Page 95 of His Puppet
28
Emily
My teeth chatter, and my shoulders cave in as I sit with my knees drawn up in the wine cooler. I hold the shard of glass in my hand so tightly it cuts into my flesh, but I barely register any pain. My body temperature takes up all the free space in my mind, and I wonder if Gordon knows it. Maybe that’s part of his purpose in locking me in here. That, and because in the past it’s broken me.
Not this time.
This time, I’m unbreakable.
I glare at the tiny green dot that’s the only source of light in this enclosure. It’s an infrared camera, one I’ve used in the past to plead and beg for mercy. To reassure whoever watches that I’m ready to obey.
Now I just glare at it. I don’t utter a word out of fear my voice might rattle along with my teeth.
I sit quietly and wait for the cold to take away my consciousness and for me to pass out. He’ll wait until that happens to let me out of here. If I’m wrong, I have the wine bottle.
And Iamwrong.
A clanging sounds as the lock disengages on the door, and my eyes widen. I grip the glass tighter, sending warm blood trickling over my freezing palm, and I force my rigid muscles to pull me up.
Light floods the cooler, and I raise the shard up, my shoulders shaking and my heart beating fast.
The man is a shadow as he appears in the doorway, but my brain registers immediately that he isn’t my uncle. He’s taller, his frame not as wide.
The man raises his hands and chuckles. “Take it easy, Katniss. This isn’t The Hunger Games.”
“Victor?” I ask, tears blurring my vision. My eyes adjust to the bright light, and I make out his dark blond hair tickling his eyelashes. His facial features register.
I must be imagining this.
I lower the shard and take a hesitant step toward him. “How are you alive?”
“How am I alive?” he asks, amused. “I’m fucking invincible… Told you I’d come back for you.”
I drop the shard and run the few feet to him before wrapping my arms around him and digging my face into his shoulder. I let out a whine and bite my lip while closing my eyes, my brain not knowing how to process this amount of relief.
His arms are out at his sides, and he hesitantly pats my back. He walks backward and leads me from the cooler before swinging the door closed. I don’t take my face from his shoulder or stop squeezing him. I’m not positive this isn’t a hallucination caused by my body temperature dropping. I could be passed out right now.
“Hey, Em?”
I don’t respond, but a sob rumbles my chest.
“If I’m going to be Mr. Sensitive, do you think you could put some clothes on? If Blade sees this on the cameras, he might take it the wrong way, ya know?”
The cameras.
“Shit!” I jump back from Victor as if he burned me and cross my arms over my chest, my eyes searching the ceiling. “He can see us!” I whip my head toward Victor. “Do you have a gun?”
The panic I’m feeling doesn’t seem to touch Victor as he stares at my midsection, bruised from the kicks Gordon threw while I was on the ground.
“He really did a number on you…” he says, an uncharacteristic compassion in his voice.
“Are you fucking hearing me?!”
He meets my eyes. “Relax, Em. Glitch switched the feed so only we can see the surveillance.”
“Glitch? What are you talking about?”
“Nerdy associate; don’t worry about it. Here.” He yanks off his shirt and tosses it to me. “Put this on.”