Page 174 of Savage Hearts

I didn’t want her to be scared of me.

Fuck. I knew things were messed up, considering she wasn’t here on her own free will, but for her to be terrified of me…

I didn’t want to be my father.

Maverick walked up to me and rested his hand on my shoulder. It took everything for me not to shake his hand off. I stayed still out of respect for him, not only as the head of our syndicate, but as my brother.

I met his blue eyes. He didn’t have an answer for me either.

I walked away from them.

25

MILA

At least Iwasn’t a prisoner in the room, like I thought I would be after walking in on them in the basement.

I hadn’t been locked in my room, and the brothers seemed to be in agreement to leave me alone.

Despite my own apprehension, I didn’t want to be locked up in my room like a prisoner, even if that was what I was.

A week had passed since the incident, and Silas had tried to talk to me a few times. I ran away each time and, surprisingly, he let me.

I didn’t know how I felt about that.

I woke up this morning to the sun shining brightly through the window and warming my skin as I lay on the bed.

I looked up at the ceiling, wondering how I was supposed to accept that this was going to be my life from now on.

It felt like the end of the world for me when they first took me and brought me to their home. I almost convinced myself in the middle there that it wouldn’t be that bad, especially since I had come to crave the brothers’ touch. I was fucking stupid, because now, it was impossible for me to keep going like this.

I shifted my head to the side and studied the pills on my bedside table.

Three days after the night in the basement, Silas had come in with them.

Birth control.

A peace offering from him, I imagined.

I finally got what I wanted from him, yet it seemed to mock me.

Still, I took the pills religiously.

It didn’t seem to be doing anything to me, and I hadn’t expected it to.

I reached over for it and swallowed a pill dry before I left the bed and got ready for my day.

I had a quick breakfast. Rachel looked like she wanted to say something to me but didn’t, and I pretended things weren’t as bad as they were. Then I walked out to the garden and around the property.

This had become a part of my daily routine, and not for exercise purposes.

I was trying to find a chink in the armor. A weakness in what seemed like an impenetrable fortress.

I was trying to find a way to escape.

Dad had put the fear of God into me, preventing me from trying to run away a second time, and my mistake had been giving in to the fear.

I should have tried to run away again, and again, and again, even at the risk of my life.

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