Thea woke the next morning with a pounding headache and a pit in her stomach. Today was the day that she was going into the lion’s den. She would go and see Marcus and be alone with him for the first time. She supposed on some level she should be happy about the plan progressing like this but lying on her back on the floor of the bedroom, she willed the ceiling to cave in and crush her before she had to go.
Cora was snoring softly, rolling onto one side then the other. Jessica was groaning and shoving the heels of her palms into her eyes. Either she hadn’t noticed that Thea was awake, or she was too hungover to care.
It was very tempting to stay where she was and will Marcus to have forgotten about their meeting, but she knew she had to face this day. The chilling memory of the body of the boy in her arms and his blood seeping, warm and wet, over her skin, reminded her why she had come. This was the most important mission of her life and she owed it to everyone to make this work.
Digging her nails into her palms to ground herself she pushed to her feet and slipped out of the room. The broken staircase whined under her feet as she made her way to the front door. She was halfway out when she caught sight of Feddie out of the corner of her eye.
There was a purple bruise around his eye that spread towards the bridge of his nose. His eyes were red and his hair greasy and plastered to his scalp.
Thea intended on pretending she hadn’t seen him. The last thing she wanted was to go over the events of last night. But she didn’t manage to escape before he called out her name. His voice was hoarse, and he cleared his throat as he came over to her. Wisely, he stopped a few paces away from her. She wasn’t buying the friendly smile on his face. She had punched him, and he had grabbed her against her will. There was no way there was happiness between the two of them now.
“You heading out?” he asked.
Thea nodded while keeping an eye on him. On the one hand she wanted to run but on the other she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of chasing her away. If she was going to be alone with a monster from hell today then she could handle being alone with a sad man.
“Where to? Maybe I could walk you there.”
Thea glared at him, and he let out a long sigh, rolling his shoulders. “Look, I think we need to talk about what happened last night.”
Her heartbeat picked up.
Freddie gestured between the two of them. “I think we had both had a lot to drink and things got out of hand,” he laughed, “although I don’t think that does it justice.”
Thea didn’t know what to say. She knew she had drunk some alcohol but no way was she drunk and even sober, if someone put their hands on her without her okay she would beat them into next week.
Freddie watched her for a long minute before sighing again. “I can see that you are upset, I would be too if everyone had yelled at me.”
Yelled at me? Thea searched her memory for what he could be talking about. He didn’t raise his voice at her at all.
“But don’t worry, I have told the girls that you were not to blame for what went down. Really it was no one’s fault.”
“No one’s fault?” Thea’s entire body tensed. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Not only did he not seem to be about to apologise but he was trying to make it seem like she was equally to blame, and he had done her a favour by asking everyone not to yell at her.
“Yea. I knew you would agree. I was trying to have some fun, you freaked out and overreacted. But it’s okay because I forgive you so we can forget it ever happened.” He smiled fondly and took a step towards her.
Thea spoke before he could get too close. “You forgive me? That’s nice. But I don’t forgive you. We are not good, and I wouldn’t be starting over with anyone who justifies grabbing someone for their own entertainment. I remember it happened and I suggest you remember too. That way you will know why I’m kicking you in the balls whenever you get in any way close to me.”
Freddie’s mouth dropped open and he blinked at Thea without moving a single other muscle. Part of her wanted to smile at his discomfort but the other more dominant part just wanted to get away from him as soon as possible. Being around him, particularly when he wasn’t getting his way, filled her with fear.
“There is no need to be a bitch about it.” He sneered. “Besides, I didn’t do anything you weren’t asking for. The way you were dancing showed how much you wanted the attention.”
“Doesn’t mean I wanted it from you.” Without waiting for another dim-witted reply, Thea hurried out the door and into the run-down streets. Every caved in building and lump of old stone looked the same as the last one as she wandered, her only intention getting away from the house in case he decided to follow her. It was ludicrous to think he would chase after her, he was bound to have a lot more women to flirt with, but still the worry plagued the back of her mind. She would feel a lot better once she was far from his house and able to focus on the plan again.
It started to rain lightly, and people were lying out in the
drizzle. Thea supposed most people didn’t have rooves anyway so there was no
point in trying to hide from getting wet. The chilly sensation of the rain on
her skin brought her back out of her anxious mind and she focused on it alone,
pinpointing what section of her arm was the coldness and how quickly goosebumps
started to appear. Eventually, the thoughts of Freddie were distant enough that
she could focus on the issue at hand.
Today she would go and see Marcus, one on one. She didn’t know if she was supposed to go to his house or wait to be called. The waiting was going to kill her. The longer it took to get it over with, the more her mind could come up with what could go wrong. Short scenes played out in her head where she would walk into his house, and he would explode her or have his way with her. Or worse, he would torture information out of her and find the others. There was no telling what he would do to the group of rebels who were trying to pull the wool over his eyes.
“Thea?”
Thea jumped at the sound of her name and a wild voice within her urged her to run. It had to be Freddie and he was hoping to corner her on the street alone. Resisting the instinct to flee she turned and faced the source of the voice.
Jimmy tilted his head at her and scratched his grizzled chin. “The boss wants to see you. He said that you would know I was coming but when I got to your house you weren’t there.”
Thea was tempted to tell him that wasn’t her house, and she was only there because she had to be, but she bit her tongue. Of all the people to rant to, the man who seemed to run Marcus’s guard was not the correct person.
“I didn’t know that I was supposed to wait to be called on. I was on my way to his home.” She gestured down the street in the general direction of where he lived.
Jimmy rubbed the back of his neck. “Lass, that isn’t the way to his home.”
Thea must have been more caught up in her thoughts than she had known. Forcing a smile and giggly she started towards him. “What am I like? I would get lost in a paper bag.” She didn’t know if she sounded convincing, but she only hoped she didn’t seem too strange. The last thing she needed was him bringing any doubts about her to Marcus.
“This way then.” Either he didn’t suspect her of anything, or he didn’t care because he didn’t even spare her a look as he started down the street. Thea had to jog to keep up with the man. God she wished she had long legs like his so she could move quicker. In her line of work being the fastest was very important.
Eventually they came upon the massive house where Marcus lived. It was just like Thea remembered it from before, all modern windows and atop a hill. The massive gate at the front of the drive was wide open, as if someone knew they were arriving at this exact second. The crunching of gravel underfoot was the only sound as the two of them made their way closer to the house. Thea kept an eye out for any other security. If anything went wrong she would want to be aware of as much about the house as she could. Strangely she didn’t see anyone like the guards who were at the barrier to the region. In fact, the wide grass expanse was completely devoid of life and deadly silent. Thea almost wished she had seen someone; it was more terrifying that Marcus felt he didn’t need them to protect his home. Did he even have guards when he was sleeping? Did he sleep?
Thea clenched her hands into tight fists and forced herself to stop thinking of these questions. The more she wondered the more mental and terrifying ideas she would come up with to fill in the gaps of what she knew. Maybe, after a few visits, Marcus would tell her everything. She started to tremble at little at the implication of having to come back to this place again and again.
Jimmy got to the front door, an imposing silver thing that seemed twice as wide as it needed to be, and stopped, folding his hands behind his back. “The boss is waiting for you inside. He is on the top floor. You will likely see him at the top of the stairs when you go in.”
Thea paled. “You aren’t coming with me?” She knew she was going to have to spend some time alone with Marcus, but she had hoped they would ease her into it. Then again she had also assumed that there would be some kind of security or staff about to keep an eye on things, but she was wrong on that front as well.
“The boss prefers to entertain his ladies alone.”
I bet he does, Thea thought. It was as if she was wearing lead boots every time she tried to make herself open the door and go through. She didn’t know what she was waiting for, Nothing was going to change, and no one was coming to help. Still, every cell in her body willed her not to go in. She felt like a lamb willingly going into the slaughterhouse.
Yet she had to do this.
Gripping the steel handle, she took a steadying breath and pushed her way in.
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