“Yes. A bet on whether you’d let me live.”
The words barely left her lips before his face hardened.
“Lies.” His voice was flat, cutting. “I’ll ask again. What did you trade for your freedom?”
Scarlett shook her head, her voice breaking. “That’s the truth…”
Ryan shut his eyes. His tone dropped into quiet, final disappointment, “Take her. Lock her in the water prison. Interrogate her until she talks.”
“No!”
Her breath hitched, panic clawing up her throat. Since the day Rowena Hart had pushed her into the lake at eighteen, she had never overcome her terror of deep water.
She pleaded, raw and frantic. “I told you the truth. Please—don’t put me in there!”
Ryan only stared back, face like stone. “Rules are rules, Scarlett.”
***
The iron door clanged shut behind her.
Darkness swallowed the chamber. Filthy water rose to her chest, rank with rot and mildew.
Scarlett gasped as phantom hands seemed to drag her down, pulling her back into that lake from years ago. Her body shuddered uncontrollably, sinking lower.
Ryan’s voice echoed from a speaker, calm, icy. “Now, will you talk? What deal did Victor Kane strike with you?”
Her teeth chattered, her voice thin with cold. “There was no deal. I swear, I didn’t betray you.”
“Lie.”
He pressed a button. The water began to rise, inch by inch, climbing her chest, creeping toward her chin.
“Every lie will cost you more. Think carefully before you answer.” His voice had no trace of mercy. “Why did Victor let you go?”
Scarlett tilted her head back, mouth barely above the surface as the sewage slapped against her chin. Each breath became agony. “It’s true… it was only a bet.”
“Just a bet that you’d survive?” His voice snapped with disbelief. “Do you really think I buy that?”
Her voice broke into a whisper. “Sir…”
“Tell me the truth!” His sudden roar cracked across the speaker. “What intel did you sell for your freedom?”
Scarlett wanted to scream that there had been nothing, that her body and soul had been the price already paid. But she knew he wouldn’t believe her. So she fell silent.
Ryan’s patience frayed. His voice was all steel.
“Then you’ll stay there until you’re ready to talk.”
The water stopped rising, but it didn’t matter. Her mind blurred, dragging her back to that day at eighteen—Rowena Hart shoving her under, lungs burning, limbs flailing.