“I hate you too,” I childishly fire back.
“I hate you, Kane,”Asher joins in.
Her glare intensifies as I attempt to trip her. Lennox pulls her out of reach, forcing her to walk ahead of us. She goes straight to the canteen, but I’m not given the same option as he guides me to the security room where Rowan is watching the captives as he eats a steak. I’ve never seen him eat before. I don’t know why it’s so weird. He has to eat to survive, so I shouldn’t be freaked out by the sight of it.
The smell of human meat is distinctive, which is why I know the meat on Rowan’s china plate is from a cow. It’s the first time I’ve seen vegetables since being here. That’s weird as fuck too.
Why the fuck is it so weird?
Lennox eating while we were in London didn’t invoke this reaction, but the longer I watch him the more it dries my mouth. I’m not hungry. My appetite has disappeared for months, so it can’t be that.
Rowan pauses, holding the fork out to me. “Would you like some?”
“No.”
It becomes even more alien when he drags the cut meat through the juices on the plate then loads up the back of the forkwith the vegetables. “Sit. The entertainment is about to begin.” He elegantly pushes the forks in his mouth without spilling anything, exactly how I was taught to eat by my real mom.
The captives are in their usual positions since the bed has been delivered—the woman on her side with the man in front of her, both of them wrapped in each other. His lips are on her shoulder while he gently strokes her hair as he croaks, “Go to sleep, darling. Dream for us both, then you won’t remember anything.”
His mantra never changes, but this is different. She’s already asleep as her hand remains limp on his back. “I’m sorry,” he tearfully whispers, slowly slipping out from her side with his eyes pinched shut. She falls onto her stomach without his support as he positions her legs so she’s bent over the bed.
Rowan clicks something to bring up multiple angles of them. Beside each camera is a running bid. Lennox turns on another screen to show ten boxes slowly lighting up, each with a view of some sick fuck bidding on this shit. I recognize some of them from Harkin’s company parties. Box number four has the motherfucker who raped my wife. There’s a girl kneeling at his side with light blonde hair, big blue eyes, and a cream lace dress on.
He has a copy of my wife when she was thirteen years old kneeling beside him.
I lean back in the chair to feign being unaffected as I calmly ask, “Who are they?” Rowan looks over my head at Lennox, but I call his attention back to me. “I’m assuming I’ll be meeting your business partners to know who’s important.”
Pride shines in his eyes as he gently sets his utensils down like someone isn’t being raped on the screen in front us while ten fucking cunts get off on it. My skin crawls as he places his hand on my shoulder, rubbing up to meet my nape before he squeezes. “You’re learning faster every day, nephew.”
Lennox removes his mask as he takes the seat next to me. I’m surrounded by them. Both of them are exactly the same and I can’t escape as we watch someone be violated. The bids increase as the door to the captives’ room opens. Five guards in mirrored masks enter.
Rowan is a vile prick as he gleefully says, “Now the true entertainment begins.”
I look out of the corner of my eye at Lennox staring at something on his phone. There’s a lump in his throat, which is the equivalent to him screaming at whatever he’s seen. I tap his foot to get his attention, but he quickly pockets the device as he sheepishly looks up. Clearing his throat, he turns to Rowan. “Your new item will be ready in three days. Would you like it to be delivered to the same location?”
He waves his fork in the air as he chews. “Delay it until our dear nephew has completed his training. It would be a shame to miss witnessing him reach his full potential.”
Potential is for positive things. Not raping people.
Just when I think I can manage my reaction, the masked guards unzip. They’re all wearing condoms, which Rowan decides to give me insight behind as he says, “If you allow them to become accustomed to human touch, they’ll crave it.”
“So why let them have it at all?” I ask. I’m as cowardly as Lennox for not stopping them as they approach the man who still has his eyes closed, which does fuck all to hide his tears slipping down his cheeks.
Rowan assesses me as he takes another bite of his meal. “All animals require motivation. Those who are the most loyal will shackle themselves without any requirement for aggression. Do you understand what separates a man from a beast?”
“Morality.”Which you don’t fucking have.
“No,” Lennox interrupts. “A beast doesn’t have free will. They’re ruled by their nature; they will act within the bounds of that nature. Man has the illusion of choice.”
“A man will only lose their free will for two things,” Rowan picks up as though they’re one. “By devotion or force. One is more powerful than the other.”
He needs to have a reality check, because he’s not some mighty entity. He’s a scared little bitch who doesn’t take any risk. Lennox is the only person who exists. Rowan Kobalt is a phantasm no one outside of his own carefully crafted domain is aware of. Even in these walls, he doesn’t show his face to anyone other than Lennox, Sasha, and me.
I excuse myself when the guards take turns on the man, forcing him to shut down in that all too familiar way. I can hear my heart thud faster with each step. My hands shake, sweat trickling down my back, but I don’t run to escape the image.
Not until I’m locked away in the empty room, except for a pillow on the floor. Then I fucking run into the bathroom. Kicking the door closed behind me for the fantasy of privacy as I slide down the door, I fumble with my pants. There’s a patch of my thigh visible and my hand only stops shaking when I take out my knife, press the tip of the blade deep into my skin, then slowly pull it across in a line, savoring every fucking second where my nerves are overstimulated.
The cold is first.
