I pick up the weird shaped bone and bite into the meat. He’s right. It tastes like pork, only with the texture of chicken. I block out their conversation as my stomach rumbles. Being deprived of meat for the entire time has been rough. More than rough. If I have to break us out of here, I can’t do it. I don’t feel strong enough, nor do I have the energy needed to. It’s why I’ve given up for now. We’ve all kept up our training in the small space, using weird things to help. Mainly press-ups and sit-ups because that’s all we can do. Orson mentioned breaking our sink and using it as weights. Told him it still wouldn’t be heavy enough for the kind of iron I needed to lift.

I sit back, resting my hand on my belly and turning over my shoulder. The whole time that we have been here I haven’t seen any of the other igloos being used. Not one. I wonder if he ever uses them at the same time or if he does it one by one.

The door unlocks automatically, a resounding clink unlatching.

“Royce, Storm, and Orson, you may exit the pod.” I stand to my feet and rush toward them.

“Wicked… you’re not quite done. I need your… expertise. You owe me.”

I turn back to the camera, glaring at the little light that flashes. “I’ve done everything you wanted!”

“Correction—” K Diamond answers, only this time it comes from the opened door. He’s always walking around with guards because he knows. The motherfucker knows that if given even a second, I’ll have him choked out and eating out of a straw for the rest of his life—if I decide to give him his life. “You’ve done everything Skully wanted. This next phase is for me.”

“And if I say no?” I ask, taking careful steps closer to the door. I push through Orson and Storm, fighting the twitching of my fingers. “Let me guess, you’ll hurt Poppy.” I roll my eyes because I’m sick. Sick of knowing that so long as she’s here, they will always have something on me. I hate having a weakness. I’ll never have one again after Poppy.

The silence is deafening in a way that I can hear the trees brush together. Royce takes deep breaths to calm his anger.

“Well… no, I don’t need to use her anymore,” K Diamond says, and I find him in front of me, wearing a silver face covering and black contacts in his eyes. He looks demonic, but that is the intention. That and to hide his identity because I know without a shadow of a doubt that this man knows Royce and Royce knows him. Well.

“And why is that?” I snap, raising my brows.