Page 80 of The Caged Girl

Marcie let out a small laugh as she wrung out a washcloth and dabbed it over the bruise circling my eye.

“Alister drugs every single girl who is brought here. That cute, pink peony welcome drink?” Marcie placed antibiotic cream on the cuts as I winced from the burning.

“All laced. Then they insert microchips before putting a tattoo over it.” She shrugged.

“Why are you telling me this?” I whispered.

“Because the woman you let go…Sage Rothschild? She’s microchipped, too. All the former caged girls are. She was one of Ian Ivory’s caged girls. That means the little boy, Myles, you sent with her will be found and dragged right back here as soon as they kill her. Now, my question is, where have you stashed Declan Rothschild?” Marcie sat back on the stool and squinted at me.

I took a moment and looked at her closely. “Marcie, you never did tell me how you came here to Ivory Island? Or why you never seem scared…”

She looked familiar.

Oddly familiar.

“Marcie…what’s your last name?” I questioned my former roommate.

She smiled at me as she ran her fingers through her hair. “Ivory.”

Standing, she moved her hair from her shoulder; only bloodline Ivorys get a pretty white bird.

“I’m Ian and Alister’s younger sister.” She stood proudly. “So that makes me your sister-in-law.”

My jaw dropped as I looked at her and pushed myself upward. “Marcie…” Shaking my head, I didn’t know how she knew everything about Sage, Myles, or Declan. She knew I was here hunting for answers and a way to end all of this.

“I was told to keep an extra close eye on you, and now I know why my brother asked. We can’t have you going around killing off our bloodline, silly little girl.” She booped my nose.

“Now, Alister has no idea what you’ve done with his product—the little boy that a very wealthy family is trying to purchase by the end of the week. We must remediate the situation because, if I tell him, then you’ll be slaughtered, and I’ll have to deal with Alister moping around over you dying.”

“Marcie, please no.” I clasped my hands together. “Kidnapping children and selling them to families? Trafficking young women to keep her as disposable toys for old, rich men? I mean, this cannot be what you think is…”

“Demi!” Marcie shouted at me. “Stop speaking and listen to me closely. You let Bradley leave his family and duty behind. Now, Alister has forced me to take over his duties while upholding mine, and that means managing inventory. If you don’t help me convince Sage Rothschild to bring Myles back, then it’s both of our lives on the line.” Her jaw ticked as she stood.

“I have a proposition. You can tell Sage to come visit Layla…talk to her unborn child or whatever you’d like, and then tell her if she doesn’t bring Myles back, the deal is done, and we kill Layla.”

“Declan went on a boating trip. I didn’t do anything to him.” I pulled the blanket off and stood, immediately grabbing the headboard as my body ached from what Alister had done to me last night.

“Marcie, I’ll handle it. Give me time.”

“You better, Demi.”

CHAPTERFORTY-FOUR

“Mrs. Rothschild,this is Demi Ivory calling to check in on you and Mr. Rothschild.” I sat in the new office space Alister had apparently created for me.

This was his way of saying ‘I’m sorry I whipped you to near-death, then raped you while denying your request to stop having corpses in bed with us.’

He wanted me to be more involved, to show him that I cared about his business…his empire.

“Demi.” She sounded relieved. “I’m doing well, thank you for checking in. And can you believe Declan went off on some fancy boat excursion right after we checked out of La Gabbia?” She cleared her throat.

“That’s absolutely amazing.” We both knew there was high chance this call was being monitored.

“So Sage, I know you ordered virgin hair extensions, but we were freshly out of blonde, so I checked in with our salon, and they are making some right away for you since we have new inventory.”

“Did the package of…hair extensions you already bought here make it safely?” I was hoping she’d figure out what, or rather who, I was referring to. It would be risky for me to search for Myles’s mother here with Alister watching my browser history.

The long pause had me worried, but then Sage sighed. “Everything I brought home made it safely, and I’ve put everything up where it belongs.”

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