Chapter Nine
Maksim.
“Psst… Maksim.”
I blink a few times, a bit disoriented when everything starts to come into focus. The nurse from before is standing before me, taking my blood pressure again. I swallow, but it’s difficult. My throat is dry and I could really use some fucking water. “What is it?” I croak.
She’s been giving me tidbits of information every few… I don't know, hours? Days? I’m not sure how long I’ve been here, but I'm in the same room, and they haven’t moved me, so that’s a plus. “I brought you half of a sandwich.”
I blink. “What?” I choke out.
“They’re having issues with the cameras, upgrading them today, so they’ve turned them off.
I brought you half of my sandwich. And a juice box I found.
I’m sorry it’s not more. But your vitals are down, and I can't let it get worse on good conscience.
" I almost snort. She unstraps my other arm in a hurry and places both the sandwich and juice box in my hands. “You shouldn’t but try to eat as quickly as you can.”
“How long have I been here?”
“This is day seven at this location.”
Okay, so I've been gone a full ten days. I bring the juice box up to my lips and almost glitch at how sweet it is. I easily bite into the sandwich, shivering at the temperature in the cold room. I swallow it down and take another bite, pretending it’s one of my wife’s cupcakes.
Emotion clogs my throat, but I swallow it down with another bite.
I’ll allow myself to feel whatever it is I need to feel later. “When do these games start?”
She shakes her head at me while striding toward the door to peek through the small window, then turns to face me, standing in the corner of the room next to it.
“Don’t talk. Eat. There isn’t much time before they come in here for an inspection.
They’ve paused the gases until they fix everything, so you shouldn’t throw it up.
Or at least you’ll digest it a bit until you do. ”
I do as she says and finish the half of the ham and Swiss on dry white bread and gulp down the kid-size juice box.
She glides back to me so I can hand her the trash.
She shoves it into her scrub pocket before she straps me back in.
Just like she predicted, men in surgical scrubs, caps, and masks come in.
They evaluate the room, and she rattles off my vitals.
One of the men checks my restraints, then flashes a light in my eyes as if it’s not already blindingly white in here.
I make no noise. Even when I want to lash out like a fucking beast and bite at him.
I won’t give them that satisfaction.
Plus, I’m saving all the energy I can to fucking kill every and any Syndicate bastard possible when I see them. I want to watch the light leave their eyes.
The other scribbles something down on a clipboard, and suddenly I wish I was sitting in Damon’s office.
I’m going to have so fucking much to unpack.
But I'm not letting this get to me. I won’t let it.
Can’t let it. He murmurs something to the nurse and I hear the name “Alice.” She nods up at him and they leave the room, the door closing behind her.
I look back up at the ceiling as she prowls closer. “Alice. Is that your name?”
She dips her chin and starts talking quickly. “The games start next week. It seems they’re still waiting on a few more Initiates to bring in their contestant. Although that word feels inappropriate.”
“Tell me everything,” I rasp, feeling the sandwich in my stomach swirl and cramp at the solid food settling.
“Mr. Giordano…”
“Everything. Don’t leave anything out. I have to make sure I get back to my wife.”
“God, I hope you remember all of this once the gases start again. The day of, you’ll be given a small breakfast and lunch to give you some energy.
Eat it throughout the day, not all at once, or you’ll lose it quickly.
Your stomach won’t be able to bear too much too soon.
Later, you'll have a type of device placed around your neck that checks your pulse to make sure you’re alive.
That’s how they keep up with… you all. The first games always start at night.
Your best bet is to run straight to the forest but be wary of the ground and your footing.
The alarm will sound at sunrise. If you survive, you’ll be taken in so you can have a shower and be fed breakfast. Afterwards, you’ll be shown to a separate wing that’s heavily guarded where you can rest properly.
They’ll feed you both lunch and then dinner.
Do not drink the wine. It’s laced with sedatives that not only make you tired, but they also make you loopy.
It’s a tactic for the next game that starts after breakfast for a better chance to catch you. Do not overeat. It’ll slow you down.”
“And then?”
She sighs, giving me a pointed look. “I’ll give you more information then if I can find you. They usually have me down here in the lab. Which is why I have to take your blood now. But if I can get away, I will.” She wraps a tourniquet around my arm.
I feel a pinch in my arm, and by the time the gases start again, she’s gone.
I do my best to remember everything she told me.
Run straight to the forest. Survive the night. Don’t drink the wine. The second game begins at sunrise.
Shit. I’m missing something.
She’ll find me…
Survive the night.
Sabrina will find me…
Run straight to the forest. Survive the night. Don’t drink the wine. The second game begins at sunrise.
I close my eyes, hold my breath for as long as I can, and allow myself to fall into a space where I’m with my wife. Real or not—it’s the only thing I have. And like I've said before—I’ll never let her go.
Tap tap tap.
I don’t have to guess who it is. With an annoyed sigh, I open my eyes to the blinding light, let my eyes focus, and see Kane’s ugly fucking mug in my face. I give him a disgusted sigh and a roll of my eyes. “You again.”
I’m back in the chains, my feet barely touching the ground, my shoulders sore as shit. I want to meet the people that had the strength to move me. I’m not a small man.
He grins one of those creepy, uncanny grins, and my stomach revolts, ready to spew the bit of sandwich I got, but again, I’m no bitch.
I may miss my wife, but I won’t give this sick fuck the satisfaction of hearing me whimper.
“Yes, it is me again. Good morning, Maksim. I’ve come to tell you, I’ve just gotten the best bit of wonderful news. ”
I hike a brow and the corners of my lips twitch.
“Let me guess, you found out the average dick size is just over four-and-a-half inches, so you are, in fact, mediocre?” Kane’s smile wanes, but something like realization flashes across his face, and I can't help the chuckle that escapes me. “Happy for you. Although, I can’t say the same.” I wink.
“But you know, good for you. I’m sure since you use the metric system it sounds like a lot more. ”
His smile drops entirely before he does his best to break my nose.
As blood runs down and into my mouth and over my teeth, I bark out a laugh, watching small drops land on him.
“Cute. Did your mommy teach you how to throw a punch or your little sister? Actually, that’s demeaning to women.
My wife throws a pretty mean punch. So tell me, was it your daddy, or was this your first time?
I like virgins.” I'm sure I look as deranged as I feel.
Kane’s face turns red and he balls his hands into fists. I guess that answers that.
“Awww, c'mon, Kaney Waney, you can do better than that. Hit me again, you piece of shit. It'll be even more satisfying when I watch you choke on your own blood later.”
He gets in my face and grabs at my dick, hard. I stifle a groan and clamp my mouth shut, jaw flexing. “I could do it, you know?” His breath smells like expensive wine. “Make you a eunuch and give you back to Sabrina completely ruined and fucking useless as a man.”
I throw my head back and glare down at him.
“See, even if you did, I have more fucking power in my pinky and my tongue than you do in your entire body, Burton. I have ways of making my wife orgasm you couldn’t even imagine.
You call me a beast, and that’s exactly what she loves about me.
Even when I’m soft and slow, I stretch her so far and wide she purrs for me.
Bestia a bestia.” Beast to beast. I grin sinisterly.
“A man like you could never please my wife. I mean, you had to drug her to rape her. You’re weak and fucking pathetic. Vigliacco.” Coward.
Kane lets out a soft chuckle, finally removing his grasp on my dick, and runs his hands over his fucking lapels, smoothing them down.
“But I’m not the one chained up, am I?” He steps away, sticks his hand into his suit jacket, and pulls out an envelope with a gold seal branded with a majestic B. A B I recognize.
He clears his throat and uses a voice like he’s a 1920s newsboy declaring the latest news on this morning’s paper.
“Dear Burton family,” he reads. “You have been formally invited to the first annual Barclay Publications Bash! An evening to network and meet up-and-coming authors all while having the time of your life at a deliciously sinful soiree. Theme: Casino Night! So bring your pocketbooks. Blahblahblah… blahblah… blah… blah.” He ends it, peeking at me over the piece of paper, that stupid fucking grin on his stupid fucking face again.
“Looks like I’m headed to see your wife.
Or should I say my bride-to-be? After all, she’ll need a shoulder to cry on once she becomes such a… young widow.”
I keep my glee inside. But I do say what he wants to hear.
Because I’ve learned from the best. So I pretend he gets to me.
“Touch my wife and I’ll fucking eat your heart!
” Okay, maybe that was a bit melodramatic, but his smile widens like it’s Christmas fucking morning.
I even rattle the chains a little bit. Grunt.
You know. For show. On the inside… on the inside, I’m laughing.
Because Matilda doesn’t own a publication company.
And Casino Night?
That means my guys are near.
They’re setting it all up.
And the idiot’s walking straight into their fucking trap.
Whatever it is.
I’m getting Sabrina pregnant as soon as I’m home.
For the first time in as long as I’ve been here, my dick stirs as I watch the back of Kane’s head and the heavy metal door slams behind him. Only then do I laugh. Because I’ve seen my wife angry. All too clearly, I hear Damon’s voice in my head. Words ringing louder than they ever have before.
“...A woman like Sabrina, who knows the answers and has no questions… under the weight of that mask and pink armor, well... she'll snap."