Fifty-Four
Isabella’s POV
I had taken the usual tiny bites out of my food and then had to entertain Antonio’s depressing presence before I began to count the remaining hours to midnight…or at least that time at night when everything goes completely silent.
Although I couldn’t say that this place was ever truly noisy, I think there was quite the difference between the muffled voices and shuffling of feet against the ground that I’d usually hear during the day and the complete silence of this very
moment.
This night as well as the days leading up to it, I had slightly increased the amount of food I allowed myself to eat. I still didn’t let myself finish it though because although I no longer believed that Antonio would try to end my life in such a cowardly manner, I wanted to be consistent.
A slight change in my behavior and they’ll want to start observing me under a hand lens or something. I also did some resistance training and if there was some sort of hidden camera in this room after all, I hope they’ll just put it down as boredom and not the truth.
The truth that I had been preparing myself for my first real attempt towards escaping this place as well as the fate that awaited me if I remained here.
Last night I had stayed up late as well, searching high and low for a means to escape. All my attempts to open the windows
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were a lost cause even though I had decided that the height would not deter me from jumping down. I am a werewolf and apart from not getting hurt easily, even if I did it would only be a matter of time before I got healed.
Well, at least that was what I was telling myself but even with all that self–motivation, I couldn’t find a way to pry the windows open. I had gone into the bathroom too but not only were the windows too small for me to crawl through, but they were also shut.
I hated the bathroom more than anything else. Okay, maybe not more than having to be here in the first place but I really did hate it a lot.
I didn’t know if Antonio somehow got off on body odor because there was no reason why I was still in the gown he abducted me in, with a bathroom that didn’t have water so I couldn’t even take a bath. I mean he was considerate enough to have me well fed but he didn’t have a single care about my hygiene?
I felt disgusted and when I told him so, he hadn’t given a damn. Every two days, his disgustingly dressed maids would pour a bucket of water down the toilet to keep it smelling fresh.
I mean while I appreciated that I did not have to go in the same toilet for the twentieth time without flushing, I wondered why the toilet deserved a bath but I didn’t.
I shook my head away from thoughts of bathrooms and toilets and moved towards the activity of tonight. I had searched the high and low of the room. I had wondered if it was possible to run out when the maids were leaving and
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somehow manage to outrun the guards but the fact that I did not know my way around this place made that idea all the more scary and risky.
It was towards the end of my search, in my frustration and with frustrated tears running down my face that I found it. It was right behind the headboard of the bed which I nearly exhausted myself by pushing. The bed wasn’t light at all and I didn’t know what had made me decide to pull it out but…
Ahem.
Oh right, my wolf may have suggested it when I began to cry like a five–year–old.
May have?
“Oh shush! What do you want from me?” I rolled my eyes at her even though I needed to be standing in front of a mirror for her to actually see me do that.
For you to finally get moving! I haven’t been let out in ages!
“So you care more about going for a run than-”
Just shush and get moving!
“I hate you, you’re mean.”
I love you, Bella!
+rolled my eyes and took in a deep breath, I began to pull back the bed. It took a lot of time because the frame and queen–sized mattress combined were so unreasonably heavy that I hoped I would still have the energy to crawl through the tiny space as well as run when I needed to.
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I mean, I knew I could just wait for Alexander but my doubts of him coming for me were starting to surface. I kept wondering why I have been here for so long and there has been no sign of Alexander despite Antonio’s claims that he was tearing the world apart searching for me.
I mean with the way things have always been between us and the way we left things the last time I saw him, there was no reason for me to even believe all that in the first place, and here I had been counting on it.
Well, now I have decided not to sit back and wait for a very unlikely rescue. I wanted to escape to live. To live for me, to live for my family and my friends, for my art, and for anyone who would shed even a tiny drop of tear if I got killed.
I finally pushed the bed across the room and positioned it to block the door. It was why it took so much time. No one is going to be able to come in here so easily this way, I decided. They wouldn’t expect the resistance, first of all, and when they do, it’s gonna be hell to push back that bed.
On that thought, I grabbed the tiny flashlight I nicked from one of the maids and flashed it into the dark square hole. It was a miracle how bright the tiny object was and I hoped it stayed that way for as long as I needed it to.
The light could only get so far but I could see a turning. Praying to the moon goddess to not let me meet a dead end, I got on all fours and immediately I did that, the reality of what I was about to do finally hit me.
I was planning to escape from a tower owned by a vicious rogue who also happened to be the twin brother of my mate… sorry, I meant who also wanted to kill his twin brother and his
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mate. He had already warned me that he was going to kill me on the spot if he caught me trying to escape and I did not even have a plan.
I felt like the air in the room was getting filled with more carbon dioxide than oxygen and I clutched my chest as I began to hyperventilate. Shifting from my ‘all–fours‘ position to a sitting position, I rested my head on the wall beside me.
Hey Bella, what’s wrong? I heard my wolf’s gentle voice. More gentle than I think it has ever been. I nearly chuckled, was she worried about me? I had to admit, it felt quite refreshing.
“I’m not sure I can do this,” I said out loud.
I’m sure you can.
I raised my brow, “Unless you’re a psychic, I refuse to believe you. I’m not taking motivational speeches.”
I imagined her rolling her eyes at that but when she spoke her voice remained gentle, “We’ve come this far Bella, why give up now? There’s no promise to live if you stay back but there is a chance if you go through with this.”
When I still didn’t budge, she sighed, Well, if not for anything else, think about that bed. Do you really want to push it back?
I was silent for a half minute before I burst out laughing. “That did it.”
“Who knew I only needed to tap into your laziness.”
“Shush!”
Here we go again. She said and I pushed her to the back of my mind as I got on all fours again, and this time, I didn’t just
stop there but I crawled forward.
Go, girl!
I grinned, placing the flashlight between my teeth as I slowly crawled into the vent, moving towards my possible freedom.
What did we say about that pessimism, child?
I rolled my eyes.
“Moving towards my freedom,” I said out loud in a whisper that echoed lightly as I kept moving, willing myself to really believe that I was going to be free. I was going back to my pack, I was going to see my family again, I was going to paint again. I was going to get my life back. I was going to see
Alexander again. My heart ached badly. I missed him. I missed him so damn much.
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