Congratulations. Collect your plaything to confirm ownership for [12] months. Damage fee has been reduced as detailed below:
Limb loss - $30,000 per limb
Foot loss - $15,000 per foot
Hand loss - $30,000 per hand
Severe psychological impact – waived entirely
Loss of life - $250,000, replacement requirement waived
What the fuck?
One of these cunts could have killed her, and what? Paid a quarter of a million for the fucking inconvenience?
The box is slowly lowered, trapping her under the floor as the lights increase back to the moody lighting and soft music beginsto play. Sasha cranes her neck as the waiters step away from the wall with small dessert plates. When she sees the tiramisu, she crunches her nose up, mumbling, “We can go now.”
I kiss the top of her head as I stand. “I’ll get you a cake.”
Other people eagerly stand from their tables to collect the poor souls they’re going to torture. Sasha tucks herself into my side, hiding the loose fabric of my sleeve as I place my arm around her waist under her suit jacket. One of the dirty fucking perverts ogles her body as we pass their table.
I meet his beady little eyes in the small holes of his Venetian mask as I join our hips together. We follow the mixed group of men and women into an elevator, all of us dressed in the same style of outfit. The little nutcase didn’t want to wear a shirt though, so the bottom is cropped and she made keyhole cuts, leaving the collar around her neck to expose her collarbones that she painted as a skeleton.
They better be admiring her sewing skills rather than her body.
She stays beside me with the wall at her other side, wrapping her arm around me before resting her head on my chest, so her hair falls over her face. I know she’s uncomfortable with the small portion of her features on display. As soon as we have Delilah, I’ll find her the biggest fucking cake to make her feel better.
Then we can kill Helene.
Sasha will have to put up with not having that mask. We’ll find her one less twisted. I’ll even add fancy stitches instead of her using her hair to secure it in place.
She hugs me with one arm as the elevator finishes its descent, but I stay back, allowing the others to walk ahead so she’ll look up. When she does, there’s a big smile on her face.You found her,she mouths.
“We,” I whisper. “Ready to travel the word, crazy pants?”
Her smile somehow gets even bigger as she shyly nods.
We walk out of the elevator into what looks like a hotel lobby. The bookend marble check-in table has a mirrored guard behind it who scans each person’s bands, checking who they purchased. I stay at the back of the line in the hope I’ll see who collects Jasper, but another guard leads the buyer through the lobby to another elevator.
The woman in front steps forward when the others have left and slides a metal card across the desk. The guard examines it then nods. This time when the other guard arrives to take her to the elevator, he looks at the card before walking away without her. It takes a few minutes, but when he comes back, he’s pulling the hate-filled girl with him. Her eyes are covered with a thick strip of black suede wrapped around her head, knotted between her teeth to form a gag. Her hands are bound in the same material too.
Is she Xanthe?
No.
Kid said Xanthe had light hair. This girl has raven-black hair that shines under the luxe chandeliers. The woman wraps her gloved fingers around the restraints keeping the girl’s wrists together as she leads her to the elevator we came down in.
I don’t know why but I can’t help the feeling something is going to fuck up. It’s been three years of working with the sick fucks since Rowan found out I was going to run as soon as I had Delilah. Every time I felt like I was getting close to her, he’d do something to torpedo my plans.
“Delilah’s going to hate you,”Asher says as I step forward.
Sasha pushes her hand forward to scan the band I gave her since I’m not really fond of putting anything on the only hand I have left. The guard’s heavy boots squeak on the polished floor as they step around the desk, guiding us to a different elevator.
Hope, guilt, anticipation, fear, love. Every human emotion I’m capable of decides to battle for center stage as my stomach twists on the ascent. There’s no control panel to see what floor we’re going up to, but when the doors open, I see her. Sasha squeezes my side and tries to let go, but I discreetly shake my head without looking away from Delilah sitting on a tufted sofa with her wrists and ankles still in the shackles. A thick metal collar is tightly wrapped around her neck and a leather muzzle has been attached to it, zipped over her mouth and nose. Thick buckles are wrapped around the sides, covering her ears too.
But she’s in front of me.
A guard covers her eyes with another leather strap before pulling a hood over her head. I don’t know how she’ll react to my voice, so I don’t speak as I grab the chain linking the four cuffs together. Thankfully, she doesn’t have any shoes on, but she’ll survive cold feet.
