Page 79 of Claiming Liberty

I do what he says, squinting down the hallway at the large pieces of furniture pressed against the wall. No, not the wall, doors. An armoire, two dressers, and a heavy looking shelf stand in front of two doors on each side of the hall with several rooms in between.

Austin grabs my shoulder and yanks me to a halt in front of the armoire. He looks at me with so much intensity, his eye twitches. “If you move a muscle, I will hurt you. Do you understand me?”

I nod, not because his words scare me, but because I need to know what’s behind this door. I’ve felt pain, I can handle pain. What I can’t handle is being in the dark about what’s going to happen, what my fate is.

He plants both his palms on the side of the armoire and grinds his teeth as he slowly shoves it out of the way. A large vein bulges along his bicep, and with the way his face pinches, I wouldn’t be surprised if the cabinet was full of cement.

Once it’s out of the way, he pulls a key from his pocket and unlocks the door. He throws open the door, his eyes aimed inside instead of at me, and he quickly raises a fist.

What the fuck?

“Go,” he growls, tossing me a hurried glance.

I hesitate, his cautiousness making me think there’s a lion in there or some shit. I look inside, surprise stealing my breath when I spot a woman instead. Then another. And another.

I walk into the room, barely making it inside before Austin slams the door shut.

“Lib!”

My eyes dart among the women, ten or so in this cramped room, before I spot Elsie. She runs to me, her familiar honey scent a momentary salve as she throws her arms around my neck. My eyes close, and I pull her into me tighter, my throat closing up.

For there being so many people in here, it’s quiet. I can hear the faint sound of Elsie’s cries and my heavy breaths, but with my eyes closed, it’d be hard to tell anyone else was around.

“Shit,” a familiar voice grinds out.

I open my eyes, my hold on Elsie loosening as I find the voice’s owner.

Joan, Eli Colley’s prisoner, scowls at me with her arms crossed. “I was really hoping you’d be saving the day.”

“Joan.”

Elsie pulls away, and we exchange a look before I walk to the woman and bring my arms around her for a hug. To my surprise, she hugs me back a couple of seconds before pulling away.

“Are you okay?” I ask, glancing around at the others. They just stare at me with curiosity, some openly, others averting their eyes.

My gaze refocuses on Joan as she shrugs. “For now. Who knows what they’re planning?”

Her eyes darken. “Did your master, uh…” She runs a finger across her neck.

“No,” I quickly say, hoping like hell it’s the truth. “No, he isn’t dead. Sawyer found me in his house, though.”

“He did?” Elsie asks, her voice high.

I turn to her and nod. “I tried to fight the bastard, but…” I wave a hand over myself in a ‘here I am’ gesture.

My mind takes me back to Sawyer holding me down, begging me to stop struggling, insisting he didn’t want to have to hurt me. It didn’t make a bit of difference to me at the time, but in hindsight, it was weird. I would’ve rather he be rough. It would make my efforts feel less pathetic.

“He’s a hell of a lot smarter than we pegged him as,” Joan says, pulling my attention to her. “I came here with every intention of following through on our plan, but they took me straight to this room.” She lifts her arms before letting them slap against her hips. “I think they knew to be cautious. With exception to her,” Joan motions to Elsie, “everyone in here has either had a master die or leave the island. I’m pretty sure there are others being held here as well.”

The other doors with furniture up against them enter my mind, and I sigh. “Yeah, I think so too.”

“What do we do?” Elsie asks in a meek voice, taking my arm.

I force my face to stay neutral, even as my lips feel heavy.

I want to say we’ll fight. We’ll find a way out of here, out of the manor. We’ll wait for the guard to come back, then we’ll all band together, freeing the others as well. Ialmostsay this, think this even, but deep down I question if we’re too late.

Sawyer can’t keep dozens of women locked away. There aren’t enough residents left to simply sell us all. And he can’t let so many of us roam the manor when we so clearly outnumber his guards. He knows this. Joan’s right … he isn’t stupid. And now he has Angel, his biggest ally, to deal with. He can’t just let Angel walk free when he knows Angel will come for me. Sawyer’s backed into a corner, and there’s only one way I see out.