He looks at me, confused. “Home? Why is she going home?”
“I don’t thinkshehas chosen to go home. I think us finding the driver and the boat has spooked Ricky, causing him to practically pack up and leave, and the girls outside, they were probably too weak to carry on.”
My words are a harsh reality but it’s true. Ricky being the prick he is, would have told his men to get rid of the girls who are dead weight, that won’t bring in the money anymore. I watch as Eli ponders on my words before bringing his gaze back to the words written on the wall.
“So where do you think home is then?”
I don’t even have to think about my answer, because I know for a definite where Ana has been taken to.
“The place she ran away from.” I say with certainty.
Eli’s eyes widen at my words before a grin pulls at his face under the mask. “Then let’s bring this shit home!”
“And burn this fucker down.” I add on.
The smell of burning flesh has me waking with a panicked start, and that’s when the pain hits me like a thousand knives stabbing into my skin, over and over again. I shriek from the pain that’s currently burning into my calf. I try to move, to pull myself away from it but I can’t, I’m trapped and the agony just won’t leave. My arms are strapped to my side with leather belts and every time I move, they bite into my fragile skin.
Where the fuck am I?
What’s happening to me?
My eyes dart around the room, doing everything I can to try and figure out where I am. The last thing I remember is being made to crawl across the stones with a bullet wound in my leg, then a hard boot cracking across my face, and my.. my husband.
Panic seizes my heart in a killer grip, squeezing until it struggles to beat.
“Please.. please stop this!” I cry out to whoever is in the room with me but my pleas fall flat as the burning sensation continues, filling the room with a rotting stench. A black haze creeps alongmy vision but I refuse to give into the sweet temptation of silence. I can’t let myself be that vulnerable again.
I can feel my body begin to shake and spasm, the metal bed underneath me creaks and groans at my erratic movements and I scream again, I scream like I’ve never screamed before until my throat strains and my voice box breaks from the force. Sweat beads across my forehead and I can feel the veins at my temples threatening to burst as I thrash around in my binds.
“I’ll fucking kill you, Ricky!” I fire out with blazing hot anger. “I’ll end your pathetic little life!” The threats just keep on spilling from my mouth, but I make no attempt to stop it. I’m too far gone.
The fiery pain in my leg stops for a moment and my body flops heavily onto the bed, relishing in the small window of reprieve before a door opens behind me, the old hinges creaking. I try to move my head to see who it is but the tell-tale sound of expensive shoes clicking against the floor gives me my answer.
Hell himself rounds the table, coming to stand at the side of me and if looks could kill, my husband would be dead a thousand times over with the way I’m looking at him right now. His once perfect face now makes me sick and my fingers tingle with the need to scratch at his flesh, to feel his blood beneath my fingernails as I rip it away.
Ricky’s gaze burns into mine as he looks down at me before tipping his face to whoever else is in the room. “You can leave now, I’ll finish up here.” He orders, and footsteps shuffle around at the end of the bed before quickly retreating out of the door and letting it close softly behind them, leaving me alone with the devil.
“Why don’t you just kill me?” I spit out.
“And why would I do that? We’re having so much fun togetheraren’t we?” He taunts, like this whole thing is a fucking joke to him, and maybe it is.
Choosing to ignore his stupid questions, I throw one back of my own. “Why am I here? I don’t make you the money you want, and I’ve never been bought on Selection Day, so what is it?”
Ricky’s jaw ticks, a tell-tale sign of frustration at my questions. He grips the bed tightly before lowering his face to mine, the signature smell of whiskey washes over me and I recoil at the scent. “You wanna know why you’re here?” He whispers over my skin. “Why, I’mkeepingyou here?”
I know he’s waiting for me to answer back, that’s one thing Ricky has always had a dislike for, not being answered when he asks you a question so I simply nod my head, my gaze never straying from his.
He pulls back a fraction, his lip tugging into a sinister smirk before he speaks. “Because I can, and I want to. It’s as simple as that, wife.” The term has me gritting my teeth so tightly they begin to ache in my jaw. “You thought you could run away from me, and that I’d just let you leave? Iownyou. You’re nothing but a fucking pet, an obedient little dog. You’re not even a person anymore, you lost the right to yourself when I slipped that ring onto your finger, claiming you as myfucking property.”
His words spread across my skin like a toxic poison and I can feel the simmering anger coursing through my veins, just bubbling below the surface like a resting volcano, one that could so easily erupt and wipe out towns and cities within seconds. My gaze drops to his lips for a fraction of a second before meeting his storm filled eyes, and I lift my chin towards him, a sinister smile pulling at my cracked lips and bleeding gums.
“Fuck. You.” Two simple words, and they’re enough to have Ricky’s eyes widening with anger, his pupils blowing wide.
I feel it before I see it, the pain of his hand cracking against my cheekbone, successfully splitting the thin skin open until blood pours down the side of my face. It’s warm and soft as it pools in my ear.
Ricky catches his breath for a moment before gripping my cheeks together and turning my head to face him.
“You think you can speak to me like that, hm? That I’ll just take your fucking attitude?”
