Total pages in book: 331
Estimated words: 315585 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1578(@200wpm)___ 1262(@250wpm)___ 1052(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 315585 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1578(@200wpm)___ 1262(@250wpm)___ 1052(@300wpm)
“How do you feel?” he asks. It’s the same stupid question all the time.
“Numb,” I lie. If I give him any other answer, he drugs me.
His hand touches my hair, and I yank my head away.
He grips a handful of it and drags me away from the wall. I scream out and start kicking, but my legs are tied together. He throws me onto my back and straddles my chest.
I can’t breathe from his heavy weight.
His hand grips my cheeks, and he forces my head back. “Still being an ungrateful bitch, I see.”
I try to scream, but nothing comes out.
“We’ve got a long life to spend with one another,” he goes on, “and I want us to both enjoy it.” When he gets up off me, I roll onto my side and suck in a ragged breath, my throat and chest burning. I bring my tied legs to my chest and spit onto the concrete floor. “We’ll try the hard way.”
I feel the sting of something across the back of my legs, and I cry out. He does it again, and I try to crawl away, but he’s got me tied to prevent it.
Lords always win because they cheat.
So I scoot like a worm, but the room is too small. There’s nowhere for me to go. I see his belt and hear the whoosh before it comes down across my face.
Sobbing, I curl into a ball the best I can. This is my punishment. I tried to kill myself and failed.
He kneels next to me and pushes the hair from my face, making me scowl. “Why do you make me hurt you, dolly? Hmm? Don’t you want to be my good girl?”
Snot covers my face, and I lick the salty tears off my cracked lips. “Y-es.”
“Show me, Eve.” He stands and undoes his jeans, followed by his zipper. “Show me how good you want to be for me, and I’ll treat you like a good girl.”
FORTY-NINE
KASHTON
I’m in the shower, my head on the wall while the warm water runs down my back. My jaw is clenched, and my fists are up by my head.
A recruiter?
Evan got greedy. He wanted to keep her for himself. To be what to Eve? Her pimp?
Everything Everett went through, and he was going to punish her. He wanted her to help capture innocent women to be trafficked. He knew what he was doing. He knew how much it would hurt her.
She’d rather die than put someone else through what she’d gone through.
My phone beeps, and I push away to see it lit up on the bathroom counter. A part of me wants to smash it with a hammer. I’m tired of all the incoming texts and videos. It beeps again, and I reluctantly turn the water off and get out, grabbing a towel off the hook.
I wrap it around myself when I hear Eve scream from the bedroom.
Shoving the bathroom door open, I enter just in time to see her sitting up in bed. She’s wide-eyed and gasping for breath. “Eve?” I rush over to her. “What’s wrong? Are you hurting?”
Her green eyes are frantic, and I gently push her hair from her face. “I’m—” She swallows.
“What? You’re what?” I pull the covers off her to glance at her thigh. It’s still wrapped, and there isn’t any blood, reassuring me that her fresh stitches are holding.
“I’m going…” She places her hand over her mouth, and I yank her from the bed and rush her to the bathroom, knowing exactly what she’s trying to tell me. Falling to her knees, she leans forward and gets sick. “I’m…sorry…” she says before she dry heaves.
“You’re okay.” I hold her hair, crouching behind her to rub her bare back with my free hand. “It’s okay. Let it out, Eve.”
She gets sick once more and then sits back.
I flush the toilet and grab my phone off the counter. I message Devin, asking if the drugs will upset her stomach. He responds immediately.
They shouldn’t. Is she feeling ill? I can give her something if that’s the case.
I begin to respond when I see her getting to her shaky legs. Putting my cell down, I walk over to her, but she takes a step back, wrapping her arms around herself. Her watery eyes are on the floor, and it makes me sick to think about what woke her up. I spent six months with Isabella here at Carnage while she trained us. Eve spent more than half her life in hell. First Carnage and then Dollhouse.
What did she dream about? Was it Evan? Did he hurt her? She blocked out so much for so long that now there’s no telling how much she’ll start to remember.
Running a hand through my hair, I notice she has vomit in hers. I wasn’t fast enough to pull it back for her. “Would you like a bath?” I ask, not wanting to point it out to her.