Broken Wings (Dark Legacy #1)(15)

He stared at me, and it was like he was waiting for me to slap him or something. The look on his face almost had me feeling bad for trying to manipulate him, but desperate times and all that.

“You’re very welcome, Miss. If there is anything else … anything at all.”

Reaching out I patted him gently on the shoulder. “You’re doing a fantastic job. I appreciate you.”

He froze, and for a second I thought I’d laid it on too thick, and he knew I was up to something, but then he straightened his shoulders and smiled. It looked so weird on his wrinkled face that I was almost certain he didn’t smile like that often. If ever.

“I’ll bring you dessert as soon as you’re done,” he promised before he hurried out of the room.

He wasn’t so happy he forgot to lock the door, but that was okay, step one of my plan was already initiated.

I just had to have patience.





6





By the time I’d scraped up the last morsel of food and licked my plate, I decided to be okay with remaining locked in my room if I continued to eat like that. There had been bacon on my plate. Real bacon, like from an actual pig. The last time I’d eaten bacon was when my dad took me out for dinner on my sixteenth birthday. My mom had been on a hardcore vegan kick since I was eight, but both Dad and I still loved our meat in secret. Anyway, back to the bacon. It had been wrapped around chicken breast, which was stuffed with garlic and butter, smothered in red wine jus and it was still hands down one of my favorite meals ever.

All of the delicious food swirled in my stomach as memories relentlessly assaulted me. My parents had so little in their lives, always struggling to make ends meet, trying to provide me with the basics just to survive, and then, before life could get any easier for us, they were stolen from me in a freak stupid accident that didn’t even make any sense.

My dad was an amazing driver; he’d never lost control. Not once in my entire life, and we’d driven in way worse conditions than that night.

I miss you.

The truth of that had me scrambling up, and I just barely made it to the toilet before I hurled everything up. Tears poured down my cheeks as I sobbed against the white seat, not even caring that I had my face pressed to the very place an ass had sat.

I just wanted my parents back, I wanted my old life back, I wanted answers to why the fuck I was now a prisoner inside some rich psycho’s house. I wished she’d just continued to be the sort of parent she had been for the first almost eighteen years of my life. Absent.

Now that I’d started to cry, I couldn’t seem to stop, and I hugged my legs tight to my body as I rocked back and forth, trying to relieve the deep ache in my chest. Eventually though, my tears dried up, and I was able to get myself under a semblance of control again.

Since I was already in the bathroom, I took a long, hot bath, which was another luxury I’d never had in my life, and by the time I was dry, dressed in some stupidly comfortable silk pajamas, fatigue was pressing in on me again.

Might as well sleep the rest of the day away.

Crawling into the bed, I snuggled under the covers, closing my eyes and breathing in deeply. The scent of the sheets were so clean and light and fresh that my head went dizzy at the sheer opulence of this bed.

Just as I was drifting off, a weird noise jerked me awake. Blinking, I sat up, looking around as I tried to figure out what it was. It sounded again a moment later, and I let out a little gasp before reaching down to where I’d left my jeans, dragging the phone out of the pocket.

The phone! I’d completely forgotten I had it.

Sliding the bar across, I saw there were three messages waiting for me.

Dante: Girl, is everything okay? Do I need to bust a fucking bullet in her ass?

Dante: Riles, I’m not fucking around. Answer my message or I’m coming for you.

Then the last one, which had come through two seconds ago. Dante: I’m on my way.

I frantically typed out a reply, my fingers stumbling over the keys, so that half of the words were messed up. Me: I’m fiene. Just lcked in room. Stupid bitchh.

I held my breath, hoping he hadn’t smashed his phone when I didn’t reply. It wouldn’t have been the first time. Not that Dante and I fought much, but when we did...

Air rushed out of me when the phone vibrated again. Dante: Are you okay? Don’t lie to me.

Me: Yes. I’m good. I promise.

Dante: Are you going to school on Monday?

Me: I assume I will be. Debitch hasn’t been here since I got back, so I’m running low on information.

There was some time before his next text arrived.

Dante: I will check in again later. I’m going to see what I can find out for you.

I glared at the phone, wishing I was with him right now. Being locked in this room was messing with my head—I’d always had so much freedom. It was the one thing I’d had in spades.

Me: Don’t get into trouble. Love you.

Dante: Trouble? Me? Love you too, Riles.

I threw the phone onto the bedside table, confident that I’d hear it if Dante messaged me again. As I dropped my head down again, I remembered that I had to send my number to Eddy too, but I’d do that when I woke up. For now, I was sleeping some of this nightmare away.





The rest of the weekend passed in slow motion. By the time Monday morning rocked around I’d tried on half my wardrobe, texted Dante twenty times, and set up a time for Eddy to pick me up for school. I hadn’t seen Debitch, and I almost wished she’d come back so we could get this confrontation out of the way. I would not remain a prisoner like this long term. There was no way in hell. So we needed some sort of compromise.