Rafael, in the weeks we’d waited, never saw me again. Theo informed me he was thinner, pathetic and weak, his skin gray and purple, his muscles atrophying.
I nodded, taking it all in, and in those very dark moments, did still consider stepping into the basement to rip his fingernails free or slice through his cock to feed it to him. But that monster was satiated for now. I didn’t want to cave into those impulses.
We had to move on.
Theo and I couldn’t exist like this anymore, stuck in this limbo. We had to pick up the pieces of our family, the money, the property, the company. Neither of us wanted to be in this country. This place, where so much horror had occurred. The worst moments of my life were here, and I didn’t have to be any longer.
We were going to sell it all, everything of our legacy. Be rid of it, shake free of the chains of living under the shadows of our parents. But there was no point in not wringing it out for all it was worth first. Theo had a plan, a way to get a whole bunch of money so we could do whatever we wanted. Live free and easy by a beach or in the highlands, far from anyone that might hurt us.
And Rafael didn’t fit into that.
“Look,” Christian said, wincing, shifting in his seat. “Selling an older man isn’t easy. No one wants them. I… I have always kept my distance from my family’s business, but even I know that.” He looked uncomfortable as he spoke, and a wash of guilt moved through me at asking his man to do something so heinous.
Theo told me that, like us, Christian hated his family business, abhorred it, even. But he was happy to see this through with us, to put an end to an evil man’s tyranny. He was raised in a family of human traffickers, their business moving people.
I’d learned a lot over these last few weeks, most things I didn’t want to. It wasn’t just the Lewis’s, the Delucci’s, the church itself and all its members that lived in this pitch blackness. It was everywhere.
The world was a dark place.
“That someone requested to buy him so fast is miracle enough. That they are willing to pay so much to secure him? Even better.”
“When will they come for him?” I asked, itching to get my pathetic husband out of the basement and shipped off. Hopefully, to a person as abusive and sick as him. Someone who could treat him like he deserved. I didn’t have it in me to live in that anymore.
“As soon as we give a time.” Christian frowned. “They’re keen.”
I nodded. “Let’s do it.”
Moving Rafael’s legs after weeks in the same position made him scream and cry out. It was the first time I’d touched him since he got here, since he tried to kill me in his house and we’d finally subdued him. It felt important to be here during these final moments.
I removed the blindfold and ear defenders Theo had placed on him at some point, and I unwrapped his arms from their bindings. Theo was upstairs, ready to run down at the first sound of any trouble, but I needed to do this by myself.
Rafael glared at me as I sat him up, as I forced his seized muscles to stretch and flex where they hadn’t in so long. He had lost weight, his limbs skinny and his olive skin pallid.
This was better. This was better than torturing him and giving him attention. All I’d shown him was how little he meant to me after all he’d done. I pushed him into the spindly chair he’d first been tied to when we’d arrived here, and stood over him, pacing back and forth.
“You’re leaving,” I told him, and his cold eyes shot up to meet mine. Instinctively, my body shivered, and I wanted to run, but then it washed away. No power here. He had no upper hand over me; he could hardly keep his head up, let alone hurt me anymore. Rafael Delucci was nothing like the powerful man I’d been forced to marry, the one who’d inflicted the most hideous things on me. This man was broken.
“I couldn’t bring myself to let you die,” I carried on. “After everything you’ve done to me, I now get to live. Happy and free without you. But letting you die felt wrong, too easy. I want you to live a long life knowing I’m happy. Knowing you didn’t win. Knowing that your church is fucked, destroyed by your own hand.”
Since the compound burned down and all the top men disappeared, there was no sign of the church rebuilding. I still didn’t know exactly what it was, what they did, but I just didn’t care anymore. Theo said he’d keep an eye, Christian mentioned running internet sweeps and cleaning up loose ends so no one else could step into the power vacuum, but it was beyond my care at this point.
Damn them all.
Rafael still glared at me, like he could still cause me any harm. He couldn’t even lift his arms.
“I just wanted you to know all that,” I continued. “That you didn’t manage to break me. That I systematically killed all your men, and you don’t even get the pleasure of that death. That end.”
I paused.
“I also want you to know that you never had my virginity. Maybe that’s where you went so wrong? Why your empire has crumbled. Whatever you did with that non-virgin blood didn’t work.” My words were hissed, angry and bitter. “Theo took my virginity only hours before you thought you did.”
Rafael stared at me, heat building, rage making him purple. But he didn’t bite.
“Where… where am I going?” he forced out, his voice rough from under-use, his throat scratchy. He swallowed after, lolled his head a little. Took a few slow blinks.
I smiled.
“Someone is coming to collect you,” I replied with a shrug. “Didn’t ask who.” I paused walking. “They paid a hefty sum for you though, so I’m sure they’ve got some exciting plans.”
