Scarlett lifted her chin, desperation bleeding into her tone. “He made a bet with me. Then he let me walk.”
Ryan’s eyes narrowed. “A bet?”
“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.