Roles Reversed
MARGO
This was hell.
The number of times I’d hit my head against my cell to wake myself up from this nightmare only to fail was innumerable.
My face had been plastered on every station across the country and across the pond.
My parents visited me only once. And that was to reinforce that they were disowning me and I shouldn’t expect any type of financial support from them.
I shouldn’t have been surprised since it was their fault I was here.
The lack of love and attention I’d received from them had warped something in my mind.
Starved me for love and affection and once I got the smallest taste of it from Brandt I couldn’t lose it.
No one cared that I’d met him in a chat room when I was underage.
Where were the people who advocated for those who had been groomed now?
Everyone wanted to have a perfect poster child before they would champion a cause but life and reality muddied the waters too much for that.
No one was coming to my aid. I was an outcast now.
The blue-blooded daughter of a successful business executive and his model wife who’d turned into a serial killer.
My only hope was to try to distance myself from all the evidence they’d found against me.
The throwaway cell phone and basic tablet on which I communicated with Christopher.
I’d taken it from him the second he’d killed Natalie and told him it was the society’s insurance that he would stay in line the way her father no longer was.
He didn’t hesitate to keep anything that would incriminate me and I was relieved when their investigation didn’t name me.
I’d taken every precaution and told him this would be part of the process and he’d kept his mouth shut the entire time.
I was thankful he’d killed himself instead of snitching.
The threat for the organization to kill off his entire family ensured that.
The sound of my door being tampered with forced me to sit up in my bunk.
This cell was meant for two people but I didn’t currently have a roommate.
I was in a maximum-security area of the prison.
The part reserved for the worst of the worst. I’d already been in two fights and I was begging for a transfer.
But since my parents wouldn’t pull any strings for me I doubt I would get it.
The cell was so small I could touch both walls with my hands. The toilet didn’t always work and the walls were filthy. I wasn’t the tidiest person since I’d always had servants so a lot of the filth was because of my ignorance.
When the door of the cell swung open I felt my legs buckle beneath my weight.
She walked in looking similar to how she had the last time I’d seen her only this time she wasn’t alone.
I must be dreaming.
With a grin on her face, she entered my cell and her nose wrinkled as she took it all in
This can’t be real.
“Surprise, bitch!”
Asha’s face was still shielded by her glasses, her hair in a long braid as her husband’s hand rested on her waist.
“You must be a figment of my imagination because I know for a fact he’s dead.”
I nodded toward her husband who only smiled in the all black pants and shirt he wore. His hair was pulled back off his face in a man bun and he seemed even more handsome than before.
“Eyes on me, bitch. Don’t make this worse than it was already going to be.”
Asha’s face scowled and I laughed at how accurately my mind was depicting her.
“She thinks something is funny, Semira.” I could barely make out his words but the sound of his voice in my head made my nipples hard.
“I’ve had visions of every girl I’d ever tasted, dead or alive, come and sit with me since I’ve been here.
Brandt and I have had the most amazing conversations.
Do you think I’m scared of having you all here?
” I laughed at the audacity of him thinking I wasn’t stronger than my own mind.
“But the two of you? Mmmm it’s a far more delicious combination than I’d imagined.
Her I’ve tasted but I’ll have to do my best to simulate how good you must feel. Tell me are you as hung as a horse?”
I’d expected the banter to be witty since I was always the dominate one in my visions. What I didn’t expect was for the blow that Asha delivered to shift my jaw to one side.
I immediately screamed out in pain.
“Always getting yourself fucked up behind a man, Margo. Dammit, have you bloody well learned nothing being in here?”
The look in her eyes was abject disgust that I hadn’t been remotely rehabilitated since I’d been locked up.
“How did you get in here?”
I tried to back up but she grabbed me by the front of my prison-issued shirt and hit me in the mouth again. The metallic sound as her fist broke my tooth made me realize she had brass knuckles on her hand.
“I could’ve sprained my wrist fucking around with you last time and that made hubby here upset. So he got me these to ensure I was good. Isn’t he a great gift-giver? They’re solid gold.” She held up her hands to show off the implements causing my pain proudly.
“You deserve them, love.”
She practically beamed at him, the heat between the two of them enough to make my room go up in flames. I tried to lift myself up off the floor but could only make it to my elbows with the way the room was spinning.
“Asha, he’s dead. Don’t you see? You’re sharing your delusions with me. We were destined—”
“Do what we came here for, Asha. I’m having a hard time remembering I don’t hit bitches. She keeps talking about your pussy and acting like she’s trying to take my spot and I’ll pop her head off her neck.”
He spoke so impassioned about her I was sure my jealousy showed on my face.
“Fine. But you owe me for rushing me.”
Asha readjusted her knuckles before she swung again. I tried to fight back but none of the hits I was throwing were landing. Just like the fights I’d gotten in since I arrived I was no match for her.
She hit me in the stomach so hard that I bent over, which allowed her to kick my legs out from under me and I fell to the floor, hitting my head.
My stomach wanted to empty itself as a headache came on so fast it left me disoriented.
“You’ve been hanging out with Jem too long, Asha.”
“You seem to forget who my best friend is. I’ll tell Nev you’re underestimating her.”
I heard the guards in the distance coming and they both went silent. I was so thankful someone was going to stop this abuse from happening.
“Is she screaming again?” The lack of compassion these guards showed made me wish I’d championed prison reform if I knew I’d end up here.
Their footsteps stopped and Asha moved to one side of the door where she wouldn’t be seen but her husband didn’t bother. It was like he knew—
“She’s been beating herself up for the last three months since she’s been here. I don’t know about you but I’m not about to waste my time checking on her and then having to do an incident report. We have less than half an hour before shift change. She’s morning crew’s problem.”
The other voice laughed their agreement and I heard them move away from my door. I’d wanted to scream out for them to help me but my jaw felt like it was going to fall off my face.
“I guess that means we should go now.” Asha looked so thoroughly disappointed that she had to stop beating me. I had to wonder if we were ever really friends.
“Don’t worry, Semira. Your father already arranged for you to visit her when she’s extradited to England after her trial.
I promised you whenever you want to visit just let me know.
” Her giant husband was soothing her with additional promises of my pain and she grinned as his words eased her distress.
When she looked back at me, her face was once again cheerful. “You hear that, Margo? I guess we’ll have to keep meeting like this until I get tired of torturing you. So maybe one to two decades will be enough for me to feel satisfied for the days of hell I endured.”
Nakoa looked at her with the type of love on his face that I’d always dreamed of. My blood was pooling on the concrete beneath me and maybe if I lost enough of it I could drown myself and hope to be happier in my next life.
I was so focused on staring at him that I missed the foot that came down on my head crushing my nose and causing my head to swim.
“I thought you wanted to keep her alive.”
“She’s not going to die but you’d think the stupid bitch would learn to keep her eyes to herself.
” I heard her move closer to me as she bent down to speak to me.
“I know you’re not out of it yet so you can hear me.
I hate men but I will burn the world down for that one.
I’ll give you a few weeks to heal and then I’ll be back for another therapy session.
And don’t try to be so weak as to kill yourself.
No matter what we’ll always keep you alive.
There’s no escaping my wrath, Margo. Welcome to hell on earth. ”