Chapter 30
Liz takes a big bite of potatoes, chewing them slowly as she thinks back to how much she told Riley months ago when they first brought her in.
He only knows the bare minimum, that she was abused, he never asked about it again.
She eyes the small group gathered around her, wanting nothing more to slink back to her room and pretend none of this happened.
“Okay fine,” she says, scooping up another bite of food.
“But if the big one says anything, I will absolutely be beating the fuck out of him.” Popping the food in her mouth, she simply glares at Alex, who is now staring right back at her.
Liz takes a deep breath, trying not to think about the new sets of eyes watching her.
“I don’t know what to tell you that I haven’t already.
He would come into my cell and beat the fuck out of me, if he wasn’t the one doing it, someone else was.
They spiked my food with something that would make me really sick.
Dmitri told me he could make it stop if I gave him what he wanted, when I said no, they started starving me, blah blah blah,” Liz explains.
“What about the day you fought back? You told me I didn’t need to know what happened, but we might need to know now, love,” Riley says to her, reaching out and taking her hand in his.
Liz takes a deep breath, not wanting to relive that day.
“Um, he came in like normal, usually he had one or two people with him, but he had a whole crew that day. I knew something was off. His men held me against the floor. I tried to get away but couldn’t.
I was weak, and the guys were too big. He started talking about how he was tired of waiting and said something about what I had said to him at the bar.
” Liz watches as Mikey and Riley exchange a knowing glance.
She looks to Riley, trying to focus on the different shades of brown swirls in his eyes instead of the three other men watching her.
He squeezes her hand, keeping it held tight while she continues.
“They kept me pinned down. He took his belt off and unzipped his pants. I wanted to move my body, to fight them off, but I was frozen. I just remember screaming at myself to do something, to not let another evil man violate me like that again. One of his men grabbed my face, the one with the monster tattoo on his neck, he forced my mouth open and I snapped,” Liz says, taking a shuddering breath in.
“I panicked, more than I already was. I did everything I could to get away, but they just held tighter. I tried… I tried so fucking hard, Ry,” she says, her eyes staying locked onto his as the tears spill.
“It was too late. I did the only thing I could think of. I bit down as hard as possible until all I could taste was blood and didn’t stop until everything went black. I woke up, they came back in, beat the everloving shit out of me, and chained me up,,” Liz tells him, tears now forming in her eyes.
Riley takes a step closer and pulls her into his arms, stroking her back while she composes herself. He only lets her go when she starts again.
“The only time I saw him after that was when he came in with some kind of doctor. After that every few days someone would sedate me, making sure I wouldn’t fight back again.
I turned into their favorite toy. If they got bored with their fists, they used whatever they had with them at the time.
When that stopped having the effect they wanted, they had some guy come give me some kind of injection. ”
Liz takes another second to compose herself, looking at Riley, seeing his jaw clench under the mask. She looks away, pushing food around her plate. It’s Mikey who speaks first.
“What do you mean injections?”
“I don’t know. Just injections. I would be really out of it for a few hours, but not really calm like being sedated.
Everything would get fuzzy, almost like it was out of focus and I would have no energy.
I could still scream, and try to fight, but it was almost impossible to move my body.
I think they were testing it so they could finish what Dmitri had started that day. I know what they were planning.”
The four men exchange looks, putting something together that Liz doesn’t understand. She just looks at them, the silence causing her anxiety to run wild.
Riley walks over to the chair next to her and sits. “What do you mean, love? How do you know?” he asks, worry never leaving his eyes.
She just looks at him, continuing to focus on him instead of all the other men watching her.
“They talked about putting something in me, it just wasn’t ready.
I assume it was some kind of birth control or something.
The day you showed up, someone really panicked came in and gave me one of those injections then left.
Around the time I started hearing gunshots, some new guy came back in with another needle, but it hurt so much more than usual.
He was mumbling something about hiding… I can’t really remember, I was still pretty fucked up from whatever they put in me the first time,”
Liz takes another second, really thinking about what they were doing to her when she was in that cell.
“You said it hurt more. Did they do anything differently?” Alex asks, watching her carefully.
“I mean, it was in my leg instead of my arm or neck, but I just figured I was fighting so he did it where he could, it wasn't the first time they stabbed me in the leg. It also got really bruised. I must have had a bad reaction because it swelled up and there was a small bump for a while.”
“Did the bump go away?” Tyler asks cautiously.
“Yeah, I mean, I can still feel the scar or something if I touch it, but that’s normal for that kind of thing,” Liz says.
Her heart beats loudly in her ears. The way they are looking at each other sends her spiraling into a panic.
They know something she doesn’t, and it’s not good.
She looks at each of the men, remembering what Riley had said about being tracked.
“You need to show us the injection spot…” Alex says, staring at her, anger painting his face. “We don’t have time to find a medic we can trust. We need to know if it’s birth control. If it’s not, you being here puts us all in danger.”
“If it is a tracker they would have lost the signal ten miles out, you know that,” Riley barks, knowing Alex is trying to intimidate her into giving in to his demands.
Liz looks around at each of the men again, thinking maybe if it was just Mikey and Riley, she would consider it. She doesn’t know Alex and Tyler, and Alex clearly wants to get rid of her.
“No. I’m not taking my pants off, especially around him,” she says, pointing at Alex. His face gets red with anger, he opens his mouth to argue with her but before he can, Riley speaks up.
“I’ll take my mask off.”
“What?” Liz says, whirling to face him.
“Just me and you. If you show me what they did… I will take my mask off.”
“Oh my god, you’re serious,” Liz says to him, unable to hold back the nervous laughter that comes out of her mouth.
She eyes him, wearing one of his masks that cover his whole face, just leaving his defined jawline exposed.
She can’t help the warmth that takes over her cheeks as she looks at him.
She can’t form words, just looks into his caramel-colored eyes and gives him a small nod.
Alex and Tyler try to divert their attention, feeling awkward from the intimate moment while Mikey just watches, smiling like an idiot. Riley steps back, allowing Liz to stand before he picks up her hand and leads her down the hall.