Chapter 16
Mylah
There are four other girls here. I was finally let out of the room I was being held in, and that’s when I saw them.
They’re younger than me. Inside, I’m falling apart, but outside, I’m going to give them hell.
I’m not going to take this. I’m not going to do what they want me to do.
Fuck that. Why should I? Tide would expect me to fight, and that’s what I plan on doing.
I walk down the hall and toward the exercise room where we’ve been ordered to work out.
The others are in here doing what they’re told.
I look over my shoulder to make sure no one is watching us when I approach one of the girls.
She doesn’t stop what she’s doing or even look up at me.
I take that as my cue and move to the next one.
She does the same, but the other one? She keeps looking my way, and it makes me curious.
I walk away from the girl and head over to the next, checking over my shoulder to make sure no one is watching us.
“Hey,” I say as she looks up at me.
“Hey.”
“I’m Mylah.”
“I’m Jen.”
“How long have you been here?” She glances around the room and looks at the other girls who now watch her curiously.
“I…I don’t know. I lost track of the days,” she tells me, and my heart sinks in my chest. She’s been here that long? Does he keep girls around that long?
“We have to find a way out,” I tell her when the other girl laughs.
“You think we haven’t tried?” She snips at me. I turn to look at her now.
“What have you tried?”
“Running. Windows, doors. We’re locked in this place, and if you know what’s good for you, you’ll leave it like that.”
“Why should I? I was taken. I’m not staying here.
” She smiles a sad smile and shakes her head before glancing around once more.
When she sees it’s all clear, she turns and pulls her shirt up over her head, revealing lines of scars across her back.
I walk over and reach my hand out, running my fingers along them before she quickly tugs her shirt back on.
“You’ll be punished if he finds out,” she tells me. She’s right. He beat her. Why wouldn’t he do the same to me?
“I can’t just accept this,” I tell them.
“There’s really no other choice.” Then they all turn away from me and go back to their workouts.
I won’t do this. I won’t be the victim. I won’t be stuck here. I take a deep breath and walk back out of the gym and down the hall, taking in my surroundings. I make note of where the doors are and who’s standing next to them. I’d have to get past the guards in order to get out of here.
I keep walking even as I feel eyes on me.
Who’s watching me? Is it Padgett? I quickly look over my shoulder to see one of the guards eyeing me, but when he sees me looking, he quickly looks away.
Does Padgett let his guards harm us? There are so many questions that I don’t have answers for, and it bothers me, but I keep walking.
I turn the corner and find the kitchen, but the devil himself is sitting at the table with a mug in his hand. He looks up and eyes me for a long second before looking back down at his paper.
“You didn’t eat breakfast,” he says without looking back at me.
“I wasn’t hungry.”
“And now you are.”
“No.” He clears his throat and sets the paper on the table next to his mug before looking back up at me.
“You will eat, Mylah. Starving yourself is only hurting you.”
“I don’t care.”
“You should care. You need nourishment. Your body needs something in it when training begins.”
“You think I’m going to do anything you tell me to do?” I ask, raising an eyebrow. I should watch my mouth after what I saw in the gym but I don’t. I push him. I want him to break. I want to see it. I want to see what I’m up against.
Padgett clears his throat before standing to his feet and walking toward me.
My heart beats faster the closer he comes.
I try to remain calm, but I’m not doing so well.
Once he’s right in front of me, I raise my head high and stare back at him.
His lips curl into a smile before his hand swoops up and wraps around my throat.
I open my mouth ready to scream, but nothing comes out.
I look to the left at the woman cooking, but she ignores what’s happening beside her.
“Look all you want, Mylah. They won’t help you.
” I reach up and claw at his arms as he pulls his belt free from his slacks.
He finally releases the hold he has on me before spinning me around and slamming me against the counter.
I cry out from the pain but he doesn’t care.
He rips my shirt down the back so that my skin is exposed to him.
I fight him. I buck against him and thrash around so that he has to use two hands to hold me down.
There’s no way in hell that I’ll let him do this without a fight.
“Hector!” I hear him call out to someone.
I’m still fighting against his hold when two men step into the room.
One comes for my arms, tugging them above my head, while the other drops down and grabs my legs.
I can’t move. I can’t fucking move. Tears roll down my cheeks as I try to maintain some sense of control but I don’t have any. I’m at his mercy.
Then I hear it. The sound of his belt snapping against my flesh, and I scream.
They don’t care. They let me scream as I’m held in place and beaten with a belt.
It lashes against my flesh, a burning pain shooting through me with each one.
I lose count of how many times I’m hit, but I know I can’t scream anymore.
My throat is sore, and my face is covered in my own tears when my arms are released.
They fall to my sides, and as soon as my legs are let go of, I fall to the floor in a heap of tears.
“I warned you that you wouldn’t like the punishment. It’s simple, really, Mylah. Follow the rules, and things like this won’t happen to you.”
“F-fuck you,” I manage to say. His hand knots in the back of my hair as he tugs me to my feet. He’s in my face, his breath dancing over my skin.
“Is that what it will take to break you? Me fucking you? I can arrange that as well, Mylah. In fact, I could do it right here and now,” he says, kicking my feet apart so that my legs are spread.
“Or maybe you’d like one of my men to do it.
They can get a little rough if you know what I mean.
” Bile burns the back of my throat as I think about any of them touching me.
One of his hands disappears and finds its way to my thigh.
I gag on the vomit in my throat as he slides his hand up my thigh and closer to my private place.
“Do your worst,” I hiss at him. I don’t want any of them touching me, but if this is how it’s going to be, so be it. I will fight them every second of every day until I get out of here.
“You think you’re so strong, Mylah. The blood on your back says otherwise,” he whispers near my ear.
“It’s only skin deep.”
“For now.” With that, he pulls away from me and releases the hold he had on my hair. I suck air into my lungs, needing to get myself together. Padgett walks back over and sits down in his chair, lifting his mug to his lips while the other guys stand next to me, awaiting orders.
“Take her downstairs,” Padgett says.
“Is she ready for that?” one of the men asks him. What the hell is downstairs?
“I didn’t ask for your input, did I? Take her downstairs,” he orders once more. The man doesn’t say a word as he grabs me and tugs me along with him. I stumble over my own feet trying to keep up with him as he drags me through the living room to a door I hadn’t noticed before.
The door opens, and my heart sinks in my chest. I don’t know what’s down there.
I don’t know what’s about to happen to me.
Inside, I cringe as I’m led down the steps and into a dark basement.
The man reaches over and flicks on the light, and my jaw drops.
There’s a girl chained to the wall across the room, sitting on the floor naked. She doesn’t even look up at us.
“What did you do to her?” I ask softly. The man jerks me in the other direction before shoving me down on a piece of wood that resembles a table of sorts.
I try to fight him, but the other man holds me down.
The rest of my clothes are ripped off before I’m handcuffed to the table.
I kick my feet before they grab a hold of those too and cuff me to the table.
I’m naked, vulnerable. I’m open for anyone to see.
Shame and embarrassment wash over me, but I quickly hold back the tears.
I can’t let them break me. I repeat those words in my head when I hear the men stomping back up the steps.