Page 221 of I Will Break You

“Focus, Amethyst,” I say. “What did I teach you about breaking through restraints?”

“This isn’t the same as having both wrists cuffed together,” she shrieks. “I can’t twist the chain and break its weakest link.”

“What are your options, then?” I ask.

She tugs at the cuffs. “I don’t know, you tell me.”

This attitude isn’t getting her anywhere. I can teach her the basics, but I can’t predict every possible scenario. Amethyst has spent so much time being dependent on her mother that she doesn’t know how to apply herself. She needs to break through this helplessness to survive.

“Think,” I say with extra bite.

Her nostrils flare. “I can negotiate with my captors.”

I resist the urge to pinch the bridge of my nose. “With what bargaining points, when they already have you restrained and possibly gagged?”

She jerks her head to the side. “Why do you have to be so morbid?”

I grind my teeth, my fists clenching. “Do I need to replay the death of Lizzie Bath?”

“No,” she snarls.

“Because we can reenact all the restraints she endured, step by step, and I can teach you how to break free from each of them.”

“Don’t you dare,” she grinds out.

“Then find a way to break out of these cuffs.” I raise a finger. “Before you whine that I haven’t taught you this particular sequence, remember there are infinite methods a captor can use. You already know all the basics of escape. Now, it’s your turn to apply that knowledge.”

“Alright,” she says, her eyes squeezing shut.

Sighing, I lean against the wall. I knew from early on that Amethyst was nothing like my peers. She’s been sheltered in a life of boarding schools, prescription drugs, and debilitatingdelusions. In a way, she’s also been coddled, which means she hasn’t had a chance to solve problems on her own.

Before I left prison, I planned to bring her out of her cocoon with the greatest care, but that’s impossible, knowing her life is under threat. If Melonie Crowley doesn’t surface, then finding Father and destroying the X-Cite Group might take weeks, if not months.

“Okay,” she says through panting breaths. “What if I broke the bed?”

“Explain,” I say.

“If it’s a prop, then it won’t be as sturdy as this.”

I nod. “Good point. Anything else?”

“Or I could find another way to snap the chain.”

“Or?”

Amethyst writhes on the bed. “I could unlock the cuffs with a pin?”

I nod.

She glances from side to side across the mattress. “Shit. I dropped it.”

With a smile, I mount the bed and pull out one of the many pins I placed in her hair and slide it into her hand.

“Thanks.”

I lean in to place a kiss on her soft lips, just as she draws back and delivers a head butt. It misses my nose, instead landing on my jaw, but I applaud her effort.

Seconds later, Amethyst unlocks the first cuff before moving on to the second. She unties her legs, hurls a cushion at my head and rushes out of the door. I let her enjoy her triumph for a minute before ordering her to get dressed.