“Lisbeth Rose,” she purred, her eyes scanning my uniform before returning to my face. “I’m surprised to see you down here.”
Tilting her head to the side, she asked, “Has Callan had enough of you?”
Something dark flashed behind her eyes, there and then gone again.
“I can only hope,” I answered.
Surprise flittered across her expression. “I hear he’s taking you without permission. Is it true?”
Her gaze drifted down to the bruises on my neck, to a bite mark that was fading. “He’s marked you.”
Nodding my head, I wanted to turn away from her and run upstairs, but I couldn’t break her stare for whatever reason.
She stepped closer, the bottom hem of her short skirt fluttering out with the movement.
Voice low, she leaned into me and said, “I might make a living spreading my legs for men and pretending I hate it, but I’m not okay with rape. No woman should be subjected to that level of violence.”
My heart lurched. Callan hadn’t raped me. Not physically anyway. What he was doing to my head was a different story.
The woman’s eyes flicked past my shoulder and back to me. “I can help you escape.”
She had my attention then.
“Why would you help me?”
The woman didn’t need to answer. I could see it all over her face. She wanted Callan, and I was getting in the way.
But still, her words hung between us as a tempting bauble, shining and glimmering with the offer I reach out and touch it, even if I didn’t know where I’d go if I left the mansion. It was all I’d wanted since the day Callan dragged me from my room…wasn’t it?
Could she really get me out? And if so, how long would it be before Callan found me?
But then I remembered he hadn’t found me the last time. I’d been the stupid woman to return. A spark of bravery ignited, setting flames rolling inside me. I wanted out of this life, this place, and this woman might be the key to my freedom.
So, why did my heart hurt again to think she would take my place? That she would be the warm body curled up beside Callan in his bed.
It couldn’t matter. He was slowly eating away at me and getting inside my head. One week and already I was fighting the idea of leaving him.
What the fuck was wrong with me?
“Why do you think?” she asked, her eyes rolling. “But I can get you out. Tonight, if you want.”
“How? Every door is guarded and locked.”
Her eyes twinkled. “Jacob’s on guard duty tonight.”
The bravery bled out of me, and every hope I had of getting away bled with it. Jacob, the same guy who’d dropped me on my face and told Callan to use me. There was no way in hell he’d let me go.
“Jacob hates me.”
She laughed. “That may be true, but he doesn’t hate Haley. She can lead him away from the door. And I know the code.”
The hope came back, stronger than before. It wasn’t that I hated Callan. It was the opposite, in fact. He still made my heart bleed, still had some odd power to destroy me. And maybe that’s why I needed to leave. I was losing myself to the way he toyed with me, the girl I’d once been being shoved to her knees like I’d done to him.
I was better than that.
“Okay,” I said, not sure how I’d get alone to reach a door.
A smile stretched her lips.
“Meet me by the exit leading to the outer courtyard while the staff is eating dinner. Be sure nobody sees you. Jacob will be gone, and I’ll open the door to let Callan’s little puppy dog go.”
Irked by what she called me, I ignored it in favor of appreciating her offer.
The woman inclined her head and turned to walk away, but I reached out to touch her shoulder. She spun back.
“I don’t even know your name.”
Another curl of her lips. “You can call me Mrs. Callan Rose...at least once I get you out of the way.”
The comment stung, a question whispering at the back of my thoughts.
“You’re the woman from last night. In the ring.”
She nodded.
“Did he...I mean after he carried you off...did the two of you-“
“Fuck?” she asked, laughter in her voice.
Nodding, I felt embarrassed for having asked, but I needed to know if Callan was honest. If what he’d said was true. It would have crushed me into dust to know he’d been with her before coming in