by Brook Wilder
“How about we find out..”
“How about we don’t. Here’s what will happen, and that’s—.”
“Ruiz?”
I looked up. Khloe was coming down the stairs. She was dressed like she was a wealthy businesswoman, looking perfectly well-kept. She was looking from Fernandez to me and back again in a mixture of horror and outrage.
“This isn’t for your eyes, Khloe.” Fernandez waved her away. “Go back upstairs.”
I sneered at her. “How much did she charge to allow you into her bed?”
“Shut up.”
Fernandez’s expression didn’t change, but he moved so fast I didn’t realize he had moved. He punched me under the heart. Something popped in my chest and it was harder to breathe. Khloe hissed and stormed over to Fernandez, grabbing his arm.
“What the fuck are you doing, Ruiz? I don’t want him here. This is my place.”
“Fuck off, Khloe.” Fernandez shrugged her off as if he was swatting a fly. “We needed somewhere to deal with him, and the secret dungeon you have for those ‘special guests’ is perfect.” He chuckled as he grabbed me by my hair, and shook me like a rag doll. “Diesel likes a bit of rough. We can make it really rough for him.”
I could see Khloe’s face. The madam looked horrified. Her mask seemed to be slipping.
“I can’t have customers in here while you’re torturing him beneath their feet!” Khloe hissed. “They’ll run off once they hear the screams. I’ll lose more business than I already have.”
Fernandez snorted. “Not a chance. Diesel’s not a screamer. He won’t say a word while we disembowel him.” He let go of Diesel’s head abruptly, making Diesel felt like his neck had been snapped in half as his head dropped at a sudden pace. “Too tough for that.”
“Ruiz, stop it!” Khloe protested.
She and Fernandez glared at each other. I managed to pull enough strength to raise my head and watch them. Khloe looked like she had been backed into a corner. For a woman who liked to have control, she was beginning to comprehend that she wasn’t in charge anymore. Fernandez looked down at me.
“Sounds like you’ve got another bitch siding with you. I don’t know how you do it, Jacobsen.” He kicked me in the stomach and it felt like I had forgotten how to breathe for a moment. “Something about you has women being drawn to you like bees around fucking honey.”
Khloe snarled. “Don’t be a fucking idiot, Ruiz. This is my place! My business! I want it kept free of blood. After the blood you drew going through the fiasco of raiding my place, I don’t want anymore.”
Fernandez barked out a laugh.
“No more blood? What about how you treat your girls? I saw the girl driving the car that picked Amber up. She looked like she had been through the wringer.”
“I had nothing to do with that. That was the Russians.”
“Oh, really?” I jumped as Fernandez’s arm snapped out, his hand grabbing Khloe by the throat.
Khloe gurgled and tried to struggle, but Fernandez held her tight.
“How many times have you got your hands dirty, Khloe? Oh, no, I forgot. You always got someone else to do it. Until the bikers pulled out of business with you and you had to do it yourself.”
Khloe growled and managed to push his hand away. Her face was going red with her cheeks spotted with white blotches. She glowered at Diesel before turning back to Fernandez.
“Get him out of here,” she snapped. “You’ve got warehouses. Take him there. I won’t have him here.”
“I’m not going anywhere, Khloe.” Fernandez sauntered over to the armchair and sat, looping a leg over one of the arms. “But you are if you don’t shut up.”
“You’ve got what you wanted from me. We had a deal. Now I just want to be left alone.”
Fernandez rolled his eyes.
“Come on, Khloe, you know me better than that. We had no deal. I make no deals with whores.” I hated the look on his face. The bastard was clearly enjoying himself. “You work for me now, and I can do what the fuck I want with you.”
Khloe’s face was now completely white. She looked like she was going to faint. Even in my state, I felt some satisfaction at seeing Khloe on the back foot. The bitch didn’t deserve my pity; she had got herself into this, and there was no way I was going to help her get out of it. Not after what she had done.
“Get the fuck out of here.” Fernandez’s eyes glinted. “Unless you want me to sell you over to the Russians. They take shit to the next level, from what I’ve heard. And you’ve never been a good submissive. That should be interesting to see.”
Khloe was breathing heavily. She looked furious. But she began to back away, almost tripping up the stairs as she ran up to the lobby. I grunted. “How do you manage to control someone like Khloe?”
Fernandez smirked.
“Easy. I keep her stocked with drugs.”
“You what?”
I never realized Khloe took drugs. She said she hates them.
“Of course she hates them. She never wanted them in the beginning. But I was very persuasive. Well, I and a few others.”
Bastard. “You’ve been forcibly drugging her?”
“For quite some time now. Khloe’s very good at hiding things.”
I was in a daze. I should have guessed that. The drugs seemed to have kept her on an even keel, which was an odd effect. But that was not working anymore. Khloe was starting to crack.
“She’ll be fun to break in. I look forward to seeing that.” Fernandez swung his leg over and sat forward. “Now, let’s do a little something with you. Turn it up a notch.”
“A notch from this? You must be joking.”
Fernandez waggled his eyebrows. Then he pointed at one of his men. “Go and find Amber. Tell her she’s to get in her best clothes and to get down here as soon as she can.”
Amber. I began to panic. She couldn’t see this. The bastard was going to break me if he did that. I struggled, but my strength couldn’t fight the chains, and I slumped.
“You leave her out of this, Fernandez,” I snarled.
“She’s in this world whether you like it or not. I can hardly keep her out of it. And she’s going to see the worst of it today.”
“By killing me in front of her?”
“By realizing that running from her fate is pointless. And her fate is to be left a single mother.” Fernandez paused. “If I allow her to keep the baby, that is.”
I let out a yell and tried to stand. I only managed to get some strength in one leg, but the other was burning with white-hot pain. One of the Cartel men kicked my good leg out from me, leaving me dangling. My shoulder made a loud popping sound as it dislocated, and I began to dangle—painfully and precariously.
“Enough of that now, Jacobsen.” Fernandez snapped his fingers. “Go and get her.”
Chapter Thirty Nine
Amber
What the hell were they doing down there? I had been aware of a basement, but not of what was down there. Khloe had claimed it was for storage, with a special way out in case they got trapped. However, as far as I knew, no-one had ever gone down there.
What was happening to Diesel? I wanted to cry. I didn’t want him to die. This was all my fault. I shouldn’t have run when I did. Then Diesel wouldn’t be here now.
The rational part of my brain kicked in and told me this would have happened, whether I left him or not. If I stayed, chances were I’d be strung up next to him.
I didn’t want to think about what would happen then.
How was I supposed to get Diesel out? I couldn’t exactly waltz in there and take him away. Fernandez might use me as leverage and make me watch. The thought of watching the man I love die in front of me frightened me more than I could admit. My belly was starting to hurt, and the pain was stretching around to my back.
I silently prayed that I wouldn’t lose Diesel and our baby on the same day.
I started when someone stepped up close from behind, sliding himself against me with his hand
s on the banister, and trapped me in.
“We’ve got a new girl now, have we?” His thick Russian accent was like melted tar. His breath stank of vodka. “Krasivaya.”
“Get off me!”
I tried to use my shoulders to shove him away, but I was shoved closer against the banister. His erection pressed against my backside, a feeling that made me want to retch.
“I don’t think you’ve got the choice about that, do you, my sweet?”
“I think I have.” I could feel the bile rising in my throat. “Fernandez has bought me. I belong to the Cartel.”
“Oh, has he?” My hair was lifted off my neck and my head was turned one way and then the other. “I don’t see a mark on you that says otherwise.”
“A mark?”
“We’ve been giving the girls tattoos. It’s so we know which girl belongs to whom, so we don’t have a fight over them. You haven’t got one.” My hair fell to my shoulders and I was spun around. “Means you’re fair game.”
He was rough-looking, dark hair cut close to his head, with a square face and jaw. He was almost twice as wide, with solid muscle, his wrist as thick as my thigh. The leer he was giving me didn’t arouse me. It terrified me.
And I tried. But he grabbed me and pressed me against the railing to the point I was almost bent over backwards, his hand on my throat. All he needed to do was let go and I’d fall over.
I grabbed onto his arm and tried to push him back.
“Get away from me,” I hissed.
His leer turned into a smug smirk. “I told you that you don’t have a choice.”
“Ivan!”
I managed to look around, and saw Miguel, one of Fernandez’s men, coming up the stairs. He had his gun out, pointing it at the Russian’s face.
“Let her go. She’s one of Ruiz’s girls.”
“Oh, really?” Ivan sniggered. “Where’s her marking? I don’t see one.”
“She’s only just come in. And she’s going to be doing something special for him.” Miguel approached them, not lowering his gun. “Now, let her go, or would you want to explain to Torchev how you ignored what he and Ruiz have worked out between them?”
After what felt like a lifetime, Ivan eventually eased me back onto the landing, letting go of my throat. I fell to my knees, half coughing and half gasping. Ivan snarled at Miguel before he walked away, strutting down the stairs.
I looked up at Miguel, who was holstering his weapon. “Thank you.”
Miguel grunted. “Boss wants to see you. In the basement.”
“What?”
“He says to wear your best things.” Miguel waved at my attire. “Pretty yourself up. And don’t be too long about it.”
“What?” I managed to get to my feet as Miguel walked away. “Where’s Diesel? What are you doing to him?”
Miguel stopped. Then he turned back, wearing a scowl that made me shrink back. “He’s none of your concern anymore.”
“I think he is,” I snapped back.
“Not according to Ruiz. You’re his property now. The bikers are no more. Don’t even contemplate thinking they can save you.” Miguel turned away and headed back down the stairs. “Get yourself ready. I’ll be coming for you shortly.”
I didn’t need to be a genius to know what was going to happen. I had seen where Diesel had gone. Fernandez was going to make a spectacle of him, and I would be the captive audience. ‘Captive’ being the right word.
If only I could get hold of Mason. Diesel would have a chance if the cavalry was coming. But I had thrown my cell phone away, and I couldn’t exactly ask one of the girls to call Mason for me.
I was stuck.
Kayla was still in my room, pacing around again as I hurried back in and shut the door. She slowed when she saw my expression.
“Amber?”
“They’re going to kill Diesel.” I ran my hands through my hair, wishing I could rip it out. I had a huge urge to throw something. “I need to get a message to Mason. But I threw my cell phone away.” I kicked at my dresser. “Shit! Just when I need it, I don’t have my phone.”
“I can call him.”
I stopped. I wasn’t sure I had heard Kayla correctly. “What?”
“I can do it.” Kayla squared her shoulders. “I’ve still got my backup in case my original was destroyed.”
“Do you have it on you?”
“I do.”
Kayla fished it out of her pocket. It was a simple old phone, but it would do its purpose. I looked closely at her. “I thought you were scared of Khloe. You know she’s going to find out.”
“I’m more scared of Torchev and his pals than I am of Khloe. And I don’t want to be their puppet that they can string up wherever they want anymore.” Kayla locked eyes with me. “I want out of here.”
The haunted look in her eyes frightened me. Kayla was barely an adult. She had her childhood taken from her, and she had seen things nobody should ever see at such a young age. She was emotionally dying in front of my eyes.
“It’s not going to be easy to get out.”
“I want to try.”
I wasn’t going to argue on that point. I scrabbled in my bedside table and found my notepad, along with a pen that was just about working. I furiously wrote a number down, tearing the paper off and pressing it into Kayla’s hand.
“This is Mason’s number. Destroy it once you’ve used it. I’m going to have to get ready.”
“Why? What’s happening?”
“Fernandez is going to make a spectacle out of Diesel’s death.” I headed towards the wardrobe, opening up the closet and rifling through my clothes. “He wants me there to watch it.”
“Oh, God!”
I didn’t want to stop and think. I had to divert my attention to thinking up a plan, one that would keep Diesel alive a little longer. My hands itched to get around Fernandez’s neck and choke the life from him.
“Call Mason as soon as you can. Then get yourself ready to leave. Don’t let anyone know what you’re doing.” I glanced over my shoulder as an idea came into my head. “And can I borrow some of your pins? The sharp ones?”
“What for?”
I didn’t respond. I didn’t want to scare Kayla with the idea forming in my head.
Chapter Forty
Amber
I once thought the clothes I had in my wardrobe were sexy and enticing. I felt sexy in them once. But now, as I gave them one last glance, they made me feel sick. How could anyone think the barely-there outfits were any good for anyone? They were disgusting.
I suddenly found myself thinking about my unborn baby. If I had a girl and she started dressing like I was dressing now, she’d be grounded indefinitely. No one deserved to be objectified like this.
But this had to be done. I had been ordered, and I wasn’t about to let Diesel down by disobeying Fernandez’s orders. I still had to get him out of there somehow.
Hopefully, Kayla would have made the call while I was having a quick shower.
Hands trembling, I dressed in a red dress that clung to every curve of my body. It showed off my cleavage a little more than modesty would allow, and the skirt felt like a belt. But I knew it would be an eye-catcher. A distraction. I had to swallow my pride and do it.
Coupled with the dress, I picked out my favorite pair of boots. They were knee-high in black leather, with a silver stiletto heel. They were also worn, so the stiletto was close to coming off. But it was sharp.
Which was exactly what I needed.
I let my hair loose and brushed it, touching up my makeup in the process, when Miguel entered the room without knocking. I turned and saw a flash of disappointment cross his face. He had been planning to catch me in the act. Did he think he could get a quick squeeze? I didn’t want to reveal my plans too early.
“That was quicker than I expected,” Miguel grumbled.
“I don’t like to keep people waiting.” I laid my brush down, fingers were still shaking. “Let’s get this over with.”
“You make it sound like you’re walking to your death.”
I said nothing. When it came to Ruiz Fernandez, it was always like walking to your death. He could be charming one minute, murderous the next. You had to tread carefully with him. Taking a deep breath, I squared my shoulders and walked passed Miguel into the hall. I saw Kayla standing at the doorway to her own room, looking decidedly nervous. She caught my eye, nodded once, and ran back in, slamming the door behind her.