I waited all day for Viv to come. Sitting on the hard floor with my back pressed to the door as I listened to the heavy thud of boots approach before they faded again. Viv was coming. She had to be coming. I twisted my fingers and clenched my jaw, my heartbeat booming in my head.
So why wasn’t she here?
I shoved up from the door and paced. The single bed, the basin, and the set of built-in drawers were the only things in this cold, hard room. There were no windows to see outside. No light apart from the illuminated panels overhead, controlled from somewhere outside. Gray polished concrete floors and gray painted walls. Viv said they passed this place off as a reform school for girls, but the only things they taught were obedience, and how to be fucked…literally.
As always, my mind turned to Nick, Tobias, and Caleb. I stilled midway across the floor. Nick…Nick. I clenched my fists and massaged my knuckles. I still hadn’t been told anything. He told me he’d find out. The bastard who kept me here. The one who wanted us to call him The Principal.
He wasn’t a goddamn principal.
He was a sadistic fucking piece of shit.
A man who ran his own private whorehouse.
A whorehouse my mother had sent me to. No, not sent me…sold me. I shook my head, casting the thought aside. That pain was too much to unpack. I needed to keep my wits about me here. I needed to stay alive and away from these sick motherfuckers.
The thud of boots heading my way drew my gaze to the door. I swallowed hard as the shadow spilled across the glass panel and the gray guard’s uniform filled the pane. The click of the lock sounded, and the door swung wide.
“Out,” the guard commanded. “Bathroom.”
I swallowed the tremble of fear and stepped forward, glancing along the hall as other doors were unlocked by more guards and the girls stepped out, wearing the same flimsy goddamn nighties we were told to wear last night. I tried to find Viv amongst the others, but she wasn’t there.
Images of what could’ve happened to her flashed through my mind.
Was she taken away…was she…hurt?
Did they find out what she was planning and put an end to it, and her?
“Move,” the guard ordered, shoving me on the back of the shoulder. I stumbled forward with the others, keeping my head down, keeping quiet. But inside, that seething rage boiled. We made our way to the bathroom and stepped inside. The hiss of the showers already filled the space. I scanned the naked bodies of the others, searching for Viv, but she wasn’t here either.
“In,” the guard behind me snarled.
Revulsion made me hug my arms across my body. I could tell those who wore red and black from those of us who wore white. They never hid their bodies from the guards’ gazes, just washed and scrubbed, breasts on full display.
Another jab at my back. “Clothes off and in…don’t make me have to rip them off you.”
I swallowed hard and thought about turning around and punching him square in the jaw, until from the corner of my eye, the white-haired guard stepped into the bathroom, scanning the others, until those ice-blue eyes settled on me. There was a spark of excitement as he took in my defiance.
“You going to haul off and hit officer Garland here, Castlemaine?” He leaned his big frame down, ‘‘cause it sure looks like it to me.”
I clenched my jaw so hard my teeth nearly cracked. Whimpers and the brutal sound of the lash hitting flesh still rang in my head from last night. I only needed to give this bastard an opportunity, and he’d make an example of me, like Olivia was last night.
“No,” I murmured.
He leaned closer. “Sorry, what did you say?”
I forced my gaze to his. “I said, no.”
The smile was instant. “That’s what I thought.” He glanced at the showers. “So, what are you waiting for?”
My breaths raced as I gripped the thin satin and lifted the nightie over my head. Heat burned in my cheeks as my nipples puckered. I felt their gazes on my body as the nightie hit the floor, then I reached for my panties, shoved them low, and stepped into the warm spray.
Others hurried out, grabbing towels to dry and dress. I washed my hair, dropping my head back into the spray, holding the asshole guard’s gaze. Taps squealed. Showers were abandoned, leaving me the only one behind. I tried not to let fear get the better of me, washing and rinsing before I turned to switch off the water.
But the white-haired asshole was in my way. I tried to step around him, but he moved, forcing me sideways until he pressed me against the cold tiled wall.
“I like you, Castlemaine bitch,” he growled, his breath warm on my neck.
I kept my gaze down as water ran in rivulets down my back.
“I think you and I are going to become very good friends indeed. I’m coming for you.” He brushed aside my wet hair. “Fuck, you’re gonna scream when I do.”
My stomach rolled with revulsion, but I forced my gaze to his, letting the savagery rise inside me. “One day I’m going to get out of here,” I hissed. “I can’t wait for you to meet my stepbrothers.”
“Oh, yeah?” He pushed me hard against the tiles. “Think your big brothers are going to save your pretty ass?”
He grabbed my face, smashing my lips against my teeth. With the other hand, he traced the mark on my cheek. “I bet they’ll enjoy watching me ride their little sister.”
The image of that roared inside my mind, making the bathroom gray at the edges.
I wanted to cry. I wanted to throw up.
I wanted to wrap my arms around my body and rock in a corner while my mind fractured and my will slipped away. I knew now why those dressed in red didn’t cry, scream, or fight. It was because of men like him slowly breaking them down.
“I-I think you might be surprised.” Even though my voice was trembling, I forced the words. “I’d watch your back if I were you…for the rest of your life.”
He grinned then, and the sight of that was almost as foul as his words.
“Tig,” the other guard called.
The sick bastard slowly turned his head, but his grip didn’t ease around my jaw.
“The Teacher is waiting.”
There was a heartbeat where he didn’t move, long enough for my fear to move even deeper, before the grip eased around my jaw and he straightened. “Get dressed, Castlemaine bitch,” he muttered, holding the other guard’s stare.
I stepped around him and scurried to grab a towel. Self-preservation drove me as I roughly toweled my hair and yanked on a clean white nightie and panties.
I didn’t even try to brush my hair, just raced out of the bathroom, to stop in the empty hall. The sound of voices called me forward, and there was no way I was giving the white-haired bastard another opportunity to corner me. I rushed toward the voices, my wet hair sticking the nightie against my back.
“Classes are important.” A male spoke in front of the women. “I expect you to be clean, ready…and punctual.” He glanced my way as I entered. “Attention matters. You, on the other hand, do not.”
I stepped around the others, wincing at a cold rivulet of water that slipped between my breasts. The Teacher moved closer, staring into the other girls’ eyes. “You do not matter, not your wants or your needs. The only thing that matters is the needs of your master, your owner. Your entire being will be dedicated to them. Their wants. Their needs. You will find what they crave. You will become what they are searching for, even if they don’t know themselves.”
Disgust moved through me.
He moved closer until he stopped at one of the girls in white. She whimpered at the closeness, winced, and tried to pull away until he lashed out, grasped her around the back of the neck, and dragged her close. “Some of them will want a woman who’s a whore, who greets them at the door on your knees with your mouth open, ready to take their cock. Others will want someone timid, afraid. They want that rush of power that comes when they take a woman who’s begging…beg for me.” He focused on her. “Show me how afraid you can be.”
His stare never moved, burrowing into hers even as she tried to pull away.
My heart thundered as I took in his stance, his body, the way the rolled sleeves of his black shirt pull taut. He was exactly like The Principal. Hard, cold. Powerful. His light green eyes reflected the overhead lights, making him almost beautiful, in a vicious, terrifying way. His big, powerful hand tightened around her neck until the tips of his fingers pressed against her veins.
She whimpered.
Her legs shook, and it was his hold that kept her upright, kept her rooted to the spot as he leaned close, so close he could have kissed her. “Show…me…”
“P-please,” she whispered.
“Please?” he whispered back, forcing her head to turn so he whispered the word against her cheek. “Please what?”
“P-please d-don’t h-hurt m-me.”
“Keep going,” he urged.
“I-I…” she stuttered and closed her eyes. “I…”
“KEEP GOING!” he roared.
The entire class jolted at the sound. My heart hammered as he pulled his head away from hers and stared into her eyes. “Did they tell you about the recruits who fail their training?” His voice was so calm, so controlled, so chilling. “You think it’s hard here?” He gave a small chuff. “There is always harder, crueler. Those who are shown to be…unusable will be used in other ways. You’ve been sold, traded…discarded. And if the Order cannot get its use out of you in this way…then there are less…favorable conditions you will be sent to. Either way, we get our use of you until the very end.”
My stomach clenched with terror as my breaths raced. She dropped to her knees as they buckled, thick, heavy sobs tearing from her mouth. “Please don’t hurt me. I’ll do anything…anything.”
He stood over her, looking down like she was nothing, as she dropped her head on his feet. Her body shuddered and shook, the bones of her ribs moving like shadows under her skin.
“Good,” he murmured. “Good.”
Good?
Good, that he broke her?
“You will be the key to their lock. You will hone yourself, carve yourself. Change your hair color, change your eyes. You will change everything about yourself and become the one thing they can count on, can love…can fix.”
He said the last words softly.
So softly, I barely heard them.
So softly, the others didn’t.
They just stared at the woman on the ground in horror…after all, she could’ve been them.
“Today you will sit in your cells and mourn the life you once had. You will cry, you will scream. You’ll bang on the walls and howl until your throat burns and your voice is hoarse, then tomorrow…tomorrow you will become someone else. Someone who will either break, or someone who survives.”
He lifted his head and scanned the room, taking in every pair of downcast eyes until he stopped at mine. I didn’t look away, just held his stare until my gaze watered and my body shook.
“To your room,” he commanded.
I stepped away from the others, my pulse racing as I headed for the door. I was first through, punching the handle and shoving the door wide, until I stopped.
Viv stood there, her back pressed against the wall. A man held her there. A man who wasn’t a guard. He was older, gray hair splattered amongst the black at the sides of his.
“You think the contract will save you, Vivienne?” he murmured, tracing the line of her jaw with his finger.
Her head turned just enough that her eyes found mine. There was a flicker of panic, one that was quickly replaced by a dull, controlled stare.
“It’s a fucking piece of paper,” the man growled into her ear. “One I can tear up any time I wish. You are my ward, Vivienne. You belong to me.”
The rush of footsteps from the women from the classroom swarmed around me, drawing the gaze of the man who pressed Viv against the wall. He didn’t care about us, didn’t flinch, didn’t step away…until the slow, heavy thud of steps came behind me, and the man they called the Teacher stopped at my side.
The older man dropped his hands from Viv’s face and stepped away. There were no words spoken between them. Even if there were, I wouldn’t have heard them. Because screams came. Silent, tormenting screams that burned in Vivienne’s gaze.
Ones which resounded in my soul.
