Part One Hundred and Twenty-Two

Part One Hundred and Twenty-Two
Inara clamped her hand over her mouth and retreated away from the kitchen. Her heart was thudding loudly in her chest. She’d woken up half an hour earlier and pulled on her robe, wondering where Agron was.
He never left without waking her and she’d gone downstairs for some water when she’d overheard something that might get her killed. She took a deep breath and quietly made her way upstairs again and slid back into bed.
By the time Agron joined her, she had her eyes closed and her heart had stopped betraying her. She tried not to stiffen when his arm encircled her waist and his mouth nuzzled her neck. She felt like an idiot. Agron had played her, had played her whole family and it was all her fault.
She must have fallen asleep at some point because the sun’s rays woke her and Agron was still wrapped around her. She hated the fact that she’d given herself to him willingly. Hated that she’d fallen in love with him.
She understood the saying better now, there really was a fine line between love and hate. She thought he’d loved her too, but it was all a lie. He was privy to information from Lev and Dominic he never would have had without her.
All that day she was withdrawn and quiet and they all questioned her. “I think I might be coming down with something.”
Agron had frowned and watched her intently. “Let me know if it gets worse. I’ll make an appointment for you.”
“Of course.” Inara smiled politely and she counted down the minutes until Agron took her back to school and the safety of her dorm room.
She’d have to be very careful in how she did this. Agron couldn’t know what she was planning because she was sure he would kill her, and if he didn’t, Rocco would. He’d given her to Agron as a reward and she’d foolishly believed him.
Agron drove her back to school and he walked her up to her room, carrying her suitcase. “Inara, are you sure everything’s alright?”
“I’m fine,” she lied to him.
“Come give me a kiss,” Agron demanded and she stepped forward dutifully.
Agron kissed her in the same passionate way he always did. If Inara hadn’t overheard him she never would have known what a good actor he was. He leaned his forehead against hers and kissed it softly.
“I’ll see you on Friday, my love. Miss me,” he said and left her alone in her room.
She locked the door behind him and watched from her window as he drove away. Now she only had to avoid Endrit. She knew she couldn’t stay there and she also couldn’t use her phone. She had no idea if Agron was really monitoring it or not.
Inara waited until it was dark and slipped out of her room. The front of her dorm building was quiet and the grounds beyond the parking lot were dark. She had a backpack on her back and she kept to the shadows as she made her way to the gate.
She knew exactly where she was going. There was a garage five miles down the road from the school and she’d call her brother from the pay phone. Her cell phone would show her location in her room and she’d taken off that blasted engagement ring too.
Inara kept her head down, her hair tucked into a large hoodie. Once she was off the property, she felt better and she started walking faster. Inara could see the lights from the garage up ahead and she smiled despite the grave situation she found herself in.
Inara stopped at the pay phone and lifted the handle. The hairs on the back of her neck rose at the same time as she felt the warm breath next to her ear.
“What are you doing, Inara?” His voice was soft and smooth. The question didn’t seem threatening, but Inara knew better.
“Get away from me,” she said and stepped away from him.
Agron’s smile didn’t put her at ease and when he crossed his arms she knew she was in trouble. “I kept telling myself that you’d talk to me when you were ready. That whatever was bothering you could be sorted out.”
“Oh really? Like the traitorous fuck that you are! I heard you, Agron!”
“What do you think you heard, Inara?”
Inara gave him an incredulous look. “You talking to Rocco. I’m not an idiot. I know what I heard.”
Agron chuckled and she turned and ran. She ran like her life depended on it because it literally did. Now that Agron knew what she knew he’d have no qualms in killing her. She was a danger to him and now he knew that.
Inara screamed as his two arms wrapped around her and lifted her off the ground. She kicked and bucked but Agron didn’t let go. He walked back the way she’d walked and he only stopped long enough to hoist her over his shoulder.
His hand came down hard on her ass and his other arm kept her legs from moving. “Stop your fucking shit, immediately!”
The tone he’d used with her wasn’t one she was used to and her body stilled immediately. “I hate you so much.”
“Hate me all you want, Inara, but the fact remains that you belong to me. You signed an agreement and you’ve been claimed. Nobody can take you away from me,” Agron said.
The hard truth blossomed in her mind and Inara stopped struggling. Agron was right. She was stuck with him and he could do whatever he wanted. She knew that when her body was found, her brothers would turn to Agron first. They would avenge her.
An hour later, Inara was carried back into the house and Agron’s men looked up at them with a frown. Agron deposited Inara onto the couch and dragged his hands over his face.
“You’ve lost the privileges of going to school. If you want to graduate you can do it online. Besnik will pack up your shit tomorrow,” Agron said angrily.
“You can’t do this to me, you asshole!” Inara yelled. “You lied to me about everything!”
“I never lied to you, Inara!” Agron yelled back and the men retreated out of the room with looks of worry on their faces.
“I heard Rocco ask you if I still believed you loved me and you said yes, you motherfucker!” Inara grabbed the glass fruit bowl from the coffee table and threw it at Agron’s head.
She was mad and furious and she wanted to hurt him because she was hurting. She wanted to make him bleed and if she had a knife with her, she knew she’d stab him. The crash of the bowl against the wall had her anger spiking up dangerously.
“Because if Rocco knew that I loved you, you’d be dead!”