14. Chapter 14 Cara
Chapter 14: Cara
P ain had become my entire world, and the brief snatches of unconsciousness that were the only respite from the never-ending torture. I didn't know how long I'd been here. Hours, days. Time had lost all meaning in this dank, blood-soaked hell. All I knew was that I was breaking. Slowly, inevitably, the unrelenting brutality chipping away at my mind and body.
I'd fought at first. Of course I had, with every ounce of strength and defiance I possessed. I'd spat curses and insults even as they violated me, even as they tore into my flesh with fists and knives and teeth. I'd laughed in their faces, mocked their manhood, just to prove that they couldn't break me. But I'd been wrong. So fucking wrong, and so goddamn naive. Because there was no limit to the depravity that Mikhail Sokolov and his brothers were capable of.
They'd raped me. Beaten me. Burned me and cut me and used me in ways that made me want to vomit up my own soul. They'd shattered my bones and my pride and my sense of self, until I wasn't even sure if the girl hanging limply from these blood-encrusted chains was still Cara Maguire at all. I still clung to that one tiny, flickering spark. Finn. I knew he would come.
It was the only thing that kept me sane. I let them break me in every way imaginable, secure in the knowledge that when this was over - when Finn came crashing through those - I would have my vengeance. I would watch the light fade from Mikhail Sokolov's piggish eyes, and I would smile as I did it.
But fuck, it was hard. Harder than anything I'd ever done, to hang onto that sliver of hope. Especially now, with Mikhail looming over me, his face twisted in a sneer of sadistic pleasure as he prepared to begin another round of torture.
"You're being unusually quiet, devotchka," he mused, trailing the tip of his knife down the curve of my cheek. I refused to flinch, even as the blade bit into my skin and sent a fresh trickle of blood oozing down my face. " No more empty threats?"
I stared up at him through the tangled curtain of my hair, my split lips curling in a bloody smile. "Go fuck yourself, you sadistic piece of shit."
Mikhail tutted, shaking his head in mock disappointment. "Such language from a lady. It seems I still have much to teach you about proper comportment."
I bared my teeth in a feral grin, ignoring the way it made my face scream in protest. "You're too fucking stupid to realize the only woman you'll ever get is the one you have to chain up and torture."
Mikhail's face contorted with rage, his piggish eyes bulging and his cheeks flushing an ugly shade of crimson. For a moment I thought he might actually stroke out and save me the trouble of killing him myself. Instead he reared back and slammed his fist into my face, snapping my head back against the damp stone wall. I felt something crack, felt the hot gush of blood fill my mouth and pour down my chin. But I didn't make a sound. Didn't give him the satisfaction of hearing me scream.
"You think you're so brave, don't you?" Mikhail hissed, grabbing a fistful of my hair and wrenching my head back at a painful angle. “But let me tell you a secret, devotchka."
He leaned in close, his breath hot and fetid against my ear. "No one is coming for you. Not your father, not your precious Finn. They've abandoned you, left you to rot in this godforsaken pit because you're nothing to them. Just a stupid, worthless cunt."
I closed my eyes, letting his poisonous words wash over me. And for a moment, just a moment, I almost believed him. Because god, what if he was right? What if no one was coming, what if I really was alone and forgotten and left to suffer for the rest of my miserable life?
“Fuck you,” I coughed out, spitting blood at him as he unhooked me from my chains. My broken body no longer capable of running from him.
Then I heard it. The unmistakable sound of gunfire, muffled but getting closer. The shouts of barked orders in Russian, the thud of running footsteps and the crash of splintering wood.
Finn. Finn was here, coming for me. I could feel it.
Mikhail heard it too. I saw it in the way his eyes widened, the way his head whipped around towards the door. For a second he looked almost afraid, but then his face hardened, a cruel, ugly smile twisting his lips. He turned back to me, his hand tightening in my hair until I thought he might rip it out by the roots.
"Well, well. It seems someone has come to save you after all." His voice was a low, mocking purr, his breath hot and rancid against my face. "Too bad he's too late. Too bad he'll find nothing but a broken body when he gets here." He yanked me forward, bringing his face inches from mine. "I'm going to shatter you into so many pieces that not even your precious Finn will be able to put you back together again. And when he gets here, when he sees the ruin I've made of you, I’m going to tell him everything we did to you. And that you liked it and begged for more."
My heart seized in my chest, a cold sweat breaking out on my brow. No. I could endure any pain, any humiliation, but the thought of Finn knowing, of him hearing every depraved detail of what had been done to me. It would break him. It would fucking destroy him, to know the horrors I'd endured.
"You stupid, arrogant fuck," I spat, grinning up at him through the blood and the bruises. " You think you can use me to hurt him?" I leaned forward as far as my body would allow, my voice dropping to a low, venomous hiss. "I am going to watch you die, Mikhail Sokolov. I am going to watch the life fade from your eyes, and I am going to smile as I do it. Because you, and your pathetic brothers. You're all fucking going to die soon.”
Mikhail’s eyes narrowed, his lips peeling back from his teeth in a snarl of pure, unadulterated hatred. "You fucking b-"
Before he could finish, the door exploded inward, and blinding light, silhouetted a figure that stood tall in the doorway. Even with my vision blurred by blood and swollen flesh I knew who it was.
Finn.
As he locked eyes with me across the room, as I saw the anguish and the bone-deep relief in his gaze. I smiled. A first true smile since I’d saw him last. These fuckers were going to die.