14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

L ayla turned away from the closed door to look at her sister. That hadn't sounded like an employer/employee conversation, and by the look on Brit's face, she had already figured that out.

"Is he forcing you to sleep with him?" Brit asked straight away.

"What? No!"

There had been no force whatsoever, even if, in her head, she had been against it.

"Then why are you dressed like this? You look different. Your hair, your face, everything. You look like he's had you polished up and dressed up, so he won't be embarrassed to be seen with you."

"Don't be ridiculous," she snorted.

"Then why did it look and sound like you and Mr King were arguing like lovers?"

She sighed and walked back towards her sister. Britney was too observant at times. If she had been the one taken by Jackson, she would have figured things out within a day.

"Why don't we clean this pigsty up first so we can relax and talk properly?"

"I don't want you to clean for me. You clean all day for Mr King, if I'm to believe what you said. Or should I call him Jackson as well?" Britney said before she turned around to start picking up the clothes on the floor.

"It's Mr King to you. I didn't raise you to be disrespectful," she said before she started helping anyway.

"I'm serious, Layla. Sit down. I was going to clean today anyway. I didn't get a chance to do it during the week because I was studying."

"This room is supposed to be cleaned every day. Why are you doing it yourself?" she asked with a frown.

"They just stopped coming. It's not a big deal," Britney shrugged.

She knew this was Andrea's doing without being told. Her supervisor was so snobby that she would have issues cleaning after someone like her and Britney, even if it was her job to make sure it was done. She sighed as she pushed the books on the sofa aside and sat down.

"I'll speak to Housekeeping and—"

"No, don't bother. I'd rather not have strangers going through my things anyway," Brit said as she sat down.

Her sister looked like she had lost some weight. She would have thought that Brit would have gained some instead since she could eat anything she wanted from the menu at any time. But with no one to tell her to eat, Brit probably spent her days with her nose buried in books instead.

"How have you been?" she asked gently. "Tell me the truth. Has it been too hard?"

Brit chuckled.

"Living here isn't hard at all," she answered, then the smile briefly left her lips.

Her ears pricked as she easily picked up her sister's heartbeat. It had elevated slightly. Was that a sign of a lie?

"I said tell me the truth, Brit."

Brit sighed and leaned back.

"It gets lonely sometimes. I only have Mr King's bodyguards to keep me company, and they're not exactly approachable," she said. "But other than that, I'm fine. Plenty of things at my disposal to keep me occupied."

"What about Dad? Have you seen him again?"

Brit looked away and got up to start picking up her things again.

"I don't want to talk about him," she said.

And that made her want to know everything. Was their father still trying to sell her? Had their father tried to extort money out of her? Did he think that Britney had won some sort of jackpot to stay in a place like this? Brit always gave in to their father despite all the horrible things he did to them. Seeing her sister like that made her wish she had made a different choice on that balcony the night Jackson had saved them.

‘No, you don't,' the voice in her head laughed.

She ignored it, as she had been doing since it had started. There was nothing she could do about any of the changes she was experiencing until she had the baby and left Jackson's property. When she left her baby...

Hopefully, all those weird things would stop when she no longer lived among the wolves. Maybe she would be able to accept giving up her baby by then because she understood she wouldn't be able to guide the baby through anything that she had been going through.

She pushed those painful thoughts aside but her mind immediately went to the other thoughts she was trying to forget.

She sighed and sat back. The past few weeks had messed her up. The burden of her guilt was too heavy to carry; she felt it even now when they were away from the pack. But leaving that room and the pack had already put her in a better state of mind, even if it would only be for a brief period.

"Don't speak to him, Brit. He's not worth your time or love," she said gently.

Brit didn't respond, so she knew the ship had already sailed.

"What about you? You seemed so upset that night you told me to leave," Brit said. "I've been worried sick."

"I told you it was a misunderstanding," she lied with a smile. "We sorted everything out, so don't worry."

Brit stopped to look at her. Her sister's heart started beating harder, and a flash of fear crossed her eyes.

"I have to worry. Something's not right with Jackson's bodyguards, and I think Mr King is the same."

Oh, no. She sat back up and studied Brit's face. Could her sister have figured things out? It was dangerous information to have, and she was out here facing it by herself. She couldn't protect her when they were so far apart.

"Why?" she asked carefully.

"Their eyes... I don't know. I think I've seen them glow. And sometimes they make sounds that don't sound human."

Fear filled her as she stood to take her sister's hands. She forced a laugh as she looked down at her little sister.

"Don't be silly, Brit. What could they possibly be?" she said. "But do me a favour and don't say things like that out loud. People might think you've lost your mind."

"I have no one to tell, anyway," Brit said. "But it's been freaking me out."

"You're probably studying too hard," she said, gently squeezing Brit's hands. "Once you write your final exams, we'll go somewhere we can relax and forget everything. But please, for my sake, don't tell anyone. You know what they did to me when I was younger when I had that imaginary friend."

"But what if they hurt us?" Brit whispered.

A knock on the door made them both jump, and she took it as a chance to brush the conversation off.

"Now, see what you've done. We'll be jumping at everything now," she teased, then walked to the door.

Jackson stood on the other side of the door with his bag in his hand. He wasn't smiling. In his suit, he looked as cold as he had the first day she had met him, and he was likely going to stay like that until the day he let her go.

He walked in without a word and then walked towards the bedrooms. Brit's heartbeat spiked again, making Jackson stop and look at her. Would he guess? But he continued walking without a word.

This was a mess. Maybe one day, she would tell her sister what she had seen and heard at the packhouse, but not when she had to leave her alone for at least another eight months.

When she looked back at her sister, she had put the fake smile back on her lips.

"Why don't we finish tidying up, and then we can order some lunch? I'm starving."

She hadn't taken two steps away from the door when there was another knock. When she opened it again, she saw the wolf who had driven them that morning. He was breathing hard as if he had run up the stairs instead of taking the elevator. His heart was beating as fast as Brit's had when she told her about her bodyguards, so she knew immediately that something must have happened.

"May I see Mr King, please?" he asked.

The door to the bedroom that Jackson had just gone into opened before he even finished speaking, and the man himself rushed to the front door. Jackson walked out of the suite and pulled the door shut. She knew he was doing that to keep her from hearing anything through the soundproofed walls.

"See what I mean?" Brit whispered. She had forgotten that her sister was watching everything.

"You didn't even have to tell him someone was here for him; he already knew. I think we need to leave," Brit said. "We're together now; we can just disappear somewhere they won't find us. Trust me on this one, Layla. These people are bad news, and they'll hurt us worse than Costas if we don't escape."