“This is so fucked up,” Bree says, breaking the silence.
“He’s a monster.” Pamela pulls the fluffy pink blanket up higher on her body. She looks terrible, and I wonder how she plans to hide this from her new husband, our uncle Richard.
“He’s worse than a monster,” Ash says in a calm voice that surely belies the turmoil she feels inside. “He planned this all out for God knows how long, and he has trapped us all. We need to stop him. To make him pay. But how the hell do we do that when he is clearly a hundred steps ahead of everyone?”
“I don’t know, but we’ll find a way.” I trace my fingers up and down her arm. “Chad’s life depends on it.”
“My sister’s life depends on it,” Ares grits out.
Ash lifts her head and stares at her stepbrother. “You lied to me. You, Hera and…Dad.” Her voice cracks the same time Pamela emits an anguished whimper.
I wrap my arms fully around her, wishing I could absorb her pain. “We’ll make him pay. I promise,” I whisper, hoping it’s a promise I can keep.
“It was necessary.” Ares stares off into space. “And Doug didn’t know.” His eyes bore into Ashley. “He bought the lie too.”
ChapterFour
Chad
When I come to, I’m lying on my side in the cage, still butt naked, staring across the way at the dull gray-blue eyes of the man in the cage next to me. Tucking my knees up into my chest, I fight the almost-painful urge to stretch my cramped form. My belly rumbles, and my mouth is dry. I haven’t eaten or drunk a thing since the protein bar and bottle of water I consumed before training.
I move a fraction, my body unused to being huddled in such a small space, instantly wishing I hadn’t when pain throbs between the cheeks of my ass. Rage and shame pummel me from the inside as I recall the things that woman did to me. I squeeze my eyes shut to ward off the horrific images, but it doesn’t help.
“It gets worse.”
I blink my eyes open at the words, staring into the emotionless eyes of the man across from me.
“It gets so much worse,” he adds when I don’t reply.
I’m not sure I want to know.
“Shut your face,” another man hisses in a low tone. It’s come from farther down on this side of the room, and I don’t have the strength to move my body to look. “You know there are cameras in here.”
“I don’t care,” the man across from me says. “I want that depraved bitch to kill me. I’d rather that than spend another year caged like a dog.”
“A year?” My eyes pop wide. “You’ve been here a year?”
“At least. Could be longer. It’s not like we have any way of telling the time.”
There are no windows in this place, and we don’t have a TV or a clock on the wall to tell the time. Panic bubbles in my veins. This can’t be happening. I can’t be chained up. I have a life. A woman I love I need to make things up to. A mom and little sister who are relying on me. I have friends and college and my whole life ahead of me.
Fuck football.
I’ve been depressed for weeks at losing my scholarship and my place on the team, but who gives a shit?
It pales into insignificance when faced with the prospect of losing my freedom and possibly my life.
“Who is she?” I blurt, understanding this line of questioning will probably end in some punishment. But I don’t care. Not when this guy seems in a talkative mood, and I might get some answers.
“Rhett Carter’s wife.”
“Shut the fuck up, man. You’re going to get us all killed!” the other man says.
“Should I know who that is?” I ask before adding, “Is she related to Knight Carter?” He’s the only Carter I know and barely at that. He’s one of our neighbors, and we’ve shot the shit a couple times at parties.
“He’s her son.”
Well, shit. Did she target me through him? But then why was Ash’s ambulance ambushed? Why did they take Ares too, and where is he? I already know he’s not in here with me. It was the first thing I checked the first time I woke after the bitch felt me up and made me come. I had a vision of Ash’s horrified eyes, but I can’t tell if that was reality or my imagination.
