I GROAN MISERABLY as I slowly come to. My entire body hurts. The last thing I remember was being shoved into the back of a black windowless van. I screamed and kicked at the guards, fighting as hard as I possibly could…until one of them hauled off and hit me in the head.
Everything went black after that.
My head throbs with a painful migraine blooming behind my eyes. “Wh-what…where are we?” I ask as I force myself to wake up fully and face reality. I try to move, but I realize my arms are trapped above me and I’m literally hanging in the air. My eyes snap open and dart around the poorly lit warehouse. Rope painfully tugs against my skin as I kick out at empty air, my feet dangling a few inches from the dirty concrete floor.
“Aria, it’s okay,” Selina says from beside me.
I glance over at her and realize she’s strung up and helpless just like me. Selina looks deceptively calm, and it makes me panic even more to the point where I feel like I’m going to hyperventilate. Is she mentally preparing for what’s about to happen? I know she survived hell and back many times in her past. She was with our very kidnapper for an entire decade from the ages of thirteen to twenty-three. I can’t even imagine what she went through, and I hate to think that I might be about to suffer that same fate.
“It’s not okay,” I whine, tears streaming down my cheeks. “We have to get out of here, Selina!” I hiss, pointing out the obvious. I stare at her, hoping that she had time to think of a plan or something while I was unconscious, but I see the despondent look on her face when she turns her head towards me.
Her somber expression tells me everything I need to know. We’re both totally and completely screwed.
A whimper escapes me as heavy footsteps echo in the warehouse, growing closer, and Selina hushes me to be quiet. My entire body trembles when I see Constantine emerge from the shadows. His attention is exclusively on Selina, however, when he walks over to her and says, “Hello, my little pet.”
Selina slowly raises her head and faces her former captor. “How did you find me?” she asks, her voice steady and firm. And once again I’m in awe of how brave she is.
Her question seems to irritate him. “I told you I would always find you, my sweet Selina.” He moves closer, walks behind her. Slowly, seemingly tenderly, he lifts the shoulder-length hair from her neck and brushes it aside. Feeling along her scalp, he explains, “A tracker.”
I mutter a curse under my breath. All this time we had no idea Selina wasn’t completely safe with us. That explains how he found us at the club so easily. He was waiting. Waiting for one of us to do something stupid and for Selina to let her guard down.
I hang my head in misery. I led him right to her by pulling my stunt tonight. I shouldn’t have snuck out of the house and definitely not without my usual group of guards. This is all my fault.
He releases her hair and then walks around until he’s standing before her once again. “I never lose what’s mine,” he tells her, his voice deceptively calm. “It just took a little while longer to get to you, but I knew I would have a chance eventually. You know how patient I can be.”
I can see Selina’s hard exterior suddenly begin to crack. Perhaps she’s reliving their years together in her mind, torturing herself with the horrific memories.
Constantine moves closer until they’re only an inch apart, and I clench my jaw so tightly I swear I can hear a tooth crack. “I want vengeance on the man who killed my son,” he starts, and I swallow hard.
My brother killed Constantine’s son to save Selina; but clearly, he doesn’t know who pulled the trigger. This is all about revenge? Well, he’s not going to get it. I will protect Nico and my family with my life, if that’s what it takes. And I know Selina would never give my brother up. It’s just not in her DNA to be a traitor to the only boy she’s ever loved and who equally loves her as much in return.
Constantine continues with, “You were there long enough to know the schedules of the guards, the layout of the Vitale compound. I want to know the access points. I want to know when they’re at their most vulnerable. You’re going to give me every single thing I want.”
Suddenly, his hand snatches out and grabs a fistful of Selina’s hair, bending her neck at an awkward angle and causing her to cry out in pain.
“Don’t touch her, you bastard!” I shriek at him.
Constantine releases her with a dark chuckle, and then he turns his attention to me. I try to keep the same bravado and stare him down but fail miserably. He is the devil incarnate. I can see it in his eyes. “And what should I do with my new little pet?” he asks.
Over my dead body, I think to myself. “I’ll never be your pet, you fucking psychopath!” I yell.
His tongue darts out of his mouth, and he licks his bottom lip, as he stares at me with a look that can only be described as depraved. Oh god, is he getting turned on by this? I instantly want to take my words back, but it’s too late.
Constantine walks over and reaches out to touch me, and I swiftly kick out at him, narrowly missing his balls and, unfortunately, catching his thigh instead. “Don’t you dare touch me!” I cry out.
“Oh, I’m going to do so much more than touch you, my little principessa,” he says through gritted teeth. “I’m going to hurt you. I’m going to bend you until you fucking break,” he threatens, turning the blood in my veins to pure ice. With a snap of his fingers, two guards come forward. “Let’s show my new little pet some manners. Cut her down.”
A tall, skinny guard with bad acne brandishes a knife and reaches above me, sawing through the rope. I fall to the hard, unforgiving floor in a crumpled heap, every single bone in my body hurting from the impact. I cry out from the horrific pain jarring my body.
“No! Please!” Selina cries. “I’ll do anything you want, Constantine! Kill me for your son. Take my life. Just let her go!”
Constantine doesn’t even seem affected by her pleas. His attention is solely on me now, and he simply instructs his guards, “Hold her down. I’m going to take what I want from the little bitch before you two get your turn.”
One of the guards throws me down to the concrete floor and pins my arms down above my head. I struggle as hard as I can until the guard, who had cut me loose, holds the same knife to my face. I can feel the edge of the blade nicking my skin, and I suddenly still as an anguished sob escapes my lips.
“Don’t make him carve into that perfection,” Constantine warns. Then, he gets on his knees and pries my legs apart. Inwardly, I curse myself for wearing a damn dress tonight and giving him unfettered access.
Selina again contends for me. “No, Constantine! Please don’t do this!” she cries. “I’ll do anything you want. Anything!” she screams out, begging, pleading.
I watch in horror as Constantine unbuckles his belt. And then the zipper of his pants is going down, and I can see his semi-hard cock. He inches towards me, and I begin to panic, my lungs seizing. My first time can’t be like this! I scream inside my head.
“No, no, no! Please! Please!” I beg. And then I make a gamble with the last and only chip I have. “I’m a virgin!” I shout, my throat raw.
And as if I just said the magic word, Constantine miraculously stops. I watch as he slowly stands up, zips up his pants and looks down at me with mixed emotions written all over his face; the biggest of which can only be described as disappointment.
A sense of relief floods through me when I realize he’s not going to rape me. But when I turn and see Selina’s grim and severe expression, the relief I was feeling seeps out of every pore of my body in a rush, and I know that somehow I’ve just made a very grave mistake.
I see her mouth form the word no just as Constantine says, “Take her to the doctor and get him to examine her. If what she said is true, put her on the next boat to The Island.”
The Island? I shake my head, refusing to believe it’s the same place my father and brother have been discussing for the past few weeks. I overheard them talking about horrific things that take place there. Girls and women are auctioned off like prized cattle to the highest bidder, and most of them are never seen or heard from again.
Two of Constantine’s men wrestle me into a standing position. “Where are you taking me?” I call out, needing to be sure it’s the same place.
“Why, you’re going to auction, my dear,” Constantine explains with a sneer. “Your virginity is about to make me a lot of money. Some retribution for my son’s death, if you will.”
I fight, kick and scream as the men lead me away from Selina. I hear her crying out my name, and I can’t help but wonder what’s going to happen to her and if I’ll ever see her again.
