“Okay, okay,” Semyon squeaks. “You get Elena out? If I help you?”
Crouching down so we’re at the same level, I hold his gaze. “We came here for you and Elena. We’re not leaving without the two of you. But right now, Wren comes first.”
He nods, relief spreading over his young face. “What do you need to know?”
* * *
Wren
Light pours through the frosted window, almost warm on my bare leg. I threw up again. A little. The bitter taste on my tongue makes me gag, and I try to stagger to my feet to reach the sink, but I crash to my knees, slip in the mess, and can’t manage to force myself upright again.
“Ryker,” I whisper to no one. “Where are you?”
How long does heroin last? It was dark when they locked me in here. And now it’s not. I feel…hollow. Nothing but a shell of me left. I can’t muster more than an ounce of energy to care, even though the fear starts to worm its way back into my mind, icy and cold.
“Wren?” Elena knocks at the door, then slips inside the bathroom. She has a washcloth in her hands, and as I try to shrink away from her, she turns on the water in the sink. “I clean you up.”
“Help me.” I can’t manage more than a whisper, but I curl my fingers around her ankle. “Get me…out of here.”
“He will kill me. Or make me wish I die.” She shows no emotion, so resigned to her fate as she drags the warm cloth over my cheeks, rinses it out, and then cleans the dried vomit off my chest. The scratches burn, and I curl myself into a ball when she starts wiping up the floor. “He will not stop. You must give him what he want.”
“I can’t.”
How long until I won’t have a choice? Until I’ll do anything Kolya asks?
“Zion…loved you.”
Elena’s tears spill over, dripping onto the floor, and she chokes back a sob. “I know. He was…my angel. Kolya tell me. What he do to Zion. Is my fault.”
I reach for her hand, wincing as one of my many bruises aches. Panic wraps its bony, icy fingers around my heart as a shadow falls over us, and Elena scurries away from me.
“I clean, baby. No more smell.”
Kolya grabs her hair and pulls her head back as he gropes her through her thin, red dress. “Very good, kitten. Go to your room and I will bring you a reward.”
Her nipples tighten under the silk, and the look in her eyes…I shudder as I recognize the raw need, the desperation. I’ll be her soon, and I curl away, desperate to forget, to avoid more pain. Ryker’s face flashes behind my swollen lids, and I try to hold on to him, to the memory of his voice, his touch. But when Kolya runs his rough hand down my arm and digs his fingers into the bruises, I cry out, and Ryker’s gone.
“Tell me your password, sweet Red. I can take the pain away.” His voice is almost kind now, and I want to give in. To let him do whatever he wants. “You will be happy here with me.”
With him. Not with Ryker. I want to be happy with Ryker.
I can’t let him get my password. No matter what he does to me. And I know he’ll break me down. How much longer until I can’t resist? Until I want nothing more than the nothingness heroin provides? I force myself to look up at him. “Make it stop,” I whimper. “Please.”
“Her tablet, Victor.” Kolya sits me up against the wall, and I bring my knees up to try to shield my body from his lecherous gaze. When he has the tablet in his hand, he brushes my cheek with the back of his hand. “Do this for me, sweet one, and I will make sure you have your reward. No more pain. I promise.”
My hand shakes as I press my thumb to the biometric sensor. The tablet beeps in error, and I try again, steadying the thin screen with my other hand. Fear tightens in my gut. I don’t have a choice.
“Elena!” I whimper as I look over Victor’s shoulder. The men both turn, and I yank the tablet out of Kolya’s hands and slam it into the sink with all of my remaining strength. Glass shatters, and the tablet snaps in two. Blood wells from a cut on my left hand, and Kolya roars out an oath.
“You stupid bitch!” He grabs me by the hair, pulls me to my knees, and then punches me in the stomach. I retch, but there’s nothing left for me to throw up. Gasping for breath, I’m helpless as he throws me against the wall.
“You think you can beat me,cyka?Soon, you will beg me to take the pain away. And I will refuse until you are screaming.” With a vicious kick to my upper thigh, Kolya snarls at Blondie, “Bring her medicine.”
“No more,” I beg. “Please.”
Panic squeezes my chest so tightly I can’t breathe, and I claw at my neck, opening up the barely healing scratches. Blondie lights the candle, and Kolya slams my head back against the wall, leaving me too dazed to move as he ties the rubber around my arm.
I’m going to die. My heart will keep beating, but Wren will die. And maybe…maybe that will be for the best.
