Chapter 19
Trafficked
Kitlyn
"Tell me about green eyes last boyfriend," Hector hissed, circling my friend like the predator he was.
His tone was deceptively calm, but I knew better.
"I want the whole fucking truth or you'll pay dearly."
Becca was still on her knees, shaking so hard I thought her bones would crack. She was a wreck. Her skin was deathly pale, and her lips were almost white.
She pinned her eyes on me, swallowing hard before forcing the words from her mouth.
"All I know about the man is that he stalked her, then kidnapped her." Hector's hand shot up, abruptly stopping her.
"The man kidnapped her?"
Becca nodded, looking tiny and vulnerable.
His gaze cut into me. "Is this true, green eyes?"
My throat felt like sandpaper. I could barely swallow.
I struggled to nod. "Yes, it's true."
He tilted his head, his dark eyes narrowing.
"My brothers tell me you were packing your truck the day they ambushed you at your home. Where were you going?"
Shit! He knew. He just wanted to hear it from me. I told him Atlas was dead. I had to stick to the partial lie.
"Becca offered me a place to stay," I said quickly. I'd been through too much with him. I didn't feel safe being alone. It was only meant to be temporary."
God, I hope she doesn't fold and just goes along with it.
His eyes slid to Becca, black and glinting with malice.
"Is she telling me the truth? Don't you dare lie, or I'll cut out your tongue."
He pulled a knife from the sheath strapped beside his gun holster and pressed the cold edge against her cheek.
Becca swallowed nervously, her throat bobbing.
"She isn't lying." She stammered. I invited her to stay with me. She was terrified after everything that had happened with her kidnapper."
"Stick out your tongue, now!" he ordered, his voice dripping with venom.
Becca broke down, covering her face with her hands as the tears spilled. "Please! I'm telling you the truth! I swear."
Hector sneered, pressing the knife harder against her skin. "I don't believe you, so I'll take that tongue anyway."
Terror slashed at my chest. My body shook uncontrollably as I cried out, "No! Please leave her alone! I'll tell you everything. She doesn't know the full story. Just don't hurt her."
Becca and John froze, holding their breath, uncertain how far Hector's madness would spiral.
The lunatic turned toward me with an evil smile on his face, the kind that made my blood turn ice cold.
"Finally, we're making progress."
His voice was silky smooth, but stern.
"I want everything. His name. What he does. The truth. All of it!" He released Becca and stalked toward me, gripping my chin between his fingers, forcing my eyes to meet his.
"If I feel you aren't being honest, after you suck my cock and I fuck both holes raw, I'll carve your tongue out and make you choke on it. Now spill it."
I glanced at John and Beck. They were nervous as hell. In my opinion, John wasn't made for this kind of work, and as much as Hector wanted him to take over the family business, he would fail him like his brothers did.
My hands trembled so violently I had to clench them into fists to hide it. My heart slammed against my ribs. I thought of Atlas. His hands, his eyes and his voice making me promise to keep quiet about our ordeal together, and now here I was, standing on the edge of betraying him.
I felt the old familiar lump in my throat before I started speaking. "About seven months ago, a man started stalking me. He said he saw me in a supermarket and bumped into me in a couple of other places before he broke into my house and kidnapped me."
Hector circled me like a hungry tiger. "Go on."
I wrung my hands together as I began telling him the details. "He kept me in his home. Trained me. He used pain and pleasure—BDSM. He spanked and whipped me, conditioning me to enjoy it."
Hector chuckled darkly, stroking his chin. "Yes, I know you have fight in you. That explains why you can take beatings like a champion. Now tell me...is this man still alive? And if so, how did you escape?"
Sweat gathered under my collar. I was a nervous wreck. My chest felt like it might cave in. Lying again meant risking losing my tongue, and worse. Telling the truth could mean the end of me and Becca. There was no way out of it this time. Either way, I lose something.
"He let me go," I said finally, my voice trembling. "He grew a conscience, I guess. We didn't discuss why he released me. He just did it."
I didn't need to tell him the reason. It wasn't any of his business, and it wouldn't make a difference in the outcome.
I couldn't stop there. I had no choice but to come clean. My stomach churned as bile rose in my throat, but the words spilled anyway.
"He's not dead. The day your brothers ambushed me, I was moving in with him. Becca never knew the full truth. In exchange for my freedom, I had to keep what transpired between us quiet. So I did. His name is Atlas."
I forced the next words out like poison.
"And he's an assassin."
The moment the truth left my mouth, I felt my soul weep. Tears burned behind my eyes, but I refused to look away from Hector. An icy shiver ran down my spine because now our lives were in danger. There's no telling what Hector would do with us knowing this new information.
His eyes narrowed, pitch black and gleaming with triumph. "And you didn't think of telling me this when you first arrived?"
"I—I was afraid," I stammered.
My knees shook, and my hands trembled.
The tears slipped down my cheeks as I begged for mercy.
"Please, master…I didn't know if you'd kill us if you found out." The word master tasted like ash on my tongue, but pride meant nothing if it meant saving mine and Becca's lives. I figured if I called him master, he might relent and not kill us if that was his plan.
I hoped he would be merciful, but who the hell was I kidding? This is Hector I am talking about. He is a cold, ruthless monster. He has no empathy or compassion for anyone of us, including his brothers.
Hector's grin was like a blade. Sharp and dangerous.
He pulled me up by my hair, wrapping his fist tightly around the strands. I stood next to him, trembling. My stomach twisted in knots. He yanked my head back, pressing the knife against my neck. Becca started sobbing quietly, while John tried to intervene, shifting nervously in his seat.
"Uncle," John said cautiously, "you don't need to kill her. If that guy wanted her, he'd have come by now. She's still here."
Hector turned his gaze on him, eyes burning like coals.
"Who said anything about killing her?"
He looked back at me, his lips curling into a manic smile.
"No…I'm going to ruin her before I sell her."
He bent low, whispering in my ear as the blade nicked my skin.
"You should have told me from the start, bitch.
Maybe I'd have cut you loose and sent you back to him.
But now? Now it's too late. You'll be auctioned off tomorrow to the highest bidder, and your precious friend?
She goes to the cutter." His tongue dragged along my cheek, collecting my tears.
"I actually liked you green eyes. You have spirit.
Why the fuck do you think I was going to allow Becca to stay with us?
I knew you weren't sick. She means a lot to you, and what would have been the big deal in keeping her, too?
Why do you think you haven't been sent to the cottages with the others?
But now you've destroyed the chance of remaining with me under my protection. "
He sneered in my face. "Now, you are off to a new master, who will probably be ten times crueler than I am."
He shoved me to my knees, fury radiating off him.
"Get on your knees and pull my cock out," he snarled, looming over me. "Make me hard and don't even think about scraping me with your teeth. One slip, and I'll split your fucking skull open."
His voice was venomous, dripping into every crack of my nerves.
"Once I'm fully erect, I'll use you however I want.
Both holes, until you bleed. If you thought I was a bastard before…
." he leaned down, his eyes black as night, lips curling into a snarl.
"You have seen nothing yet. The next twenty-four hours will make every beating you received in the past feel like a kiss. "
My stomach turned to ice as his words sank in.
His mouth twisted with rage and triumph.
"You've fallen out of favor, green eyes," he whispered, almost gleeful. "Now you'll suffer for every lie, deception and secret you thought you could hide from me."
He threw John out in a fit of rage and ordered Becca to be taken away to the cottages by the guard. She was wailing by the time the door shut behind her, leaving me alone with this monster. I could barely breathe, my body trembling so hard I nearly collapsed. His bark made me jump.
"Suck it, bitch. Don't stop until I tell you to."
With shaking hands, I pulled him free, my stomach twisting and the bile rising in my throat. Tears blurred my vision as I obeyed, praying to God that Atlas was closer to getting us out of this fucking living hell, because tonight, I might die at the hands of this lunatic.