There are no clocks on the walls. Time means nothing. It’s used as torture, not a convenience.
I hurt everywhere. There’s an ache in my chest and a throbbing in my head.
It’s the drugs. They have lasting effects. When they first hit, you’re flying, but when they wear off, you’re fucking as low as you can get. I imagine itwould be hard at any time, but when your body is being starved of everything it needs to survive, I think the hit is harder.
I can’t feel my arms. Last I remember, they were tied behind my back.
This is what fighting gets you. When you don’t lie down and take the abuse, they force it on you.
I hear the sound of a lock clicking, and like a dog about to be fed, my mouth starts to water.
“Hello, dolly.” He enters.
I lower my head, trying to hide my eyes from the harsh light.
“How do you feel?” he asks. It’s the same stupid question all the time.
“Numb,” I lie. If I give him any other answer, he drugs me.
His hand touches my hair, and I yank my head away.
He grips a handful of it and drags me away from the wall. I scream out and start kicking, but my legs are tied together. He throws me onto my back and straddles my chest.
I can’t breathe from his heavy weight.
His hand grips my cheeks, and he forces my head back. “Still being an ungrateful bitch, I see.”
I try to scream, but nothing comes out.
“We’ve got a long life to spend with one another,” he goes on, “and I want us to both enjoy it.” When he gets up off me, I roll onto my side and suck in a ragged breath, my throat and chest burning. I bring my tied legs to my chest and spit onto the concrete floor. “We’ll try the hard way.”
I feel the sting of something across the back of my legs, and I cry out. He does it again, and I try to crawl away, but he’s got me tied to prevent it.
Lords always win because they cheat.
So I scoot like a worm, but the room is too small. There’s nowhere for me to go. I see his belt and hear thewhooshbefore it comes down across my face.
Sobbing, I curl into a ball the best I can. This is my punishment. I tried to kill myself and failed.
He kneels next to me and pushes the hair from my face, making me scowl. “Why do you make me hurt you, dolly? Hmm? Don’t you want to be my good girl?”
Snot covers my face, and I lick the salty tears off my cracked lips. “Y-es.”
“Show me, Eve.” He stands and undoes his jeans, followed by his zipper. “Show me how good you want to be for me, and I’ll treat you like a good girl.”
FORTY-NINE
KASHTON
I’m in the shower, my head on the wall while the warm water runs down my back. My jaw is clenched, and my fists are up by my head.
A recruiter?
Evan got greedy. He wanted to keep her for himself. To be what to Eve? Her pimp?
Everything Everett went through, and he was going to punish her. He wanted her to help capture innocent women to be trafficked. He knew what he was doing. He knew how much it would hurt her.
She’d rather die than put someone else through what she’d gone through.
