Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 130048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
If I was honest, I needed a kind word. I couldn’t think about what Henri had done or what all those other beasts craved. I’d go mad. The only way to stay standing after I’d been technically raped was to completely ignore it. To compartmentalise it. To focus only on the issue right in front of me, and the current issue was Peter’s coldness.
“Peter…”
“Not here,” he snapped.
Marching like a drill sergeant, he stayed icy and silent as I fell into step with him.
He stayed quiet as we moved like ghosts from the gardens into the stone castle. We travelled through sun-drenched luxury like high-class courtesans, only to scurry down shadow-cloaked corridors like beaten rats.
My bare toes were numb from cold pavers by the time he guided me into a ginormous room with gilded architraves, two-story ceilings, massive leadlight windows leading onto curved, barred balconies, and more beds than I could count. Each mattress was military tidy with matching virginal white sheets and a single white pillow.
Empty of others.
Just us.
My stomach churned.
Where were the rest of the jewels, and how badly were they being treated? How much longer before Henri’s team could get them out?
Stopping beside a neatly made single bed, Peter pointed at it. “This is yours.”
Goosebumps spread down my arms. The thought of sleeping in this jewel-filled dormitory shouldn’t offer comfort, but it did. Knowing I wouldn’t be alone while sleeping offered a false sense of safety. Then again…I didn’t think I’d sleep here. Henri had just purchased that right—
He hasn’t purchased anything because he doesn’t have the money.
It’s only a matter of time before Victor shoots him.
I sighed heavily.
Peter stepped closer. His hands curled into fists. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you? Do you need me to take you to Dr Belford?”
An almost hysterical giggle escaped. “You’re asking me if I’m okay? A slave who’s been terrorised for over five years is asking the new girl who’s only had to endure a single day if she’s okay?” Fresh tears stung, spearing into my eyes far too fast to stop them. “Paavak—”
“Don’t use my true name. Not here. I don’t even know why I told you.”
“You told me because you wanted a friend.”
“I have friends.”
“You could have another.”
His shoulders swooped back. The gold collar on his throat glinted in the sun streaming through the windows. “Fine. If you’re suddenly so eager to be my friend, allow me to give you some advice.”
I tensed as he stepped close but not too close. Flicking a look at one of the cameras, he whispered. “I saw how you looked when he fucked you. I know you’re affected by him. I know you probably even enjoyed it.”
“What? No, I—”
“Like I said back in the doctor’s surgery: you should enjoy it. The more you can give into lust and sex, the easier your life will be here. If you’re turned-on by him then I’m happy for you. It’s definitely easier to be fucked by someone who gets you off than someone who makes you want to vomit. I’m not judging you. Actually, I’m rather proud at how well you took it…but…you can’t ever forget one very simple, very important rule.”
“Rule?” I wrapped my arms around my nakedness, not liking how vulnerable he made me. “What rule?”
“They’re all bastards. Every single one of them. And Master H—the man who just paid two million euros to part-own you—is the worst.”
I froze. “The worst—?”
“I know people.” He crossed his arms too, his bare cock flaccid between his legs.
I hadn’t believed him in the bathing chamber when he said I’d get used to seeing so much naked flesh. That the wrongness would fade. But…it’d happened far quicker than I believed possible. I no longer looked at a naked man and thought taboo, wrong, please get dressed. I merely saw someone like me. Someone stripped of protection, propriety, and kindness.
“I know perverts, and I know killers, and I hate to tell you, Ily, but Master H isn’t just a sadistic creep who happily drinks your tears. He’ll get worse, mark my words. Every hour that he stays here, he’ll slip a little more. He’ll keep slipping until the tiny part of him that’s trying to stay human snaps and—”
He pinched the bridge of his nose, shaking his head as if my life was his responsibility, and he already saw the end of it. “I’m sorry he raped you, and I’m sorry he’ll do it again, and I’m sorry there isn’t a goddamn thing I can do to stop him. But…what I’m most sorry for is…I can’t stop you from going through the stages we’ve all gone through. The hope that your Master is different. The hope that he’ll keep you for himself and protect you from the others. The hope that he won’t hurt you too much. The hope—fuck…hope? It’s the worst torture imaginable, and I see you sinking into it already.” He bared his teeth. “Don’t be stupid, Ily. Don’t believe he isn’t like the rest because they’re all the bloody same.”