A knowing smile lit up her face. She’d seen my fear and she reveled in it.
Hopelessness swept over me, suffocating me.
The light in her eyes showed me she saw that too.
She brushed a thumb over the welt on my cheek, pressing down to make sure it hurt. “I’m quite creative, Harper, and truth be told, it’s been a while since I’ve been able to play.” Her sweet smile was back. “I’ve missed it.”
She wasn’t angry. She was enjoying herself.
I didn’t answer, because I wasn’t sure what to say. Goading Gerald had frustrated him. Goading Nicole would only feed her hunger to hurt me.
But Nicole was already hungry. And she told me so over the next hour—maybe longer—with every crack of the belt, then jabs with a cattle prod a guard brought in. I lost track of time. I didn’t know how long she kept at it, but eventually I lost consciousness.
I jerked awake when a large splash of freezing cold water hit my face.
I blinked, panic surging through me, which only intensified when I took in my surroundings.
Gerald was gone. Nicole was standing in front of me, flecks of blood dotting her white sling. A small table was against the far wall, and two guards were moving toward me.
“You had a little nap,” Nicole said. “It’s time to play again.”
One guard moved behind me and cut the zip ties holding my bound wrists. The other guard squatted in front of me, using a long-bladed pocketknife to cut the zip ties on my legs. I considered trying to fight him, but I didn’t think I had the strength to overpower him, let alone run.
I was going to die here.
Would James be disappointed that my lessons with Tex had been for nothing? Would he be disappointed that I couldn’t find it in me to fight back?
The guards must have been given orders before they woke me, because the guy in front of me tied my wrists together in front of me with a thin nylon cord.
A renewed sense of hope swept away my hopelessness. I could work with this. With my hands in front of me, I could open doors or even put up a fight.
But then they hauled me to my feet, and the guard behind me grabbed the bottom of my tank top and ripped the fabric upward, leaving my back bare. Next, something cold and metallic traced between my shoulder blades, cutting through the band of my bra.
As he worked, the man in front of me was unfastening my jeans and tugging them down.
A new panic swamped my head. I tried to pull away, but the man behind me wrapped an arm around my stomach as he used his other hand to cut my shirt and bra at my shoulders.
I began to thrash, trying to pull free, but the man behind me held me tightly to his chest as the guard in front of me knelt and tugged off my jeans and underwear. The man behind me lifted my feet off the ground as the other one pulled my jeans and panties free.
I tried to kick him, but he just laughed and batted my legs away.
Then the guard in front lifted my bound arms over my head, and for the first time, I saw a giant meat hook hanging from a chain in the ceiling.
I kicked furiously, but they easily lifted me up and hung my cord from the hook, my feet over a foot off the floor. The strain on my shoulders was unbearable, especially after having my arms tied behind me, and I cried out in pain before I could stop myself.
Nicole moved in front of me, her gaze lowering over my naked body, then back up to my face, sadistic pleasure in her eyes. She held a riding crop in her hands. “You’re not as young as I prefer, but one makes do with what one has.”
It took a second for the meaning of her words to sink in.
She pressed the tip of the crop to the bottom of my chin. “We’re going to have so much fun.”
“Go to hell, you evil bitch,” I spat.
Her brow lifted in amusement. “That was very naughty, Harper. It’s time you learned to obey, and lucky for you, I’m just the one to teach you.”
And then she began.
Chapter 33
