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not having choices or a life of my own.
    A guard opened the door as we approached and we walked through, taking a left into a slightly curved hall that led deeper into the round fortress.
    “Do you know who killed my master?”
    Bram slowed, coming to pin me with those intense eyes. The attraction I harbored for him was something I had a hard time controlling. I’d felt it from the first moment I met him … holding me as I bled out from cutting my wrists. I thought he was an angel then, destined to take me far away from this place. That wasn’t the case. Far from it.
    “Maybe I should be asking you. Do you know who killed your master?”
    “Me?”
    “That’s right. This person wore dark clothes and a mask. He slipped through a place that has been closed off for a very long time. He knew things he shouldn’t have. Perhaps you’ve been transpiring with him the entire time.”
    I blinked through the news, not able to contain my shock. “I haven’t transpired anything. I don’t know anyone who would want my master dead. I swear it.”
    “You’ve seen nothing suspicious? No one has been overly giving you attention that maybe you haven’t mentioned?”
    Flashes blinded me of the last few times my master had guests over. All were other masters within the fortress—Rob, a famous actor—Yahn, a billionaire banker—a handful more. A rockstar, I didn’t get the name of because I was excused almost immediately. My master rarely let me in the room when his acquaintances were over. He was very jealous, and the others looked at me. A lot.
    “Nothing out of the ordinary. I wasn’t allowed around other men.”
    “I know.” Bram closed the distance between us. Inch by inch, I stepped back until my back was against the wall. And he didn’t stop adding his weight when he made contact. Not until I looked up. The moment I did, his finger slid under my chin, making me keep my eyes on his. “What was it this time? Why did he beat you? Did you look at someone? Take interest in a younger man instead of an old, sick, fuck like Master Vicolette?”
    I jerked my head to the side, not able to stop the action. “You know it was you.”
    The chuckle left my body shaking from his laughter. “I saw you looking at me this morning when I came by. Do you like what you see, slave?” He moved into me more and I tried everything I could to fight the arousal that was automatic toward him. It mingled with the pain I still felt from my rape, twisting my mind with sick possibilities.
    “I returned after I left. I saw what he did. I almost killed him myself, but I withheld after I saw you were sleeping.” He paused. “Did you know your Master was looking into buying another slave?”
    Pain lanced my heart and I had no idea why. Betrayal? Perhaps. I loved my Master just as much as I hated him.
    “Another slave?”
    Mr. Whitlock’s thigh pressed between my legs. I winced at the stinging and it only made his grin pull back even more. He paused, gazing at my lips before he brought up his stare.
    “A little girl. Ten years old. The same age you were when he bought you. You do know he’s the reason you’re here? That your first auction wasn’t real, right? He had to have told you the truth after all these years.”
    My mouth opened, but nothing would come. Nothing but the tears that blinded me.
    “I guess you didn’t know. He’s the reason your parents are dead. He hated your father. He had you taken as part of his revenge. Everything that has happened to you is all his doing.”
    “That can’t be true.”
    “Oh, but it is. I know this to be fact. I know everything about you, Everleigh.”
    I couldn’t stop the gasp that exploded from my mouth. The name was like a fist in my gut. How long had it been since I’d heard myself called that? My name .
    Fingers grasped around my wrist, pulling my arm up to be pinned against the wall. In a slow decent, Bram traced his thumb over the scar that ran from my wrist, down to the middle of my