“She’s being examined now, and Sister Maura has the supplies ready. They’ll begin just as soon as you’re ready.” She sounds as maniacal as the priest. These people are fucking nuts.
Hearing the door close and the woman sigh, I open my door a crack, wrap a hand around her mouth and drag her inside with me. She tries to fight, to cry out, but my blade at her neck simmers her down enough that she stills, staring widely up at me. What I see in her eyes is an antipathy even I don’t possess. I don’t know where Cassio found these nuns, but each one is as cold and callous as the next.
They’re all going to burn in hell when I’m done with them.
“What’s a cleanse?” I need to know how urgent it is that I get to Daia before I take out the priest. She glares at me. Shaking her body, the knife digs into her neck, and she tries to struggle, but her smaller stature is no match for my bulky frame. “What are they going to do to Daia?”
Lifting my hand slightly, her lips thin into a straight line. I know she’s not going to give anything away.
“Sister, this can go one of two ways. You tell me what I want to know, and I snap your neck. Quick death. You don’t, and I knock your ass out, and you’ll suffer every bit as much as Cassio is going to, and you’ll be begging for the devil to collect your soul.”
Whatever else she’s done in her life, she’s clearly a believer in the afterlife because even as she pales, her head nods, and she explains, “The cleansing is a bleach bath in scorching water, and then Father Cassio takes her.”
“Takes her,” I repeat. “You mean rapes her.” She nods stiffly.
“He must cleanse each of her holes with his seed before she’s given to Benito Torres.” I know the name.
“How much did he sell her for?” There’s always a fucking price.
Swallowing, the lump digs into the knife as it passes, and she winces. “Mr. Torres has been paying half a million euros since he met Daia two years ago. Father Cassio wouldn’t give him to her until she reached eighteen.”
“How fucking noble of him.”
“She isn’t eighteen for another three weeks.”
“Your preciousFatheris a fucking pedophile?”
She nods before frowning. “Isabel didn’t tell you?” There’s more. Much more.
“Tell me what.” Fighting my rage is becoming difficult.
“He’s been spilling his seed on her to prepare her since she was a child. There’s a reason she’s stayed here as long as she has. We normally don’t keep children more than six months, but he refused to let her leave. If not for the sum the prince had planned to give for her, she would have been gone when she was an infant.” I feel sick. Worse than sick.
Murderous.
“See you in hell, Sister Anne.” Gripping her chin and the back of her head, I twist until I hear the snap, and she falls from my grip. I should feel remorse. She was a woman. A nun. A believer in the Almighty.
But she stood by and profited off this sick organization while my Isabel was being tormented her entire life. Everyone is dying here today, and I’m burning this place to the fucking ground.
CHAPTER4
Isabel
Showered and dressed, I still feel the sting of Pace’s departure over an hour ago. It felt like a rejection without the words. I know he thinks he’s a monster. But he’s my savior. My solace. I’ve never felt the way that I do when I’m in his arms. He gives me breath; I feel alive. When I look into his eyes, I see a future of freedom. Of choice.
And what I choose is him.
I’ve never been afforded that before, and if the first one I make is a lifetime commitment, I’m okay with that. Because I know how Pace feels in the way he touches me. In the reverent way he kisses me, holds me. Pace believes he’s a monster, a killer, but he’s so much more. And I’m going to love him because of it all.
No matter what he says or does, I’m not leaving. He won’t scare me off, despite his best efforts. I recognize that when he left this morning, his parting words were meant to be shocking, and he likely expects to come back to an empty room. I’ll be here waiting, however. Ready to show him that I’ve known worse monsters than him, and that he’s just going to have to get used to me following him everywhere.
Last night, he showed me how to use the television, and after watching it for a few minutes this morning, I had to shut it off. There was too much color, too much noise. It was just overstimulating. The same with the games on the iPad he left behind for me.
Grabbing the deck of cards off the dresser, I open the balcony doors and sit at the table nearby, allowing the fresh air to brush across my skin and the sounds of the city to invade my hearing. Shuffling the deck, I lay the cards out for a game of solitaire.
I’m not sure how long I sit there playing before there’s a tapping on the room door. Pace told me not to open it for anyone until he returned, but I can’t resist the urge to look out the peephole. Not seeing anyone there, my eyebrows scrunch together. I briefly wonder if some children are playing games, and as I unlock the deadbolt, the door opens forcefully, only to be stopped by the chain.
Startled, I jump back before throwing my body weight into the wood, in the hopes of being able to slam it shut and lock it again. My attempt fails as the intruder does the same, only they’re successful, and as I’m thrown back and crash into a piece of furniture, smashing my head on something, my eyes throb. Dull pain roars to life in the back of my head where my fingers probe, only to come away with blood.