Chapter 26
T he discovery that I’m pregnant was like a match being tossed onto a situation already doused in gasoline.
Being ignored and left to rot in my cell is a memory long forgotten. Instead, I face daily beatings now. With a lot of their efforts being aimed at my stomach. Not on my fucking watch. With what little strength I have, I’ve been doing everything I can to either put up a fight or at the very least protect my stomach from the brunt of their attacks.
Currently, I’m curled on the floor of my cell, arms protectively wrapped around my abdomen, while Thug One and Thug Two alternate delivering harsh kicks to my ribs. As pain takes over and my vision gets blurry, I can’t help but think it would be easier to give up but then I’d never see Owen again. Owen, who doesn’t even know that I’m pregnant. This baby won’t live if I don’t. Giving in to the pain and giving up isn’t an option as much as my body screams at me to do so.
With that thought ringing in my head, I grit my teeth and try to stand. Channelling every ounce of muscle memory from my training sessions with Owen, I land a solid punch to Thug One, before Thug Two pins my arms to my back .
“You fucking bitch. You’re gonna regret that,” Thug One snarls as he advances on me. He stops in front of me with a predatory look, saying, “Yo, T, why don’t we try out the merchandise.”
T, or Thug Two as I had been calling him, chuckles darkly and shifts so he has a free hand to grope one of my breasts. I try to thrash away but that just moves me closer to Thug One who steps so close I’m pinned between them. As they continue to grope me, I can feel them getting aroused which makes me sick to my stomach but trying to get away only seems to excite them more.
“You know, Dan, that might just be the best idea you’ve ever had. My dick’s been desperate to finish what I started in that alley for months now,” T says, grinding said dick against my back. Knowing I was so close to being attacked makes me so fucking glad Jonathan had the Finlay brothers on my tail.
Dan laughs and grinds against my front while covering my mouth to muffle my screams while he pinches one of my nipples, tugging it to the point I seriously wonder if he’s trying to rip it off.
Spotting that damn ring again, I spit at him as I snarl, “How’s your balls? Missing my knee? I can reintroduce them for you if you want.” As I attempt to knee him, he blocks me.
The doctor’s abrupt entrance interrupts this ordeal. She observes us with a cold cool and dismisses them with a cold command, turning off the camera briefly to whisper, “I can’t keep this off for long, but just know, help is on the way, Cora.”
It feels so foreign to be addressed like that. Like I’m an actual person and not just a prisoner or someone’s punching bag. She turns the camera I wasn’t even aware of back on and walks over to me with an indifferent mask on her face.
She quickly checks over me and then leaves.
No matter what, I can’t give up hope because the moment I do, they’ll win.
* * *
It’s a few days later when T frog marches me out of the room. It’s clear that was just the calm before whatever storm that has been brewing.
He yanked a blindfold on me so to say I’m stumbling all over the show is an understatement. With a muttered curse, he yanks harder on my arms and growls at me to watch it.
I hold a snort in because really?
You’re gonna blindfold me and then get pissed when I can’t walk because of it?
Asshole.
Some painful moments later, he shoves me down into a chair, tying my wrists and ankles together before yanking the blindfold off. I wince as the bright light registers, and once my vision clears, I see the room I’m in appears to be a mix between a bedroom and a dressing room, with a king-sized bed off to one side and a huge vanity and clothes rail housing lingerie sets to the other side. The sight of the skimpy, lacy outfits makes me freeze.
The door to my right bangs open and in walks Angus. He walks like he owns the place and maybe he does but to me, he’s just some asshole on a power kick responsible for more hurt and evil than good. I spit at him as he comes to a stop in front of me before I can stop myself and get a slap to the face. Worth it though to see it drip off his smug face.
“Now, is that any way to treat me when we’ve been so hospitable to you?” I want to wipe that smarmy smirk off his face so fucking much but remain silent. I refuse to give him the satisfaction of getting any more of a reaction from me.
“I see we’re going to have our work cut out to get you ready for our guests,” he muses as he looks me over before looking behind me at T and saying, “Send up the doctor and the others.”
“I suppose introductions would be nice, hmm?” At my silence, he quirks a brow before continuing, “You’re going with the silent treatment, are you? Fine. I can talk enough for both of us. I’m Angus, and you, my dear, are about to be my bestseller if the sneak preview we got was anything to go by.”
“Sneak preview?”
“There she is. No need to act like you don’t know. We’ve all seen the photos your new neighbour took. You’re definitely Helen’s daughter.” Every sick word out of his mouth has me wanting to claw his eyes out. Getting confirmation he was behind the photos that left me feeling violated is one thing. Hearing him mention Mum is another. Someone like him has no right to utter her name.
Snarling, I try to wriggle free of my binds, cursing at him as he watches me struggle with a smirk. The sound of the door opening again makes me freeze as I listen to him start barking orders for people to clean me up and for the doctor to do a physical before leaving us to it.
The two teenage girls who came in with the doctor led me into the ensuite, stripping me and guiding me into the shower. I can’t even enjoy the brief pleasure that is the hot water soothing my aching body as one of the girls gets into the shower with me, razor in hand and starts shaving me from head to toe.
Once she finishes, she flashes me an apologetic look before quickly washing my hair and then I’m led back into the bedroom and the chair in front of the vanity. Getting the first glimpse of myself after fuck knows how long I’ve been here is shocking— with sunken eyes; body covered in bruises and cuts.
I can’t help but fear things are about to get a lot worse than this.
One of the girls quickly gets to work on my hair and the other starts to plaster makeup on my face, doing her best to cover up the bags under my eyes and the bruises and scrapes, but it’s obvious that’s probably a lost cause. I lock eyes with the doctor in the mirror and the grim look on her face says it all .
Time is running out and the help she hinted at might not be here soon enough.
Looks like it might be up to me to try and save myself, after all.