“I don’t needyourmoney. Now, get out and never show your face here again!”
The man stumbled over to the door, but not before glaring at Indra. He turned to Sebastian once he neared the door. “She’s a prick tease. She wanted me and it’s obvious you’re not satisfying her. I was going to give her something to remember.”
One look at Sebastian and Indra knew she’d better do something if the man was going to leave the room alive. She jumped between them. “Oh, I’ll remember you all right. And I’ll make sure you have nothing to do with our business again. Now do as Sebastian told you, and leave. Otherwise I’ll call the police.”
“The police? I doubt that. You’ve a reputation for keeping a low profile and I’m sure you have good reason for it. Am I right?”
Indra blanched and shook her head. The man knew something, or suspected something. Whatever, today had been a complete and utter mistake. She’d expected it would be, and now she knew. Her past was going to come back to haunt her. And she didn’t know if she’d survive it.
The door slammed shut behind him and she turned slowly to face Sebastian, who still looked like he wanted to murder somebody. Luckily, as she walked towards him, she realized it wasn’t her.
There was a shout from outside—one obscenity following by another—and they both looked over to the window. She followed Sebastian to the open window.
“Leave now!” Sebastian commanded, and the man staggered back a few steps. Luckily, there wasn’t anyone to see him. This window looked at the rear of the property and there wasn’t anyone around.
“Oh, don’t worry, I’m going, which is more than can be said about you! I slammed the bolt closed. Looks like I’ve done you a favor after all, Sebastian!” He laughed, and stumbled away.
They both turned at the same time and looked at the door, and then at each other in disbelief. Sebastian walked to the door and pushed it. It held firm. He must have used the rusty old bolt which she’d never got around to removing. Indra hadn’t even realized it still worked.
Sebastian kicked the door, looking panicked. She suddenly remembered his dislike of being locked in, and of what must have happened to him here. He started walking around like a caged animal.
“It’s okay. I’ll call someone.” She looked around and then winced. “Oh no! My laptop. It’s in the estate offices.”
“But your computer…”
She shook her head. “It died a few days ago. I’ve been using my laptop.”
“Then a phone. For goodness’ sake!”
She grimaced, unwilling to break the news.
“Don’t tell me that’s downstairs, too!”
She nodded. “Yes.” She shrugged. “I must have left it down there when I came in.” She pushed her fingers in her hair, twisting this way and that, as she tried to figure out what to do. “I was upset. Not thinking straight, so I”—she closed her eyes as she recalled her steps—“so I tossed it onto the coffee table and then decided I wanted to come up here instead.”
“Right. And mine is in my jacket.” He shot her a fierce look. “Also downstairs.”
“We can try calling out?” She went to the window and leaned out, but the afternoon had waned now and there was no one around. Sebastian had given strict instructions that no one should be around the house outside of office hours and everyone took him at his word.
“There’s no point,” he said. “There’s no one to hear.”
“But the lock. It’s old, surely it can’t hold.”
“Oh that thing can hold all right. I looked. It’s the same as it always has been. Reinforced to stop anyone from getting out.”
“That’s odd.”
“Not odd. That’s my father. Making sure I couldn’t get out, and that I took my punishment. The only one I couldn’t bear.”
The answers slipped into focus. She blinked, urging him to continue.
“I could take beatings, I could take hard work, but what I couldn’t take was being confined. And so that was what he did. My father had an unerring sense of how to be cruel.”
She shook her head in denial.
“Not Charles. Not my step-father. He wouldn’t do such a thing.”
“He would, and he did. To me.” She could see the agitation getting the better of him and he burst into movement, slamming himself against the door. He was right. It held firm. There was no way he was going to break out of there. He paced away, agitation clear in every step.