Chapter 53
Ivy
The truck bed rattles under me, their shadows blotting out the sky as they reach to haul me out.
Others are already pouring out of the house to see who just arrived.
Metal rakes my spine as they yank me by the arms. One of them laughs as I cry out, grabbing a fistful of my shirt and pushing me over.
Hitting the ground hard, my elbows scrape raw, gravel embedding in my skin. I scramble away, but my ankle is caught before I get far.
“Where the fuck d’you think you’re goin’, girl?” he snarls, dragging me across the harsh grit. “Should’a learned the first time.”
I recognise his voice. Rick. He’s an angry man, always looking for an excuse to dish out punishments.
My heel catches him in the face as I struggle. A grunt follows, blood immediately streaming from his nose.
“You bitch!” He grabs my hair and yanks, hard enough to make me screech.
Jeb barks out a laugh. “She’s had a taste of freedom. Forgotten her place.”
I twist, kick, dig my nails into anything I can reach. But there are too many of them. Hands everywhere—shoving, grabbing, pinching.
And then I hear his voice. Low. Smooth.
“Easy now, brothers. Don’t break her before Father Bennett gets back.”
My blood runs cold.
Derek.
He was the one who kept the others off me. Never believed in their made-up religion and only played the part enough to win his place as Bennett’s right-hand man. Even got me out of trouble a few times. Said he protected me. Cared about me.
I used to think he was kind, that he was truly looking out for me. But then one day, I asked him to help me escape. He went straight to Bennett, and I was chained in the barn for three days and starved. Derek had snuck in to see me and told me he did it for my own good… but the illusion had burst.
Now, he crouches beside me, eyes roving over my dirt-smeared face like he’s found something long lost.
“Well damn, Ivy,” he says, almost in awe. “Never thought I’d see this face again. Look at you, alive and well fed.” He glances over his shoulder at the others, grinning. “Benny’s all done with this bitch. Says the womb’s cursed to be barren. Another fallen Eve.”
I want to scream that I’m not barren. That I’m pregnant and it’s Bennett who’s infertile. But I keep my mouth tightly sealed.
Someone whistles low. “Does that mean we get a turn now, Brother Derek?”
“She ain’t a wife no more,” Derek confirms, smirking, knowing the power he holds as Bennett’s right-hand. “Father Bennett said he don’t give a shit what happens to her. Says she belongs to the house now.”
The others cheer. It’s a sick, savage sound that makes my stomach churn.
“Should’a let me have her back then,” Rick grumbles. “Wouldn’t’a lost half our brothers to those three masked psychos.”
My heart squeezes at the mention of them. Phoenix. Myles. Zane. My darling monsters. Will they find me? Are they planning a rescue?
Another, Terrance, steps closer and spits next to me.
“You know how many bodies we had to leave behind that day? Frankie’s head was blown clean off!
All ‘cause of your little boyfriend with the devil mask. My leg’s still infected.
” He points to the dirty bandage on his shin. “And you’re the reason.”
Another guy sneers, grabbing my chin and forcing me to look at him. “We should take turns with her before Father Bennett gets back. Brother Derek said she’s ours now. Right?”
The grip on my chin tightens as his eyes trail over me. Anger floods me and before I can think better of it, I spit in his face.
He scowls and slaps me hard enough that my head bounces off the ground, blood exploding in my mouth as my teeth catch my tongue.
That was a bad move. I can admit that, but I don’t regret it.
Because Zane, Phoenix and Myles showed me that things can be different. They loved my fire. They loved when I pushed back and never punished me for it. They made me feel like a goddess. Like someone who deserves more than I had settled for.
But I remember what it takes to survive this house, and brute strength won’t do it. And I have two lives to protect now. I have to be smarter.
“Unless you’re ready to atone, better wait till Father Bennett condemns her himself,” Derek warns, coming to my aid like he always did.
Going limp, I let them haul me up, dragging my bare feet across the dirt and up the bowing porch steps. I watch the weathered door creak open, feel the rotten breath of the house fan over my face.
It smells exactly the same. Mould with strong undercurrents of body odour and old blood.
The floor groans under us as we move down the hall of the old decrepit farmhouse, symbols painted on the walls.
My feet snag on old nails pushing their way out of the tired floorboards. I glance up, looking down the hallway and my breath catches.
The siding.
That loose piece of clapboard near the back kitchen wall. The one I pried free with my bare hands, inch by inch over weeks. It’s covered with an extra plank of wood now.
No way out.
Did Jade ever make it out? I can’t see or hear her. She must’ve, and continued running like we planned—after I failed to meet her.
It took me two days to find the town that became my salvation. It was a miracle they were the first people I came across.
I just need to hang on for two days, until they find me… maybe less if they have a vehicle.
I can do that.
They shove me through the same battered door, the locks on the outside rattling. The iron bed and bare mattress haven’t even moved, chain still bolted to the bedpost.
My throat tightens as hopelessness starts to weigh down my heart again.
The rust on the bucket in the corner has bloomed bigger, browner, but it’s the same. Everything is the same.
Derek kneels beside me as the others leave and gently brushes my hair back like he’s playing with a doll.
“I can’t believe you actually ran,” he murmurs. “I thought we had something special.”
I stare at him, saying nothing as he wraps the shackle around my neck and locks it.
He smiles as if he feels sorry for me, then drops the act and snarls before slapping me hard.
“Stupid bitch,” he snaps, standing and kicking the door closed behind him.
The locks on the door click and I curl into myself on the bed.
The mattress beneath me groans, a low creak of old metal, like it remembers every night I cried into it. My elbow stings, cheek throbs. My face is wet, and I don’t even know if it’s blood or tears.
I had fought so hard to escape, walk through fields and forest until I was exhausted and delirious. After waking up near a collapsed barn on the edge of a ghost town, I’d crawled into an old car and prayed for death.
That’s exactly who found me. Death. A Nightmare. And the Devil himself.
And I loved it. I love them.
Now I’m back in hell. After everything. After hope had just begun to bloom. After planting seeds and smiling at the sky like the future belonged to me.
Even if that’s no longer true, I don’t belong to Bennett anymore.
I belong to them.
And whether or not they come for me, my heart will never be owned by anyone other than them.
Morning light filters through the window but I’ve been awake for hours.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, my hands tremble in my lap, face aching from yesterday, probably already bruised. My body is sore, stomach painfully hollow, skin throbbing where rough fingers gripped too tight and gravel grazed me.
The sheet under me scratching my thighs like steel wool. I don’t know where my old blanket is gone but I don’t dare ask.
Because he’s here.
Bennett.
My empty stomach churned when I heard his voice through the thin walls after he arrived.
Knowing he’d be told that I’m here, I’ve been waiting.
Hearing his footsteps coming, my breathing quickens, heartrate spiking.
He walks in like he’s God’s gift to humanity, as if the very dust in the air should part for him. Draped in the dusty white sheet he wears like a robe, red sigil stitched crudely over the section he uses to hood his greying hair.
Derek follows behind, eyes gleaming like he’s been starving for years and just caught the scent of meat.
Bennett looks… pleased.
Smug and relaxed, in that slow-burning, cold way I’ve learned means real pain is coming. Not the chaos of a man lashing out, but the sadism of one who knows he’s in control.
He’s quiet at first, standing in the room, watching me like livestock under auction. So I make a point of not dropping my gaze like I was trained to.
“You’ve come home,” he rejoices, holding his hands out welcomingly. As if I’d run into his arms even if I wasn’t chained. “But you’re not trembling. Hmm...”
Derek chuckles from the doorway. “She’s got some fire now, don’t she?”
“She was quiet when she ran,” Bennett murmurs, stepping closer. “Obedient. Meek. Now she’s sitting up straight, eyes on mine. You notice that, D?”
“Oh, I noticed,” Derek chuffs. “She spat in Neil’s face when they dragged her in. Thinks she’s better than us now.”
Bennett rubs his stubbled chin, looking down his nose at me. Then tilts his head like he’s examining a piece of art that someone dared to smudge. “Two months. That’s all it took, huh? You were with traders longer than that.”
I purse my lips, refusing to speak.
“You think you’re holier than us now? Don’t need atonement?” he scoffs, hand moving before I can brace, fingers digging into my cheeks to tilt my face up roughly. I continue glaring at him, even though it hurts. “Where’d the fear go, Ivy?”
I breathe shallow, gritting my teeth, refusing to show pain or fear. “I’m not scared of you anymore,” I grit.
Derek laughs low, a sound that makes my skin crawl. “She’s cute when she lies.”
But Bennett’s not laughing. He lets go of my face and turns to Derek. “Lying is a sin,” he deadpans. “She’s been defiled. She’s not mine anymore. That’s not mine.”
Derek’s smile stretches slow and greedy. “Then… I can have her, Benny?”
Bennett sighs and looks back at me wistfully. “I gave her everything. Spoilt her. She was going to be my Eve—the first of many wives to birth a pure line and usher in our paradise.”
Fire surges through my veins, boiling my blood. My whole life had been about bloodlines and this lunatic was no different. Just far less educated and far more deluded.
“You purchased me!” I scream. “You kept me chained up and beaten down. You raped me over and over again.” I scowl at his stunned face, hitting him where I know it hurts. “You defiled me!” I roar.
The back of his hand connects with my face. Hard.
My vision sparks, pain flaring through my jaw, mouth flooding with blood. But I make sure I stay upright even as I sway, my vision slowly clearing.
Renewing my glare on Bennett, I spit my blood on the floor at his feet. “I was never yours.”
His face darkens. “Yes, you were!” he bellows. “And you were grateful for it! Blaspheme again and I will have your tongue—”
Derek jumps in. “Come on, Benny. Let me bring her back to obedience. I can scour the sin from her. I’ll have her behaving proper again. No need to cut out her tongue yet.”
Bennett doesn’t reply. I brace myself, but he doesn’t hit me again. His eyes flick to Derek as if weighing something, the moment stretching tight as a bowstring.
Then Bennett bends down, level with my eyes and wraps his fingers around my throat so tight there’s no room to breathe.
Freezing, I wait, hoping his anger will subside if I don’t fight. I can’t put myself at risk. Not with the baby.
He holds me there, just reminding me who he is. His power still real and so cruel. I fight the instinct to clutch my belly. If he notices, if he guesses…
“I’m not going to protect you anymore,” he warns, tone hollow. “You wanted multiple men? Fine, you’ll have your fill. We’ve got plenty lining up for you. See how they like your defiance. You’ll be dead in a week and heaven’s gates will be closed to you.”
His grip tightens for a second, just long enough to make the edges of the room blur. Then he lets go, standing and wiping his hand on his robe like I made him dirty.
Heaving for air, I tug on the metal around my throat, still feeling like I’m being choked.
“She’s all yours, Brother,” Bennett dismisses over his shoulder as he walks out. The door shuts with a finality that punches the air out of my lungs.
Derek turns to me smiling like he’s won the lottery, before that smile curls like a sneer. “Don’t worry,” he says, snapping the bolt on the door. “I’m not gonna share you. I’ve been waiting too long for this.”
I inch back on the mattress, spine hitting the wall. “Don’t touch me.”
“Oh, I’m gonna do a hell of a lot more than touch you, Ivy. I’ve been waiting a long time for this.” He walks slowly this time.
Not rushing. Savouring.
Each step drawing the air out of my lungs.