Neither of us speak as we follow Cecile to the dungeon. Cat must be freezing with her bare feet on the concrete, but she’s silent, the only noise her slightly rasping breaths as she descends the steps in front of me. Her fingers massage her bruised neck.
She stops on the final step.
Staring straight ahead.
I pause, but she doesn’t move. “Caterina.”
Her name is unexpectedly rough on my lips.
“Cat.”
Don’t make this harder than it needs to be.
For either of us.
Day 1 – Caterina
“Cat.”
Stefano’s voice flickers as I stare down into the dungeon. It looks exactly the same as yesterday. Cages still line the walls, barren and brutal in their stark, steel creation.
But they’re empty.
“Where are they?”
My voice cracks on the words. “The girls. Where are they?”
He hesitates. “Some will be… working. Others in training. It rotates, until they’re moved.”
Moved.
Sold.
“I see.”
Stefano’s voice is gruff. “We need to go down. Cecile will be expecting us.”
I can’t force my feet to move. My throat burns, my eyes prickling as I stare into that empty room. Stefano moves around me, stepping down and turning to look into my face.
“Why do you do it?”
He blinks as if my question has taken him by surprise. But he doesn’t reply, instead giving me a question of his own. “Why did you come back? Last night. You’dgone. You could have run.”
My heart hurts. “They have something that belongs to me.”
He slides his hands into his pockets, considering my words. “They have something that belongs to me, too.”
Shared understanding between us, at the bottom of those steps. His dark eyes are level with mine, our height equal as I stand on the step above him.
I scan his face, searching. There’s pain there, flickering in the dark. He glances over his shoulder. “Cecile will be here any moment.”
They have something that belongs to me too.
Something that keeps him here.
I look over his shoulder, at those empty cages.
“Lead the way, then.” My voice is heavy, Subdued. “I have a busy day ahead, it seems.”
