Page 85 of Poison Vows

With as much strength as I can muster, I reach for my phone and tap it to see if Emmett sent me a message, but just like all these other days, there’s nothing.

Is he ignoring me, torturing me so ruthlessly knowing damn well that I’m about to enter the gates of hell if Senator Hughes gets his way?

Unable to take it anymore, I go to my chat with Emmett and see all the texts I sent from the last few days are undelivered.

Unease trickles down my spine.

Emmett is many things but for as long as I’ve known him, he’s never ignored my texts, no matter where he is in the world.

In fact, when I returned back to Westbrook Blues, he made me promise to always answer his calls and texts no matter what.

Back then, I preened and felt so incomparably happy at the command.

I translated it as him wanting to keep in touch with me, but looking at it now… it was nothing more than him controlling his puppet.

But still, each time I initiated conversation between us, even if it was just asking after our friends, he’d respond almost immediately.

He’s never left me hanging like this before.

Annoyed and in agony, I dial his number, but it sends me straight to voicemail.

Just then a knock sounds at the door before it’s pushed open gently.

“Ivy?” A low, soft voice speaks. “It’s me.”

Beverly has the sense not to refer to herself as my mother, which is a relief because I don’t have the strength to deal with her right now.

“It’s so dark in here, let me open the curtains,” she says instead.

“Don’t!” I gasp out.

“Okay. I won’t open them, but I heard you didn’t eat anything again today, is everything all right?” she says almost gently, like she cares.

This lady is something else.

When her husband or daughter are near, her tone toward me is hard, cold, and no-nonsense, but when no one is around, she’s like this.

It’s disquieting.

“Not hungry.”

“You haven’t left your room either,” Beverly says. “You know we’re not keeping you hostage, right?”

I scoff, but it’s a mistake as pain makes me hiss slightly.

“The security detail outside is for your protection,” Beverly explains as if she’s trying to convince herself. “Teddy doesn’t want anything to happen to you.”

“You mean he doesn’t want me to escape before he seals his deal of a lifetime,” I say straightforwardly, already tired of this same conversation we’ve had for over a week.

Beverly awkwardly falls silent for a while before she clears her throat.

“That boy has been coming to see you every day, though,” she says inquisitively. “Everything is going well, right?”

Ah, right. This is all she cares about.

“How has it been with him? I heard he took you around the city on romantic dates,” Beverly says happily, but I can only lie there in the dark, grimacing in pain.

I only agreed to go out with Vaughn simply because I needed to get out of this prison.

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