Torn (Lords of the City #1) by Alice Ward Read Free Book Online Page B

in Milwaukee. Not everything had to be new. I may have inspired change within the company, but I didn’t want the company to change me.
    Placing a hand on the window, I looked up at the night sky, which was obscured by clouds that faded into the black. This black was my new reality. I sensed it, the way a mouse knew when it was being hunted. By signing the contract Julia had given me in the car after our shopping spree, I no longer belonged to the day. The night would rule me.

C HAPTER F OUR
    T he ancient princess, Andromeda, was known in Greek mythology as the Chained Maiden. Her mother, Cassiopeia, the queen, testified amongst their people that the beauty of her daughter surpassed those of the water nymphs, who were the consorts of the gods. The gods were furious. They threatened to destroy her kingdom unless Andromeda was chained to the rocks by the sea to await the monster within its depths, a sacrifice to appease them.
    The constellation Andromeda glowed above my head in the lobby at Stafford Scientific, appearing at the edge of the night sky. Upside down, I supposed it did look like a woman chained, her arms pulled back by the weight of her cuffs. Lost in thought, I ran a hand over my own wrists, wondering what it was liked to be bound like that. I imagined myself chained to the rocks in place of the princess, but there was no fear. There was only sweet anticipation.
    It some ways, I was already chained. There were no rocks, and there were no monsters, but I was confined, waiting for someone to arrive, someone who would determine my fate.
    And yet I was freer than I’d ever been. Chicago was an adventure, more so than Thailand had been. I had gone to Thailand knowing it was temporary, a passing whim. Chicago wasn’t temporary. It was a new life. I had packed my bags, and I wasn’t going back.
    “You’re going to hurt your neck looking up like that,” Julia warned, coming up behind me.
    Preferring the familiarity of my sunny, beat-up hatchback over the company car that was scheduled to pick us up, I had left the apartment before her, eager to start my first day. I didn’t feel like myself. The indigo dress I wore pushed up my breasts in a way that made me wish I wasn’t banned from wearing my cardigan. It wasn’t indecent, but it was more skin than I was used to showing, not unless I was wearing a coral bikini in a tropical lake, surrounded by elephants. The cut of the dress was low, but the rest of me was well-covered. If not, I never would have worn it.
    The dress, I could get used to, but I refused to be chauffeured around as if I were a child incapable of getting to school on their own. The microchip was bad enough.
    “I miss the stars,” I told Julia. “From my grandma’s house just outside Milwaukee, I can see clusters of stars. It’s breathtaking.”
    “Chicago has its own beauty,” Julia said encouragingly, “but I understand. Cambridge, where Harvard is located, is such a lovely suburb of Boston. The leaves fall in the autumn, the snow in the winter, and the sun shines in the summer, all against a backdrop of old brick buildings and ivy. I loved going to school there. Chicago is different, but it has its joys, especially when the sun isn’t shining.” From the way she smirked, whatever she referred to wasn’t as wholesome as the leaves or the snow.
    She glanced at her watch. “We can’t be late. Let’s head up.”
    Ignoring the line of elevators we passed, she went to the one at the very back of the lobby. “It goes directly to the top floor,” she explained. “Very few employees have clearance to use it. Thankfully, we do.”
    “I’m surprised Peter isn’t forced to wait downstairs until Noah arrives,” I said cynically as we stepped in.
    Julia looked horrified. “Do not call him Noah. I know you’re friends with his brother, but he’s Mr. Stafford, in these walls and out. Unless you’re in his presence. Then its sir.” She wasn’t harsh, but she was avid.
    “I