“I fear we’ve gotten off on the wrong foot.” The woman’s smile is still in place.
“Don’t pretend you’re here for me.” I drop my head on my knees and mumble. “You’re here for them.”
“I am here for you, Everett.” She sighs and walks over to where she sits on the side of the bed. “That’s a pretty name.” Reaching out, she grabs a piece of my hair and runs her fingers through it, sighing. “You’re beautiful, Eve.”
Fresh tears sting my eyes.
“You look just like your mother.”
Hope fills my chest, and my wide eyes find hers. My mom is never mentioned. My father didn’t even know her. He was just the highest bidder, and I was the result. “You knew my mother?”
“I did.” She smiles. “And she wouldn’t want to see you hurting yourself like this.”
My stomach drops. She’s trying to manipulate me. Make me think my mother would want me to be a whore. “My father raped my mother, and then she was forced to have me. I should not exist.”
She chooses to ignore that. “I have a daughter. Around your age. And?—”
“And you’d let men rape her?” I interrupt.
She drops her eyes to my bed and sighs heavily. “Women have a purpose, Eve. And if you’re no longer able to fulfill that purpose, you are no longer useful to a Lord. Your mom is a testament to that.”
I flinch at the way she speaks of my mother. Like she’s trash, thrown away when she could no longer serve what this woman calls a purpose. No. I refuse to believe anything she says. “I don’t want to be useful,” I whisper.
She gently grabs my chin and lifts my head so I have to meet her stare. “I’m trying to help you.” Her eyes search my watery ones. “I suggest you let me.”
I jerk my face from her hold and narrow my eyes on hers. “I’d rather you fucking kill me.” This woman is delusional. If my father is fucking her, then so are his friends. I’m sure they pass her around. Take their turns. Just like they do with me. I’m nothing special. The only difference is I’m currently restrained and she’s not. She’s given into her fate. Accepted it. That’s why she’s not tied up or gagged right now. But I bet she is when they use her.
“I will never be like you,” I tell her, shaking my head. “You’re a disgrace to all women. My mother would be ashamed?—”
She slaps me across the face, cutting me off.
I give a rough laugh as the sting feels like a thousand knives to my cheek. Typical response when they don’t like what you have to say.
The woman gets off the bed and removes her cell from her pocket before furiously typing away on it.
I look up at her through narrowed eyes, and she gives me a smile. It reminds me of my father’s. The one I receive when I’m going to hate what’s on his mind. She pulls her sleeve of her suit jacket up and bites her own arm, sinking her teeth into her skin while she closes her eyes tightly.
Removing it from her mouth, blood drips from the broken skin. She runs her hand through it and then rushes over to me, smearing it across my face.
“The fuck?” I spit it onto the bed when some gets in my mouth. I spit again, gagging, trying to get the nasty taste off my tongue.
The door is shoved open and my father rushes in. “What happened?” he barks, looking at me.
“She attacked me,” the bitch cries, lifting her arm. “Look. She bit me.” Removing her hand, she shows him the bite mark she gave herself.
His face grows tight when he glances over my blood-smeared face, and he spins around, leaving as fast as he entered.
“Lying bitch,” I sneer.
She drops her arm and smiles at me. “I have a purpose, Eve, and until you decide you want to fulfill yours, I’ll make mine all about you. You will not be the reason I fail.”
My father enters once more, and my stomach drops when I see what he’s holding.
I try to scramble off the bed, but I can’t use my arms and there’s nowhere to go.
He grabs my hair, fisting it, making me scream at the pain. She helps him, taking the opportunity to shove the rubber ball into my mouth, and he holds me in place while she fastens it behind my head, securing the gag in my mouth. He then shoves me onto the bed, face-first, and I sink my teeth into the rubber, imagining it’s the bitch’s arm. A mumbled scream of frustration makes tears burn my eyes.
“Let me know if she gives you any more problems,” he tells her.
