In Your Clutches

Part 5: Bound In Contract

AMELIA

I knew I was going to feel like shit from the minute the sun came up.

I was on the floor again. This time, I was right by the window. In the gap where it met the door to the en-suite bathroom. I'd been trying to distract myself with the scenery before me, watching the waves crash against the shoreline of the golden beach. The scene had been my one companion.

Either stare at it or go insane. Stare at it or allow myself to slip away into misery at how fucked up this all was.

There was no clock in there, but I could tell it must've been late morning. The flight I would have been on to Cambridge had long left without me.

It was funny. When I imagined myself going, I could see myself at the Harvard, but I couldn't see myself getting on the plane. It wasn't part of the vision. It was missing.

Maybe it was foolish to think of things like that, but it happened, right? I never got on the plane. I was there, and as the realisation that that plane took off this morning without me onboard hit, I truly accepted that this nightmare was going to be my new hell.

I kept going over everything in my mind and wondering if Dad knew this would happen all along.

Asher spoke like he knew my father very well. He spoke with confidence in his words. I wanted to know what Dad did to him. To them. The Salvatore's.

In his living room the other night were both Asher and his Uncle.

His Uncle would not have been there if he didn't have some vendetta against my father too.

So, what was it? What happened? When did it happen? Asher called my father a liar, a thief, one who murdered his friend.

What did he lie about? What did he steal? Which friend did he murder?

He had done his best to keep me out of business, so I didn't really know much of anything. I knew what I was supposed to know because it was most often what I was told in terms of safety and what Jason told me, but that was all.

I was so wrong about my dad and was truly living in the dark because there was also what Asher said about my life.

He said that my life wouldn't have turned out the way I wanted. That I was collateral to my father. I didn't believe that. I was stuck on that part because my father had always been so protective over me.

He loved me. You would only protect someone the way he protected me if you loved them.

He even got worked up over guys I might have been interested in dating. Behold, that was why I'd never been kissed. And shit, my life was probably comparable to living in a convent. Minus the nuns. I had Jason, but there was always a constant supply of people watching and making sure I was safe.

Asher must have been lying. There was no way I was going to believe a monster over what I knew my father to be. He was just telling me bullshit to piss me off. But if it was all bullshit, then why did I feel deep down that there was some element of truth to it?

The keyhole rattled and I tensed right up. Like Pavlov's dogs my poor body had now been conditioned to become anxious when I heard that sound.

The door opened and I instantly relaxed when I saw a guard and two maids in uniform. Both maids were Italian. One looked to be a little older than me, while the other looked like she might be in her mid-to late fifties.

They entered the room, but the guard stayed outside. A safety measure to make sure if I tried to run away, he would stop me. God, this was a nightmare.