No response.
She leaned closer and Paula’s breath caressed her cheek. Mickey sank down so her bottom rested on her heels. At least Paula was alive, but how could she get them both out of here?
“Don’t worry about her. She’ll be fine,” a hard voice said from behind her.
Mickey craned her neck around, taking in the bare room. Gauzy curtains on the lone window let the moonlight shine through its thin material. At the open doorway stood Connie. Her thin lips pressed into a tight line and a nasty purple bruise circled around her eye.
“What happened to you?” Mickey asked. Connie’s battered appearance made her less threatening somehow.
Connie snorted and cocked her head to the side. Her arms crossed tightly across her chest. “A little punishment for not killing you when I was supposed to.”
The coldness of her words caused a chill to settle over Mickey’s skin. “Who hit you? Pete?”
“Come on. I thought you were smarter than that.” A brittle laugh pushed past Connie’s lips and she stepped into the room. Mickey didn’t move a muscle. She refused to show her fear. “Pete was just another pawn who outlived his usefulness.”
“Then who?”
“Why do you think I’d tell you?”
Mickey shrugged and her shoulder screamed. “Why not? I’m going to be dead soon anyway.” Connie didn’t answer, just continued to stare at her through narrowed eyes. Mickey needed a different approach to get her to talk. “Where are we? Are the girls here?”
Amusement widened Connie’s eyes and her lips curved into a small smile. “You really are stupid. Do you think we’d take you to them? No, they’re tucked away safe and sound right where I left them.”
Mickey’s blood burned hot. “You’re a monster. How do you justify hurting innocent little girls?” Her voice shook as she spoke.
“You don’t know me and what I’ve been through.”
“Then tell me. Help me understand why you’d do this.” Mickey softened her voice and rested her hands on her knees. The zip tie cut into her tender flesh, but she slowly twisted her wrists to try to loosen the restraint. It didn’t budge.
“I don’t need your understanding.” Connie’s words held less fire than before, and Mickey pressed on.
“You’re right. You don’t. But I’m going to die no matter what you tell me. It’d be nice if I had just a shred of clarity before that happens.”
Connie sighed, walked to the windowsill, and leaned the small of her back against the wooden ledge. “I’m a survivor. I do what I have to do to keep living. Plain and simple. I had to learn that lesson at a young age, figure out how to give myself at least a small choice of what to do with my life. I could either let men touch me, hurt me for their sick pleasure…or I could use what I had to get what I want. I could choose who touched me. I didn’t have to be a victim stuck in some god-awful trailer with mymother and her bastard of a boyfriend. I could just walk away. Live my life the way I wanted to.”
The ice around Mickey’s heart melted just a fraction for the broken woman in front of her. Connie was wrong. She was a victim. A victim who was so heartless and so damn brainwashed she chose to inflict pain on others in order to lessen the pain inflicted on herself. Connie was right, Mickey had no idea what her life had been like, but she wasn’t a survivor. She was another lost soul.
“Can’t you see how you’ve used the horrible things that happened to you as an excuse to do horrible things to others? Let me help you. Let me get you out of this life and into a better place.”
“I don’t need help, especially yours,” Connie said.
“So this is your big choice, the life you’re so happy to live? You help kidnap little girls and just stand back while they’re abused? That’s not a life, it’s a nightmare.” Mickey’s heart raced and her skin burned as she continued working at the ties on her wrists. They weren’t loosening at all, just digging deeper and deeper into her flesh.
“What the hell’s going on in here?” A dark shadow loomed in the doorway, his deep voice booming with disapproval. Mickey stopped moving.
Connie straightened and turned toward the door. “Nothing. I just came in to see if either of them had woken up.”
“Is that why I heard you bitching about your sad little life? Don’t talk to them, Connie. No one wants to hear your shit.”
“I…I’m sorry.” Connie dropped her chin to her chest. “I wanted to explain to her.”
“Explain what? That you’ve always been a whore and you like getting roughed up?” The man strode toward Connie, and Mickey recoiled at his words.
“No. She wanted to help me, but I don’t need help. I’ve got you.” A wide smile splashed across her face.
The man’s long legs closed the distance between them and he pressed his face into Connie’s, his silhouette blocking the light from the window. “You have me?” he growled. “That’s what you think this is? Some fucked up little fairytale where you get your man? You’re just a dumb bitch who I have to keep putting in her place.”
His hand rearedback and slammed against Connie’s face. Her head whipped around and she fell to the floor. Mickey’s breath caught in her throat and she fixed her gaze on Connie’s unmoving form, willing her to get up. But nothing happened. Horror grabbed her by the throat when the man turned to face her, his lip hitched up in a sneer.
