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.

him why he is pretending to be nice to me, but men don’t like it when women are noisy, so I

Olivia

when I am forced to think

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

wanted to find some

sh it, and as I

I whisper. “I

to be clean and look healthy

him know I am willing to take part in their absurd plan of taking down my father. It’s not like I have any

like a living corpse. I don’t want the Dukes to think we are only feeding you on Mondays and

Dukes care about how I look? All they

s*x s lave, and he would not ca re what happens to you, but once you are healthy

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

my head. “It’s an old Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold.” Tracing a scar I have below my belly

of gold will

us, making you scream

to make everyone believe I am your woman? You can always f**k

the same.” Probably noticing I am still confused, he

me back to the room. Clean sheets and a new blanket are on the

sorry for getting it

the closet and takes a t-shirt from inside. “I flipped the

told. When he tries to restrain me again, I say, “Please, I will go absolutely

214

Olivia

Not that it matters what I want. It never does. “I will return in a few minutes with your breakfast and some meds for the

not hungry,” I

says before

like I have been hit by a train. With a bit of luck, Jasper will forget about me.

my throat feels so dry. Water would be

takes a few minutes

hurts even

spinning. It feels more like I am

I close my eyes.

door opens, and someone

to

something without spice-bacon and eggs.” Jasper’s voice reaches my ears. Why does he keep telling me random stuff I don’t care about? “Also, Merry

her so much, each passing second is an agony without her. “Merry Christmas to you too,” I whisper, while I don’t feel ‘merry’ at all. In fact, I rarely feel anything anymore. It’s better