Dark Desires by Candace Wondrak

Chapter Three – Juliet

I sat at my desk in my room, humming to myself. My mood was actually pretty good, though I couldn’t remember why. A textbook sat before me, along with a laptop, but I couldn’t really see what was on the screen. It was funny; I thought I’d finished school, but maybe not.

Hmm. I didn’t really feel like working on anything right now anyway, and since I couldn’t surf the internet since Daddy had tons of things blocked, I closed the laptop and leaned back in my chair, looking around my room.

My room. My bedroom. Home. The place I hardly ever left, and when I did, it was just to go downstairs. A tiny space, but one that kept me safe. That’s all that mattered, right?

Footsteps alerted me to someone else’s presence, and I looked over my shoulder, seeing someone I was pretty sure shouldn’t be here: Jaxon. He wore a tight t-shirt, and the fabric hugged his muscles and made my gaze wander a bit.

Oh, I’d seen nice male bodies on TV before, but in person, it was different. In person, when you could touch them, it was so much better.

“Jaxon,” I spoke, grinning, “what are you doing here?” I was slow to get up, off my chair. “Did Daddy let you in?”

Jaxon said nothing, but he did step further into my room, his legs sweeping across the space, closing the distance between us in a matter of seconds. His arm wrapped around my lower back, pulling me close to his chest, and I lost whatever breath had been in my lungs as a result.

What on earth… why was he here? What was he doing?

And then I found out.

His mouth came down upon mine, and he backed us up to the bed. Within the next few moments, he lowered me down and crawled on top of me. His lower half ground down on me, making me feel something hard between his legs. He kissed me in a way I couldn’t ever remember being kissed before, and all logical thought flew out of my brain, gone, just like that.

Jaxon’s mouth was addicting, and I never wanted him to go. I liked the way his lips tasted on mine, how his teeth occasionally nibbled at my lip. And his tongue… oh, it was even nicer when his tongue pushed its way past my lips and danced with mine.

I felt so out of my element, but it was Jaxon. It was Jaxon, and every part of me screamed out for him. My lower gut burned with a need I didn’t recognize, and I moaned into the kiss when I felt him grinding against me over and over, applying more pressure to the space between my legs with his body.

Gosh, it felt so good.

His mouth left mine, trailing kisses along my neck. I didn’t know why, but I opened my eyes. I opened my eyes and saw we were not alone in my room. Daddy had walked in, and he stood beside my bed, his gaze narrowing as he watched us. He folded his arms over his chest, lips thinning, and he said not a word, though the disdain was plain on his face.

I set a hand on Jaxon’s shoulder, trying to pull him off me, to stop him from showering my neck with attention. I could not break gazes with Daddy, and Daddy continued to not say a single word.

“Jaxon,” I started, and all pressure stopped on my body, his mouth pulling off my neck as he held himself above me. I was able to look away from Daddy then, meeting the hazel stare of someone who was most definitely not Jaxon. “Will?”

Wait a minute. Wasn’t Jaxon just—I could’ve sworn Jaxon was here, not Will, but I shrugged it off.

“Will, we should stop,” I whispered once I brought my gaze back to Daddy, but Will didn’t listen. He lowered his mouth to my neck and continued to kiss me, seemingly unaware or uncaring that Daddy stood a few feet away, watching all the while.

This was wrong. I should push Will away, stop him. I didn’t want Daddy to think I’d gotten stolen and started to care for my captors. Daddy would think I was weak and stupid, a whore, someone he didn’t raise. Maybe that’s why he stared at me so, as Will made every single part of my body feel alive.

I cried out when I felt the space between my legs flare in heat, and I didn’t know if Will was touching me down there or not. It certainly felt like it, but I could not turn my head away from Daddy to see for myself. It was almost like I was terrified to look away, silly as it was.

Didn’t really matter, though, because Will’s assault on my body only stopped when I felt myself losing it. Whatever control I thought I had vanished, pleasure shooting through my veins as I came. An orgasm. These men seemed very good at giving those, didn’t they?

Then, like a shadow in the night, Will was gone, vanished completely, leaving me alone with Daddy.

I still had all of my clothes on, but as I lay there, I felt naked, like Daddy could see how much the area between my legs throbbed, what Will had done to me. Like he knew I’d become a sinner and enjoyed it. Like he hated me—me, his only child, his only family, all because I’d given myself to someone else.

“Daddy,” I whispered, laying there, unable to sit up, “I’m sorry.”

Daddy opened his mouth, but no words came out.

That was the last thing I remembered before waking up, jerking awake in a bed that wasn’t mine, in a room very much unlike the one I’d just dreamt about. My body felt all hot, the space between my upper thighs warm, like it’d gotten worked up from the dream itself. I wanted… well, I kind of wanted to make that dream a reality, minus Daddy watching, but maybe that’s just because I felt a little… you know.

Horny, I guess?

Whatever you wanted to call it, I certainly felt it as I got up and got dressed. It was a nice distraction from the sheer terror I’d felt before. I’d take horny and creepy over murder any day. Call me weird.

The only good thing about being in this house was that there was no schedule. I was on my own, so by the time I woke up from that weird dream, the sun was already out and shining. I’d spent the entire day before locked away in my room—though Jaxon’s visit did help to make me feel a bit better about being stuck here—but I refused to stay in this room any longer.

I might be a prisoner here, but if Markus wanted me to stay locked in a room, he’d have to chain me up.

Uh… I probably shouldn’t say that out loud, because knowing him, he just might decide to do that.

I was in the process of tugging down the shirt I’d wear when my door opened. I turned around, feeling something inside me twist when I saw the handsome face smirking at me. A handsome face with beautiful hazel eyes, brown hair that was just long enough to tug on when…

Okay, clearly that dream made me a little hornier than I thought, because I should not be having those thoughts willy-nilly, even if it was only Will. Everything Jaxon had said was true: if I cared for these guys, Markus would use my feelings, twist them around until they were knives hurting me.

I didn’t want that.

But I also couldn’t fight the smile that grew on my face when I saw him. “Will. I didn’t know you were there.” It was a good thing he waited until now to pop in, otherwise he would’ve gotten a good view… although, it wouldn’t have been the first time, I supposed.

“Oh,” he spoke with that blasted smirk, “I’m always around. Especially now, since Markus doesn’t trust you anymore and wants you to be watched. You should be glad it’s me he trusted you to and not Bennet.”

Ah, yes. Bennet. The one who almost killed me with a fork. Hard to forget that one.

“I’m dropping you with Doc after breakfast. I’ve been up all night and need a little power nap,” Will went on, that smirk not once leaving his face. The intensity of it made heat creep up my neck and color my cheeks—or maybe that was just leftover heat from my dream.

“Okay,” I said. I couldn’t argue. I knew there was no point. I sure as heck didn’t want a babysitter with me at all times, but it had been made abundantly clear to Markus that I couldn’t be on my own in this house. A girl got up to too much trouble, like trying to escape.

I know. My bad. A man had lost his life because of my mistake, and I wouldn’t be making a mistake like that again anytime soon, trust me. I’d learned my lesson. I’d learned it hard, and every time I shut my eyes, I still saw that man, locked up, his guts spilling out. All that blood…

“Come on,” Will said, dragging me out of my thoughts. “You didn’t eat at all yesterday, did you?”

I shook my head, but I did take my pill. You know, for reasons. In case. Not in case Markus decided to… okay, I should just stop letting my mind ramble, because it never seemed to go in the right direction.

“I think it’s time you did, then.”

I couldn’t agree more, so I followed Will out of my room, walking with him past the dining room, to the kitchen, where an older blonde man, the same one I’d seen before when I’d first met Will, was writing down a list. I assumed a list of ingredients, but who could say for sure?

“Ed,” Will spoke, and the blonde chef snapped his head up, dark blue eyes twinkling when he saw us both. “Fix this girl something big, will you? She didn’t eat anything yesterday, so I’m sure she’s starving.”

Ed set down his pen, bringing his stare to Will. “And you?”

“Don’t worry about me,” Will shrugged him off. “After she eats, I’m going for a nap. I’ll grab something when I get up later.” As Ed went to work making me something, Will brought me to the dining room, sitting me in one of the many chairs at the long table.

I still wasn’t used to all this space. The house I’d grown up in wasn’t exactly small, but this house had high ceilings, overly large rooms, and even ten-foot wide hallways. It was basically a castle with its own torture chamber in the basement. How stupid I’d been for ever thinking I’d be able to get out of here on my own.

Will and I were the only ones around, probably because it was so late. Not your normal breakfast time. It’d been a while since I’d been down here, frankly, and I was happy to see Bennet himself was nowhere nearby. A little sad Jaxon wasn’t here, though.

“You doing okay?” Will asked, intently focused on me and nothing else. The world could crumble around us, and I doubted he’d even notice, too zeroed in on me and waiting anxiously for my answer.

I nodded. “I’m okay.” That was the truth, at least for now. I also knew it was a truth that could change depending on the hour and who I was with. If, for instance, Markus had me dragged into his office right now, I probably wouldn’t be so okay.

That man… how could I ever look at that man again? How could I be alone with him in a room after watching him go feral on an innocent soul? I could never forget what I saw, nor could I ever forget it was all because of me.

“Things will get better,” he told me, bringing me out of my head once again. It was like Will knew when I was thinking too much, and he always did his best to drag me out of it, to stop myself from overthinking. “They will. Just… don’t go running off again.”

I managed to chuckle at that, though it was not exactly a true laugh. A little bitter, I think. “I know. I know. I just… I thought, maybe, I could get out of here, but I was wrong.” I shrugged. “I don’t even know what I would’ve done if I made it over the gate. How I would’ve gotten home, any of that stuff. I was never really taught what to do.”

I felt like a fool admitting something like that. I mean, I was eighteen years old. People my age were going off to college, something Daddy never entertained for me, unless it was online. But I didn’t want online schooling anymore. I wanted… I wanted to go out there and make friends, date, live like everyone else was.

So, I guess me being a fool wasn’t a new thing. I’d always been one, hoping for things, wanting things I’d never get, like my own prince charming.

Yeah, what an idiot I’d been, huh?

Will reached for me. He sat next to me, so it was easy for him to set a hand on my lap. The touch was almost too intimate, but I didn’t pull away. After all, I’d stepped over my boundaries already with Will, so what was a gentle touch on the thigh?

“I’ll do everything I can for you here,” he told me, voice low, as if he didn’t want anyone else to hear. I supposed he didn’t; I was meant to be a job and nothing more. A captive in this place, a plaything for Markus until Daddy did whatever it was he wanted. “I’ll keep you safe.”

I knew he believed in his words, I could see it on his face. So eager to please, so willing to comfort me. So sincere and serious. “Thank you,” I whispered back, slow to set a hand on top of the one on my thigh, “but I think we both know there’s only so much you can do. As everyone is so keen to remind me, whatever Markus says goes, and if he wants to hurt me, I don’t think you or I could stop him.”

Will looked as if he wanted to say something, like he wanted to argue with me, but in the end, he pulled his hand off my thigh and muttered, “Yeah, you’re right. But still, I’ll do what I can.”

I appreciated that. I did. I appreciated it more than he could ever know.

Theo had me dusting his office. I didn’t have to work while I was with him, while Will napped, but I couldn’t just sit there and twiddle my thumbs for hours again. Yesterday had been… awful. Awful because I’d been reeling over what I saw and how trapped I’d been in the pitch-blackness, but also awful because there was nothing else to occupy my mind with while stuck in that room.

I didn’t mind working. It kept me busy, helped make the time go by faster. It also helped me ignore Theo, who currently watched me with a mixed expression on his face.

“You really don’t have to do that,” he said. “You could take a seat, rest. I’m sure you—”

“I’m fine,” I said, refusing to look at him. If I met those amber eyes, if I stared at that cute but concerned face of his, I might just lose it again. I hated that everyone treated me like I might break. I was already broken at this point, didn’t they get that? This was me trying to hold together whatever pieces of me were left.

Theo said nothing in response, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw he had looked down to whatever stack of papers sat before him on his desk. He flipped through them, making a few notes here and there as I went along his bookcases and cabinets.

I thought that was that, but after a few moments, I heard him sigh, and I glanced over my shoulder at him. Theo pinched the bridge of his nose, his glasses in his other hand, having been taken off seconds before. It was a moment before he put his glasses back on and looked at me, and I knew what he would say before he said it.

“You’re not, that’s the thing,” Theo spoke. He got up, his grey button-down shirt neatly tucked into his dark slacks, as his shirts always were. So neat and tidy he was, never with stubble on his face. Near Will’s age, but still too young to be a doctor in my eyes.

Maybe that’s why I preferred calling him Theo instead of Doc, like most everyone else around here did.

He moved toward me, and I was slow to turn away from the cabinet I was currently dusting, holding the rag between us. Theo stopped when he stood two feet away, brown brows creased as he stared. “You’re not fine, Juliet.”

“I am, and I wish you’d stop saying that.” As if to further hit the nail on the head, I stated again, “I’m fine.” I started to turn away from him, but he caught me by the arm, stopping me. His grip was stronger than it should’ve been, stronger than I’d thought it would be—not that I imagined his hands and how they could hold me.

Not that I replayed that day, when Markus had shown me that video, and I’d come in here, in tears, and ran into his arms. I didn’t. I definitely didn’t.

But feeling his hand on my arm, his fingers curled around firmly… I might just start. It was better than thinking of anything else, wasn’t it?

Theo must’ve realized he still held onto me, for he dropped me like a hot potato, coughing a bit before saying, “You’re trying to avoid facing your feelings, but it might help you to talk about them. I can imagine seeing what you saw was terrifying, to say the least.”

“I’ll—” I wanted to tell him I’d be fine. Maybe I wasn’t quite fine now, but I would be. If I lived that long. If nothing else happened. Dang it, Theo was right, of course. I wanted to avoid thinking about it; I wanted to avoid it all. “How can someone do that and act normal afterward? How can you work for someone like that?” As I spoke, I clutched the dusty rag harder. If it was a fragile thing, it would’ve broken in my grip, just like that.

I needed to be more like this rag. Go with the flow, do whatever, no matter how dirty and gross things became. No matter how filthy I was, I could always take more.

Hmm. I should probably stop comparing myself to a dirty dust rag.

“I have no choice.”

“Don’t you? Couldn’t you walk out of that door and never come back?” I didn’t know if Theo lived here or not, but he knew what went on under this roof. He knew he was the doctor for psychopaths and sociopaths. How could he justify helping them, saving their lives when they took the lives of other people without remorse?

Theo let out a loud sigh, sticking his hands in his pockets as he said, “It’s not that easy, for any of us.”

“I just don’t understand. I don’t understand how someone could kill and not feel anything at all.” I stared at my feet. They were bare. No socks, no shoes, just toes whose nails were in a desperate need of painting.

“It certainly does take a particular type of person,” he said. “Of which you are not. I know you haven’t seen much of the world, but there are monsters out there—worse monsters than the ones you’ve seen here. I don’t know why Markus had you brought here, and I don’t know why he showed you everything he did, but I do know he doesn’t do anything without reason. The more I think about it, the more I start to wonder if there’s more to it.”

Shaking my head, I said, “What are you talking about?”

“Markus hates bringing people into this house. To have you brought here, well… I don’t think he planned on letting you go from the start.”

I let out a bitter chuckle. “Oh, that’s great. That’s just great. I was always destined to die here, then.”

My words caused Theo’s amber gaze to refocus on me. “No, Juliet. If he wanted you dead, you’d be dead. He wouldn’t have you brought here. He’d send someone out there to kill you in your own bed, and he wouldn’t feel bad about it, and yet here you are, in this house, still alive.”

I didn’t understand what he was getting at. “He seems pretty intent on hurting me.”

“A man like Markus Scott,” Theo spoke slowly, and I had the feeling he chose his words carefully, “is not the kind of man who knows how to take care of something. He knows how to rule, how to kill, and how to punish. You are not just a punishment for someone else. I don’t believe it. If you were, you’d be dead already. Your death would be the only message Markus would need to send.”

“He had Jaxon tape a video of us and send it to my dad,” I said. “Whatever this is, it’s for him. He works for Markus.”

Theo stared at me right then, and he looked at me hard. The normally soft and gentle man looked as if he wanted to take me by the shoulders and shake some sense into me. He didn’t, though. A muscle in his jaw simply clenched as he said, “Markus doesn’t take worker bees falling out of line lightly. This isn’t just about your father. I think it’s about you in equal measure.”

My heart did something funny in my chest. “Why would it be about me? I’m… I’m no one.” That I believed with unwavering truth. I was a nobody, unimportant in the grand scheme of things. Just a little nobody, a girl, someone who didn’t belong here.

The corners of Theo’s mouth quirked just a bit, almost as if he was trying to smile but failing. The situation did not call for a smile. “You’re far from nobody.” He looked as if he was going to say more, but a loud sound, the sound of the door slamming open, caused him to jerk back, take an involuntary step away from me.

Both Theo and I looked to the door, where someone stood, frowning and wincing through his pain. Though we hadn’t spent much time together, I recognized his face immediately, even if it was a bit more beaten-up than it had been before.

Okay, a lot more beaten-up, as in, split lip, a bruised jaw, a cut on his forehead. And his knuckles… let’s just say there were numerous cuts all along them.

“Bennet,” Theo spoke, “what happened?”

“Nothing,” Bennet hissed. “I just need some—” He stopped when he noticed me, and those blue eyes were quick to turn angry as he looked at me. “Am I interrupting something?” The words were practically hissed out, insinuating something had been going on between Theo and me just now.

Which I totally didn’t get, because nothing was going on.

Theo folded his arms over his chest. “Get into another fight? You know I have to report this to Markus.” As Bennet growled out a low sound, he went on, “And if he does not allow it, you know I can’t give you anything to help. I’ve got half a mind to refuse you on my own. You know this happens far too much.”

“I don’t fucking care what you think,” Bennet hissed, stepping further into the room. “Markus doesn’t need to know. Why don’t you just go back to whatever it was you were doing, and I’ll grab what I need and go—” As he stepped further into the room, I saw he limped somewhat.

Whatever fight he’d gotten into had been a tough one, clearly.

Bennet saw I was staring, and he whipped his dark head in my direction, sneering, “What the fuck are you looking at?” So gruff, so ticked off, so angry at me for simply looking at him, like I was doing something I shouldn’t.

I wasn’t stupid. I knew this one was perhaps even more dangerous than some of the other men here. He’d nearly killed me with a fork when we first met; hard to forget that. Actually, no, it was dang impossible to forget. This one clearly acted without thinking, and that made him a different kind of dangerous, the opposite of Markus, really.

“You will not touch anything in here,” Theo told him. “Come with me. To Markus.” He started toward the door, but Bennet made no moves to turn and go with him. “Come on.”

“No,” Bennet spoke with a shake of his head. “No. Markus can go fuck himself.”

“Really? That’s the attitude you’re going to take right now? Or is it because you know how angry he’ll be with you? Because you know he won’t be sending you off on any other jobs when you act like this,” Theo spoke, taking on a stern tone I’d never heard the doctor take before. Reprimanding, solemn, firm in everything he said.

Bennet flicked those blue eyes in my direction, and I quickly looked down, unable to hold that gaze for long. They reminded me of Tori’s eyes, the same kind of blue, though a heck of a lot crazier.

It was a long moment before he muttered, “Fine, go tell on me. Go talk to Markus. I’ll wait right here.” He moved to sit before Theo’s desk, taking up one of the leather chairs before it. He leaned back, groaning somewhat as he propped his feet up on the desk. “She’ll watch me and make sure I’m a good boy.” His sneer turned into a smirk at that.

Theo was not convinced, and he glanced at me. He probably didn’t trust Bennet to be alone with me, but I was at the point where, with what I’d seen and what I expected to happen to me here, what was the point in keeping me away from the monsters?

Hint: there was none. It was all pointless.

“Go,” I whispered, “I’ll be fine.”

Theo frowned a bit, and with one last look at Bennet, he moved to stand before me, lowering his voice enough to whisper, “I’ll be right back. Don’t… try not to talk to him, or let him get close. Feel free to scream if he does.”

I nodded, although I couldn’t tell if he was being serious or not. Maybe he wasn’t, but I was pretty sure he was.

Theo left the room, though he did make a point to leave the door wide open as he left. My eyes lingered near the door frame, as if already waiting for him to come back. I enjoyed Theo’s company, if I was honest. Even though he was far too used to everything that went on underneath this roof, he was also the most normal out of them all. At least, I thought so, but I also knew I wasn’t the best judge when it came to normalcy. Never knew it myself.

The silence of the room became heavier almost immediately, and I slowly lowered my gaze to the rag in my hands. I should continue to dust, act like Bennet wasn’t here with me. If I ignored him, maybe he wouldn’t talk to me—or maybe he’d become so angry with me that I was ignoring him he’d lash out, which he seemed to be quite good at doing.

Didn’t know what I’d rather have, really.

By the time I decided to return to dusting, Bennet had already made his decision, for he swung his legs off the desk and hopped to his feet, cocking his black-haired head as he stared at me, zeroing in on me like a hunter would its prey.

Prey. That’s what I was to everyone here. I was the prey, and it was only a matter of time until I was caught by someone’s teeth.

I gave Bennet my back, spraying the rag in my hand before running it along the nearest cabinet. I couldn’t remember if I’d already dusted this one or not. I was too busy trying to act busy so Bennet would get the hint and leave me alone.

“I don’t get what the big deal is about you,” he muttered, and I continued to pretend I didn’t hear him. He limped until he stood a few feet behind me, and though I could not see him, I knew he stared at my back hard, eyeing me up curiously. “You’re not very impressive. You look like you couldn’t fight your way out of a wet paper bag.”

Don’t engage with him, I told myself. Whatever you do, don’t engage.

“Personally, if I were Markus, I’d have you locked up in the basement,” he went on. “Tied down, helpless—”

Okay, I knew I shouldn’t talk to him, but I couldn’t just stand there and ignore the fact he was telling me he would be torturing me if he were the one in charge. Though it was a bad idea, I turned around and gave him a glare. I probably wasn’t very good at glaring, but still, I liked to think it was instinctual, to some degree.

“I know very well what you’d do to me in that basement,” I told him, “so I guess it’s a good thing you’re not in charge, hmm?”

His lips curled into a smirk—a beaten, bloody smirk, but a smirk nonetheless. At least there was no fork nearby for him to threaten me with; although, there was a pen on Theo’s desk, which could become a weapon in Bennet’s hand. I had the feeling anything could if he tried hard enough.

“You’re a family of crazy murderers,” I said. “Every single one of you.” I gave him my back, returning to dusting as I muttered, “I don’t know how you live with yourselves with all you’ve done.” That was an understatement. I knew I could not even begin to comprehend all these men, this family, had done.

Bennet let out a low chuckle, and it sounded like he’d moved closer to me. Theo’s warning ran in my head, but I pushed it back. What would Bennet do? Kill me? End this miserable existence right here and now?

Really, how many times could you threaten someone with death and pain and expect them to still cower in fear? Eventually you went numb, and I was starting to wonder if I’d reached that point.

All that blood… the stench, the taste of it in the air. The man’s screams, the feeling of steel sliding into flesh.

“I’m not going to deny that,” Bennet whispered. “But it’s fucking stupid to say something like that to our faces. To my face, specifically. You think things are crazy here? You think we do terrible, terrible things?” He chuckled again, and I felt his body inch closer to mine. I moved forward until I was pressed against the cabinet, my fingers clutching the rag so hard my knuckles were white.

Now would be the time when Theo would want me to scream, probably, but I didn’t. I stood there, feeling his body crowd around mine, his arms lift and set on the cabinet in front of me, allowing me to see each and every cut in his skin, the bruises beginning to form from his fight.

“If I was in charge, you’d already be rotting,” he whispered.

I closed my eyes. I shouldn’t say anything. I shouldn’t egg this one on again, not like I had during breakfast that one morning. Didn’t I learn my lesson when it came to Bennet? You’d think… but after recent events, I felt a little rash, I guess.

I turned around—though it was difficult since Bennet stood so close—and glared at him, unblinking as I met that sapphire stare. He looked a lot like the man I’d seen in the basement with the redhead, the one who’d cleaned up the mess. Definitely a Scott by blood, not adopted into this family like Jaxon.

“Who do you think you are,” I said, pausing, letting my words sink in, “saying things like that? To do what you do? Do you think the world has gone on for so long because of people like you, or do you think it’s because people like me outnumber people like you?”

Bennet’s bruised jaw clenched, and he narrowed that stare at me. “Tell me this, then: where do you think the world would be if there weren’t people like us here to take out the trash?” What a thing to say, indeed.

“Trash?” I echoed, faint. “Is that how you view everyone else? Everyone who’s not a Scott is trash, their lives automatically worthless unless you decide otherwise?” God, I couldn’t imagine thinking like that, feeling that way. I couldn’t even put myself in his shoes for one moment, not when he thought such haughty, smug and superior thoughts.

He said nothing, but he did pull himself away from me, limping back to the chair and sitting in it, shoulders slumped.

I wasn’t sure what that meant. Did I say something that bothered him? Or was he trying to hold himself back from me because he knew Theo would return shortly? I supposed I should be thankful I was no longer cornered against a wall cabinet, but at the same time, a part of me wanted to know more about this unstable man.

How could you go on living a life while believing everyone around you was trash? Sure, it made doing what they did easier—why would you feel bad about killing innocents when you didn’t care about them at all? To say that people actually meant something, that they weren’t worthless… that would be to realize the true sin of what they did, the vileness of it all. You couldn’t see the carnage around you if you were blind.

“People have a right to live,” I muttered, and though I wanted to say more, I didn’t get the chance to, for Theo returned.

“You’re in luck,” Theo stated, causing Bennet to straighten up a bit. “Markus must be feeling kind today.” He went to a cabinet near me, pulling out a white bottle of some kind of pills. He moved to Bennet’s side, handing him the bottle. “Take two when the pain gets to be too much. You know the drill.” He almost sounded bitter, like he’d been hoping Markus would refused treatment to Bennet entirely.

Still, I stood there for a while, wondering why Markus had to feel nice today and not, you know, before, when I’d been dragged into the basement and forced to watch something so horrific. If he would’ve felt kinder then, that man might still be alive today.

Bennet took the pills, gave Theo a salute, and got up. He shot me a look before going, and it was a look I couldn’t read, nor did I want to. I was too caught up in my own head, wondering why everything couldn’t be different.

Once Theo and I were alone again, he went to shut the door, heaving a sigh as he did so. “Are you all right? I thought about taking you with me, but I think it’s a good thing for you to avoid seeing Markus for as long as possible.” His amber gaze was on me, studying me like he expected to find an injury.

He really didn’t trust Bennet, apparently.

“I’m fine,” I muttered. As fine as I could be, you know, since I was here and not at home. At home with Daddy, who was just like these guys. A liar, a killer, someone I never dreamed of having in my life. “I can’t believe what you said, though.”

“What? About Markus?” Theo meandered to his desk, and I took up the same chair Bennet had been in. The leather was a bit warm from his body. “He’s definitely in a mood—which is very unlike him. If I had to guess, I’d say it was because of you.”

“Me?” The word felt strange. After all, why would Markus feel any sort of way because of me?

“It gets back to what I was saying before,” he told me, lowering his voice, “there’s more to this than forcing your father back in line. I just… I don’t understand it, either. I’ve known Markus for years, and he’s not the type to ever let his emotions get the better of him, but when you tried—and failed—to run away, he snapped.”

I figured Markus snapping was something that happened often, but maybe I was wrong. Theo did know him a lot better than me. All I had were a few interactions with him. Sure, he’d been controlled during all of them, up until I attempted my escape, but the man had to have anticipated me trying to run. It couldn’t have come as that big of a shock.

It just didn’t make sense.

“He never snaps,” Theo stated, eyes warm and vivid behind his glasses. “Never.” I could tell he wasn’t lying, and that statement replayed in my head over and over. “As I said, I think there’s more to this than he’s telling anyone.”

I sat there for a while, mulling over what Theo had said. Markus was a beast of a man, a devil in a suit. I’d seen how wild he could get when he didn’t control himself, and it did make me curious as to why he’d be so kind to Bennet today. Such a switch, it was almost unbelievable.

I shouldn’t want to see him. The last thing I should want was to be in the same room as him again. A part of me never wanted to look at him after what he did, what he made me do. But another part of me was curious to see this other Markus.

Was he trying to make up for what he’d done? Did he feel bad about it, or was that too much to hope for?

It was wrong, it was stupid; it was everything that didn’t make sense, but I did. I wanted to see Markus Scott and judge him for myself.