I haven’t read a story or watched a single show where captives released their victims because they were just too nice to hurt.
“Not her!” Lola screams. “Angel, take me. Don’t take her.”
Angel doesn’t listen as he drags me out of the cage, my knee banging on the edge. It’s going to bruise. How fractured is my mind that I even notice? I’m covered in bruises and scratches. That little ounce of pain is nothing, but my mind focuses on it. Putting all my energy into worrying about a minor injury to my knee seems like a better choice than trying to analyze why Lola is so willing to replace me. I know I couldn’t martyr myself in this situation. I’m not brave enough to speak up when someone else is taken from their cage. I didn’t do it when it was Lola, and I didn’t do it again last night when the other girl was taken.
Come to think of it, Lola didn’t do it last night either, and that really worries me. Did Javier say something, make threats about me when he was hurting her? Does she know what’s coming?
Just the threat of it makes me fight harder. I kick and scream and try to scratch at his face, but he seems to be a professional at subduing people because before I know it, my back is pinned to his front, my arms locked at my sides and he’s carrying me out of the room.
My mind isn’t sharp enough to pay attention to the details around me. I don’t spend the time he’s carrying me to look around and try to figure out an escape. I wiggle and fight, but my movements are minimal in his grip.
“Would you stop?” Angel hisses in my ear, and I try to pull away further.
I don’t want his breath on me, and the feel of it hitting my skin makes my empty stomach roil.
“What’s going to happen? Where are you taking me? Please, I don’t want to die.”
He remains silent, and as we approach a dark door, I don’t know if that’s a good or a bad thing. Do I want him to actually lay it all out for me, or is it better that I don’t know?
Somehow, as if he’s a magician, Angel manages to open the heavy door and push it open without losing his grip on me. It feels like another lost opportunity to get away, and I don’t think I’m going to get many more of them. I’m squandering my chances because I’m too upset.
I stiffen in his arms when I see Javier sitting at his desk, my heart nearly stopping when his eyes drift up to us.
My head shakes violently, pulling a frown from his lips, and I don’t know how to play it. Will compliance make this situation better or worse? Should I fight? Would behaving the way he wants make it better or worse for me? Is he going to want the opposite no matter what I choose?
“Over there is fine,” Javier says with an air of detached disinterest, swinging his arm out toward a sitting area on the far side of the room.
Angel carries me, and even though our backs are now to Javier, I do my best to twist and look over Angel’s shoulder. It feels wrong somehow to lose sight of him, as if he’s a cobra looking for the right time to strike. Javier doesn’t move from his office chair, but he also doesn’t pull his eyes from the pair of us either.
“That’s not necessary,” Javier says when Angel places me on the sofa and pulls a length of rope from his pocket. “You’re not going to give me any trouble, are you, Cara?”
I look between the two of them wondering which one of these guys is more likely to hurt me. I lock begging eyes on Angel because I’ve borne witness to what Javier is capable of, and even though his jaw tenses, a sign I read as disappointment, I can’t determine if that disappointment is in me or what he suspects Javier is going to do.
“Leave us,” Javier snaps.
Angel stands, giving me one last look as if he’s categorizing the damage on my face in order to compare to the damage he’ll come back to once Javier is done with me.
“Please,” I beg, lifting my arms to reach for him, but he takes a step back.
“Close the door on your way out,” Javier says, and that’s all it takes for Angel to back away. His jaw is still filled with tension, but he doesn’t stay. He doesn’t help. He turns and walks away, making me realize that Angel is just as much a captive as I am.
By outward appearance, Angel looks stronger than Javier. His chest is broader. His arms are thicker. So that makes me believe that Angel is here under duress. Javier is able to control him, and the only thing that would make me compliant, make me willing to hurt others is a threat to April, my younger sister.