heels, her hand cemented on my arm as if I would cut and run. I probably would if there weren’t guards at every door leading outside, their eyes following me as we passed.
Once inside the dining room, Gretchen led me to the breakfast bar, watching with disapproval as I loaded my plate with every fattening food there was. I wasn’t worried about my weight. The fact was, I didn’t have a chance to eat dinner last night before running up to the family suites, and I was exhausted from the lack of calories. If I had any hope of keeping up with Callan’s games, I needed to have as much fuel as possible so I didn’t lose my damn mind.
I finished making my plate, and Gretchen led me to the center of the room, her stare meeting mine when I didn’t immediately sit on the floor to eat like a damn dog.
She stared. I stared. And eventually, her scowl fell apart as she opened her mouth to say, “Although I agree that Mr. Rose’s suggestion was unusual, I must insist you do as he said.”
The staff members seated at tables around us like the humans they were stared at where we stood, confusion clouding their expressions.
Poor Holly was at a table by herself, worry lining the tender youth of her face. I had no doubt she’d already learned I was Callan’s personal servant. And while she may have jumped at the chance due to her crush on him, she knew by the comments I’d made to her yesterday that Callan was only a monster when it came to me.
Unhappy that I’d hesitated to do as I was told, Gretchen leaned in, her voice a hiss against my ear.
“If you do not sit on the floor immediately, I’ll be forced to find someone who can put you there. And if your food spills in the process, you’ll have to eat it from the floor and not from the luxury of a plate.”
I turned my head, and our eyes met.
“It’s your decision, Lisbeth.”
Tears burned the rims of my eyes, but I refused to shed them. Callan wanted me on the floor? Fine. I’d sit on the floor, and I’d still hold my head up with the pride he was so desperate to strip from me.
It would only work to my benefit for him to believe he was winning. Eventually, he’d drop his guard. An exit door would be left unwatched. And I’d be gone before Callan knew what happened.
All I had to do was play along and wait.
Lowering myself to the ground, I ignored the murmurs whispering around us, the shocked expressions of the staff, the satisfaction that I’d obeyed obvious in Gretchen’s eyes.
My posture never crumpled, and I didn’t cry. I simply picked my fork up from the plate and began eating as if sitting on the floor like some common animal was normal.
I had to hand it to the staff: they didn’t laugh or make this any worse for me. They only stared with wide eyes and hid their mouths behind their hands as they whispered. I didn’t think they enjoyed my humiliation. It was more that they couldn’t understand what was being done to me.
Holly had explained how much Callan was loved by the house staff. Every person here looked up to him and appreciated his kindness. They must have been confused to see one their own treated so poorly, but then I wasn’t really one of them, was I?
Not many of them understood that.
I kept eating as the staff around me finished their meals and left their tables. Eventually, it was only me sitting in place, Gretchen perched at a table near me where she sipped coffee and continued babysitting the disobedient puppy Callan had made of me.
The second Gretchen stood from her seat with a straight spine and squared shoulders, I knew who’d walked in through the doors at my back, my skin erupting in goosebumps.
That wasn’t unusual when it came to Callan and me. Even when we were young, my body had somehow known every time he was around. Not that I would ever admit that to him.
“You can go now, Gretchen. I’ll handle Lisbeth.”
I glanced up as she nodded her head and turned to click away in her prim and sensible shoes. I didn’t bother to twist my body to look at him. He’d see the anger in my expression, and it would only amuse him more.
Silence fell over the large dining hall, the weight