Chapter 61

I’m not sure what I expected when I baited Archer’s anger like that. Perhaps I should have known that he would react as he did.

Still, as he dragged me down the hallway by the ribbon that still bound both of my hands, I couldn’t help but wonder if I shouldn’t have been more cautious.

In one of the common areas, a sitting room with a nearly perfect square of leather couches, he threw me forward. I stumbled with my new freedom, and off-balance, fell down onto the hard floor.

The three other brothers were already there. Beau was lounging across the corner of one of the couches, flipping through his phone. Sitting opposite him, Steven is relaxing with a notepad on his lap, but he straights when he sees me. Neil paces behind the couch, Mia cradled in his arms.

Mia reaches toward me with both hands when she sees me, but Neil turns her away. She starts fussing, so he bounces her a little, like I showed him how to at one of our Nanny lessons. Mia continues to whine, though, clearly unhappy.

I know better than them that it will only be a few minutes before she throws a good old fashioned tantrum.

Beau looks down at me with one lifted brow. He hasn’t otherwise moved one inch.

“Not that I mind the entertainment, but what is this about, Archer? Some of us have other plans for tonight.”

“Keep it in your pants for one minute,” Archer snaps.

Beau chuckles. “Feisty today, are we?” His gaze drops to the red ribbon binding my hands. “Can I take a guess as to why?”

Neil huffed, frowning. “Chloe got into a fight.”

Beau’s good humor vanishes. “That bruise isn’t one of ours.”

“It is not,” Neil says. He bounces Mia, but she’s starting to get teary. The loud sobs will start at any moment.

“This is a continuing issue with our nanny.” Archer stands over me, glaring down. I feel small and humiliated kneeling at his feet.

I try to push myself up onto my feet, but he places his hand on my shoulder and shoves me back down.

“You should learn your place by now,” he growls.

Oh, I hate him. More, I hate how he confuses my body. Even now, his demands make me want him. The asshole does not deserve that kind of loyalty or desire.

“Chloe, fighting is a bad idea for you,” Steven says. He keeps his voice soft, like it’s an apology without actually giving one.

When I glare at him, he softens, but only a little.

“Look,” he says, and motions toward my face. “You got hurt.”

This baby bruise is nothing compared to the punishment I inflicted. But to say so would only make the situation worse, so I keep my mouth shut.

“It’s bad enough to want to join Coach White’s club, but to actively seek out fights on your own…” Neil says it like he’s more disappointed than angry. Though with the tension in his jaw, it’s probably some of both.

It’s infuriating for them to talk about me like I’m not present. “I didn’t seek anything out.” That’s the truth, right? I didn’t seek out trouble, but I still found it. Or it found me. My luck is atrocious.

“So someone attacked you, then?” Steven asks.

“I mean… no, but –!”

Beau rolls his eyes. “The Nanny caught in her own deceptions.”

“We had a discussion about lying once already.” Archer keeps his hand on my shoulder, gripping.

A discussion? Is that what we are calling it now?

“We told you not to fight, and that means no fighting,” Neil says.

“Perhaps she truly does want her friends to go back to the Cave?” Beau says. He returns to looking through his phone like the present conversation bored him. “Why don’t we send one back for now, so she truly learns her lesson?”

“No! Wait, please! You don’t understand!” I would have jumped from the floor now, if Archer’s hand wasn’t keeping me in place.

“Explain it, then,” Steven says. “Help us see your reasoning.”

“Who cares about her reasoning?” Beau scoffed. “The Nanny disobeyed us and placed our property – her – in danger. We should chain her up, or hell, forbid her from leaving the Pyramid altogether. Clearly she can’t listen.”

“Someone was being attacked. They might have killed him. I had to intervene.”

The room falls quiet a moment. Beau and Archer trade a look I cannot discern. Neil shakes his head. Even Steven sighed, sitting back in his chair.

Archer’s fingers dug into my shoulder. “Then you should have let him die.”

I knew he would say that, but I still hate the words. “I’m not like you. I actually give a shit about people.”

“That makes you a fool,” Beau says with clear distain.

Archer looks down at me then, his gaze severe, his face stern. “You are too weak to fight.”

What the hell does he mean by that? “I can hold my own.”

His eyes zero in on the bruise on my jaw like that proves his case. “You are not fit to be a warrior. Especially without a wolf. You need to accept that.”

He cut straight through me with that. Sure, my wolf hasn’t presented itself yet, but that didn’t mean it never would. To tear at me for that though, is a low blow. My unfortunate weakness is my sore spot. When they dig like this, it almost feels like they know that.

But who could have told them?

Yet the pain of his words renew my determination tenfold.

“Never.” I would never give up on my dream, even if I have to postpone it for a while, for the length of this contract. “I don’t care what you think about who I am or who I want to be. In two months’ time, you won’t own me anymore.”

Archer’s lip lifts into a snarl. “But in these two months, we do own you. And you will obey.”

I glance around the room, and no one argues. To them, even Neil and Steven, I am just a tool to be kept on the shelf and brought down only when needed.

How often I forgot that. I needed to harden my foolish heart.

Mia finally hiccups and sobs finally burst into full-blown wailing. Neil, who had been holding her against him, immediately shifts her away from him. She squirms, legs and arms kicking.

“Let me go to her,” I say. Archer’s grip tightens a moment. Mia cries and cries. It breaks my heart. “Please.”

Archer removes his hand. I hurry to my feet. It’s awkward with my hands tied but I do the best I can. When I’m finally upright, I take only one step before Archer says, “Wait.”

I stop.

He comes around to the front of me and unties the ribbon from around my hands. He lets it flutter to the floor.

Free of the bind, I rush over to Neil and take Mia away from his uncomfortable hold. I clutched her to me, shushing her gently, and she slowly starts to calm down.

I know she can feel my nervous energy and its inhibiting her ability to relax. So I start walking toward the hallway, eager to be out of this room and away from these four controlling brothers.

No one makes any move to stop me.

Much later, when I am back in my room and Mia has calmed enough to be her happy self again, I set her down so she can play with her blocks. She immediately picks one up and puts it in her mouth.

With her occupied, I look around my room, at my plush bed and my closet full of expensive clothing. Archer gave me those clothes, but it wasn’t a kind gesture. They are branded with the Hayes insignia. The mark me as their belonging.

They could say I’m in the Court all they want, but I know what that means by now. I wasn’t an advisor. I am not an employee. I’m just a piece of property.

Anger claws at my chest. It’s only been one month, but I am already so tired of not belonging to myself. These clothes are a symbol of that, and I hate it. I don’t need anything so lavish or expensive. I don’t even need this much of anything.

The brothers would hate if I sold the ones I didn’t really need. All the more reason to do it, honestly.

I rush to the closet and begin ripping clothes from their hangers. I toss them over my shoulder into a growing pile. They flutter with a flourish.

Mia laughs at the spectacle.

When I finish, I have a massive pile to sell.

And I already begin to feel more like myself.