Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 102335 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 512(@200wpm)___ 409(@250wpm)___ 341(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102335 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 512(@200wpm)___ 409(@250wpm)___ 341(@300wpm)
I attempt to push up from the ground when my hands are unable to move. “Fuck!” I scream, tugging on the chains clasped around my wrists. Pain bites at my ankles when I realize how bad of a position I’m in.
“Motherfucker!” I turn my head to the side, blood trickling down the back of my neck.
“That’s not a very nice thing to say…” a voice purrs in the corner. All of my pain fizzles out. Even with how small the room is, against the painted concrete walls and ground, his dark shadow in the corner sticks out.
“Who the fuck are you?” He steps out from the shadows and a whoosh of air crawls over my skin. Shock seizes my muscles and I tug on the handcuffs again. “Antonio?” Confusion tugs on my heart as he makes his way to the bed, looking down on me from up above. “What is going on?”
“Ah, sweet child.” He runs the tip of his finger over the side of my face, and memories erupt inside of my mind from when I was little. “You’re Papa’s best friend?”
“Mmhmm,” he murmurs. “Do you know who else I am, principessa?” Antonio asks, his lips brushing my ear as his fingers trickle down inside my elbow. The blood drains from my face, and my eyes shoot up to his. “Starts with S.”
“You motherfucker. I should kill you!” I squeeze the chains on my handcuffs, searing anger burning through my veins.
“Why?” Skully brushes my hair to the side as a needle pinches into my arm. “Didn’t your lover tell you? Oh, but he’s been working with me all along.” My eyes drift closed, my mouth turning dry. My bones turn to lead as I struggle to stay awake. The colors and textures of the room begin to swirl together.
“Can you see me, little child?”
“I’m—” I go to open my mouth but words fail to fall out.
He turns, I think, and disappears before coming back. “I know you can hear me and will remember this, so hear this, Ruby La Rosa. Wicked was put in your life for a reason. Everything was planned… do you still trust him?” I feel something cold graze the inside of my thigh and I force them closed, only they’re halted by an object. The room spins as he flips me upward to standing, my arms and legs stretched wide. I wasn’t on the ground… what is this? There’s a dark figure directly opposite me, and I force my eyes wide to try to focus on it, only my heart rate speeds up and my mouth curves in a smile.
“They broke their promise to me,” he announces. Why is he still talking? I need a drink. I jolt forward and the wheels on the bottom of the bed move, pushing me close to the door. Someone spreads it wide open, and then I’m moving. Farther and farther down a black hole…
Faces fade in and out, moving closer to me and then backing away. Orange flames explode somewhere in the back, but I can’t even keep my head up.
“Up her dose. She’s too aware.”
“No, she needs to be, partly.” Metal clinks together, but I fight to keep my eyes open. Desperate. Frustration claws its way into my brain when I can’t. I can feel my grasp on reality slowly slipping away. Heat licks over my thighs and I force my heavy eyes open to see what it is. Flames. Someone standing near the edge, holding a burning stick.
“You don’t want her organs?” someone asks in the background, and my mind is catching up, but my body won’t hurry.
“No. I had other plans for her.”
“And now?” the man asks over the clinking of utensils.
“Now, we’re going to make sure she looks clean enough.”
“…sir? That was your brother’s niche.”
“Until they killed him.”
My eyes finally close.
My hair sticks to my forehead, and my eyes slowly drift open. Everything aches. My legs, my body. I move my fingers and toes before slowly bringing my arms down and curling into a ball. I just want to sleep. Sleep…
A loud crash jolts me awake, this time entirely awake. “What!”
My head hurts and my body aches, and for a split second, I forget where I am.
Wicked’s eyes are feral and destructive when they land on me, but he launches forward and tears the chains from whatever wooden bed I’m hooked onto, scooping me up. Blood smears over my cheek from his chest, but I stay curled into him as he carries me out the door. How long have I been here? Days? Months? Oh my God, Wolf.
“Hey!” He kisses my forehead. “Don’t worry, I’ve got you.” I jolt beneath his hands when he kicks open a door and cold air pinches over my face. Bikes fire up as a door opens and he gently puts us both into a back seat, never letting me go.