“Yes, I can tell by your face you have no idea. Antonio’s my husband. These women aren’t in his bed. They’re just here to please him. Now, what I can’t quite work out is… what does he want with you?” Her hand lifts, and I see it before it comes. My stomach clenches as her hand comes down and slaps my face. Hard. My body falls backward, and I just manage to catch myself before I hit my head. She doesn’t care, though, because she reaches for me and pulls me up by my hair. Then she pulls it so hard I have to lean up on my knees to match her in height as she bends slightly.
“If you even think about fucking him, I’ll slice you fucking open. Do you hear me, whore?”
I want to nod my head to answer her, but I can’t move it with how tight a hold she has on me.
“Yes,” I cry out.
Can I do this?
Can I live like this?
What kind of person will I end up being when this shit is over?
“I didn’t hear you, whore.”
“Yes,” I scream out again.
She pulls my hair tighter, and I can feel the strands being ripped from my scalp. After she has a handful, she lets me go, pushing me back with her heel. Honestly, it’s almost to the point of kicking me. So, this time I do fall back, hitting my head on the floor, and I’m unsure if I should even move. She steps over me, a leg on each side. Her long blonde hair falls down on each side of her head, much like mine does when it’s down. Her facial expression is mean, though. She doesn’t like me one bit, I can tell by the blood I can taste in my mouth.
“I’m going to play with you. Every time he even looks at you in any sort of way that makes me mad. Do you understand me, Saskia?” I nod my head. “Good.” She stands up straight, but she’s still over me. “Because he’s mine,” she roars. “And one day… maybe even Ryken will be, too.” She smiles at that then steps over me and walks out, leaving me on the floor.
Pulling my dress up is the first thing I do to cover myself. My keeper’s boots come back into view, and I know he’s about to take me back to that room without any food again. Quickly, I reach out to grab some food, clutching it in my hands, as his hands come around my arm, pulling me up.
“Are you that hungry?”
Looking down at my hands, the food is scrunched and doesn’t appear very appetizing. But I bet it’s better than nothing. “I’ll fucking feed you, woman! Fuck. Only Amy hates you so far,” he says with a laugh. “But she hates everyone. Get used to her cruelty. He’ll never stop it. He secretly loves her jealous streak.” He walks me back to the room, but this time it’s the white room and not the room with only a toilet. I breathe a sigh of relief and instantly relax when I see what’s on the bed—a tray full of food and water. His hand lets go of mine as I take a step forward into the room. “I don’t think I have to tell you what happens if you try to escape, right?”
Turning to face him, I see him in a new light.
Is he as bad as I first thought?
Shaking my head, I tell myself not to see the best in people. Some are just better at hiding who they really are than others. And I bet everyone here is as evil as the next. Or so I want to tell myself.
“Good, I wouldn’t recommend leaving. Not until you are asked to.”
I nod my head this time. He takes one last look at me as he closes the door. I hear it lock from the outside. I run on wobbly legs to the bed, dropping the food that’s in my hand and eating the muffin that sits on the tray with some other sweets. I’m careful to only eat small portions, even though I want to wolf down every morsel on the tray. There’s a bottle of water, and I drink it slowly, letting the liquid slide down my throat. It cools my dry, parched, insides. The water coats my cracked lips, and I lick them, feeling the moisture soak in.
Pulling my dress free, I let it drop to the floor, and see a looser fitting dress on the bed. Putting that on, I crawl into bed wishing and hoping when I wake up, that this is all just a nightmare.
Chapter Four
Ryken
Quinn has four girls, all passed out, hands tied behind their backs. Michael’s looking like he can’t believe what we’ve just done. We shouldn’t have collected this early, but we did it anyway. If you do it all in one hit, it’s terrible for business. It brings unwanted attention from the authorities. Quinn, though, I trust him to do the right thing and to be as careful as possible.