head and led me from the dining hall and down the maze of hallways leading to the gym.
Before we reached the gym, Franklin walked up to us, his eyes finding mine before moving to Gretchen.
“I’ll take her from here. Thank you.”
Hatred bloomed inside me.
If not for this asshole, I wouldn’t be trapped in this place. The last thing I wanted was to be alone with him, but I knew Gretchen couldn’t argue.
Franklin was her employer. She was as bound to his instructions as she was to Callan’s.
“Yes, Mr. Rose.”
Inclining her head, Gretchen turned to leave. When she passed me, she reached out to brush her hand over my arm, a silent reminder to guard my pride against anything he would do to me.
With each passing day, my distrust of her faded, but she was still a dutiful servant of the family, and for that I couldn’t trust her completely.
Franklin waited for Gretchen to turn a corner before stepping up to me. His hand locked over my arm with such force that I cried out in shock.
“Shut up,” he snapped. “Callan doesn’t know you’re here.”
I jerked from his hold, refusing to let him think he could manhandle me like everybody else.
“Don’t touch me,” I hissed. “You’re the reason all of this is happening to me.”
Franklin narrowed his eyes, his lips thinning.
“To be fair, you’re the reason all of this is happening to you, but you’re too blind to see it. You always have been.”
I took a step back from him, my head turning toward the door leading into the gym. I could hear low voices, but wasn’t able to hear the conversation or what they said.
“Why doesn’t Callan know I’m here?”
Straightening the sleeves of his suit jacket, Franklin caught my stare with his.
“Because he’s preparing for a fight, and he doesn’t need the distraction. But I couldn’t let this part of his preparation happen without having you nearby to witness it. You need to see what you’ve done to him.”
Why did everybody keep blaming me for Callan? He was a grown man. Head of the damn family. Why was my cruelty as a kid such a big deal?
Yes, I’d been mean to him, but every person acted like I’d somehow scarred him permanently. It was ridiculous. Children are bullied. They get over it.
“Come with me,” he demanded, “and don’t say a word or make a sound. He doesn’t need to know you’re there.”
Huffing out a breath, I wavered between telling him to fuck off and following obediently behind him.
My curiosity won out, and I kept pace with him as he led me into the gym, but no further than a shadowed corner where we could see into the exercise area, but not be seen by the three men standing in it.
I recognized Callan immediately, the scars running down his back, the set of broad shoulders that I’d clenched onto while he drove me fucking crazy in the head. Sweat dripped down his body like he’d recently been fighting, his hands wrapped in green tape.
Beside him was Jacob, the best friend and brother who had dropped me to the floor where I’d busted my chin. He paced at Callan’s side, his green eyes dark with worry, his cocky smile absent.
To their back stood a third man I recognized from the dungeon. He was busy pulling something from a duffle bag, his face stern, his clothes business casual. Wearing slate grey slacks with a white button up shirt, he’d rolled the sleeves to his elbows and left the collar buttons undone.
Callan stood facing away from me, his body rigid, his head bowed as he rolled his shoulders. It sent a ripple affect down the muscles of his back, those silver scars glimmering like tinsel.
When he raised his head, he stared up at a metal bar secured in what looked like a doorway, the width just large enough for the breadth of his shoulders.
Jacob stopped pacing suddenly, his gaze darkening more, a curse word spit beneath his breath, and when I followed his line of sight, I saw what the other man was pulling from the bag.
A whip.
The kind used on farm animals, the leather thick and unforgiving.
My brows tugged together, and I looked back to Callan to see he was reaching above his head to curl his fingers over that metal bar.
Understanding swept in as to what they were about to do, but confusion flooded me as to why.
I opened my mouth to ask Franklin what was going on, but he covered it,