White walls blurred around me. The thud of my steps sounded distant and strange. But the thrashing sound of my heart was a deafening, terrifying roar consuming my head.
Vivienne glanced my way as we left that room behind. Spittle dried on my lips. My stepbrother hadn’t come here to save me. He’d come here…to buy one of us for sex.
My knees buckled at the thought. I fell and hit the floor hard. Agony carved through my knees.
“Easy, now,” Vivienne whispered as she grabbed my arm and hauled me to my feet.
He wasn’t here for me…
He wasn’t…
A sob tore free as I stumbled forward.
“Keep moving,” the guard snapped as we slowly stumbled past.
Vivienne shot him a glare as we moved with the others. But my steps slowed again, my feet refusing to move. I wanted to go back there, to tear through the door and slam into him. I wanted to beat him until he was bloody. I wanted to hurt him how I was hurting. I wanted to…
I wanted to…
Touch him, to hold him. I wanted him to hold me and tell me everything was alright. That he was here to take me from this place. That he wasn’t like all those others. But then that would be a lie.
I’d seen it in his cold eyes when he’d grabbed that woman, as he’d held her against his body and whispered the same things in her ear that he’d whispered in mine.
He was a fucking player. A goddamn piece of shit! No, he was worse than that. He was the kind of man who saw me as property, to use and discard whenever he wanted. I couldn’t believe I’d felt something for him. I couldn’t believe I’d —
“Ryth,” Vivienne hissed, and cast a panicked glance further along the hall.
Out of the shadows came the white-haired guard, his hungry steps eating up the distance as he scanned the line of us and stopped at me.
“We have to move,” Vivienne whimpered, and yanked me forward. “Now!”
I let Vivienne pull me along with the others through the set of double doors, but the moment the savage guard neared, he cut across the hall and grabbed me, driving me backwards into the wall. “You have something to say to me?”
I lifted my gaze, seizing his. He was pissed, and it didn’t take a genius to figure out why. We’d broken into The Principal’s office and used his phone. I clenched my jaw, jutting my chin upwards. “How about, fuck you?”
His lips curled back as rage ignited in his eyes. Behind me, the faint sound of male voices spilled out.
This one is ruined…
Those words rose. I could still feel his hands on me, my face, my ass…my breasts. My stomach clenched, recoiling from the memory.
“Try a goddamn stunt like you did in that room again and you won’t have to worry about being sold to the highest bidder.” He pushed against me until the warmth of his breath blew across my cheek. “I’ll take you for myself.”
I clenched my jaw, biting down on a whimper, and turned my gaze away.
He leaned harder, crushing me against the wall. “I’m coming for you, Castlemaine. I’m fucking coming—”
“Please,” Vivienne whispered, yanking my hand. “She didn’t mean it.”
Desperation flared in her wide, terrified eyes. The weight of the guard’s glare was heavy, but he made no move to stop Vivienne as she wrenched me free. My bare feet slapped the hard floor as I staggered away.
“Meal room.” Another guard motioned along the hallway. “Now.”
I followed, feeling nothing but the icy sting of betrayal. I had no room for pain or fear, no room for anything other than the burning rage boiling inside.
“Come on,” Viv hissed, yanking me harder as we followed the others inside the dining room. She pushed me toward a table, making me take a seat.
I slumped down on the seat, just sitting there, staring at the table. “He betrayed me,” I whispered.
Vivienne leaned close, watching the others as she hissed, “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“Caleb.” I lifted my gaze to hers. “I thought he came for me, but he didn’t.”
She stiffened as the realization dawned. “That man…” she froze, mouthing the words. That man was your brother?
I could only nod, the words too brutal to speak.
Her chest rose hard. “But you just.” Called him.
“It was the oldest.” I shook my head, my shoulders slumping forward as tears pricked my eyes. “Caleb.”
She sat back, watching from the corner of her eye as the other girls moved along the counter, grabbing food and drink. I had no idea what time it was, if it was day or night, or if I’d been in this place a week or a lifetime. Right now, I didn’t care.
“You need to eat something,” Vivienne urged.
My stomach clenched. The thought of food was sickening. I shook my head. “I can’t. But you…you need to.” I really looked at her for the first time, saw how she was fearless, tearing me away from that guard, even if it drew attention to herself. “Why are you helping me? Why do you care?”
She swallowed and glanced at the others sitting across the room before she answered. “I told you.”
“I don’t believe you,” I whispered. “There has to be more.”
Her cheeks burned as she looked away. “If you’re not going to look after yourself, then that’s your concern. Me, I’m going to eat, because I need the energy.” To run. She didn’t need to say the words. Still, she cut me a glare that said just as much as she rose and made her way to the counter.
I stared at the table, feeling that stab of agony move deeper. He was out there, walking down these halls, leaving me behind like I meant nothing to him.
Slick tears slipped free, gathering momentum as they rolled down my cheeks. I flicked them away as Vivienne returned with two cut sandwiches and two containers of juice. She slid one plate across the table my way, then followed with the drink. We said nothing, just like the others. But that empty quiet drew my focus. I glanced across the dining room, catching sight of one of the others dressed in red watching me with interest.
There was nothing comforting in her stare.
Nothing that looked like Vivienne’s at all. She didn’t eat, didn’t drink. Her dark eyes watched my every move. I forced myself to take a bite of the sandwich and swallow. But the bread stuck like a hard wad in the back of my throat, hurting as I washed it down.
“You need to keep your head down.”
I glanced at Viv as she carefully observed the other girl. “You need to be careful here, Ryth.” Her words were stony. “More now than ever before.”
Shadows spilled across the doorway. I lifted my head as three men stepped inside. The Principal, the Teacher…and the Priest. My cheeks burned as I stared at him. I hadn’t seen him since he’d had me abducted from that warehouse, leaving Nick bleeding.
Nick…
A pang tore across my chest when I thought of him. He was alive and coming for me. But when he found out about Caleb and what had happened tonight, he’d be savage…and he wasn’t the only one. Tobias. My breath caught as he filled my mind. His rage-filled eyes lingered in my mind. He’d kill Caleb. He’d kill him and not think twice about it.
After he came for me.
Please, God, let it be after he came for me.
“You need to stay quiet tonight,” Vivienne insisted as The Principal and the Teacher strode across the dining room.
Their cold gazes swept through the room, The Principal’s stare lingering a little too long on me as his voice filled the space. “Classes will begin tomorrow. Some of you will attend a more intense level of training.”
A more intense level of training.
That sinking feeling made me regret the bite of the sandwich.
“For now, you’ll be escorted to your rooms.” He stared at us…waiting.
Others were the first to rise, watching him as they skirted the tables and hurried toward the doorway. I rose along with Vivienne. But I didn’t scurry around them like the others. Instead, I held The Principal’s stare.
“Ms. Castlemaine,” he murmured.
I wanted to lunge across the room and claw his fucking eyes out. I wanted to scream and rage, but my anger would do me no good. The tracking monitor smacked against my ankle as I walked. I was still a prisoner, either way.
We’re coming, Ryth! Nick’s words haunted me as I made my way out of the dining room and into the hall once more. We headed back to the dark, empty cells, each guard stepping close as we stepped inside. The doors closed, locking behind us with a thud.
The silence was the hardest part.
Because that’s where the memories waited.
Memories of a time when I’d felt truly alive.
When Caleb wasn’t the monster he’d been tonight. And my life had meaning other than to be sold like a piece of meat to the highest bidder. Lights dimmed outside in the hallway, leaving me to sit on the side of my bed in the dark.
Maybe every single moment I’d been with them was a lie? I pulled my feet up and wrapped my arms around my knees. Nick’s desperation filled me. That kind of pain couldn’t be faked. “He’ll come,” I whispered out loud. “He’ll come.”
I sat like that for a while before I lay down and tugged the blanket higher, covering the ugly fucking thing they made us wear day in and day out. I trembled with the cold and closed my eyes, willing myself to sleep.
SOMETHING CLAMPED OVER MY MOUTH. A bass voice growled quietly. “I told you I was coming for you, bitch.”
I jerked open my eyes, my heart pounding as the hand across my mouth drove me into the mattress. In the washed-out light that spilled in from the hallway, I caught the shine of white hair…and I screamed.
The sound barely ripped through the room, muffled and raw, burning in the back of my throat. I slapped him away, but he was too strong, his other hand wrapping around my throat as he yanked me from the bed. Agony cleaved through my head as I hit the concrete hard. Sparks detonated behind my eyes, shocking me for a second. He cast a careful glance toward the door and dragged me onto the floor and out of sight from the door.
Before Nick’s roar ripped through me…and I fought.
“NO! NO! GET OFF ME!” I struggled, clawing his face anywhere I could. He didn’t care, turning his head as I went for his eyes, and yanked my negligee, tearing it from my breasts.
He was an animal. Cold. Mute. His determination glinting in those dark eyes. I kicked and screamed as his hand mauled my breast and pinched my nipple. But it didn’t matter. He held tight and clawed, pawing me as he grabbed my panties and yanked.
I bucked, terror moving deep. Outside, a shrill alarm sounded.
“Fuck!” The bastard jerked his gaze toward the hallway, then returned it to me. “I’ll just have to be quick, won’t I?”
His fist was a blur before it cracked against my face. My head snapped to the side. Agony bounced through my skull and for a second, I couldn’t move. He took those seconds, fumbling with the button of his pants in a frenzy. In that dullness, I knew what was happening and what was about to happen. Please, no! Fear punched through my shock. I bucked and kicked, driving my knee up until I caught him in his side. He gave a grunt, his dark eyes squinting with pain. I punched and clawed, raked my nails down his cheek, and went for his eyes.
In the darkness, my aim was bad, but I hit something warm and soft. Something my nails sank into.
“OW!” he roared. “Fucking bitch!”
I kneed him again, driving even harder this time, and was rewarded with a grunt. Seconds were all I had. I kicked and shoved, driving him backwards, and scurried out from underneath him. My panties were gone. My lace negligee was in tatters, and out in the hallway, that piercing alarm continued to sound.
A dull glow came from the guard’s pocket before his phone rang. I stumbled backwards, my breaths punching through my chest as I howled, “Get the fuck away from me!”
Thunder approached out in the hallway.
Shouts came next as doors were thrown open and slammed against the walls with a bang! The guard shoved upwards as my door was opened…and two guards rushed in. The overhead lights were flicked on, the glare harsh.
“What the fuck, Tig?” One guard looked at my attacker, then at me.
“What the hell is going on here?”
I glanced at the doorway as The Principal stepped into my room. He took one look at me, then at the bastard he called loyal. “Tig? The fire alarm is sounding.”
But the white-haired bastard didn’t answer, just glared my way. There were bloody marks down his cheeks, and one of his eyes was dripping, the slick still coating my nails. I sucked in a harsh breath, my body trembling and shuddering.
“Ryth!”
I jerked my gaze to Vivienne as she tore from a guard’s hold outside my room and lunged through the doorway.
“Peter, escort Ms. Castlemaine and Ms. Brooks to the infirmary.”
“Yes, sir,” the guard muttered, then with a jerk of his head, he snapped, “With me.”
But I couldn’t move…my feet were frozen. Until The Principal stepped closer, headed for my bed, and yanked the blanket free before striding toward me. Warmth closed around me as he dragged the blanket over my shoulders and wrapped it across my front, those dark eyes piercing. “Now, Ryth. Don’t make me tell you again.”
I took a slow step away from him…then raced toward Vivienne.
