Total pages in book: 266
Estimated words: 250787 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1254(@200wpm)___ 1003(@250wpm)___ 836(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 250787 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1254(@200wpm)___ 1003(@250wpm)___ 836(@300wpm)
I’m lying in Haidyn’s bed. Muffin is curled up on his pillow like she owns the place. She quite likes it here. She loves all of his windows and spends most of her days bird-watching and napping.
The door opens, and Haidyn enters. He’s got a towel draped around his shoulders with a T-shirt and sweatpants on. He’s been working out in his home gym. It’s part of his daily routine. Sometimes he’s in there more than once. Without saying anything to me—doesn’t even look my way—he enters the adjoining bathroom and shuts the door to shower.
Waiting for the shower to turn on, I pick up my other cell phone. I chose to leave my real one back at my house. This is the number that Haidyn knows. If he hears another phone going off, he’ll start to question why I have two. He’s already taken my laptop; I don’t want him to know the Lords gave me this too.
Turning on the spare phone, I see it has an email. I open it up to see there’s a video attached.
My eyes go to the closed bathroom door quickly before grabbing my earbuds out of my bag. I put one in and leave the other out. That way, I can hear when he’s done in the shower.
I wonder if the Lords know he has my laptop. If they can monitor which device I access the emails from?
Getting back into bed, I sink down into it and pull the covers up and over the phone as I open it up and push play.
It’s a concrete room. It reminds me of being in my basement, but I have no doubt that it’s at Carnage. The camera is positioned high up in the corner, so it shows the entire room. The sound of a squeaky door opening has my eyes looking up at the bathroom door. It’s still shut, and the shower is still running, so I drop my gaze back to the video on my phone.
Haidyn enters the room, pulling a gurney inside. Saint pushes the other end. A woman lies on it with duct tape from her jawline to right underneath her nose. A black tube sticking out the center of her mouth makes it possible for her to breathe, and a blanket covers her bottom half.
It’s Ashtyn!
I sit up straighter in bed and once again check the door to the bathroom to make sure Haidyn hasn’t finished. Then I go back to the screen.
They remove the blanket that covers her, and I gasp, slapping my hand over my mouth when I see she’s strapped down to it. Her arms are secured in a straitjacket, and her legs are buckled to the bed. She screams behind the tape and thrashes in the bed that she’s secured to.
The bed is adjusted into more of a sitting position, and the belt around her neck pulls tighter on her skin.
It’s choking her.
Both Haidyn and Saint go over to the cabinets. “Adrenaline?” The sound of Haidyn’s voice makes me jump.
“No,” Saint answers. “I don’t want to kill her. I’d prefer her to pass out.”
What the fuck are they going to do to her? I thought they loved her? How long ago was this taken? A quick look tells me that it’s old because neither one of them has any ink.
“And if she doesn’t?” Haidyn asks, but his tone doesn’t give off any concern. It’s more like curiosity.
“She will. Her body won’t be able to handle it.”
Ashtyn yanks on her arms secured in the straitjacket and begins to choke as saliva shoots out from the black rubber breathing tube from underneath all the duct tape. Saint turns and walks over to her. She’s naked from the waist down. He wipes her pelvic bone, and my heart hammers in my chest, wondering what they’re going to make her endure.
My eyes go to Haidyn, and he hands Saint a branding iron with the Lords crest on it. “Take a deep breath, Ashtyn,” Saint tells her.
“Are you sure?” Haidyn asks once again.
“No,” Saint answers. “Go ahead and give her the adrenaline.”
Ashtyn shakes her head, and her wide eyes go to Saint, pleading for him not to do it.
Haidyn walks over to the counter, opens a drawer, and fills a syringe from a clear vial. She’s screaming into the tape as he walks back to them. Haidyn undoes the belt around her neck to the stretcher, and she goes to lean up, but he grips her taped face, tilts her head back, and pushes the needle into it. She instantly goes limp, and her eyes close.
Then the video goes dark. I close the email and open it again quickly, wanting to see more, but it’s gone.
The shower turning off has me yanking the earbud out and shoving it along with my cell between the mattress and box spring.