"Smile for my guests, ladies. Tonight, they'll decide which one of you sucks their cocks first." He grinnedwickedly. "They may even have you eat their fucking asses."
He was disgusting!!
My lips refused to move. My chin stayed high, my heart pounding so loud I thought the whole room would hear it.
"Look at them!" Hector's voice boomed across the ballroom as he pointed to us. He raised his champagne flute, his mask gleaming under the chandelier. "The finest merchandise in the world. Yours to sample. Yours to buy."
The men cheered like animals, masks tilted slightly to allow the sparkling liquid to flow easily down their throats as they toasted. The orchestra shifted into a darker melody, violins harsh and theatrical.
Guests circled closer, inspecting us as if we weren't living, breathing humans. Fingers brushed our skin. A man in a silver mask grabbed a cottage girl by the jaw, forcing her to open her mouth to check her teeth. She didn't resist, didn't blink. She had no fight left in her.
Another man wearing a black bull mask tugged at the hem of Becca's dress, smirking at the way she gasped and yanked it back down. He chuckled, his voice thick with a European accent. "What are you hiding from? I hear you are trained in knife play. If you end up with me, I'm going to make you bleed….every day."
Becca's hand trembled, clinging to mine, but she didn't speak. Her silence was louder than a piercing scream. I got it. We were both horrified and frightened. The room was full of evil animals, and it wouldn't be long before we were sold and separated forever.
One of the cottage girls collapsed to her knees, legs too weak to hold her. The crowd laughed. Two guards hauled her upright like she were a doll whose strings had gotten tangled.
"Tonight, my friends," Hector continued, raising his voice over the jeers. "You are not bound by law, by morality, or by consequences. Tonight, you are free. Take what you desire. Indulge in every urge. For tomorrow, these girls may belong to someone else. As you know, every girl on the grounds is disease free and has the best medical care at their fingertips."
He smiled evilly.
"All are free to be fucked however you desire, except green eyes. She sustained some injuries last night when I brutally violated both holes."
Without warning, he pulled up my skirt, pushing me forward until I was bent over, my whole bottom exposed to the filthy pigs ogling us. Two guards grabbed my arms while Hector spread my legs wide.
He spread my lips open while I struggled in the guards' grip. "Look at her red, swollen pussy and asshole. You are free to inspect her, and sample her anywhere else on her body if you wish. She needs to heal before she gets thoroughly fucked again. I am asking seven hundred thousand dollars for her, and she's worth every penny."
The guards let me go, and I stood up quickly, pulling my skirt down over my lower half.
The room erupted, voices overlapping, masks tilting closer to all of us on the stage. Champagne spilled onto the floor as hands reached out to touch, squeeze andpinch the girls on display. No one had gotten to me or Becca yet, but it wouldn't be long. One man got close to me, whispering what he would do if he won me. I almost puked right there.
I locked my gaze on the chandelier above, refusing to give them my eyes. Refusing to give them a piece of me. Beside me, Becca's breath hitched. Layla came to stand in front of me. "I'm so sorry he's doing this to the both of you. I know this doesn't really matter, but I hope you and Becca end up with a kind master." She scurried off the stage before Hector spotted her. I couldn't see him anywhere in the room.
I know she meant well, but her words didn't make me feel any better. If anything, I felt worse.
This was a fucking nightmare, but underneath all the horror, one thought came to mind.
Atlas.
Where was he? Why hadn't he come for us?
Tears burned the corners of my eyes as clawing hands grabbed at me from every angle. Fingers dug into my arms, nails scraped across my skin, pawing, probing like I was nothing but flesh to be devoured by evil demons.
The kind that haunt your dreams. My dress slipped from my shoulders, the thin fabric tugged and torn until I was half exposed under the chandeliers' glow.
The surrounding laughter blurred into a single roar of cruelty. I couldn't keep track of which mask belonged to which monster. They were all the same— circling, feeding,clawing.
A hot mouth pressed against me, teeth sinking into the soft curve of my breast. I didn't flinch, didn't scream, and I didn't fight. I just… shut down.
My mind slipped somewhere else, somewhere beyond the ballroom, because I couldn't survive here. Not awake, not present. The pain, the shame, the stench of sweat and cologne…it all dissolved into a void.
I went blank.
Empty.
For the first time, I didn't care if I made it through the night. I didn't care if I lived or died.
Chapter 22
