Page 67 of Monster

She waved away my apology and shot me a soft smile. One I couldn’t help but return. “We’re going shopping today.”

“We are?” I asked, confused.

She nodded. “Wouldn’t you like to be in your own clothes?”

I could be in my own clothes if Dominic let me go home, but I didn’t say that out loud. The look on her face told me she could tell what I was thinking.

She tilted her head to the side. “What do you say, Emmy? Don’t you want to get out of this house and spend a whole bunch of Dominic’s money?”

I couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Fine. You make an appealing case. And I wouldn’t mind putting a small dent in his bank account.”

She laughed. “That wouldn’t be accomplished with just one shopping trip, dear. But we’ll still have a lot of fun.”

Right.

I was sure Dominic was pretty well off.

If the rumors I had heard about him were even half true, then he really did rule California.

I didn’t want to know how he obtained his money, as I was sure most didn’t come from legitimate businesses.

I looked down at myself. I was in Dominic’s black sweats that were way too long for me, and his hoodie.

I looked comfortable.

“You look fine,” Lucy said as if she could read my mind.

I nodded.

Vanity should probably be the last thing I worried about, given my situation. “Let’s go.”

* * *

The shopping triptook up most of the day.

We stopped for lunch, and the man who had come in with Lucy my first day here accompanied us, along with a couple of men I was sure had the job of watching the house and making sure I didn’t leave.

I didn’t really see them, not unless I was paying attention, but the knowledge that they were there, shadowing us closely, was a stark reminder of my situation.

Things had been… chaotic with Dominic last night, but that didn’t mean all my emotions had suddenly disappeared just because he had held me in his arms as if I was something precious.

So I did the only thing I could do in situations like this.

I spent the bastard’s money as if there was no tomorrow.

Anything I touched, I bought.

It didn’t matter that I might not like it once I had it, or that I might never have the chance to wear it.

It didn’t matter.

If it was pretty in some way, it came with me, and I didn’t pay attention to the price.

I was a woman on a mission.

Lucy and Colt—the man who accompanied us—looked on with amusement in their eyes.

I didn’t care, and there was some satisfaction in finding out I had spent more in one store than I had in the previous ones.

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