She could see him craving the next injection.
Liam had his more lucid moments, not as many as the first couple of days, but they were there. Becks was given three TV meals a day and water bottles, while Liam wasn’t ever offered food or water. She could just barely reach between the bars to get half of her supply into his mouth, needing him to keep his strength up too. She didn’t care how hungry she was. She was not allowing her brother to starve to death while she ate full meals.
The only good bit of information she’d gotten from eavesdropping on them was the knowledge that Ghost was alive! He’d survived the bombing. Becks had burst into tears at that news, thanking God and the universe and anyone who would listen for saving her husband.
If only that same cosmic force would do something to save Liam and Becks.
Multiple times a day, Ritchie and Cameron came to Becks’ cell and demanded that she sign paperwork. Becks had no idea what the paperwork said or what it was for—but she sure as hell wasn’t signing anything these two lunatics put in front of her.
Which, unfortunately, was when the torture had started. Not on her, though. On Liam. Just as Cameron had said on that firstday when Becks had still been blindfolded outside wherever it was they now were, Ritchie and Cameron wanted to keep Becks’ ‘appearances’ up. It was why they weren’t starving her, allowed her fresh clothes, and gave her water and soap to wash up with. For some reason, they needed her presentable.
But Liam? Liam was far from presentable.
During his more lucid times, Becks had explained to him what had happened and where they were, though she couldn’t tell him why because she didn’t know herself. But Liam was very clear, no matter what they gave him, no matter what they did to him, she was not to signanypaperwork. Her holding out was the only reason both of them were still alive.
And so she endured. Watching as Ritchie beat her brother, shocked him with a cattle prod, threw baseballs and stones at him, forced him to swallow laxatives, whipped him with a leather belt, and even withheld the drugs they were dosing him with. Even through the withdrawal, Liam had started to fight, working to get them out. But when Ritchie and Cameron discovered that he had nearly escaped his binds, they dosed him again. And now they continued to dose him multiple times a day.
Becks wasn’t sure if Liam was even registering the pain of the torture they were putting him through. He grunted or coughed, but never made true noises of pain. Becks, though? She saw it all, and knew that was their true goal. To watch them harm her brother, knowing that she could stop it.
Except, if she gave in, they would likely kill him. Kill them both. She had to hold out. The club would find them. Ghost would find her. She just needed to give him more time.
“Please!” Becks cried out until her voice was beyond hoarse. “Please, stop!”
Ritchie lowered his hand with the stun gun. Becks had realized early on that neither Ritchie nor Cameron had the stomach for chopping off body parts or cutting him. That wasn’tall that comforting when there were many other ways to harm a person, but at least they never followed through with cutting out Liam’s tongue like they’d threatened.
“You know how to make this end,” Ritchie told her through the bars. “Sign the paperwork and I’ll never touch big brother here again.”
Except to put a bullet through his skull. Becks could not forget that Cameron still had a gun.
Frantically wiping the tears streaming down her cheeks, she tried to catch Liam’s eye as he lay slumped over on the concrete wall behind the metal toilet. Based on the last time they’d injected him, she knew he’d be coming out of it soon. He didn’t seem to be able to see her, his eyes dancing around like he was searching for her, but he kept shaking his head and sloppily mouthing the word ‘no’.
Becks hung her head, sorrow, agony, and torment warring inside her. What was she to do? How could she save her brother? When did it get to the point where death would be their only escape?
“That’s what I thought. You’re a pathetic little bitch, Becks. Always have been, always will be. Do you have any idea how it felt having to kiss a weakling like you?” Ritchie scoffed, rubbing his nose. Becks suspected he was on something, maybe cocaine, because she kept seeing traces of a white powder on him. He certainly was hyped up like he’d been when he’d arrived late to their wedding.
Becks brought her knees up to her chest, but she didn’t look away from Liam. He might not be able to see her right now, but she could see him, and for some reason, that mattered to her. Like she had to share his torment in whatever way she could. Logically, she knew that wouldn’t ease his pain or stop his trauma, but logic wasn’t currently driving her these days.
“Let me try something, baby.” Cameron came sauntering into the cell through the open door. With Liam bound and high, there wasn’t much need for Ritchie to lock the door behind him when he entered. They rarely opened Becks’ cell, just sliding her daily supplies through the bars each day.
Becks fought the urge to throw up when Cameron touched Ritchie’s back intimately. She still hadn’t figured out their exact relationship, like how they knew each other prior to now, but it was obvious they were a couple. Which meant that Becks’ almost husband and Liam’s hopefully ex-girlfriend were sleeping togetherandhad been sleeping with Becks and Liam. She knew that it wasn’t incest on hers and Liam’s part, but the knowledge still gave her the heebie jeebies.
Ritchie nodded, stepping back but not leaving the cell.
Cameron approached Liam like he was a wounded puppy who needed coddling rather than a man tortured by her lover’s hand. “Ranger, baby? Can you hear me?” She knelt down in front of him, her hands on his knees.
Becks stiffened. “Don’t you touch him!”
Cameron ignored Becks, rubbing her hands up and down Liam’s muscular thighs. It was grossly intimate, but it wasn’t like Becks was in a position to stop her. “There’s my big boy,” she cooed when Liam lifted his head and managed to look down at her. “I need you to do something for me, baby.” Each time her hands went up his legs, they got closer and closer to his groin. “Becks won’t sign the paperwork we need her to sign.Youneed her to sign. If you’re a good boy and get her to do what she needs to do, I’ll make youveryhappy. Don’t you want that, baby?”
The moment Cameron’s hand reached between Liam’s thighs, Becks reacted. She grabbed the plastic water bottle they’d given her that morning and tossed it through the bars at Cameron. Unfortunately, her aim sucked and she missed the bitch. Shouting, Becks lunged forward. If she could reach Liam’smouth with a plastic fork to feed him, then she had a chance of reaching Cameron.
Her fingers just barely skimmed Cameron’s long locks when intense, heated pain radiated through her body. Becks shouted, jolting. As she fell backwards, she realized her mistake. In getting in range of reaching Cameron, it also meant Ritchie could reach through the bars with the stun gun and get to her.
Moisture pooled beneath her as her bladder released, electrical shocks still making her convulse.My baby, she thought with sorrow. She still didn’t know if she was pregnant—and even as small as her baby would be right now, she couldn’t imagine being tased a good thing for a fetus of any age. Tears rolled down her cheeks, her blurry vision landing on Cameron as she lowered herself over Liam’s lap. For the first time, Becks looked away and covered her ears with the palms of her hands.
She no longer questioned if Heaven or Hell existed, because she’d found out the hard way. This? Her current reality? This was Hell.
CHAPTER 17
