Shackled (The Lord Series) by Amy T

Olivia

I try to do as he asks and get onto my knees before forcing myself to stand, but I fall again, hitting my head against

the wall.

Jasper rushes inside the bathroom. “I said help her wash, not kill her,” he says as he steps inside the shower. “What the f**k!? This is freezing.”

Tyson shrugs. “I thought cold water was good for people with a fever.”

Jasper mutters something under his breath as he takes me out of the shower and has me sit on the toilet. My shirt is soaked and cold, and it clings to me like a second skin, and I wrap my arms around myself.

“She is going to die sooner or later; I don’t see the point in dragging out the inevitable,” says Tyson.

Me either.

Jasper goes to check the temperature of the water. “You already know why.”

“If you think that by f**king her and posting videos of her and her nasty p**sy all over social media, we will finally be able to take down Senator Deymar, you are delusional. That man doesn’t give a f**k about her. He will even deny she is his daughter.”

Tyson is not wrong about my father, although he might get a heart attack if his career as a politician is ruined.

“You think that didn’t cross my mind? We will have Cirro look into the evidence once he is done with that job for the

Elders,” says Jasper.

What evidence?

Except for my birth certificate, there is little proof of me living with my parents while growing up. There had been a handful of times when I was allowed to be part of the family photos, and I am sure my mother had thrown them out already as she always hated the color of my hair. ‘Red is for whores,’ she used to say, although my hair is auburn, it was the same thing for her. Guess she was right in the end, I am a wh ore.

“Whatever. Like I said last night, I don’t want any part in this sh it,” Tyson says and leaves.

Jasper lets out a loud sigh before returning to me. “Do you need to use the toilet?”

I shake my head. He removes his clothes, then mine.

“Don’t mind Tyson. He always gets like this when he is editing one of his books,” he says as he takes me to the shower.

The water is warm enough to stop me from shaking.

Jasper is gentle as he cleans my hair.

nice to me, but men don’t like it when

Olivia

wander. I hate when I am forced to think or to feel,

in his and looks at my wrist. “No matter how hard you try, you will never

wanted to find some

not into that sh it, and as I mentioned before, you

I whisper. “I

wants you to be clean and look healthy in the sex video we are going to

willing to take part in their absurd plan

will still look like a living corpse. I don’t want the Dukes to think we are only feeding you

think the Dukes care about how I look? All they care about

re what happens to you, but once you are healthy and radiant, looking absolutely smitten with us, every single Duke in town will

goods. A look at my scars and it is enough for

I shake my head. “It’s an old Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with

gold will fix

making you scream our names, those watching the videos will know you

important to make everyone believe I am your woman? You can always

won’t be the same.” Probably noticing I am still confused, he

takes me back to the room. Clean

for getting it dirty,”

top of the bed, then goes to the closet and takes a t-shirt from inside. “I flipped the mattress upside down,” he lets me know as

he tries to restrain me again, I say, “Please, I will go

214

Olivia

don’t want to be free of drugs! Not that it matters what I want. It never does. “I will return in a few minutes with your breakfast and

not hungry,”

Jasper says

a train. With a bit of luck, Jasper will forget about me. Besides, even if I want to eat,

start to cough, and my throat feels so dry. Water would be nice but do I dare ask for

minutes before the cough

hurts even

spinning and spinning. It feels more like I am on a boat in the

I close my eyes.

opens,

pretend to be

and eggs.” Jasper’s voice reaches my ears.

I didn’t even realize it was Christmas. The last time I celebrated it was wi th Camila and her family. I miss her so much, each passing second is an agony without her. “Merry Christmas to you too,” I whisper,