⊰ 8 ⊱ The Illusion of Choice

I stand at the window, my arms crossed tightly, as if holding myself together, while my gaze drifts across the vast, open fields that stretch for acres around the estate.

I’ve been counting down the minutes until Levi’s time is up, and without having heard from Marcel since the last time he was here—almost a week ago—I’m left to assume that Levi, with only a few hours left until his deadline, will probably show up short-handed—just as Marcel insinuated.

I kept hoping that Levi would come to my rescue, the way that he somehow always did when we were growing up—with and without parents.

But he never did. Each minute of silence chips away at the little hope that I have left in me, and as guilty as it makes me feel, I mentally prepare myself for the moment that Marcel decides to walk in here to give me the inevitable news.

It’s not that I don’t have faith in Levi. It’s that I know my brother, and if he did have the money to buy my freedom back, he would’ve done it the very day I was taken