28. River
CHAPTER 28
RIVER
M y eyes flew open, an indistinct emotion pulling me from unconsciousness. Ice cold air licked across my skin as the blankets were violently yanked off me. I tried to scream, but something leathery covered my mouth and pinched my nose. My eyes stung, and gut-curdling fear crawled all over my skin, turning the blood in my veins to ice.
A maniacal cackle had every muscle in my body locking up tight. My eyes darted from side to side as they slowly adjusted to the darkness. Night had fallen since I passed out, and with my blinds nearly closed, only a small amount of light seeped through them. The sound of blood thundering in my ears echoed the rapid beat of my heart, making it impossible to hear anything, but I could finally make out the three figures surrounding my bed.
The one immediately to my right had covered my mouth with his gloved hand, and when I turned to look at him, recognition zinged through me like a ricocheting bullet.
“Hello, whore.” He sneered and tilted his head to the side like a clockwork toy. It was creepy as fuck, especially when the other two mimicked his movements. The same unhinged, bloodthirsty look glinted in their eyes. There was no doubt about it. I was about to be dragged back down into the bowels of hell. Bile burned a path up the back of my throat. I’d never tasted fear in such an all-consuming soul-crushing way.
How did they find me?
How did they get in without triggering the alarm?
Did Bane know?
Was he on his way to save me?
Was he hurt?
God, I couldn’t even face that thought. I screwed my eyes shut and felt myself go numb as the first tear broke through my lashes and carved a relentless path down my cheek.
Bane, please! Please help me, I screamed and pleaded in my head. I’d beg the universe if I had to, and sacrifice anything just to see him again. The Mitchell brothers had found me, and I knew what they were here to do.
This was it—the end of the road. The Mitchell brothers were about to cash in their promise with the devil. Dahlia had vowed she’d send them for me if I didn’t comply. I guess she finally ran out of patience. Or this was a Hail Mary? Did she know Bane was closing in? Did she sense that life as she knew it was slipping through her fingers, about to be torn away? Maybe this was her parting shot, her final fuck you —ruining Bane’s life by taking mine.
My worst fears were no longer whispers in the dark that haunted me. They were here, flesh and blood, unstoppable, and there was nothing I could do to fight them. For the first time in my life, I truly understood what it meant to be completely powerless.
There was nothing I could do to stop them when electrical tape sealed my mouth, trapping my screams. I was too weak when they wrenched my arms behind my back, binding my wrists and ankles with brutal efficiency. I couldn’t fight back when I lay prone on our bed and a sickly sweet smell invaded my lungs, sharp and burning, making my vision tilt and my strength abandon me.
There was nothing left in me when I was thrown over their shoulders, my body limp and useless, my head cracking against a doorframe as they carried me through the house. The pain was like a bullet to my brain, making the world vanish behind a blinding white light. A hot gush of liquid slicked down my head, dulling the pain once the pressure eased. They slipped out the open back door on silent feet, unnoticed by the rest of the world. Not even the security light came on over the deck as they marched across the backyard under the cover of near darkness. The light of the moon hid behind the clouds like it was refusing to bear witness to the atrocities that were about to happen. They moved with a calculated efficiency that chilled me to the bone. Clearly, I didn’t really know they were capable of.
I knew they were monsters who masqueraded as men, but I’d only glimpsed the depths of their depravity, even the times I’d thought I was at death’s door. I guessed tonight their masks were going to come off, and I’d see who they really were. It was clear they didn’t fear me being able to identify them, because everybody knew the dead couldn’t talk.
They didn’t make a sound until we passed through the wide-open back gate, now secured with a state-of-the-art biometric scanner and a brand-new lock. The system had been installed by the expert Bane hired to turn this house into a fortress. No one should have been able to breach these high walls—the very ones Bane had ensured were there to keep me safe. Yet, the Mitchells made a mockery of those efforts. Somehow, they had gained access undetected—a feat that should have been impossible. But clearly, it wasn’t.
Shit, that would mean…. Davis wasn’t the only snake Bane and Montoya had in their midst. It was too late to warn them. All I could do was hope they saw the truth before it was too late for them too.
“I’m out of here. If you get caught, I was never part of this. About a mile into the woods, there’s an old quarry pit, if it’s any use to you,” a voice I recognized but couldn’t place said nonchalantly.
Someone to my left—or at least I thought it was my left—scoffed. “We’re not stupid enough to get caught. You, on the other hand, are a loose end we can’t afford.” No sooner had he finished talking, then the sound of two muted gunshots rang out into the night, followed by a loud thud as a body fell to the cold, hard ground. I’d know that sound anywhere.
“Carter, hide the body.”
“On it.”
“Help him, Eli, then the fun can really begin. This little whore is ours now.”
Bile surged into my mouth, contained only by the tape. I tried to swallow it back down, but some seared its way up through my nostrils and trickled down my face.
I was about to die. I knew it with the same certainty I knew the sun would rise tomorrow. There was only one person I wanted—no, needed—to see before I took my last breath.
Bane.
It was the last thought that flowed through my mind before I gave up fighting and succumbed to whatever drug was slowly coursing through my veins.
One moment, I was curled up on the couch with Bane’s hard body spooning me from behind, his hand draped around my waist, holding me close like I was the most precious thing in existence. The next, I was falling unceremoniously through the air and crashing into the frozen ground, smacking my already pounding head against a something hard as twigs and stones dug into my side.
Stars danced behind my eyes, and a scream tore from my chest, muffled by the tape covering my mouth. I jerked as hands grabbed hold of my hair and yanked my head back. A figure appeared in my line of vision, but the world swum around me, making it hard to focus. My face felt like it had been coated in gasoline as the tape was wrenched off my face, tearing the delicate skin off my lips.
“Open up, slut,” the figure in front of me growled. The pressure on my scalp increased as he forced the blunt head of his dick between my bleeding lips.
Bane, I’m so sorry.
“That’s it, you worthless whore. Take it. Take all of it.” Without warning, he started to ruthlessly fuck my throat until my lungs screamed and all I could taste was a toxic combination of blood and piss.
Forgive me.
Never had I hated Joelle more than I did tonight. All the things she’d spent weeks teaching me did little to help me now. If anything, it made me more vulnerable, because I couldn’t dissociate like I once could. I couldn’t shut myself down, so I felt everything they did to me. I wanted to set my mind free and be with the boy with one eye as blue as the sky and the other like the darkest depths of the forest. With him, I was safe and free, surrounded by a dream-like world filled with possibilities.
But that safety net had been stolen from me in the name of helping me heal. With tears streaming down my face, I was forced onto all fours. Twigs and stone cut into my skin, but it had nothing on the pain ravaging my throat.
They ripped my sweats down my ass and sliced my hoodie off my back. The blade caught on every nodule of my spine as it went, and I mourned the loss of my layer of protection when it fell off my skin like water off a duck’s back.
My head was floating the longer I was starved of oxygen. My lungs burned like an icy inferno as I was pushed to my limits.
Something solid and cold dragged down my spine. I could feel every rough splintered edge as it dug into my skin, slicing it until warm blood trickled down my sides. The burning pressure at my entrance stole the last of my strength, and the world went black.
I’ll never be worthy of you now. I never was. You were always too good to be mine.
Cold water hit my face, forcing my heavy-lidded eyes open. Not that I could see anything. But I could feel every-fucking-thing. The rope that burned around my neck, the fibres chafing against my skin. The feel of the bark slicing against my back with every forceful thrust that stole the air from my lungs. The bite of something sharp around my wrists as it cut into my skin until I bled, and the ache in my shoulders from holding my body weight.
“Fuck you,” a voice growled before pain exploded in my temple.
“This is the best fucking feeling ever.”
The voice sounded like it was miles away. Everything hurt. My fingers wouldn’t move, and I couldn’t feel my legs. I wasn’t even sure if I was breathing.
The steady beat of my heart was absent. There was just the occasional buh-bump, but it felt like minutes passed between the faint sound. I was so cold. So, so cold.
“What should we do with the…”
Voices faded in and out, just like the wind.
Don’t give up.
“Leave it…”
“No one will find it…”
It’s too late. I’m sorry I wasn’t strong enough, Bane.
“Time to go.”
If I had to do this all over again, I wouldn’t change a thing because I got to meet you.
I love you, my heart. Please forgive me.