Innocence (Tales of Olympus #1)(56)

Too perfect, the little voice said, and she hushed it. Marcus expected the locked door to hold her. She’d outwitted him for once.

Before racing out the door, she grabbed a coat and buttoned it to cover the collar and leash she still wore. She didn’t have time to figure out how to undo it.

She put her hand on the doorknob and paused. Someone had cleaned up the statue she’d broken. A giant bouquet of flowers sat on the column instead.

She preferred the statue.

Not that it mattered. She was never coming back here.

She pulled open the door and escaped into the night.





Seventeen





“Are you okay?” asked a female officer two hours later, checking in on Cora where she waited in a windowless room inside the police station.

Cora was huddled on a chair with her knees to her chest, arms wrapped around them. She looked up at the sympathetic looking woman. “I asked for someone to come cut this thing off of me an hour ago.”

Cora held out the chain connected to the collar around her neck. Her voice sounded slightly hysterical even to her own ears but she couldn’t help it.

After sneaking out of the hotel, she realized she didn’t have a place to go or anyone to help her. Marcus had confiscated her phone that had Maeve’s number programmed into it, but even if Cora still had it, she wouldn’t have wanted to bring the older woman into this. People were scared of Marcus for a reason.

So Cora had found a cop and asked to be taken to the station. They were the only ones she could think of who actually could help her.

It was over now. She was free. So why was she still so on edge?

The woman’s eyes went wide. “Oh my gosh, of course. I’ll be right back with some cutters.”

The door shut behind the woman and Cora couldn’t help immediately getting up and going to check the doorknob. It wasn’t locked. Cora pressed a hand to her heart, willing it to slow.

You’re being paranoid. These are the good guys.

But she was still on Marcus’s turf. As soon as she’d blurted out everything that had happened ever since her wedding day to the policeman at the front desk, he brought her to this room. Fifteen minutes later, a superior officer, Captain Martin, had come and she’d reiterated her story more slowly.

“Please,” she begged. “Marcus is a powerful man. You need to transfer me to a station that’s further away. We are still on his turf. He has soldiers, I don’t know how many. You probably know more than I do. What if he attacks the police station—?”

“It’s all going to be okay now,” said the kindly police captain, a man in his mid-50s with more salt than pepper in his hair, as he patted her hand. “You’re safe now and we won’t let anything happen to you. Ubeli isn’t foolish enough to attack a police station. That’s not how his kind works. Now you just rest up while I make some calls and we’ll see about a more permanent situation for you.”

But Cora hadn’t been able to do anything other than pace back and forth in the small room and then finally curl up into a ball on the chair while waiting for any news. Whenever she shifted on the chair, she was reminded of last night. Of what it felt like when Marcus had finally…

Taken the last of your innocence.

She still felt it now, the bowling ball tearing through her guts when she realized it had meant nothing to him. That he still only saw her as a means of revenge. She would only ever be her father’s daughter to him. So she’d run.

By now Marcus would have come home to the apartment. He’d have found her gone. The cameras in the room would have shown her picking the lock and escaping. He’d also probably deduced that she couldn’t have gotten far, especially if she’d been caught on any street camera footage.

It was probably only a matter of time before he tracked her to the police station.

She pressed her fingers to her face. Oh gods, oh gods, oh gods, what was she going to do? What if the cops couldn’t—

She jumped out of her skin when the door banged open again. But it was the female policewoman with what looked like bolt cutters.

“This might be overkill,” the woman said apologetically, “but I know it will get the job done.”

“Fine by me,” Cora said. “I want this thing off my neck.”

The woman nodded. “I’ll be careful.”

She slid the cutters between Cora’s neck and the leather and with one firm snip, the leather collar came free and with it, the chains clanked to the floor. Cora cupped her neck. The bare skin felt strange. Not that she wanted the collar back, she just—

The cop was watching her.

Cora forced a smile. “Thank you. Just...thank you.”

The woman put a hand on Cora’s shoulder and squeezed. She bent over and picked up the chains attached to the severed collar. “I’ll get these out of your sight.” With that, she left the room.

And Cora was back to waiting, waiting for she didn’t know what. Her new life to begin, she supposed.

It wasn’t five minutes before the police captain entered again, carrying a folder. Captain Martin sat at the table across from her. Cora forced herself to drop her knees so that her feet were on the ground. She’d taken off the voluminous coat but now she shivered even though it wasn’t especially cold. It was Captain Martin’s face. He didn’t look like he had good news.