The other bidder smirks, and I plan out his death in my mind. I’ll make his wife watch. “Seven and a half.”
I’m finished fucking around. “Ten.”
He shakes his head, the smile still in place, but I can tell he’s defeated. He wasn’t a decoy. He was waiting to bid on Drew. I’m labeled as the winner, and I feel faint. Ten million dollars. These people don’t deserve a fucking dime.
A man comes to take my info, and I have to fold my hands in my lap to keep them from shaking. That was the easy part, I remind myself. The worst is yet to come. I can’t even tell you who won number fifteen because I’m lost in thought. I have some idea of what comes next, and it won’t be pleasant. The Ring guards take the women from The Ring, and we’re told to remain in our seats until called. Reggie leaves first, and he only looks determined as he passes into a dark corridor. They summon me by announcing Fourteen, and I walk to the man waiting to lead me to what comes next. The Ring leader is waiting in front of a solid metal door. The hallway has at least twenty doors.
“Number Fourteen. Claim your winning,” he says, licking his lips.
I can smell his breath over the musty odor emanating from the dirt and stale air.
“You have fifteen minutes. The room is paneled in one-way mirrored glass where your claim will be confirmed and videotaped for security reasons. The ID you provided will be in the video, and your face will be recorded. They have tested Fourteen for sexually transmitted diseases, and she is cleared. The money was withdrawn from the account you listed upon entrance. Once the claim is substantiated, number Fourteen will be packaged and waiting at the airport marked only by the number. The package will be non-descript and there will be enough drugs in the body to sedate for about twelve hours. The body should be just lucid enough to have minimal conversation now—a purposeful move so buyers can hear voice octave during claiming.”
Instead of killing him on the spot, or vomiting, which is a real possibility, I merely nod.Drew.He opens the door.
“Oh, make sure the camera directly in front of you gets a five-second shot of your face.” I nod again, and the door closes behind me.
Drew is lying on a hospital bed, which is double wide in the center of the room, the same silk sheet draped over her body. I let the camera have my face as my guilt and remorse bubble up. I count slowly to five and then focus on her limp body.They’re watching you;I remind myself. How would a buyer act? Surely they’d be nervous as this isn’t an everyday occurrence. That explains away some of my twitchy behavior. The rest, I’ll need to act. Circling the bed, I let my gaze fall on her neck. There’s a slight red line that looks to have makeup covering it. I let my hand touch the mark gently. Drew stirs, and it occurs to me that if she recognizes me, this will be the end. Her eyes are bloodshot as she blinks and looks up at me. Tears slip down her cheeks and my chest tightens.
“Fourteen,” I say, voice cold. “You’re mine now.”
Drew doesn’t reply. More tears and her perfect black eye makeup runs down her temples, wetting her hair. Closing my eyes, I summon energy from the bad guy reserve. “I’m going to claim you now. You’ll be leaving with me today.” I say things that hold a double meaning. If she recognizes me, she’ll know to keep her mouth shut. If she has no clue who I am, it would be better for both of us. I pull the sheet off her body and let it fall to the floor. Her naked body is just as perfect as it always is, but for the first time, it doesn’t feel like mine. This isn’t her choice. It’s not my choice if I’m being honest. Riley wants her back unharmed, and fucking her one more time for the cameras is the only way that’s happening. She might have meant something to me, but that was before Riley fell in love with her. I am no longer capable of love. That ability died with Wyatt. My need for revenge will always be stronger than anything else. In this moment, with my emotions in a whirlwind, I realize I might be wrong.
I position myself with my back facing the camera. Leaning over, I kiss her neck where she’s marked from wearing a hard collar. They’ve coated her in a scent that isn’t hers, and I hate it. The mirrored one-way glass is on three sides, so there really is no way to hide anything, not even a whisper. When I stand and unzip my pants and take out my cock, she doesn’t look. Tears continue falling down her cheeks as she continues staring at my face.
“You look like him,” she whispers.
This might be ideal. Shit. Where do I go from here?
I close my eyes hard, then look anywhere but her face. “You were sedated for a while. You’re confused. No one is going to hurt you. You’re safe.” I brush her hair away from her temple, where it’s sticking to her face. “Now spread your legs.”
Drew reaches up and places her hand against mine where it’s on her face. The bracelet. They left it on her. Panic laces my next breath because I’m not sure what it means and why it wouldn’t be the first thing stolen from her. It’s worth a lot.
She shakes her head, and I worry about running out of time. Fifteen minutes isn’t a lot of time. My dick is limp, she’s telling me no, and who knows how many people are watching us right now.Just do it,I think. Get it over with and get the fuck out of this place. I get on the bed and spread her legs, and she fights against it, her muscles tense. Nothing about this turns me on like I’m sure it does for every other sick fuck in the claiming rooms right now. There’s blood on the sheets under her, and I wonder why they would use dirty sheets, given the fact that they test for STDs and everything else. I lean over her body and bury my face in her neck. One last attempt to do this the easy way. It’s a risk, but I take it.
I whisper, “I’m sorry, beautiful girl.”
She stops breathing, stops moving, and like I intended, my words reach wherever she’s at.
“Let me givehimwhat he wants,” I say, my lips moving against her neck so the movement looks like a gentle kiss.
Drew opens her legs, reaches up with weak hands, and pulls my face to hers. Her lips meet mine and even if she doesn’t smell the same or look like she usually does, her kiss has always been my undoing. It lulls me into a false sense that someone actually gives a shit about me. I didn’t know kisses could feel like this before her. Not that I’d ever been in the business of making out with women, in fact, quite the opposite is true, but Drew’s lips have been the only to call me in a deeper way. Thank fuck for that because my dick hardens enough to slide home. She flinches as I enter her, but I still and wait for her to kiss me again before thrusting. As hard as I try, I can’t lose myself in her this time. I think about The Ring leader’s breath, the way the security guard smirked as he waved an arm to the arena, how they’ve locked me in this room like a cage and being told what to do makes me feel. On autopilot, I finish inside her and crawl off the bed. I cover her with the silk sheet and try not to meet her gaze for fear of feeling something other than the rage coursing through my veins.
A red buzzer begins spinning and whirring on top of the door I entered. A man enters, and my default is to protect her, so I take a step back toward her. “We’ll package the body for transport now.” Do I dare go against protocol when we’re this close to escaping? Do I risk them taking her back and never seeing her again because The Ring is full of liars and thieves? What’s stopping them from killing me and selling her next week to someone else? The thought of her in a box makes me sicker than I already feel.
“How long will it take? We need to take off as soon as possible.”
“We’ll make haste, sir,” he replies, nodding obediently. The demeanor has changed now that all the technicalities are out of the way. It’s unnerving, but a good sign.
I clear my throat. I want to tell him not to medicate her anymore, but that would raise red flags. Get her out alive and unharmed, I remind myself. Closing my eyes, I keep my back facing her when three men in white coats come in and inject her again. Her limp arm falls off the side of the hospital bed as they roll her from the room. I’m escorted to the surface through a hidden elevator and guided to the section of the airport reserved for private planes. They give us our cell phones and retreat to the bunker. All the buyers are out here. Reggie looks like hell as he paces about fifty feet away from where I’m waiting on the tarmac. He’s on a phone call, and I can see the furor in his eyes as he speaks. It’s not until I see another chopper in the distance that I understand why. Suspicions would arise if we got on the same flight with both women. I exhale and curse under my breath for not thinking about it sooner.
I’m shocked and confused and if I fuck this up now by acting on impulse or missing something because I’m wrapped up in my own fucking brain, I’ll never forgive myself. The taste of devastation is familiar, but that doesn’t mean that adding to it wouldn’t affect me. A variety of private aircraft sit idling as the second Astor helicopter joins the ranks. Most of the buyers focus on themselves and their immediate surroundings, so when the boxes begin rolling from the door one by one, that’s the only place we’re focused on. They are actual pine boxes. About six feet high, and a few feet wide. Pine coffins with numbers marking the outside on multiple sides. When Fourteen rolls over to me, they slide a panel to reveal clear plastic where I confirm it’s the body I purchased. I sign the paperwork as they load her into the helicopter.
The Ring leader is nowhere in sight. He’s back in his office counting his money, safely tucked away where no one can slaughter him like the pig he is. I don’t touch the box until we’ve taken off, and I’ve texted Riley’s burner phone to prepare for our arrival. Prying open the lid with a crowbar, Drew lies there naked, her breathing slow and a bit jagged. I scream out once, the agony of what I’ve done surfacing. Ripping off my shirt, I pull it over her heavy head and pull it down to cover her.
“I’m so fucking sorry,” I repeat it over and over. The words they told me not to say because no one deserves to hear them from Astor’s lips. Except no one has deserved the words more than Drew. Love isn’t something I know well, and in my mind, when you love someone, the only way to prove it is to exact revenge. She’s paid a price unfathomable.
I’ll be the one to pay the final price, but not before I prove my love.