The Prison Project (by Bethany Donaghy) novel Chapter 41

Margot’s POV

Time had passed – how much, I couldn’t say. Minutes, hours. It all blurred together after the storm of Coban had swept through the room, leaving behind a silence louder than his shouting.

My hands didn’t stop moving, even when my mind screamed at me to collapse again to cry more.

–

I folded the last shirt with trembling fingers, placing it gently into the box I’d used to serve as a makeshift laundry bin. The floor had been totally cleared, the sheets stripped off and redone three times before I felt it was perfect, each corner tucked in so sharply it could’ve drawn blood. I even smoothed over my own fluffy blanket three times, folding it on top of the bed as a sort of peace offering to him…

Praying deep down that he wouldn’t actually keep it for himself.

I’d so far managed to clean the stain of his rage from the space or tried my best to – hoping that a clean room would work for a clean mind, especially for Coban.

—

His tantrum still clung to the air, thick and poisonous, as I began to turn to look around, ensuring I hadn’t missed a single area.

When everything was done, and I couldn’t find another excuse to stay on my feet, I gave myself one small mercy.

The shower.

I had longed for one all day.

My teeth screaming at me mentally for a brush.

I peeled off my clothes and stepped under the stream like I was shedding the memory of everything he’d just said to me.

Be lucky that I haven’t beat the shit out of you like your daddy used to…

He had used what I had told him right back against me like the sharpest of weapons.

Throwing the private admission right back in my face…

The memory of his words was enough to make me tear up again, the water helping to rinse them off as though they were never actually there….

I took my time after that, deciding I deserved it.

Washed my hair twice.

Scrubbed at my skin until it was red and raw and I wasn’t sure if it was dirt coming off or just layers of myself…

When I got out, I brushed my teeth for so long that the taste of mint turned bitter…

–

Eventually, with damp hair and a towel wrapped tightly around me, I stepped back into the room cleaner, lighter, but still hollowed out on the inside…

Until the darkness spread across it like a gaping black hole…

I saw him.

Coban.

Back again.

Standing in the centre of the room like he’d never even left.

Arms folded. Eyes unreadable. Sweat coating his naked torso once again – acting as a trophy of how hard he had obviously worked in the gym.

I froze mid–step when I spotted him, my body going cold despite the warmth clinging to my skin from the shower.

For a moment, neither of us said anything.

Just silence.

Again.

A silence that I dreaded being in now.

But this time, it wasn’t heavy with rage.

It was… quieter. Suspiciously so.

—

He looked around slowly at the tidied sheets, the box of clothes, the lack of chaos that had once cluttered the floor.

Then, finally, his eyes landed on me again.

Still damp. Barely dressed. Fragile before him.

And for the first time, I couldn’t tell what he was thinking….

Coban’s gaze didn’t drift. Didn’t flinch. He just watched me. Studied me like I was some creature in a lab- something under glass.

Something he was deciding the fate of

I swallowed, my throat tight and dry. “I didn’t hear you come in…” I whispered, barely above the hum of the bathroom fan still running from behind me.

This was a monster!

“You need to very quickly understand that you’re mine in here. Not Cara’s. Not Leo’s. Mine!” He snapped, before he shoved the towel back at me in a fast push, as I scrambled to cover up my bare skin again.

He had humiliated me… broke me down to feeling as small as an ant… and for what?!

What did I do that was so damn bad?!

Sure, I messed up the room a little, but couldn’t he see that I fixed it?!

His face was quickly inches from mine as he moved in on me. Breath hot. Words venom.

“You think a shower washes away what you owe me?” My chest heaved at his words. I didn’t know if I was about to cry again or scream or shatter into a thousand pieces.

But then-

The door banged open.

A voice. “Coban!”

It was Leo.

His tone was sharp. Unafraid.

Within a flash, I was moved and shoved back in to the bathroom, door pulled shut on his end to lock me in, hiding me like a kid who had been caught stealing in a candy store!

I pressed my ear to the door, heart hammering and thankful Leo had stepped in to distract him for a moment…

“What the fuck is it now?” I heard him bark at his friend.

“There’s a situation in block C,” Leo said. “You’re needed. Now.”

A long pause, before low murmuring was heard, as I squinted to hear a thing.

The door was quickly pulled open again, as I almost fell through it from the force, before Coban stuck his neck inside – keeping me hidden.

“Put clothes on, and don’t leave this fucking room until I get back. I’m serious this time, Bella!” He warned, eyes flashing with a look of authority.

I nodded like a bobble head, as he sighed heavily, slamming the door back in my face…

Wow.