Page 124 of Knot All is Crystal
Puck
I’ve got her. We’ve got the plan in place. It’s not ideal, but it’ll work. Right now, I need you all to STAY AWAY. Trust me and trust Crystal. Please.
If something happens to any of you, she’ll never forgive me.
It’s time to get our girl out and end this once and for all.
FORTY-SEVEN
Kieran pacesin front of his desk, his face flushed. He doesn’t look at me or speak to me, but if I tried to leave, I think he’d stop me.
I am a pretty paperweight on the corner of a desk.
I am a trophy on a shelf.
I don’t know where Atlas is. Puck took him for “processing,” whatever that means.
It’s a good sign that I’m not with them, right? And that Puck is in charge of this? Kieran must still trust the Alpha in disguise.
Because if he didn’t, he wouldn’t have put him in charge of the male Omega, who is supposedly so valuable.
It’s wild that I know intimately that Atlas isn’t an Omega, but I still ached to hear Wyatt treat him that way.
It was a convincing act.
“Queenie,” Kieran snaps, suddenly remembering I’m here. “Strip.”
My stomach does a flip, and bile rises in my throat. “I…”
“I don’t want to hear your fucking excuses,” he snarls. “Strip. Now.”
Still, I don’t move. I can’t.
This isn’t like the other times when he’s given me an outfit that barely shows anything and had me dress up like a doll.
This is darker.
More dangerous.
Kieran reaches into the back of his pants and pulls out a gun, aiming it directly at me. “I’m not fucking joking, Queenie. Strip right the fuck now!” I’m on my feet instantly, scrambling to peel off my jeans and t-shirt. He watches me intently and then snarls, “All of it.”
And that is how I’m left standing naked in front of Kieran Cobb, with a gun pointed at my fucking head.
Maybe I should let him shoot me because I know what comes next.
It’s not like I haven’t thought about killing myself over the past few years. There have been times when I’ve even gotten close. But I could never pull the proverbial trigger.
Because when I look at it objectively, a single day in the Conglomerate isn’t terrible.
But it’s been four years.
Four years on edge, wondering if today will be the day he decides I’m not worth keeping around, and he sells me to the highest bidder.
Four years of fearing my family would be hurt if I stepped out of line.
Four years of having to let gross men feel me up as I sell them party drugs.
Four years of Kieran Cobb’s unwavering attention.
