Uncovering You 3: Resistance by Scarlett Edwards Read Free Book Online Page B

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    If that’s true, why do I feel so bad about letting her go?
    To distract myself, I look at the letter. I pick it up and turn it over, finding Stonehart’s familiar slanted writing on the underside.
     
    You will not earn enough TGBs to attend the gala with me at the end of the month.
    However, if you show yourself willing, an exception could be made for the day.
    - J.S.
     
    And just like that, I’m plunged right back into my role of the captive.
    Did last night mean nothing to him? There’s no mention of what we did in the letter. There’s nothing to acknowledge anything we shared.
    Of course there isn’t ! I tell myself bitterly. You’re a fool for expecting there to be .
    The compassion he demonstrated yesterday was clearly an act. He wanted me to let my guard down around him. To become more reliant on him than I already am. To lose any trace of self-sufficiency and lean on him for everything from shelter to sustenance to emotional gratification.
    Fuck that.
    I crumple the note up in a flash of anger and chuck it away. This is all part of his mind games.
    I hate how they’re affecting me.
    I push away the rest of my breakfast and stalk out to the sunroom. Every step I take fans the flames of rage building inside.
    Most of it is self-directed. How could I be so weak? How could I be so stupid , as to expect last night to change anything?
    I know better than that. I’m supposed to know better than that.
    And yet, a tiny part of me, deep down, hoped that things might be different.
    Am I so eager for affection because I’ve been deprived of human contact for so long? Is that why I succumbed so easily last night? I can’t delude myself into thinking I was acting . It was more than that. It felt…
    Real.
    Holy shit! Holy shit, Lilly !
    I start pacing the sunroom, my mind racing at a hundred miles per hour. Last night was not real. The emotions I felt were not right. They were in no way acceptable.
    The ease with which I fell into the trap makes me think I’ve been underestimating Stonehart from the very start. That’s a horrible thing to admit. It lends absolutely no confidence to my ability to judge people.
    What happened to the Lilly who prided herself on her psychology education? What happened to the girl who won the Barker Prize for having the best essay at Yale?
    Unless… a horrible, sinking feeling forms in my gut. What if the real reason I won that prize had nothing to do with talent? What if—somehow—Stonehart pulled the strings to make me win?
    I fall onto the chair as if I’ve been pushed. The thought is ridiculous, of course. I’m being paranoid. Stonehart can’t have influenced the decision of the selection committee at Yale. And besides, if Robin hadn’t found my paper, if Fey and Sonja hadn’t conspired to hand it in on my behalf…
    But then again, I’ve seen the things Stonehart is capable of. If he went to all this length just to get me to sign a contract of servitude—a contract that I know is completely superfluous, and would never hold up in any court—how can I be sure he hasn’t been manipulating my life for far longer?
    He is one of the most powerful and secretive men in the country. Just how far does his influence spread? Could he have rigged the selection, somehow, to ensure that I was the winner?
    That whole proposition just seems so unlikely that if I had heard it at any other time, I would have laughed. But Stonehart told me he owns Corfu Consulting. He must have been the one to tell them to extend the internship offer to me. And the transition into the full-time job. How else would he have heard about the ‘promising young woman’ who’s had her plans disrupted?
    The only way any of it makes sense is if he has been manipulating my life from afar for some time now. He owns the company that gave me the job offer. He owns the client firm I was creating a marketing firm for.
    It’s more than coincidence. The employment deal made me leave Yale. Ziltech pulling out left me