Page 13 of When Sinners Fear
“I can’t do that. I would, but Abel told me I can’t with this one. She’s a premium. He has someone who wants her unmarked.”
I push back on my chair, reach for the blade in my drawer, and start walking from the room. “Take me to her.” She’s up and following me instantly, striding past me and leading us through the maze of corridors. Cages line the darkened areas, and the sound of the girls scuttling and hushing helps increase the mood I've fallen into.
“Who’s the buyer for this one?” I ask, pissed that I don’t know.
“Halton Blech. Chance’s west coast colleague. This is Abel’s offer of friendship since we’ve taken over Chance’s investments.” Investments? A dark chuckle rumbles through me at the thought. Those kinds of ventures aren’t investments. They’re sick and twisted and fucked-up beyond all measure. Still, whether she knows it or not, Mariana increased our profit margins by the whole fucking nine yards by killing the cunt.
“He’s in there with her now. I tried telling him, but he wouldn’t listen to me,” she says as she knocks on one of the end room steel doors and waits for him to answer. He doesn’t, which is enough for me to just open the damn door and walk in. They’re on the floor in the middle of the room, and the girl’s got her legs spread and is riding him like the little whore she might well be.
“Shaw, get the fuck out of her.” He smiles and looks around her at me, one hand tightening in her hair to keep her going given my presence. “Now.” Nothing changes, so I walk over and wrench her hair away from him, pulling her backwards until his dick’s out and she’s screaming at him for help. He glares at me, as he tries to pull himself together, with enough malice that I will him on for more. It’s about damn time he grew a pair around the girls. “Go fuck something else. This one isn’t for touching.”
“Screw you, Knox,” he seethes, getting up. He tucks his dick away and heads straight for me, all ire and aggression, and I hear the door slam behind me. The second it does, I drop the girl and wait for a fight. “I’m fucking done being told what to do!”
A right hook swings straight at me. I take it and let him rally a few more, almost desperate to let him win a few before I end this. The rest doesn’t take long because, for all his faults, Dante knows everything there is about causing pain, and we fought far too often for me to have forgotten anything about matching that. I lost, always, and that humiliation has lived inside me since forever.
By the time I’m done, Shaw’s sprawled against the back wall and bleeding. I straighten my shirt and let out a few slow breaths to rein myself back in. My fists flex, and I spend the next five minutes having a silent conversation with him about seniority and respect. To his credit, he keeps fucking glaring as if he’s thinking about challenging again. Part of me wishes he would, because then, at least, I wouldn’t worry about his abilities in this family of carnage so much. He doesn’t, though.
“You're getting stronger,” murmurs from me. The hits are harder, his force greater. He looks at the floor and hauls his ass up to dust off, choosing not to reply to the compliment. And then he’s gone.
I look sideways at Carmen and the girl. “Leave, Carmen.”
And then she’s gone, too.
The girl hovers, caught between scared and inquisitive, as she looks at the door. I look down at her thighs, searching for blood. There’s none that I can see, but I glance the rest of her over. She’s tall, about a hundred and thirty pounds, a brunette, and somewhere around eighteen by the looks of her. I watch her rub her arms as if trying to cover up. Hard to do when you’re wearing a light summer dress and not a lot else. I appreciate the innocent look, though.
“What’s your name?”
“Natalie.”
“No, it isn’t.”
She looks confused, and then sense beds in. “Twelve.”
I walk over to the opposite corner and pull two old, metal chairs out. They scrape across the room until they’re in the middle and I’m sitting. “Were you a virgin before that happened?” She shakes her head. “Shame. You would have been a nice virgin to play with. Did he hurt you?”
She frowns, but looks me straight in the eye, even takes a few steps towards me. “No. He was nice.” Of course, he was. “What’s your name?”
My lips tip up. “Are you trying to seduce me, Twelve?”
“Perhaps. I think it’s better to be on the right side of problems, don’t you?”
“Clever approach. It won’t work. Come take one of these chairs. Put it over there by the wall.” She does, trying her best to increase that level of seduction by way of flirtatious smiles and coy glances. “Good. Now turn it upside down.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re going to fuck it for me.”
“The chair?”
“Yes. Each leg. You’re gonna put it in your ass as well.” She frowns, looks horrified, and backs away from it. “If you’re lucky and useful, I won’t get pissed. You really don’t want me to help you do it.” Her feet shift uneasily, and she goes back to rubbing her arms and looking nervous. Can’t say I’m not interested as fuck in those nerves. In fact, I want more of them. So, I pull my blade out and lay it on my lap. “You see, Twelve, you’re a premium product here. A high-end asset. That means you need to learn to do as you’re told and stop trying to win your way out of this. The man who’s buying you isn’t nice, but if you please him, he might be amenable to longevity. Let’s see if you can please me first. Take the dress off and get on with it.”
She shakes her head and skitters sideways. My blade is up and thrown at the wood supports instantly, cutting off her route. She screams and howls, hugging herself tightly until she’s turned into the wall away from the sight of it.
I get up slowly and retrieve it, watching her rush away from me. “I’m not Shaw, Twelve. Nothing about this will be pleasant for you unless you behave like a good girl. There is no getting out. There is no freedom. You're going to be sold. I suggest you learn how to do as you’re told. You’ll survive longer that way.” Not overly long with Halton Blech up her ass, but a while at least.
She moves again, fear now bedding in given my honest words. The blade rushes at the other side of her, cutting off her escape yet again. “I’m getting bored, Twelve. Pissed comes next.” I go retrieve my blade again, this time helping her undress by way of running the blade straight up her back and ripping the material from her skin.
She shakes and squirms in my hold, squealing with every next feel of the blade on her. “Please, no, don’t hurt me!”