vivian’s jealous wrath to worry about afterward.
Suddenly a black car whips around in the parking lot, screeching to a halt right in front of us. The back window rolls down as Thomas hangs his head out in a seething rage.
“Get in the car! Now!” His voice bellows with sharp command, and we’re all too afraid to hesitate to obey him. I’m not supposed to be outside of the manor, and Emmett looks terrified of the consequences. We quickly file inside.
I start to follow into the back seat behind Emmett, hoping he’ll protect me in whatever way he can. But Thomas suddenly appears behind me, clenching his hand around my wrist and yanking me to the front seat. Emmett and Bernadette comply, but I can feel Emmett’s rage that he can’t be near me.
Regardless of whatever he told Vivian, or whatever he feels for me, he still has a sense of ownership over me. He thinks I belong to him.
“Daddy, what’s going on?” Bernadette asks from the backseat.
“The Whitworths tipped me off,” he growls, his eyes darting over to me in disdain. “It appears the Hendersons are working with your father now.
I tense up in fear that they somehow know about my meeting with the Hendersons. I don’t want to know what the repercussions for that will be.
“The feds are closing in,” he continues. “My guy on the inside says I have less than twenty-four hours to leave the country.”
Vivian’s phone call makes sense now. Her parents must have been catching her up to speed with this new development. I can’t help but smile slightly at my father’s jump on the deadline. “Well then maybe that’s what you should be doing,” I offer coyly. “Instead of wasting your time with us.”
He slams on the brakes so suddenly my forehead shoots straight toward the dash, but I’m saved with a searing pain to my scalp as he violently yanks back my hair. His lips snarl as he looks over to me.
“Watch your mouth,” he sneers. “We told your father our terms. If I have to leave this country, you’re coming with me and you’ll never be back.”
After glaring into me for a few moments, his nostrils flaring with hot and angry breaths, he finally lets me go and returns to driving the car. We screech around every turn as he flies down the streets back to the manor. I bring my knees to my chest, making my body small as I press my forehead to the window.
He doesn’t take it any easier on me once we’re back to the manor. Before I can pull the handle to get out of the car, he is yanking the door out of my hand and reaching in to pull me out by my hair. I clasp my hands to his grip, trying to lessen the pull to my scalp, but he’s moving too fast for me to keep up. My eyes water with pain as he marches me back into the parlor and flings me back down into the chair.
He takes long and smooth cavalier strides over to this desk, his sudden calmness frightening me. With a tug of a drawer, his hand grips something and pulls it up into the light. My heart plummets at the sight of his pistol. He grins as he holds it up and cocks it before marching back over to me with purpose.
With another yank of my hair, he puts the gun to my head. “We warned you,” he growls into my ear. “We told you if he didn’t stop, we’d kill you.”
“I told you I don’t know him,” I plead. “I didn’t think he’d listen to me! He doesn’t care about me! This is a waste of your time!”
“He’ll listen,” Thomas barks. “At least you better hope he does. Now…what do you say we try again? Maybe this time with more feeling now that you understand we’re not fucking around?”
“It’s no use!” I argue with clenched fists, my voice trembling.
I look to Emmett hopelessly. He cowers, refusing to look up from his feet. His jaw is tight and clamped.
My teeth clench and grind as I grab at the finger marks on my arms. “Emmett, please! Do something!” I cry, but he just turns away and does nothing. I’m getting reacclimated to his indifference now. It was silly for me to think he would ever be some kind of savior. He’s just his dad’s puppet.
Thomas’s angry eyes turn to Emmett. He looks completely disgusted with him. “What’s this, son?” he calls out in a chilling tone. “Why is it that she’s turning to you for help?”
“I have no fucking idea,” Emmett lies in a low grumbling tone, shifting uncomfortably.
“You sure about that?” he continues, looking at his son with such hatred. “You haven’t been sampling the goods have you, my boy?”
“No, Dad!” Emmett defends with a nervous shriek. “I swear! I haven’t touched her! I just did what you said!”
“Well then, maybe you’d like to come over here and prove it?” Thomas calls his bluff.
Emmett’s fists clench, his lips snarling as he glares at me. Ready to pounce and do whatever his father says. He doesn’t even look like himself anymore. He’s running on fear. Whatever his father would do to him is enough to put him back in his place.
My breaths are so quick and shallow, I’m certain I’m hyperventilating as his grip in my hair tightens. I shudder to think what Thomas might make Emmett do to prove his loyalty. It shouldn’t matter right now, but I realize this is how he maintains control. Calling anyone out the moment they question him or go against his wishes.
I squeeze my eyes shut as the cold metal barrel pushes into my temple, Emmett’s stand-off with his father quickly being filed away for later. Thomas clicks the pistol with what I can only assume is the removal of the safety.