28. Ink #2
She shook her head, and a tear slipped down her cheek.
“No, it wasn’t. He left me alone for a few years, but he always left it hanging as a threat to keep me in line.
If I started to show any defiance, then he’d just threaten.
I was older and stronger, but there was no way I could escape him if he wanted to hurt me.
So I’d give in and hoped to find another way to get out.
Then one night, he dragged me to a party he was hosting. I was there to be shown off.”
Yeah, he did not like where this was going. He forced himself to wait, to bite back the words burning in his throat. To demand answers. To know who he had to kill at the first opportunity.
“That night, he threatened to hand me over to a couple of the men he was showing me off to. I didn’t speak, didn’t dare, but when they were told they weren’t allowed to hurt me, it took the thrill away.
I was too valuable an asset. Especially when one of those guests asked how much it would cost to purchase me.
Diego thought about it, but in the end, he decided not to accept, but it got him thinking. ”
“And he thought that if he could make more like you, he’d be sitting on a gold mine.”
She nodded, eyes red as tears slipped down her cheeks.
“I had a bad feeling because he kept watching me. Like he was trying to calculate how much he could charge for me. I really thought that was going to be it for me, that he was going to whore me out to his buddies and anyone else to make as much money as he could. But then one day he sent me to the doctor he employed, and I knew it wasn’t going to be good.
Especially when he started insisting on running genetic testing. ”
“You knew what he was going to try?”
“I figured it out within minutes. I fought, screamed, all of it for weeks. But in the end they just strapped me down, knocked me out, extracted my eggs, and then sent me back to my quarters. It was terrifying because I knew what was going to happen when they started giving me daily injections. I tried to escape, tried to get away, but he had me heavily guarded after the first attempt. Nothing worked. I was closely monitored and repeatedly sent back to the doctor, even if I dragged my feet or fought. It didn’t matter.
Finally, one day, they just knocked me out, but I came out of the sedation too early. ”
“Baby …” The horror of what was coming was sharp.
“I woke up as they were inserting the eggs. Three of them, because that was the higher chance, and if I had all three, even better. I was strapped down tight so I couldn’t move or fight.
I threw up all over myself, choking on it, but they didn’t care.
They’d clean me up afterward. They knocked me back out, and when I woke up, I knew I couldn’t stay there.
I couldn’t live with what they were trying to do. ”
“No, baby, no …” Pain choked him.
“But what I didn’t know was that they knew what I might try to do, so they kept me sedated the entire time until they knew the procedure was successful.
I lost two of the eggs, but one stuck. And when I reached for the bottle of pills, Diego was there to tell me I was pregnant.
I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t hurt this innocent baby, but I also knew I couldn’t stay.
But if I left, if I did escape, I didn’t know where I would go or what I would do, so I stayed, I obeyed, and I gave birth to Asher and promised him I’d get him out. ”
“And you did. You fucking did, baby girl.” He hugged her tight, rocking her. “Fuck, you’re so fucking brave, Naomi.”
She held him tight. “I’m terrified that they’re going to get a hold of him, Ink,” she whispered.
“And everything that happened the other night only made that fear worse. I know that you won’t let it happen, and I’m tired of being scared all the time.
Of thinking that they’re going to be right around the corner.
I want to live my life. I want to be with someone who actually wants me and doesn’t see a way to use me. ”
She turned in his lap, wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck.
“I came to see you tonight because I want you, Ink. I can’t promise forever because I don’t know what it will mean in a few months, but this morning, there’s no denying how much I want you.
You make everything else fade away, including all the words and voices in my head and the memories I’m trying to push down. All of it is gone with you.”
He moved his hand up her back to lightly cup the back of her neck and laid his forehead against hers.
Conflicted, he didn’t know what to say to her.
He wanted her so fucking much, and there was no way she couldn’t feel him between her legs.
Couldn’t feel how much he needed her. But he wasn’t such a prick that he would take advantage of her emotional state.
“I don’t want you to think I’m like them, Naomi. I want you so fucking bad, but you’ve just shared something with me, and I don’t want to take advantage of you. Ever.”
The tension left her almost instantly. “It’s because you say things like that that I know you mean it,” she whispered. “It’s why I trust you, Ink.”
This morning, he’d have been elated by that. Now, it broke something in him. She might trust him, but could he trust himself to give her what she needed, to be what she craved from him? Or was he going to disappoint her? Hurt her like those other fuckers had?