The room lights turned off as the others silently left. “Demi, come with me.” Alister held my hand and led me to the back wall, where he pressed his hand against the brick, and it slid open. There was another dark hallway with small lanterns flickering. He waited for the door behind us to shut before stepping forward.
“This is where I keep them…my own precious little birds. My beautiful nightingales.” I could see the white of his teeth flash in front of me as my stomach flipped.
“I thought the other hallways had them?” I whispered as we slowly walked.
“No, no, those are a mix of nightingales and breeders,” he said with pride.
“Alister, what are the breeders?” My voice shook as I trembled in the freezing air.
He slid his suit jacket off and wrapped it around me. “They help us keep the Life Center stocked. Don’t worry, once they test positive, they get to move out of the breeding area to a more comfortable Life Center bed.”
I pressed my hand against one of the doors. “The Life Center?”
“Where couples can become families,” he answered as I looked over my shoulder and tugged his jacket on.
“They are surrogates?”
“You could say that…” He pulled me away from the door.
“And what are the roles the nightingales have to do?”
I knew none of this was as simple. He was keeping pregnant woman hostage? How were they becoming pregnant?
“Nightingales are the ones who serve and create Euphoria. They create the escape for the men to become better husbands and even better fathers. If a man has a place to release his rage, then he won’t release it elsewhere.”
“Declan Rothschild…” I started. “He was choking me; he almost killed me and then you forced him to have sex with a corpse. Who was that woman?” I choked back my tears as I pressed my hands against my neck and looked at Alister, who was illuminated from behind by the lantern.
“A nightingale who had served her time, and served her time well. Once you’re a nightingale, you serve La Gabbia for eternity.”
He smiled down at me as he wrapped his arm around me. “I love that you’re curious. I love that you’re an Ivory woman. It’s been years since I’ve been in the presence of one, Demi. Mrs. Demi Ivory.”
I was Conrad Ivory’s widow. I was an Ivory for eternity.
“I need you to stay away from Bradley…” He slid his palm over one last door.
My lips parted in shock. We had walked straight into an elevator with only one letter. “P” for penthouse. His home led straight to these wicked hallways.
“What if I don’t?” I was playing with fire, but I had a plan.
“Then I will cut small slits into his body and let him drain out. I’ll serve his beautiful blood to our guests in their daily wellness smoothies, then force a nightingale to have sexual relations with his rotting body.”
“You are sick.” The elevator doors slid open as we walked into his penthouse.
“Demi, for all that you have been through in a lifetime, I’d have assumed you were more immune to nature’s laws.”
Shaking my head, I peeled Alister’s coat off my body and threw it to the ground. His eyebrow lifted and he smirked with amusement.
“Nature’s laws?”
“Go take a bath and get into bed. We must work tomorrow. I need you more than ever, Mrs. Ivory.”
He may hit me and play with me as his puppet, but I knew Alister Ivory had a soft spot for me. Was it because his brother’s son trusted me enough to marry me? Or was it the fact that Bradley was also in love with me? Whatever it was, I knew my life was safe.
For now.
CHAPTERNINETEEN
Alister wasasleep next to me. I missed my room with Marcie. There was no discussion of me moving into his home, but suddenly, my small bag of belongings was neatly lined on the bathroom counter. A custom robe hung in the closet with my name on it, and even the slippers by the bed—which were my size—sat neatly on the floor.
