by Penelope Sky
This wasn’t my plan, so no, I hadn’t thought it through.
“So maybe he won’t come after all.”
“And that’s what you want?” Was she really that brave? Was she really that selfless? Because I had a few men who weren’t so loyal. “To die in this basement? To die in this cage?”
She backed away from the bars and leaned into the opposite wall, covered in red blood with patches of yellow between the stains. She looked like a hot dog slathered in mustard and ketchup. Her arms crossed over her chest, and she looked away. “I’ll die for what I believe in. I’ll die for love. That’s the dream, right? For your life to mean something? For your death to mean more?”
I set down my fork and continued to stare at this bizarre woman. She was so poetic without even realizing it, speaking like a soldier about to fight for his country in a bloody war. Maybe she wasn’t that brave…but maybe she loved that hard.
It’d been a long fucking night, so I went to sleep for a couple hours upstairs. I knew I needed to contact Damien, but this woman put me in such a sour mood, I didn’t want to deal with one of the men I hated most right this second. After a shower and a meal, I went down to the basement with a bagel and cream cheese.
She was against the wall with her knees pulled to her chest. “Oh thank god…”
“Hungry?” I put the plate on the ground with the water so she could reach it.
“No. If you don’t let me go to the bathroom right now, I’m gonna die.”
I stopped at the bars and stared at her, giving her a cold look. “Pretty sure you can’t die from that.” Fucking drama queen.
She placed her palms over her flat stomach and groaned. “No, bitch. You can.” She leaned forward and growled again. “Seriously, my bladder is gonna explode, and your plan will be pointless. Just let me use the damn toilet.”
I nodded to the bucket.
“That’s not a toilet. Come on, have you no compassion?”
“You’ll try to escape. You put me through the wringer, and I’m way too tired to do that shit again.” She was smarter than I’d given her credit for, faster than I’d expected her to be, and she moved so quickly that she was a formidable opponent. Unpredictable. I had no idea what she would do. A man would face me, would fight to the death. But she was like a rabbit, dashed under boxes and hid in holes so I couldn’t find her. She was so small, she slipped from my grasp every time I grabbed her.
“Reasonable assumption, but I really do just need to use the bathroom. It’s right there, isn’t it?” She glanced to the other side of the room, where the door was slightly ajar. “You obviously let other prisoners use it. Don’t be sexist now.”
“What makes you think I haven’t had female prisoners before?”
Her only response was a long stare.
“The answer is no. Eat your breakfast.”
“That is not a breakfast. That’s a piece of bread, and I’m not a duck.”
Jesus, this woman had a comeback for everything. “In case you’ve forgotten, you’re a prisoner. And prisoners don’t get shit.”
“Uh, no. According to the Geneva Convention, prisoners have the right to basic necessities, like food, water, the toilet, and no unusual torture and punishment. So, let me use the goddamn bathroom. I’m haven’t washed my hands in sooo long.”
Now I wanted to let her use it just so she’d shut up. I grabbed a piece of rope then returned to the cage. “Turn around.”
“What are you going to do?”
When I released the breath I’d been holding, I flared my nostrils like a bull. “Do you want to use the bathroom or not?”
She stood up and brought her hands close to the bars.
I secured her wrists together so she couldn’t grab something and try to stab me with it.
“How am I supposed to use the bathroom with no hands?”
“Figure it out.” I unlocked the door and let her step out.
The second she was out of the cage, she swept her eyes across the room, looking for an escape. She looked at the stairs that led to the next floor, and then she looked around for some kind of object that could knock me out.
“Subtle…” I marched her in front of me to the bathroom and opened the door for her.
She turned back around. “I can’t wash my hands or remove my clothes.”
I blinked.
“Well…”
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”
“If you aren’t going to cut my rope, what else am I gonna do?”
Yesterday, I was the Skull King, the most formidable guy in this country. Now, I was a babysitter to the most obnoxious woman ever. I think I’d rather watch her try to kill me than do this shit. I grabbed her shoulders and forced her to turn around before I removed the knot. “Make it quick. And if you give me any bullshit when you get out, I’ll give you two black eyes.”
“What a gentleman…” She closed the door behind her and did her business.
I waited outside the door and knew whenever she came out, she would have some trick up her sleeve. Maybe she would put soap on her fingertips then rub them into my eyes so I wouldn’t be able to see. With her, there was really no telling. She was totally unpredictable.
The toilet flushed, and the sink started to run. She did that for at least two minutes, presumably scrubbing her hands and arms to get my blood off. Then the faucet went quiet, and her footsteps were audible as she approached the door.
I sighed. “Here we go…”
She opened the door with force, making it swing out fast until it smacked into the concrete wall behind it. Then she charged me with a plunger.
A dirty, disgusting fucking plunger.
She swung at me, drops from its last use spraying into the air. “Ha!”
I dashed out of the way before an entire civilization of bacteria sprayed all over me.
She kept swinging frantically, looking ridiculous wielding the plunger like a goddamn sword. “Come here!” She swung again and again, getting shit all over the place.
I didn’t want to come near her and get the stench on my clothes, so I continued to duck out of the way. “Woman.” I dodged to the right then came up behind her and smacked the plunger down. “Give it a rest.” I grabbed her arms and secured them behind her back and lifted her from the ground.
She kicked violently. “Put me down.”
I carried her to the cage and pushed her inside. “You just proved you aren’t allowed to come out of this thing.” I shoved her inside and locked the door behind her.
She crashed against the wall and released a groan of disappointment.
I picked up the plunger and came to the door of the cage. “I could spray you good right now.”
She grimaced and covered her face with her hands.
“Keep your mouth shut, or I will.” I returned the plunger to the bathroom then came back. “Eat. I’m not bringing you anything else.”
She pulled the bagel through the bars, along with a bottled water I’d left for her, and leaned against the wall to eat. She stared at me the whole time she enjoyed her breakfast, like she was trying to figure out a Plan B.
There would be no Plan B. “Did you really think that was going to work?”
She shrugged and kept eating. “The Trojan horse worked, didn’t it?”
“The Trojan horse was a genius idea from a great civilization. Not at all comparable to a plunger tirade.” Damien was one of my biggest enemies, someone stupid enough not to submit to my rule of law, but I couldn’t believe I was now thinking he was preferable to this woman. She made him look like a genius.
She kept eating, clearly starving after not having eaten dinner last night. “Do you want to fuck me?” She asked the question so casually, still eating her bagel and cream cheese with blood on her clothes, resembling a vagrant.
I stared at her blankly, unable to believe what she’d just asked. “What?”
She took a large bite and talked with her mouth full. “Do you wanna have sex with m
e?” she mumbled between her obnoxious chewing. “Like, an exchange. We sleep together, and you let me go.”
I stuck my arms through the cage and leaned against it for support because I couldn’t believe the shit that had just flown out of her mouth. She was more attractive yesterday, but after sleeping in a cage all night, throwing toilet water at me, and talking all the time, I could honestly say sex was the last thing on my mind. “I’m good.”
“A blow job?”
She seemed like someone who wouldn’t resort to those tactics to escape. She had too much respect for herself. “You would really do that?”
She shrugged. “I’ll do anything to survive, anything to save my family, so judge me all you want. I don’t give a damn.”
And just like that, so quickly, my opinion of her changed—for the better.
“Well?”
The offer wasn’t the least bit appealing. “No thanks.”
“I’m pretty good…”
Still not interested. “This conversation’s over.”
“You got a lady?”
I shook my head. “No. I just don’t want a dirty prisoner to suck my cock.”
She finished her bagel and chewed the last bites. “Fine. You’re missing out, but whatever.”
I found that unlikely. I pulled away from the cage and headed to the stairs.
“Where are you going?”
I turned back to her. “You’re the prisoner here. I’m not.”
“Well, do you want to play a game or something?”
She was locked in a cage, and if her brother didn’t come for her, she would be dead. Did she not fully comprehend the situation? I walked back. “I don’t think you understand how serious this is.”
She stared at me with those eyes identical to Damien’s and didn’t show a hint of emotion. While they were clearly related, they really didn’t look much alike. She was much more feminine, much softer. “There’s nothing I can do inside these bars. Why worry about something you can’t change?” She pulled her knees to her chest and crossed her arms over her body. “I just don’t understand why this is happening. Damien is in love with Anna—like, real love—and you’re trying to get in the way of that. And he really loves me, would do anything for me, and you’re getting in the way of that too. I know my father favors me over Damien, not because I’m better, but because I look just like my mother, whom he lost. So, he’s gonna lose me too. Do you understand what you’re doing to an entire family? All for what?”
I listened to every word of her speech, watched her full lips move as she spoke the words. Her eyes were like a screen where a film projected, showing her emotions through every scene, every act. For a man who was unable to feel anything, I actually felt something…whatever it was. “Damien is the one who decided to interfere in a marriage. He has to pay the consequences.”
“Marriages fall apart every day. The divorce rate is fifty percent for a reason. Get over it. Does that mean Liam is the one who took Anna? Is that what this is about?”
I didn’t see the harm in answering. “Yes.”
She shook her head slightly. “So, he thinks if he kills Damien, Anna will somehow fall in love with him again? Why do you guys think keeping women as prisoners is the only way to get stuff done? She’ll never love him, she’ll never submit, and this is all an colossal waste of time. Killing Damien doesn’t solve the problem.”
I actually agreed with her, but I would never admit it. Liam was determined to win back the woman he was continually unfaithful to, which was idiotic and boring. I couldn’t care less who he loved, who he fucked.
“So why are you involved in this? Unless you’re getting a fat check?”
I debated telling her the truth, but then I remembered I had nothing to hide. I didn’t owe this woman anything, and her opinion was irrelevant. “Revenge.”
“And what did Damien do to you?”
“He didn’t pay me, like everyone else. And then he turned my own brother against me, defied me in front of my crew.”
She tilted her head slightly then rubbed her fingers across her bottom lip. “Let me get this straight. You’re going to kill his sister, potentially let the woman he loves be raped by a crazy-ass guy, kill him when he turns himself in to save his family…over something like that? Seems petty to me.”
Her response angered me, but I realized I shouldn’t care what she thought. “You wouldn’t understand.”
“Did he owe you money?”
“Yes.”
“Why? All you guys are so rich. Why would you need to borrow money from each other?”
I didn’t give her the details. “Doesn’t matter. I don’t like your brother, and I want him to pay.”
She shook her head in disappointment. “That’s sad. To live your life that way, to hold on to the past like that…must be exhausting. I choose to let things go, to find happiness wherever I can, not look for opportunities to get back at people I don’t like or even think about.”
Even when she wasn’t trying to kill me, she annoyed me.
“What’s your name?”
“What does it matter?”
She shrugged. “I’m stuck in this house with you. Just seems weird I don’t know your name.”
My name wasn’t important. It was my title that contained my identity. It may not mean anything to her, but it was still powerful. “I’m the Skull King.”
Her expression remained blank, as if that didn’t mean a damn thing to her. Then the corners of her lips rose toward the ceiling, and she did her best to suppress the smile that crept into her features. When she could no longer hide it, she cupped her face with her hand and suppressed the laugh she couldn’t control. “I’m sorry…”
I was not amused. That was a title that made men shake, that made men kill themselves so they wouldn’t have to face me when I hunted them down. It was the title that allowed me to run this town like I’d built it with my bare hands. It was the title of an executioner, an emperor.
She continued to laugh. “People actually call you that?”
I wouldn’t justify anything she said with a response. I turned around and headed to the door.
“Okay, okay, I’m sorry.” She took a deep breath and silenced her giggles. “The Skull King…got it.”
I kept walking to the stairs.
“Wait, where are you going?”
“I’m gonna call your brother and get this shit over with.” I reached the top of the stairs and slammed the door behind me.
Liam called. “What’d Damien say?”
I sat on the leather couch with my drink beside me. It was quiet in my apartment because I didn’t have the TV on. I didn’t listen to music either. I just sat in the dark…thinking. I hadn’t called Damien like I was supposed to…and I wasn’t sure why. “He didn’t answer.”
“Why the fuck would he not answer?”
“No idea,” I said in a bored voice. “But he’ll call back soon. He knows what I’ll do to him if he ignores me.”
“Call me when he does.” He hung up.
I tossed the phone aside and closed my eyes, processing aggravation in my temples like it was a migraine. A prisoner had never gotten under my skin, let alone a person. This woman made me hate her but also pity her.
But I had to do what I had to do.
After I brought her dinner, potentially giving her a final meal, I’d call Damien and get this shit over with. I imagined he would come to his sister’s aid immediately, but Catalina made a valid point. If Damien came for his sister, he could never save Anna. So, what would he choose? His family or his lover?
What if I had to kill the woman in my basement? Could I?
If I came down to it, yes. I’d done worse things before. I’d killed women before. She would be no different.
I went to the kitchen and made dinner. I ate my meal while it was hot then brought the rest to her. It was cold and no longer fresh, but since she’d attacked me with a goddamn plunger, I don’t really care.
I opened
the door and began to walk down the stairs.
Then I heard the sound of her tears.
I halted as I listened because I was so surprised by the sound. I’d only known her for a day, but she didn’t strike me as the type of person to sit in her cage and feel sorry for herself. She didn’t seem like a person capable of shedding tears because she was too headstrong, too optimistic. But I listened anyway, listened to her express her heartbreak.
She took a lot of deep breaths to stifle her tears, as if she were afraid I might hear her upstairs. Or maybe she didn’t wanna listen to herself cry. Maybe it made her feel weak. Made her pity herself.
She snapped loudly. “Look, I know it’s been a while since we talked and it’s super annoying when I only come to you when I want something…” She paused to cry for a few seconds, to get her breathing under control again. “But I don’t want something for me. I want something for my brother.”
I could head back upstairs so I wouldn’t have to listen to her pray. But I stayed.
“I know it’s his fault I’m in this situation, so instead of asking for your help, I should ask you to punish him instead of me. If he lived an honorable life, none of this would be happening. But I know he didn’t mean for these things to happen. He would never want anything bad to happen to me. My father. Anna.” She cried again and brought herself back to calm. “I know I don’t show my feelings very well, never indicate how much I actually love him, respect him. I’m always saying stupid shit that really doesn’t matter, but I really do think the world of him. He’s going to be given a choice—to save me or save her. And I want you to save her. If Damien comes for me, I don’t want that… I really don’t want that.”
She was quiet for a while as if she was finished, but the sound of her ongoing tears indicated she just needed time before she could go on. “Let me die instead of him. Let him find Anna and save her. Let them be happy together. I know my father will be devastated, so give him the strength he needs to carry on, to not suffer the way he suffers over my mom every day. I know I’ve done a lot of things I’m not proud of, all the drinking, partying, all the guys… I can’t even count them all, so I hope you forgive me for everything. And I hope you let me go peacefully. Please protect my family. Please bless my family.” She fell quiet as she continued to cry to herself. She had nothing left to say, but the pain of her suppressed sobs showed everything that was in her heart. “Thank you, God. Amen.”