16. Maya
Maya
“Ishould’ve known you were a whore this entire time.”
Those were the first words that came out of my mother’s mouth, the first I heard when I woke up from being knocked out.
Heavy rope tied me to the bed face-down, and I could feel that only my tiny silk underwear remained.
A panicked breath stole out of me because this was what I’d been afraid of.
This was what Jed had represented to me.
“Are you listening, girl?” my mother’s voice echoed, and I cried out and she ripped my hair back. Jed’s large, gross form rested against the wall, his eyes flicking down to my nearly bare body. I almost snarled at that but managed to keep quiet. Fighting back wouldn’t do me any good.
“Are you?!” she screamed as I whimpered.
“Yes,” I rasped out.
“Good.” She dropped my hair and put out a hand as Jed undid his belt.
“Mother,” I whimpered. “Please don’t.”
Tears were coming heavy now because I knew this was going to hurt. I shook as she sneered at me, her face level with mine.
“Jed told me he saw you fucking around with one of those boys,” she hissed. “It made me realize he’d been right all along. You’re a whore. So after this beating, I’m sending you off to work at one of Jed’s clubs. That’s where you really fucking belong—not at that bullshit school.”
If she thought it was BS, why was she sending me there?
“It’s either that or you can call Mr. Moretti yourself and ask for money from him.”
That must’ve been the real reason. So had the two of them expected me to meet Henry and the twins?
“I’ll call,” I whispered, hoping Marco would be able to figure out where I was. Jed held up his phone, the bright light blinding me as he began to record. I cringed into the mattress, feeling pitiful.
“We’ll see if you’ll be able to call after this.” My mother chuckled.
This was going to be bad. Far worse than usual.
I cried out as the first lash hit me, and I pulled against the ropes, trying to curl in on myself. How did it still hurt so much? My sobs grew louder as she hit again and again. I could hear Jed fueling her anger, and I was trembling as blood soaked the bed beneath me.
Then they started to fight.
Something about hurting me too much to do my job.
She kept hitting me, and my tears ran dry as this hazy, odd feeling came over me.
My eyes fluttered as black spots began to cloud my vision.
My mother’s lashes were brutal, and then she had her other hand on my neck, crushing it from the back and pushing me into the mattress.
I could barely breathe, the pulsing from the mating bite Marco had left on me the only thing I could feel.
I whispered his name as my mother’s hand tightened, realizing then that I was going to die.
I’d never given much thought to dying. I figured it would happen eventually, probably just like this. So when the reality of it hit me square in the face, all I felt was gratitude for the memories that were streaming through me like wildfire.
This past week had been amazing. There was a time before that as well, a time when a woman with the same colored eyes as me stared at me with love and affection. I missed those memories even though they were barely at the edge of my consciousness.
When I breathed in my last breath, my back numb as blood splattered around me with the screams of their fight, I smiled.
At least I’d die knowing that everyone wasn’t like this.
That was when everything faded to black.