Chapter 34
Chapter Thirty-Four
Lily
“Lily.”
A small hand tapped on my cheek over and over again. Bringing me back to consciousness, which was the last place I wanted to be. My entire body hurt. My head felt like it was being drilled into.
“Lily, please,” Timothy’s anguished voice cut through the pain. I’d never heard anyone sound so scared. With difficulty, I cracked my eyes open a sliver, and even that small amount of light was enough to make me cry out and close them again.
“Please, Lily,” he wailed again. “Please don’t go to sleep again.”
“It’s ok.” With the last of my strength, I forced my eyes open. And the world spun around me. “I’m here, Timothy. I’m here, and it’s going to be fine.”
It was amazing how easily lying came to me these days. I didn’t know whether it was going to be fine because I had no way of knowing what had just happened.
“What?” Blearily, I looked around. The room was dark. The only light was coming from a single lightbulb hanging at the other end of the dark room. I screwed my eyes closed and counted to ten. I was in a basement.
More than that, I was in a cage. Correction. We were in a cage.
“Come here.” I opened my arms wide, and Timothy climbed into them, hiding his bloody face against me and crying softly. I had to be brave for him. I couldn’t let him see me fall apart because he would lose the last of his courage as well.
Letting him cry for a few minutes, I just held him and looked around for any sign of who had done this to us. Not that it took a genius to figure out who. Or even why. The shoot-out at the wedding had been a diversion to get us alone and away from Daniil.
I remembered getting into the back of the car after leaving, and the way Emilio had promised to protect us with his life, and then nothing.
My gut twisted. “Is anyone else here?” I whispered. “Emilio?” I called out, but I didn’t dare more than whisper it.
“He’s dead,” Timothy sobbed into my chest, his thin arms wrapped around my middle. “I saw the bad man shoot him.”
“Oh.” I hugged him back. That was all I had to say. Emilio had died trying to protect us. He had given his life like he had sworn he would. No one else was here to help us. That meant I had to save us.
“Then the bad men picked me up and put me in the dark,” Timothy kept sobbing. “And you were asleep and wouldn’t wake up. When is Papa coming, Lily?”
“I don’t know. But I know he won’t be long. You just need to be brave and let go a little. You’re really hurting my ribs because you are so strong.”
I tried to lighten the mood but failed. He wasn’t holding me too tightly, considering, but I was pretty sure some of my ribs were broken.
“Sit right there. Ok? I need to check the locks and see if I can get us out of here. We need to be ready for when your papa comes.”
“Daniil isn’t coming.”
The voice was smooth and mocking. I knew it instantly. My heart lodged itself in my throat. Shuffling Timothy off my lap and behind me, I lifted my eyes to meet those of the man who filled my nightmares.
Piotre was cruel, but his brother? His brother was sadistic, and those blue eyes that swept over me promised nothing but pain.
“What do you want?” I asked, my voice shaking.
“A million dollars and world peace?” He mocked me. “What do you think I want, Lily? I want to break Daniil Popov, and I want my money.” He crouched down next to the cage, which I was beginning to suspect was a dog crate, and hooked his fingers through the bars.
“You’ve cost me millions. And now I’m calling in that debt. No more waiting for you to pop out another brat.” His eyes darted towards the cowering form of Timothy.
“I already have his heir. Come here, boy.”
I positioned my body in front of him. “Leave him alone. He’s just a kid. He’s innocent.”
Dominik’s eyes glittered with malice. “The innocence is what people will pay for,” he chuckled. “Some of my customers have very particular tastes.”
Half turning my body, I covered Timothy’s ears. The movement sent shockwaves of pain flooding through my body. “You’re sick. Sick and twisted. Daniil is going to kill you.”
Throwing back his head, Dominik laughed. “He will try, but he won’t get to you quickly enough to save you. But don’t worry.” He leaned closer still. “I’ll make sure he sees the videos of both of you. I want him to hear the noises you make when you take your last breaths.”
From above, a horn blared, or at least it sounded like a horn. A wide smile spread across his face. Standing, he stretched his arms above his head. “Showtime.”
More men entered the room, talking excitedly among themselves, and at first I didn’t know why they were here or what bad thing was going to happen next, but I didn’t have long to wait.
The corners of the cage were lifted, and we were carried out and up some concrete stairs.
The air was stale with the stench of booze and cigarette smoke, but I wasn’t in the place I had been kept before.
These stairs were wider, and the room we were carried into looked more like a theater than a bar.
The cage was placed on the stage, the spotlight clicking on and illuminating us.
“Ladies and gentlemen. Our final lot for the evening. The son, the only son.” Piotre’s voice boomed out. “Of the infamous Daniil Popov. And his pregnant fiancée, Miss Lily Ridgeway.”
I wanted to scream at him that I wasn’t Daniil’s fiancée, but my tongue felt glued to the top of my mouth.
“Let’s see her.” Someone called from out of the darkness. And my blood ran cold.
“And the boy.” Someone else said.
“Of course.” The cage door was swung open, and Piotre reached inside. Grabbing hold of my leg, he began tugging me out.
“Lily,” Timothy screamed as I was dragged away from him. “Lily don—“
I gripped him with an iron-like grip. Whatever happened, I wouldn’t let him go. Kicking out with my foot, I caught Piotre in the chin and rocked his head back.
“Get the fuck up.” His hands dug into my arm. Grinding my flesh against the bone as he dragged me to my feet. And I could tell by the look on his face that the only thing stopping him from beating me senseless was the eyes of a dozen customers watching.
He didn’t want to damage the merchandise.
“Bring the boy.”
“No.” I heaved Timothy more firmly into my arms, even though my body was on fire. “No, leave him alone.”
I knew there were sick people in the world. But I would not let one of them touch Timothy. They wouldn’t even get to look at him. Twisting my body, I curled myself around him.
“Let go of the boy.” Piotre tried and failed to spin me around. Another man came up and tried to tug Timothy’s terrified body from my arms. I held on with everything I had.
“Lily,” he screamed for me, his small hands trying to find a hold in my satin dress.
“Let go of the boy.” Piotre’s fist hit my temple. Each word was punctuated by another blow. My vision darkened on the edges, spinning around me. I fell to my knees, vomit rushing up my throat as another blow was aimed at my already broken ribs. My grip on him slipped.
“Lily. Noo—“ his screech was enough to break my heart as he was wrenched away from me. Kicking and screaming, he was carried beyond the curtain.
“Timothy.” I tried to crawl to him, but Piotre’s booted foot slammed into my cheek, and I pitched forward. Curling up on myself as he aimed kick after kick into my body.
I drifted in and out of consciousness, so I didn’t know how much time had passed. It felt like an eternity filled with pain.
“I will kick that baby right out of your body.” Piotre’s fingers tangled into my hair and lifted me to my feet. Ripping the hair out by the roots.
“Behave.”
Wildly, I looked around. “Timothy,” I wailed. Wildly, I looked around, but there was no sign of him. I couldn’t even hear him crying anymore.
“Where have you taken him?”
“I would worry more about yourself than the brat, Lily.” Coming to stand behind me, Piotre whispered in my ear. His breath made me feel sick. “Now strip off that pretty dress for the ladies and gentlemen. Show them what they get for their money.”
“I’m going to kill you,” I hissed. “If you have hurt one hair on his head, I’ll kill you dead.”
“You don’t have it in you. There’s no fight. Now strip.” Brushing back my hair, he fisted it in one hand and brought his lips to my ear. “Either take that dress off, or I’ll take my knife to it, and we both know how excited I get when that happens.”
I shivered at the memories. Slowly, I reached up and pushed the straps of my dress down over my shoulders. The material pooled around my waist and got stuck there. My arms crossed over my naked breasts, and I closed my eyes as the weight of dozens of eyes glued themselves to me.
“Oh.” Piotre’s lips brushed against my shoulder. “You would not begin to know how much I’ve missed your smooth skin, little Lily,” he murmured against my skin. “The way you tremble and twitch with fear.” His hands yanked down the dress the rest of the way. “It makes my dick hard.”
I swallowed the vomit back down. If I threw up on him, I knew he would beat me until I was unconscious, and I didn’t want that. I couldn’t help Timothy if I wasn’t awake. No matter what happened to me, I needed to save him.
“Panties off,” someone cackled. “I want to see if she’s a natural redhead.”
Glaring into the blackness that surrounded us, I bent and yanked them down. They could all go to hell. Every single one of them. When Daniil came, and I knew he would come for us, every single person here was dead.
All I had to do was keep myself and Timothy alive long enough for that to happen.
“Oh, it is.” Fisting my hair again, Piotre drew me up straight. “She’s a real natural beauty.”
“Five million.”
There was a pause. A really heavy one. And then Piotre laughed.
“I see you are all eager. So let’s not waste any time. Let’s start the bidding at five million.”
“Ten.”
“Fifteen.”
I swallowed hard. They were bidding on me. These men and women were bidding on me like I was a thing they could play with and not a human being. I would be nothing but a slave. If, of course, I lived that long. Daniil had so many enemies, men who wanted him to suffer.
More than likely, I would be tortured and killed to hurt him.
“Twenty million dollars.”
Turning my head, I saw Priotre’s eyes glow with glee. “Sold.”
Just like that, I was sold. I twisted my head to stare at him. “Daniil is going to kill you.”
He cracked a smile. “But you’ll die first, Lily.
” His nails scraped against my scalp. And I knew he drew blood.
“Come on up here and get your prize.” He called out before lowering his mouth to my ear.
“I’ll miss you, Lily. You have been one of my favorites, but maybe your owner will let us have some fun with you when he has finished with you. ”
“Fuck you,” I spat.
“Oh, Lily, that’s the least of what’s going to happen to you.” He hissed and smashed his fist into my mouth.