Grievous (Wanted Men #5) - Nancy Haviland Page 0,92
and looked over his shoulder. “The gentlemen thought you might be hungry.”
She peered around him from her seat on a curved leather couch that she was sharing with two other girlfriends or wives. They were against the wall in a room that was gold and green, and lit by massive chandeliers that hung from the domed ceiling. She was trying not to show how sick she felt over the decision she’d just made.
Lucian was at a private blackjack table across the way. He and the two men he’d come to see were the only players even though the five empty chairs were being stared at longingly by the men and women milling about.
“Please thank the gentleman, but I’m fine.” She dropped Lucian’s stare and held onto the smile that was about to shatter her face.
…considering making this a permanent arrangement. But first I must have that fortress built some place outsiders cannot intrude.
She couldn’t let him imprison her in a dark, underground hole that would probably be well decorated. She’d go insane. Her life would be over. The only human contact she would ever have would be with him. He would visit every so often, fuck her body, then leave her alone, effectively fucking her mind, just as he’d said he wanted to do. She would never see Miranda again, or Eric and Loki. She’d never again walk through the doors of her gallery and just breath in the atmosphere that fed her soul.
No. She couldn’t let him do it. She had to leave.
The moment Lucian’s attention was elsewhere, she took another surreptitious glance around, once more marking the exits. What the hell was with this place? The doors were only accessible from the outside. The staff had to use the one main entrance to leave the massive room, unless they pressed a doorbell type thing and wait forever for someone to admit them into a back corridor. Probably kept the money back there, she thought, watching two dealers exit the closest door that was less than ten feet away. If she got by Spencer, the guy Sorin had introduced earlier, and darted through when someone came out, she could at least have enough time to beg someone to call the police. Would they listen? Side with her? Simply hand her back to her warden? She fingered her choker that seemed to be getting tighter and tighter. How harshly would Lucian punish her if she failed and had to return to the castle with him?
Didn’t matter. She had to try. She couldn’t live in a hole.
Her attention went to him again, and she experienced loss to a crippling degree at the thought of leaving him. He needed her.
She needed him.
“Sorry. I do not mean to be rude, but, did I see you refuse something your man sent over?”
Yasmeen looked at the rail-thin blonde next to her that had lips like the ones she used to buy at the variety store when she was younger. The wax ones she and the neighborhood kids would wear and pretend they’d just been punched in the mouth and had swollen up.
“Yes, I did. I’m not hungry yet,” she explained without adding how badly she wanted to vomit.
“Wow. You are very brave. I would never dare send away something my Lawrence sent to me.”
Her Lawrence had obviously never sent her food before because it looked as if she hadn’t eaten in about three weeks. “We’re having dinner when he’s done, so he can watch me eat then.” She smiled as the woman cataloged the price of her dress and shoes.
“Will he not punish you first?” the other blonde said. The neckline of her dress was so open, the shadow of her nipple was on display. She’d adjusted it twice. To show more. “I heard Kahlil speak of your man. He is harsh and brutal. He has been known to use his women until there is nothing left of them to use. Kahlil said he once tired of his latest, and since they were on his yacht and he could not send her away, he passed her onto his men. They fucked her to death and then threw her body overboard for the sharks. No one bothered to investigate because why would they? Are you not afraid for your safety, Jasmine?”
Yasmeen didn’t bother correcting the common mistake on her name but sat there with the blood draining from her head. Would they think badly of her if she were to shove her head between her knees?