Page 124 of Injustice and Absolution

CHAPTER FORTY

DELILAH

If Drew has any idea that I let Haven in on what she was actually doing at his house tonight, he isn’t voicing it.

I excused myself to the bathroom before we left and hid the pair of tweezers she secretly slipped me into my cleavage. I know I won’t be able to do any real damage with them, but hope warms my chest against where they hide.

If nothing else, they serve as a symbol of rebellion.

Drew and I departed, leaving Ethan behind, alone with Haven. It made me nervous for her, but there was nothing I could do about it. If I would have protested, Drew would’ve known something was amiss.

Before we left, he told Ethan he would meet him at the club after hemade the drop.

The entire drive to the hotel, I fought to keep my growing panic attack at bay. I kept telling myself I was doing this to protect those I loved, regardless of their lack of response to my plea for help by texting Maggie our secret emoji.

It doesn’t change how I feel about them.

Right before Drew pulls up in front of the hotel’s valet, he speaks for the first time since we left the house.

“I don’t need to remind you what’s at stake here, Delilah.” He places his hand on my thigh, bare from the long slit in my dress, and I pull my leg out of his grasp.

His touch disgusts me. He grabs it once more and squeezes painfully this time before grinding out another threat from between gritted teeth. “Be on your best behavior.”

When we pull up to the curb, he lets go. Getting out of the car, he beats the valet to my door and opens it. Playing the part of a gentleman, he extends his hand to me, but I refuse him.

Once my foot hits the sidewalk, he forces my arm into his so he can lock me in place next to him as we enter the hotel. The closer we get to the elevator, to the man who bought me for the evening, the less I’m able to keep the panic away.

As we climb to the twenty-seventh-floor penthouse, Drew takes out the same unfamiliar phone I saw him on earlier and fires off a message to someone.

While he’s distracted, I have just enough wits about me to pull the tweezers from between my cleavage. I scream as I drive them toward Drew’s face, but he’s too quick.

Catching my forearm in his hand, he presses his thumb into the tendons at my wrist with force painful enough to cause me to drop my pitiful weapon.

“Nice try, Delilah... Did your friend Haven give you those?”

My only answer is the fear in my eyes as he pins me to the wall of the elevator.

“Ethan told me the two of you were up to something. Guess I made the right call when I instructed him to stay behind to take care of her. What did you tell her, huh?”

Drew’s stone-cold expression turns deadly. His hand wraps around my throat as he pulls me off the wall before quickly pushing me back against it again.

“It’s a shame you had to drag her into this. She was my second favorite. After you, of course.”

It turns out my tears haven’t dried up. They fall swiftly once Drew informs me of the crucial error in judgment I made this evening, resulting in the sure death of an innocent girl. And whatever other sick punishment Ethan has planned before he kills her.

“No!Call him off. She doesn’t deserve that,” I implore him. “It was my fault, not hers!”

But Drew remains unmoved, unaffected by my plea.

As soon as the doors open, he pulls me out into the hallway.

“Please don’t make me do this...” I beg loudly, praying someone exits their hotel room and saves me.

But as I look down the hall, I realize there is only one room on this floor. The only person around who could possibly help me is the same degenerate who paid for my company this evening.

Drew presses me up against the wall, his thumbs swiping under my eyes. I watch as my blackened tears stain his skin before he pulls away from me.

“Don’t you fucking dare ruin this, Delilah. It’s too late to back out, not that you have the option to anyway. So take a deep breath, and pull yourself together.”

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