Now, Xander and several other men are gathered in the playroom, where I’ve been cuffed to a St. Andrew’s cross. Fear makes me shiver as I await the punishment I will undoubtedly receive tonight. And, there’s something even worse to be afraid of.
Xander has made it clear he hates his brother. Once he finds out I’m married to Xavier, he will make my life a living nightmare. I’m terrified of him finding out and the punishment he will throw at me for that. So I just keep my mouth shut and hope he never realizes who I really am.
“Are you ready?” Xander smirks at me from his armchair, flanked by guards and men from his cartel.
I don’t respond. I don’t have it in me to play his sick, twisted games today. But this doesn’t seem to bother my captor.
He snaps his fingers and the door to the playroom opens. A girl is standing there, accompanied by another guard. Her hands are cuffed together too, but she doesn’t look like a flight risk, unlike me. She’s naked. Her long, raven hair reaches down to her ass, and her eyes are unfeeling, cold.
She’s shoved into the room and forced to join me. She kneels next to the cross, not letting out a single sound. Crawling to Xander, she kisses his boots and touches the ground with her forehead as a sign of respect.
“See?” Xander addresses me. “This is how a proper captive acts. Subservient. Obedient. Meek.”
I want to spit at him. I’m not his captive and I’d rather die than do all the things he wants me to. But I don’t say a word, knowing better than to argue with the man who’s killed someone gruesomely in front of me.
I shut my eyes tightly. The painful reminder of what Xander did to Juan is all too fresh in my mind, and my head hurts from the memory. But I get little of a reprieve.
“We’re here to watch a show tonight,” Xander goes on. “This is Nova. Nova, Adelina. You two will be my guests of honor.”
I don’t feel very honorable in my position. But I fight off my annoyance and force myself to keep my face stoic as if I don’t give a damn about what they’re about to force me to do.
My mind focuses on Heath. I’ve been afraid to think of him, knowing his memory would only make this more painful. The moment of him being shot in the sea keeps replaying in my head now, stuck on a horrific loop.
Did he survive? Is he still looking for me? Can he save me before it’s too late?
I don’t get answers to the first two questions, but it quickly becomes clear he won’t be able to help me with whatever Xander has in store for me tonight.
Two of the guards approach me with menacing expressions. It’s the first time I want to speak, ask for mercy, threaten Xander with what Heath will do to him when he finds out about this.
“Don’t hurt me,” is what ends up falling from my lips. Xander merely laughs, but I’m not done yet. “Please. Let me go back to Heath. I won’t tell anyone what you tried to make me do. I won’t tell anyone you killed Juan. Please, just let me go back.”
“Not a chance in hell,” Xander spits out, before motioning at the guards.
One of them picks a paddle from the various equipment hung on the walls of the playroom while the other reaches for a flogger. I swallow, fearing what’s going to happen next.
My eyes find the girl next to me. Nova, I think her name is. But unlike me, Nova seems resigned to her fate. It makes me wonder how long she’s been in this life, fucking for survival, giving these sick men everything they want in exchange for her next breath. I feel goosebumps erupting all over my skin when I think of it.
I don’t want to be a captive anymore. I want to be free. The cartel world has taken everything away from me. I’m not a free woman. But one day, when I am, I will make them all pay.
“Let’s start the show, why don’t we?” Xander suggests with a smirk. “Men, go ahead.”
The other guard spanks Nova with his paddle after pulling her on his lap. She barely responds save for a whimper here on there. She’s resigned to her fate, but I’m not, and when the other guard approaches with the flogger, I scream my head off.
“Would someone shut that bitch up?” Xander mutters. “She’s giving me a headache.”
My own panties are shoved into my mouth and I struggle to spit them out before the guard pushes them even deeper. I’m helpless.
He rains blows on my naked flesh with the flogger. I whimper and try to dodge the coming attacks, but it’s no use when I’m tied down. I settle for letting my eyes burn with pure rage while he hurts me, adding more bruises to my collection.