Uncovering You 4: Retribution by Scarlett Edwards Read Free Book Online

with him in the future. I can only make my move when we’re both comfortable with me out and about with him.
    Then there’s the other annoying, pesky, lingering thing: Am I even sure I want revenge anymore?
    I bristle. Of course I do. Of course I want revenge. I want revenge, vengeance, justice, freedom …
    Except… if I were to take the last three days in isolation… would my life seem so bad?
    I live in an enormous house built on a massive estate. I have a spectacular view of the ocean from a room that is bigger than a basketball court. I can come and go as I please. I have access to a grand library. A swimming pool. Exercise equipment. I have a closet full of clothes, the value of which is more than I can ever hope to earn even after a decade of work.
    Somebody cooks for me. Somebody cleans for me. I have books. I have a huge, comfortable bed. I have Jeremy Stone—
    I have the collar.
    I have the collar. It was put on my neck by the man.
    I have no freedom. I have a life structured by his crazy rules.
    Just because he hasn’t been crazy for three days doesn’t mean my situation is any better.
    After all, it was just four days ago that he made me eat the dove. Four nights ago, he tied me up and fucked me raw. A month ago he starved me in the dark.
    I bolt upright in bed. My heart is racing. All thought of sleep is now forgotten. This is Stonehart I’m talking about. The same man who drugged me and ripped me from my life. The same man I vowed I would bring down the day I signed the contract.
    I get up, wrapping a robe around myself, and stride to the huge glass wall. I touch one of the panels and look up at the night sky. The glass is cold beneath my fingertips.
    Cold. Just like Stonehart can be.
    No. Just like Stonehart is .
    He is a cold-hearted bastard. Nothing says he’s changed. Why would he change? It’s gotten him very far in life!
    I can’t let a few tolerable days sway my resolve.
    I need to get back at him. I know that. I know it as well as I know my left hand from my right.
    But, do I feel a pressing need for revenge, as I stand here, completely unrestricted and free to go wherever I want on the property? Do I feel that need, that desire, deep in my heart?
    I strain for it… and come up empty. It’s not there anymore. It’s disappeared.
    I shiver once and wrap my arms around myself. Am I really that weak? Have I given in already?
    I touch the ever-present plastic ring around my neck. I wait for feelings of disgust and revulsion to bubble up to the surface…
    But they do not come.
    Stonehart has already conditioned me not to feel them.
    “Damn it!” I cry out and strike my fist against the glass. The panel shudders under the blow.
    I should want to be free, shouldn’t I? I should want to get away!
    And yet, right now, those desires are as far off as the land on the other side of the ocean.
    I’ve grown content. Comfortable. Maybe a little bit complacent.
    It could be the optimist in me. I’ve always tried to make the best of my surroundings. That is how I got through high school with grades good enough to go to Yale in spite of living with an alcoholic mother.
    Now, that trait is, undoubtedly, working against me.
    I walk to the door and lean my forehead against the glass. I look at the spot on the ground where I found the dove not so long ago. If anything, that should remind me of why I need to fight.
    I can’t forget the “TGB” I got that night at dinner.
    I sigh, and turn to bed. Before my first step, I have a change of heart. I spin back, completing a full circle, and open the door.
    Cool night air rushes in, making my skin rise in goosebumps. I breathe deep, loving the salty tang of the air.
    I hesitate for a moment, and then step outside.
    I guess that brief pause comes from my prior experience with the collar. Even though I know I’m allowed outside, that first step remains a struggle.
    Wrapping my arms around myself against the cold, I walk into the empty night.
    The sound of