“I wish I did. Get out, Mercedes. I mean it.”

“He hates you.”

Her words manage to hit something tender inside me. I don’t know why. I don’t care about her or what she thinks. And maybe it’s the day or the past few days. I don’t know. But before I can open my mouth to tell her to go away again, she continues.

“Please tell me you knew that,” she says, that grin growing wide.

“Just go. Please.”

“Aw. You didn’t know?”

I feel my face crumple at her feigned concern. I’m not even sure why. I knew all of this. It’s not news to me that he hates me.

“He may enjoy fucking you, but he’s a man. You’re a toy to him. Like so many others.”

She shows all her teeth as she sneers, victorious at that last dig.

I force myself to stand up straighter and step closer to her. “What’s the matter, Mercedes? You feeling threatened by someone so inconsequential as me? Because from the look of you, I’d say you’re jealous.”

Her face goes beet red, and she fists her hands. For a moment, I think she’s going to hit me, but then she spins on her heel. “Get Nathan in here!” she snaps to someone.

I push the door closed but listen, my heart hammering. I hear a man’s voice a few minutes later. I recognize it, but I hadn’t known his name. Nathan is one of Mercedes’s bodyguards.

“You make sure they get her dressed in the dress I brought. Make sure she sits her skinny little ass down and lets them do their work exactly as I’ve instructed. And you call me before she’s allowed out of here. Do whatever you need to do to make sure she does as she’s told, am I clear?”

“Your brother gave—”

“I will deal with my brother! You just do as I tell you, or you’re finished here! Am I fucking clear?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

I back away from the door and turn on the tap to wash my face, seeing how my hands are trembling.

I knew I was hated. I never doubted that. At least when it came to Mercedes. With him, there were moments—

No. I can’t do that. I can’t ever think about those moments. He is a monster. He is the devil. They both are. And they have me in their sights, and I don’t even know why.

I’m not strong enough to fight them.

That’s the one thing I know without a doubt.