“Time to face the music,” Hyland murmurs. “Ready to go?”
“I guess so. But I’m not arguing with him again.”
Shaking his head, he gestures for me to go ahead. “I won’t let that happen.”
When I pass Hyland, who has already hefted a box to rest on his shoulder, warmth spreads through my lower back at the feel of his palm resting there. My stomach flip-flops.
Shit.
Perhaps this is a bad idea.
I’ve already kissed Axel in a moment of madness. Even if he hasn’t brought it up since, it still happened. Now I’ll be living in close quarters with him. And my heart hasn’t quite realised that Hyland isn’t up for grabs either.
Double shit.
CHAPTER 14
EMBER
UNTITLED – KNUCKLE PUCK
Hands braced over my ears,I try to block out the sounds of abuse all around me. My plain, nearly empty room is in the guards’ quarters. Their job is to ensure I remain secure at all times, but nothing more.
While I’m grateful not to be locked in a cage or worse, the nights when Gael’s men take advantage of the captives on this estate are full of torment. I can’t escape the noise.
“P-P-Please! No!”
Tears roll down my cheeks at the sound of begging nearby. It’s no use. They enjoy any form of protest. I’ve watched the defiance drain from countless women since being here.
Shifting over to hide my face in an almost flat pillow, I forget about my shredded back too late. Excruciating heat cracks through me, emanating from each laceration the whip left.
I tried to intervene when Gael was assigning girls to be distributed to his business associates today. The selection process was taking place near where I was sparring with Carlos.
“You dare to question me?”
The memory of his acid-sharp voice cuts into my already destroyed skin. I can still feel the whip that he laid into me with in front of every single sobbing, petrified woman up for grabs.
“These sluts have a purpose! As do you, 768!”
I’m not sure which of his guards carried my limp, semi-conscious body back to my room afterwards. Perhaps it was one of the men now violating another innocent nearby.
For all its grandiose architecture—stuccoed, terracotta walls, arched verandas, colourful Talavera tiles in the open-air courtyard—Gael’s estate is a slice of hell on earth. No one who enters leaves alive.
Sometimes, I’m allowed to step outside to drink in the humid air. I look at tropical plants and colourful blooms, reminiscent of some picturesque honeymoon destination. And I wonder how anyone will ever find us here.
If Gael’s inordinate wealth and political influence don’t protect him, the remoteness of our self-contained purgatory will. No one comes here. Only his trusted men and business associates.
Gael’s operation isn’t just unfathomably vast, it’s funded by an empire of dirty money funnelled through clubs and warehouses across the nation. His power is embedded in every level of society.
At first, I waited for help to come. I convinced myself that the authorities would come crashing in at any moment to rescue me. Take me home to my brother. To my home. To anything but this.
When they never came, the first tendrils of despair crept in. Those tendrils grew into vines that took root and strangled my hope soon after. Since then, I haven’t dared to hope for a saviour.
“Noooo!” The voice screeches.
If I had the strength, I’d burst in there to attack the sick fuck. Even if it resulted in another round of brutal punishment. Someone has to fight for the forgotten souls trapped here.
Even if no one fights for me.
