Conrad

by Emily Rose

  And that scares me more than Marcus ever could. Miles is my stepbrother. He is insane, he is everything I should run from. Falling for him is definitely forbidden, but I can’t stop it.

  But then there’s Luke. We never actually called off our relationship, but he has been there for me through everything. He was there after my mother left me and my father. He was there when I hit my lowest point. He was always… just there. But I still can’t bring myself to say those three little words and he deserves someone who can say them, even if the thought of that breaks my heart. Luke deserves better than me, but now, he is living this nightmare with me. The nightmare I pulled him into. I don’t know if I’ll ever get the chance to explain things to him. I don’t even know if he’s still alive.

  I don’t know what to do with my thoughts anymore, and I wish there was more I could tell you or, I don’t know, something exciting. I miss you. I miss Noah. I miss the world. That was something I never thought I would say, because I’ve always been an isolated person. I preferred to be alone than with crowds, but right now, all I want is to see the world moving forward. I want to go to a fast food restaurant and order a burger. I want to eat ice cream on the beach surrounded by my family and friends.

  But I can’t. I’m trapped and I don’t see a light at the end of the tunnel anymore. The braveness I had when I showed up here has faded and I just feel… empty.

  I am living in his nightmare, but I can’t bring myself to escape without him. He once told me that I craved his darkness.

  And I do.

  I crave him.

  Love, Lesley

  I pulled the pen away and looked up from the piece of paper to stare out the window instead. I could see over the tops of the trees and the mountains that seemed to go on forever. A lazy fog lingered over them and a cool breeze hit my face. Closing my eyes, I breathed in slowly and then exhaled, letting the fresh oxygen reach my organs, calming them.

  This had been my life the last month. I woke up, did the same thing over and over before I laid back down, only to stare at the ceiling instead of falling asleep. There was no way I could get more than a few hours of sleep at a time, because he could come back at any point and the last thing I wanted was for him to catch me asleep, so every little noise woke me and every single time, my heart would be racing. I had no idea what Marcus would do to me if he found me asleep. I didn’t even want to entertain the possibilities.

  The sound of someone unlocking the door startled me. I rushed to roll my note up and then shot out of the chair, racing to the small piece of brick I had pulled out of the wall some time ago and digging it out. I stuck my hand inside and dropped my note on the growing pile before I put the brick back, spinning around just as the door came open.

  My visitor, the same woman as always, stepped inside. She eyed me with suspicion and then spoke in a frustrated tone.

  “Get dressed. Wear something nice,” she ordered before stepping out of the room and slamming the door behind her, locking it again.

  This moment sent a jolt of adrenaline through me, because the woman had never spoken to me, much less gave me an order. But either way, I knew I had to obey, even if I was unaware of what I might be stepping into. With this thought, I walked over to the wardrobe and pulled the double doors open, revealing a large section of clothes for me to pick from. I had two options when it came to the colors though.

  Black or white.

  And all of them were sexy. There wasn’t anything normal. Like leggings or T-shirts or anything I would normally wear.

  So I grabbed the first piece of clothing that stuck out to me, which happened to be a black dress of some sort. Walking over to the bathroom that was attached to my room, I stripped my current outfit and threw it into the corner of the room before slipping the dress up my body. Once I had it in place, I turned to the overly large mirror and examined myself.

  I had no make up to put on, so it was natural look no matter what. My hair had grown out the last few weeks and curled over my shoulders in waterfall waves. My gray eyes dropped to the dress and I saw with no surprise that it barely covered my ass, hugging my thighs as if they were its only lifeline.

  And I had no bra anywhere in this room to even put on, so the top showed off my nipples way more than I was comfortable with. Not to mention, there was only a thin black strap holding the damn thing up and it wasn’t like I had small boobs, so they definitely filled the dress out and popped more without a bra.

  Which was probably exactly what Marcus wanted. He wanted me to look sexy and he made sure I had no other option, except to go naked. The dress didn’t leave much to the mind, but it was better than walking around without anything.

  I took a deep breath and prepared myself for whatever was about to go down before I stepped out of the bathroom. When I came back to the wardrobe, I scanned the line of shoes I had available and realized that all of them were heels. So I grabbed one pair and slipped them on, without caring what they actually looked like with the dress.

  About that time, I heard the door click again and then open behind me. Spinning around, I saw the same woman scan her eyes over my outfit.

  “Come on, what are you waiting on?” she asked before turning her back on me and heading out the door, leaving it completely open behind her.

  My heart picked up, but I forced myself to stay calm and followed after her. This had been the first time I had been out of this room since arriving here and I took the opportunity to take in my surroundings. The first thing I noticed was that a set of stone stairs led down from my door and there were no other doors.

  Instead of normal lights, I saw that the walls were lined with torches which were being held up by black metal cages. The flames flickered around me, casting an orange glow over the walls, and giving the place an even chiller feel. I seriously felt like I had stepped into some kind of dungeons and dragons game.

  It was a whole other world. I followed the woman down the stairs and stepped into a very wide hallway. Like the walls behind me, these walls also held torches and there was a black rug that seemed to line the entire hallway, covering most of the stone floor. To my left, I saw huge glass windows that looked as if they had cages around them also. The same thin black material that hung from my bed hung over them too.

  The woman didn’t stop walking and neither did I. The heels she wore echoed throughout the corridor and it wasn’t until we neared the end of the hallway that I heard it.

  Music.

  The vibration was so familiar, and it ignited an old feeling inside my heart. I missed hearing music so much more than I thought I would, but I kept these thoughts to myself as we reached huge black double doors that looked like they had spikes sticking out of the frames. The woman pressed both hands against them and pushed.

  My breath caught at the sight that was revealed. This room was huge and a spiral staircase twisted around, leading up to even more rooms. Hanging from a thick black chain that was attached to the ceiling was a chandelier made of what looked like crystals and directly below it, engraved into the stone floor, I saw a huge “C” that had a snake twisting around the letter.

  The head of the snake stopped at the edge of the “C” and a pair of red eyes burned through me as if the thing was alive and watching my every move. Its mouth was wide open, revealing a set of very sharp teeth.

  I hurried past it and followed the woman through another set of double doors just like the other ones. This time, we came into the room that seemed to be the center of attention. The music I had heard earlier blared around me. Surprisingly, I knew the song. The Devil Inside by Like A Storm boomed throughout the huge room.

  And there were so many people. Everyone was dressed in something black and all of them were men. They all stood around the room sipping on wine glasses. As I followed the woman across the room, I noticed that in the center was a large cage. On the floor of it, I saw the very same “C” with the snake painted into the thick material. Unlike all the other rooms though, the walls of this room had actu
al lights, except instead of a normal white light, they glared blue.

  Finally, we came out of the thick of the crowd and I looked up to see a long table that could seat several people, but there wasn’t several sitting down. Almost like my mind was always aware of him, I saw Marcus sitting relaxed into a chair in the center of the table, facing the large cage. He lifted his gaze to mine and I instantly looked away to see that Kevin sat on his right side with a few more guys next to Kevin.

  On Marcus’ left side, I saw all the women or rather girls. There was about 5 of them, me making it 6. Like me, they were dressed for a strip club and also like me, they were incredibly young. None of them held a look that said they wanted to be here. In fact, all I saw on their faces was fear.

  Pure, sick fear.

  The woman leading me stopped at the edge of the table where the only empty chair besides the one next to Marcus remained. “Take a seat and enjoy the show,” she said with a smile before darting off to take the seat beside Marcus.

  I looked at the girl beside me as I sat down, but she wouldn’t meet my eyes and I could see that tears rolled down her face. I wanted to help her, say or do something to ease her fear, but I knew there was nothing I could do to fix it. But unlike her and the rest of the girls, I didn’t feel the same amount of fear they did.

  And I had no idea how.

  Looking away, I listened to the music switch to another song that had a bit more bass to it and watched the crowd of people in front of me. Everyone was chatting and laughing as if all of this was normal.

  This wasn’t normal.

  I had no idea what this actually was, but I knew it wasn’t normal. My blood pumped frantically through my veins and I continued to scan the crowd, waiting for something insane to happen. I didn’t have to wait very long either.

  Suddenly, a man stepped into the cage. He wore all black like everyone else and held a mic to his mouth, stopping in the center of the cage.

  And then he spoke or rather yelled into the mic, “Who’s ready to get this party started?!!” The entire room cheered. It was so loud that I couldn’t even hear myself breath. I jerked my gaze down the table and saw Marcus still sitting in his chair. He wasn’t watching me, but rather watching the crowd cheer with an unreadable expression. This was obviously a night that meant something to all of these people, but I had no clue what was going on here. I shouldn’t want to know, but my curiosity burned like poison in my blood and I looked away from Marcus to watch the guy with the mic step out of the cage.

  But then I saw a man come out of the crowd. He walked straight into the cage and then removed his shirt, throwing it on the ground and yelling as if he were ready for battle. The other men still in the crowd cheered him on as he bounced around the cage. My heart started beating quicker, but I couldn’t look away from the scene unfolding in front of me.

  This man was definitely older, but he was huge. The muscles on this man looked as if he lifted weights all his life and not to mention the number of tattoos that covered it. The song switched to Human by HELLYEAH and I swallowed the fear that had reached my throat as the crowd continued to roar like a bunch of wild animals.

  And then I saw someone come out of the side door that I hadn’t noticed until that moment. My lungs froze when I saw the familiar skull mask, black hoodie, black cargo pants, and black boots. I couldn’t see his face, but since Kevin was currently sitting at the table, I knew it had to be either Luke, Dare, or Miles.

  That was when my fear hit. I watched in silence as he walked up to the cage and then stepped inside. Everything clicked in my mind then. This was a battle.

  But it was a battle for what?

  I didn’t have to think about it too long before the man with the mic spoke from where he stood on top of a table.

  “Alright, I know you guys know the rules, but it’s my job to repeat them each time the fights happen. This is not for the faint of heart. This is fight to the death type shit! But if you manage to beat our fighters, winning the round, you get to leave with one of the lovely ladies sitting at the table next to boss man. But to even enter the fights and get matched up with one of our guys, you must pay up! And let’s not forget. If you win and walk out of here with one of those ladies, you are stuck with her. No refunds on the girl or the cash my friends. Sorry about your luck,” he said.

  My stomach twisted, because it all made sense now. The fear I hadn’t been able to feel this whole time ignited as I watched the buff man look over at us like an animal might look at its prey. But then my eyes went to the man with the skull mask and my lungs locked up at the sight of his face.

  It was him.

  He was here.

  Miles was alive.

  He hadn’t seen me yet, but I didn’t have time to get his attention before I heard a very loud bell and then the buff guy shot forward. I sucked in a sharp breath and every muscle in my body tensed when the man’s fist flew through the air, aiming for Miles’ face.

  But Miles easily stepped to the side, causing the huge man to crash into the cage. He turned around and shot for Miles again, but this time, he put his shoulder down. It connected with Miles’ stomach and shoved him back into the cage.

  I flinched as the crowd cheered them on, but I couldn’t look away from the madness, even though I felt like I needed to.

  My heart pumped quickly, and I dug my nails into the skin on my thighs as Miles locked his arm around the man’s thick neck. And then he spun them both, so they hit the ground at the same time and giving Miles enough time to free himself of the man’s crushing weight. But it wasn’t over yet. The man with the mic had said this was a fight to the death and that thought scared me more than anything else I had gone through during the last three weeks.

  The man shot to his feet and slammed into Miles again. This time, he went down, hitting the hard floor with the other fighter on top of him.

  That was when I really felt the panic set in, because the man wasn’t about to give Miles even a second to get out of the deathly position. He started swinging his fists, hitting Miles in every spot he could possibly reach between Miles’ attempts at blocking him. The skin on my thighs burned with pain and I knew my nails had cut into it enough to bring blood, but I still couldn’t look away from the horrific scene.

  This man was beating Miles. Literally, beating him and despite how strong Miles was, I could see his strength being replaced with exhaustion. If that happened, Miles had a more than likely chance of losing this battle.

  “Come on, Miles…” I whispered, but apparently, it was loud enough for the girl beside me to hear, because she spoke.

  “I feel better when he’s the fighter. He usually wins, which means I get to stay here another week and being here is better than being some sick fuck’s toy, but right now, he’s not doing so good. This is the worst I’ve seen him fight and it worries me,” she said weakly.

  I looked sideways at her, but she was watching the fight. My mind froze on the words “he usually wins,” and my blood went ice cold. Miles had already won one or more of these fights, which meant he had already killed all of those men who faced him.

  Oh God.

  Marcus was literally turning his nephew into a lethal weapon and he didn’t care one bit about the toll it was probably taking on Miles’ mental health.

  My heart broke and I looked back at the cage only to see that Miles was still losing the fight. His exhaustion was so vividly clear, which was probably caused by the incessant weekly fights, and it was going to kill him. He wasn’t given nearly enough time to recover from the injuries before he was thrown into the cage again.

  This wasn’t fair and this was Marcus’ way of slowing torturing Miles until one day, he didn’t walk away from the cage. If he won, he killed another person and he would forever have that blood on his hands. But if he lost, he paid with his life and with knowing that he couldn’t save these girls. I knew Miles would try his absolute hardest to prevent these sick assholes from leaving with any of these girls, even if it wasn’t me
. That was just who he was, and it broke my heart that he was being put through this.

  Suddenly, my anger flared, replacing the fear I felt as I watched Miles continue to block the other fighter’s strikes, but it wasn’t working. He still managed to hit him and I could see the pain clear in Miles’ eyes, even if he kept fighting through the exhaustion.

  The man shifted then. Instead of using his fists, he started using his knees, slamming each one into Miles’ side a few times. It was enough to knock the breath out of him and when the man stood up, Miles rolled onto his stomach where he continued to lay as if he had completely run out of the will to keep going.

  “Get up,” I whispered, and even through my anger, I felt the tears swell in my eyes until they gently slid down my cheeks.

  But the man didn’t stop. He stepped over Miles and locked his forearm around his throat, cutting his air off almost instantly as the crowd kept cheering him on. My heart pounded against my chest wall and I watched Miles slowly start to weaken. I couldn’t take it anymore. I couldn’t sit here and watch him slowly be killed.

  Before I had a chance to stop myself, I shot up from my chair, scaring the girl beside me and shouted at the top of my lungs, “FIGHT BACK, MILES!”

  At the sound of my voice, Miles’ eyes fluttered open and he glanced toward me. Our eyes locked for a split second and something flashed through his bruised and bloody gaze. Something clicked in his mind and he moved before I even had time to register it. Miles somehow figured out a way to spin his body around, so that the man wasn’t behind him and then he twisted, throwing them both back to the ground and freeing him.

  Miles was slow to get up, but he stumbled back to his feet.

  Before the other fighter could regain his stance, Miles got on top of him and started beating the man. There was so much power mixed with exhaustion behind each strike that I could almost hear the bones in the man’s face crack, even from this distance and over the noise of the music still playing in the background.