Chapter 48 Kashton #2
Isabella opens her mouth, but Evan beats her to it. “No amount of money will allow you to leave with her. She is going to bring in ten times that. Every woman she helps us take will be trained and sold. She is worth way more here than a quick buck.” He looks his father up and down with disgust.
“Isabella,” Bill growls.
“Take her, Evan,” she orders. “Get her some fluids and food. You can continue her punishment in a couple of days. She’s worth nothing to us dead.”
Evan huffs, bends down, and picks up her limp body before he carries her out of frame.
Bill begins to pace the narrow hallway before turning to Isabella. “You can’t do this.”
“I can do whatever I want.”
“Goddammit,” Bill shouts. “Aimee would kill you for this.”
She purses her lips, glancing away before she says, “Aimee knew the risks when she decided she wanted to be initiated.”
“She would not have done this to your daughter. To Annabelle. For fuck’s sake, Isabella, she was your best friend.”
Isabella softly laughs. “Yes, she would have.” Stepping into him, she lowers her voice. “I’m a woman in a man’s world. I have to take what I want.”
“Eve is innocent.” Bill fists his hands.
“Maybe.” She shrugs. “But you know the rules. She must serve the Lords. One way or another.” Isabella gives him her back to walk away.
But his words stop her. “If Evan kills Eve, I will burn this place down. With you in it.” She turns back to face him. “I will not give up on her.”
Isabella smiles at him before turning once more and leaving him standing in the hallway alone.
The video ends, and I lean forward with my elbows on my knees and place my phone to my ear.
“Hello?” Bill answers.
“What the fuck was that?” I bark. “You told us you didn’t know where Dollhouse was, but you’ve been there?”
“No. I told you I was waiting for confirmation that Haidyn was there. I couldn’t show up with Charlotte until Isabella told me it was okay to bring her. I had been there several times.”
“Why don’t I believe anything you say?” I growl.
He sighs. “I understand this is difficult…”
“Difficult?” I shout, standing. “If you knew where Dollhouse was, you could have taken them down years ago.” Adam’s boss—the detective on Bill’s private jet—told us that they had been looking for their location.
Bill knew all along and could have helped them.
The boss probably has no idea that Bill was holding out on him.
“No one was going to take her down,” he snaps. “There were too many Lords helping Isabella keep that place running. What did you want me to do? Call the cops?” He snorts. “I needed help. I needed…more.”
“You needed us,” I growl. “You used me, Saint, and the others. You let Haidyn sit in there and be tortured in order to get what you wanted.”
“It was to save your brother,” he shouts. “I had to save not only Haidyn, but Charlotte. Hell, I had already failed Eve.” Bill lowers his voice. “I may be a Lord, but sometimes that isn’t enough.”
EVERETT
Nineteen years old
I blink, trying to clear my vision, but it does no good. Wherever I am, it’s dark and cold.
I’m also starving.
My knees are shoved to my chest, and my back is up against what I can only guess is a wall. I’m in a cell.
I spend most of my time here.
I’ve been sentenced to a life in prison. One that treats the innocent like criminals.
I can hear voices—screaming—in the distance. Cries of pain and shouts of desperation.
It never ends. All hours of the day and night.
There are no clocks on the walls. Time means nothing. It’s used as torture, not a convenience.
I hurt everywhere. There’s an ache in my chest and a throbbing in my head.
It’s the drugs. They have lasting effects. When they first hit, you’re flying, but when they wear off, you’re fucking as low as you can get. I imagine it would be hard at any time, but when your body is being starved of everything it needs to survive, I think the hit is harder.
I can’t feel my arms. Last I remember, they were tied behind my back.
This is what fighting gets you. When you don’t lie down and take the abuse, they force it on you.
I hear the sound of a lock clicking, and like a dog about to be fed, my mouth starts to water.
“Hello, dolly.” He enters.
I lower my head, trying to hide my eyes from the harsh light.
“How do you feel?” he asks. It’s the same stupid question all the time.
“Numb,” I lie. If I give him any other answer, he drugs me.
His hand touches my hair, and I yank my head away.
He grips a handful of it and drags me away from the wall. I scream out and start kicking, but my legs are tied together. He throws me onto my back and straddles my chest.
I can’t breathe from his heavy weight.
His hand grips my cheeks, and he forces my head back. “Still being an ungrateful bitch, I see.”
I try to scream, but nothing comes out.
“We’ve got a long life to spend with one another,” he goes on, “and I want us to both enjoy it.” When he gets up off me, I roll onto my side and suck in a ragged breath, my throat and chest burning. I bring my tied legs to my chest and spit onto the concrete floor. “We’ll try the hard way.”
I feel the sting of something across the back of my legs, and I cry out. He does it again, and I try to crawl away, but he’s got me tied to prevent it.
Lords always win because they cheat.
So I scoot like a worm, but the room is too small. There’s nowhere for me to go. I see his belt and hear the whoosh before it comes down across my face.
Sobbing, I curl into a ball the best I can. This is my punishment. I tried to kill myself and failed.
He kneels next to me and pushes the hair from my face, making me scowl. “Why do you make me hurt you, dolly? Hmm? Don’t you want to be my good girl?”
Snot covers my face, and I lick the salty tears off my cracked lips. “Y-es.”
“Show me, Eve.” He stands and undoes his jeans, followed by his zipper. “Show me how good you want to be for me, and I’ll treat you like a good girl.”