Page 60 of Monster

He chuckled. “I’m sure you are.”

I folded my arms over my chest. “What are the terms of this agreement?”

“In exchange for roaming freely around the house—and having your pick of any bedroom upstairs—I’d like your services on something.”

“My services.”

He nodded. “Yes.”

I paused. “Professional, or physical?”

He grinned. “Both.”

“I take great pride in my work, Teo. I won’t help criminals manipulate and exploit a system I try to restore order to.”

His eyes danced around my face for so long that I thought I’d made him upset. And the longer the silence extended, the more uncomfortable I became. Why in the world was he staring at me with that look on his face? I couldn’t read it because I’d never seen such an expression before, but I suddenly felt as if I’d said the wrong thing.

“Teo?” I asked.

He blinked rapidly. “All right, come with me.”

I paused. “What?”

He stood and turned toward the door. “Come with me, Miss Pettigrew.”

I shot up without a second thought and did as he asked of me, even though the smallest voice inside my head told me to fight. But, sometimes, fighting meant going along with the status quo until I had all of the tools at my disposal to enact my own plan.

And in this moment, ‘my own plan’ meant my own escape plan.

I followed Teo up the stairs. “Where are we going?”

He snapped his fingers. “You’ll see.”

The second he snapped his fingers, two women appeared out of nowhere and quickly clothed me in linens that felt softer than silk against my skin. They slid a robe up my arms while another woman picked up my feet and helped them into the cloud-like slippers that made me sigh with relief. The woman who helped me into the robe tied it off around my waist with an intricate little bow, and suddenly I felt like the fourteen million dollars that had been offered on my behalf.

“Thank you. Both of you,” I said.

But, the women simply retreated out of sight and went to stand in a corner to await their next command.

“This is the front door,” Teo said.

I turned to look down the hallway. “Yes. I’m fully aware of that.”

He swung the door open. “And this is what’s on the other side.”

My eyes widened slightly as I saw two men armed to the teeth pacing around on the front porch.

“Oh,” I said flatly.

He closed the door. “Come. I’m going to show you every vulnerable point in this house so I can show you how I’ve got it secured.”

I shook my head. “And this is supposed to do what? Scare me?”

He strode past me. “No, Miss Pettigrew. It’s supposed to show you how real the threat on your life is right now.”

I blinked. “Wait a second, a threat to my life?”

“Come with me, Miss Pettigrew.”

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