Chapter Thirty
Olivia
My head felt like there was a little man with a hammer banging inside my skull, pain thudding behind my eyes. It took all the energy I could muster to open one eye to see where I was. When I tried to move my arm, I discovered my wrists were secured. My legs were held in position at my ankles.
I groaned, trying to move anything but finding myself fully restrained.
“Olivia?”
“Yeah?” I replied, trying to turn my head toward Megan’s voice.
“Oh, thank god, I thought you were dead.”
“Where are we?” I asked.
“My guess is some sort of torture room,” Megan said. “The flickering light is giving me a headache.”
I hadn’t noticed the fluorescent light until she mentioned it, but there was something about it that reminded me of a horror story. Any minute, a trap door would open, a ladder would descend, and a monster would appear.
“I’m guessing this is not how you expected this to end?” I asked, closing my eyes to block out our current situation.
“Not exactly.” Her laugh bordered on maniacal. “I thought we would take on the baddies, kick some ass, and be home in time for dinner.”
“Any predictions on how this will end?” I asked, sickness rolling deep in my stomach.
“I’m married to Jordan Berkeley and you are married to Maximus Rossi. There is only one way this will end,” she replied.
I tried to turn my head to look at her. “How?”
“They will kill everyone, and we will go home,” she said with calm authority.
“I doubt it. No one knows this place is here. We use it to train our slaves,” a male voice replied, followed by footsteps into the room. “I’m trying to decide your fate, and am debating between two new slaves, and sending your mutilated dead bodies back to your husbands as a warning.”
His face appeared above me, and even though I wanted to flinch back, I hid behind the mask of indifference I cultivated a long time ago when Roberto tormented me.
“Maximus will not be intimidated,” I replied. “He will hunt you down, and leave your body as a warning to others.”
Megan laughed in the background. “Jordan eradicated an entire organisation from the inside because they pissed him off. Once he has a target in his sights, he doesn’t give up.”
“I have no interest in you, so watching you lose your fire and become a slave will be appropriate. You have beauty, so you’ll fetch a good price at auction.” He looked directly at me. “You will have to suffer for the sins of your husband.”
He trailed his finger down the side of my face, and I suppressed a shudder.
“But before you die, I have every intention of enjoying myself, and sending the photographs to the sanctimonious Maximus. He slighted me in a business deal, and now I’ll take back what I lost.” I didn’t expect the assault, my head snapping to the side when he backhanded me.
He bent down, his lips close to my ear. “Your pain makes me hard, so go ahead and cry, scream your agony for me.”
I snapped my head to the side, crashing my skull into his nose. He grunted, moving away rapidly.
“Bitch!” he growled, and I nearly gagged when he wiped his blood across my face. “I will enjoy breaking you. Dale always said you refused to let him into your bed until he said the magic words at the altar.”
“Keep your filthy hands and tiny dick to yourself,” I said, turning to glare at him. “No one will break me, especially not a weak man like you.”
I expected another slap, not his hands around my throat, his thumbs pressing deep until I was choking for breath. My chest burned in pain, and my vision swam in and out of focus. My limbs began to shake uncontrollably, and the pressure built in my ears.
Suddenly he released me, and my body slumped back. “I am not weak as you are about to find out. Bruises excite me, blood intoxicates me, and I have no problem disfiguring you to create my artistic vision.”
He was mad. Completely insane.
“Dale owed me money as well, so I might just take that out of your ass. Max doesn’t strike me as an anal man.” He licked my cheek, and nausea burned up my throat.
I pursed my lips together to prevent making a noise when he ripped my top open, his finger trailing down between my breasts. He wanted my reaction, and I refused to give that to him, even when his hand groped between my legs.
“It’s sad that men think rape is the answer to everything,” Megan called, breaking his concentration on me.
“You think because you can shove your penis into a woman that it means you are a real man. What you don’t realise is that any rodent on the street can shag an unsuspecting female, a real man is able to stand tall without having to hurt others. ”
“Shut the fuck up!” he snapped.
“Or what?” Megan taunted. “You going to sexually assault me as well? Men like you are only capable of forcing women since they don’t want to be in your bed willingly.”
“Your friend is ensuring a life of suffering for herself,” he said, bending down until his nose almost touched mine.
“Don’t worry, I have a special plan for you.
There were a lot of men who were ready to hand over huge amounts of money for a night with you.
I intend to sell you over and over again, and then I will send your broken body back to that arrogant bastard of a husband. ”
“You’re sick,” I whispered. “I saw your sister being sold to those men. You should have been there to protect and save her.”
He shrugged one shoulder. “Helena is worth a lot of money,” he replied. “I helped train her myself. There is nothing she cannot do, and no man who can resist her seduction. Maximus should know, Dad sent her as a gift to him when he took over his family business.”
Alexander had alluded to the same thing.
“I doubt he would have lowered himself to receive such a gift,” I replied. “Maximus has an integrity which you seem to be lacking.”
The blow to my head didn’t stun me the same as the first one, just left an ache behind.
“Maybe I should teach each of you a lesson to shut you up,” he said, marching across the room. “Greg, get in here!”
My ears strained to hear what was happening as more footsteps echoed. The low hum of male voices sounded somewhere, adding an air of malice to the room.
“I’ll take the blonde, Brendan,” the new man said.
A crack of a whip echoed in the room, followed by the dull thud of it connecting with an object. The muffled sound told me it was Megan. She was refusing to give them the pleasure of her pain.
Cool leather touched my cheek. “Allow yourself to experience the pain. Remember to share that with me, scream for me.”
He flicked his wrist, and the leather seared my skin, leaving burning pain behind it. I ground my teeth together, staring directly at the ceiling.
Brendan seemed to take that as permission to use the leather crop to beat me, following a sensitive path across my body, including my hands and the soles of my feet.
Agony pierced through me as he struck delicate flesh over and over.
Everything hurt, and my body felt as if it was swelling.
He hit my face until my eyes began to close.
I refused to give him the pleasure of hearing my screams, and Megan was the same. As suddenly as it started, the assault stopped when a phone rang. I couldn’t make out what was being said, but my tormentors tone changed, and he didn’t sound happy.
I didn’t even try to open my eyes, but I felt his breath on my face.
“You are a beautiful artwork of devastation,” Brendan said against my ear. “I would take you now, but I am needed elsewhere. When I return, I will enjoy continuing your training.” He licked my cheek, making a strange humming noise that turned my stomach.
I counted to one hundred before calling out. “Megan?”
The reply was a small whimper, and I knew she was hurt. The only reason she was here was because she was trying to help me. I was to blame for her pain.
I lay in the dim light, staring at the ceiling while trying to find a way out of this horrendous situation before either of us was raped. If I managed to survive this, I would take the crumbs of affection from Maximus. He might not love me, but I loved him, and that would have to be enough.
Time seemed to stand still. I jumped when I felt something touching my hand.
“We don’t have long. Brendan will return soon.” She fiddled with the restraint on my wrist to free my right hand. “You are lucky the house has been attacked.”
I didn’t feel lucky right now, my body screaming even as I tried to lift my arm.
“Megan,” I whispered.
“She is unconscious. Greg is vicious, and has ways to hurt you that cannot be seen.” I opened one eye to see the woman who had been sold in the auction.
“Why?”
“Because your husband is the only man who showed me kindness. When my father sent me to him as a gift, he gave me back my self-respect,” Helena replied.
I struggled to stand after she released me, my feet burning in pain, making me stumble as I tried to get to Megan.
“You should leave her,” Helena said.
“Never. We do not leave our friends behind.” I met her gaze. “Maximus will get you to a safe life.”
She nodded slowly. “He offered that to me once, and I didn’t believe him. I do now.”
“Help me with Megan,” I begged, struggling with the straps on her wrists and legs.
Helena released a deep sigh, but didn’t argue, moving to the other side of Megan.
“Megan.” I shook her shoulder, and she groaned. “You need to get up, we need to get out of here.”
Her fingers closed around mine. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. I tried to lift her, but my body was burning with the effort, every movement making me grit my teeth.
Helena ran around the table to help me lift her. “We need to go. Brendan won’t be long.” Her face contorted with fear, her eyes darting to the doorway.
“Will we not be following him?” I asked.
She shook her head. “I use the passages inside the house to hide from them.” Together we half dragged Megan to a panel in the wall, only stopping when Helena slid it back into place. “He will punish me.”
“No, he won’t, because Maximus will kill him, and find you a new life,” I replied, silently praying that whoever watched over us was currently on duty, and about to help get us out of here since I was claustrophobic.
“We need to be careful in case they hear us,” Helena said. “We could leave your friend here and come back for her?”
“No.” I shook my head even though she couldn’t see me in the dark. “She was attacked trying to save me.”
“I’ll take under her arms, and you take her feet. There is only room for single file.”
I sucked in a breath, and used the counting techniques I had learned over the years to help with the panic I felt in enclosed spaces. Right now, I refused to think about our situation, instead focusing on one step at a time.
“We’re coming to a corner to the right,” Helena whispered.
How the heck did she see in this darkness?
We came to a stop, trying to manoeuvre Megan around the corner.
“Put me down,” Megan said. “I’ll try to walk by myself. They will not defeat me!”
She sounded more like herself, her fire re-igniting.
“Take my hand,” I said. “We’ll form a chain.”
“Give me your other hand,” Helena said.
“Can you believe I got a manicure thinking I was going on holiday?” Megan said, trying to laugh, but coughing.
“Shush,” Helena hissed. “We don’t want them finding us.”
Silence enveloped us thicker than the darkness we stood in, my ears straining to hear what was happening outside the walls. We eventually started to move as one unit, one of us tripping every so often, but the rest of the group keeping us upright.
“There are six stairs up ahead, which lead us toward the main house,” Helena said.
A blood-curdling scream echoed down the corridor, freezing me to the spot. “What was that?” I whispered, fear creeping up my spine.
“The other training room is not far from here,” Helena replied in the darkness. “Brendan has put women on machines to break them. He leaves them there for days sometimes.”
“Oh God,” Megan muttered. “What is wrong with these men, who believe they are entitled to steal the lives of others?”
Every fibre in my body wanted to help them, but none of us were in a physical condition to do that. “We need to keep moving,” I said. “When we are free, Maximus will come back and save them.”
Another scream made my stomach tighten.
“We will enter the house soon, so we need to be careful,” Helena said. “I know where the cameras are, but sometimes Brendan adds extra cameras when he is training new women.”
“Lead the way,” Megan replied. “We need to keep moving forward as we can’t go back.”
Together we shuffled along, slowly climbing the stairs, and moving closer to the door into the house.
The light blinded and disorientated me. Gun shots sounded suddenly, scaring me, and making me drop to my knees. Shouts echoed through the air, and fear exploded in my chest when shadows moved into the hallway.