“I heard you,” I holler, sneering. Anger like coal glows deep in my belly, slowly smoldering into a fire.
In the five days he kept me here, I didn’t get a chance to negotiate with him or probe for information. I wonder why the exchange hasn’t happened yet. Perhaps he’s waiting for me to accept my fate and submit to his authority. My children are the perfect discipline weapon against me. Or maybe he’s still negotiating with the Cades and Mark.
I slip out of the cold bath and pat my body dry, picking the underwear piece the evil bitch chose for me. It’s a hot pink lace bodice with satin stripes, crisscrossing over the torso. It’s the most beautiful thing I ever saw, and yet I loathe every perfect detail, and mostly what it entails. In five days, I’ve had time to think and play out every gruesome scenario.
If the Cades agree to Lester’s terms, my children will be safe, but Mark and I will remain in his degraded hands. Lester Belington will break me and sell me as a plaything to the highest bidder. Either way, I won’t escape this depraved resort unscathed. I know what awaits me. I probably won’t survive it, at least not my soul and definitely not my heart.
On autopilot, I do all the grooming the she-devil insisted on and pull on the lace bodice that hugs my curves, sucking all the air out of my lungs. Just on time, as she unlocks the door and barges in.
Her cold observing gaze travels up and down my frame, and then she barks, “Good, let me do your makeup and then your hair. You are a mess.”
But I don’t care about her. She isn’t the one I’m afraid of.
“Have you seen my children?” I bite my lip to stop my quivering chin, hoping she’ll tell me this time.
Her hands still for a moment, but I receive no answer just a sharp tug on my hair, burning my scalp as a response.
“I need to know if they’re okay, if anyone has hurt them.” My eyes fill up with tears, and I force down a sob. “That’s all, just this small favor, please.”
And at this moment, I grasp why no one used their names in front of me since I arrived here, because it will be way too easy to see me as a human, not a thing to be broken and used. But her face stays motionless as she works like she never heard me. My helpless tears run down my cheeks as she curls my hair.
When she finishes, she passes me a cotton pad to clean up my face. I try not to smudge her work. “They’re scared and haven’t stopped crying ever since they got here, but otherwise Mr. Belington kept his word.”
A whoosh of relief leaves my lungs like a little spark of joy glowing in my chest.
“But if your family fails his terms, this will change. Your boy and girl will be a great addition to his toy collection, don’t you think?”
The thought of my babies being raped and used for other people’s depraved needs coils my guts until I expel all my dinner at her feet. All the strength leaves my body, and I almost fall into the vomit puddle, but she catches me and puts me on the chair.
“Get yourself together, because your family isn’t the only ones that shouldn’t disappoint Mr. Belington,” she breathes the words into my ear and they sear my mind like flesh with a hot poker. “Tonight, it’s a big night for you. Your lover is here for a grand show and so are your in-laws. After tonight the life before this won’t matter.”
She straightens and starts to fix my makeup, putting blush to my ghostly pale face while my mind recalls Mark’s words. I have seen evil and darkness like you’ve never imagined. Except, I’m about to become a plaything to those monsters Mark was talking about. He was right. Some truths are impossible to comprehend. They’re better left in the dark because, in the daylight, they have the power to destroy you.
After she fixes me up, she grabs my elbow and hauls me through the door. “Put these on,” she orders, and I comply, too numb from stress. I wobble on my feet in red lacquer heels, but the evil bitch steadies me and then she slaps me.
The shock of the sharp sting burning my cheek wakes me up from the stupor. I gasp as she thrusts me toward the guards, who enter the room as soon as she calls for them. I stumble into the closest one’s hands. They both wear expensive black suits ready for the party, and I can see my distorted reflection in their polished lacquer shoes. I snicker to myself as my heart stutters like a bird in a cage, trying to escape its captors. Even their deadly accessories are polished. As is their enslaved bird’s feathers—fluffed to perfection.
The guards seize my armpits and carry me downstairs to the event that will end me. I don’t even try to fight. No, I’m ready to let them burn me alive if they just let my babies go.
I thought I was ready to face whatever they would throw at me. I thought, if I encase my heart into the numbness spreading through me, I’d be able to block it. But as soon as we arrive, my heart plummets to the ground, and I choke on a sob. I find my babies, kneeling in the middle of the room, dressed as animals.
“Mommy,” they scream, weeping, their eyes huge and pleading. “Please, Mommy,” they beg, shrieking as the panic overcomes their little hearts.
Mine fractures and splinters seeing them like this, shackled to the ground. “Let them go. Let them go!” I scream, trashing in their hands. “Let them go!”
The pure inferno roars in my veins. My whole focus zeroes onto those who’re threatening my children. I see red and jolt into action. All I see is flashes of me fighting, moving in well-trained sequences and their stunned expressions.
Somehow, I seize a gun and turn it on the guards, my lips curling in a sneer. A clapping sound echoes like bullets from behind me, encasing my spine in frost.
“Well done, Cassandra. Very well done.” His amused voice raises the hair on my nape. “You are a quite unique but dangerous creature, aren’t you?”
I slowly turn around to find him kneeling behind my children. A tremor runs down my stiff spine and tears like acid burn my eyeballs.
“Good kittens.” He strokes their heads as he watches me.
He doesn’t even need to tell me to put the gun down. It slips through my fingers to the floor of its own accord. Horrified, I watch him beam to my children, clutching onto each other. I will claw his eyes out of his sockets so he’ll never be able to lay his vile gaze on them.
“You know, this isn’t how you submit.” He grins at me, amused with my rebellion.
My head snaps to the snickering crowd hidden in the shadows, and I realize he expected this reaction from me. Perhaps like a bonus performance to show off my assets.
“I’m not submitting. I’m surrendering,” I hiss a retort as his lips brush my daughter’s head. I step closer to shove him off her.
“On your knees, Cassandra.” The order resonates in the space, and his harsh command stops me in my tracks. My knees buckle as he winds his fingers in my daughter’s hair and I lower down to the floor, watching his gaze fill up with cruelty as he scans my body. “Slave position.”
I hesitate, digging my gaze into his, ready to strangle him with my bare hands. Not in front of my children, you monster, I scream at him with my defying gaze, burning holes into his skull. Lester rises to his feet and saunters toward me with a sadistic intent on his face.
His fingers coil into my hair, holding me way too gently as he lowers his mouth to my ear. “Look around, Cassandra, the moment you jump to your feet, my men will rain down bullets on you and your children. You’ll die in the puddle of their blood and yours.”
“Remove my children from this scene,” I whisper to him, knowing he has better methods to punish me than death. Besides, I’m too valuable an asset to ruin it. “And I will.”
He brushes his lips against my exposed neck and sinks his teeth into my flesh. I scream in pain as he pierces the skin and sucks on my blood like a monster. His gaze blazes with depraved lust as he licks his lips.
“Take care, Cassandra, or I might decide to keep them as my personal playthings. Now, play your part”—he grasps my chin, jabbing his dark pits into me—“slave.”
My eyes seek my children, and I get a glimpse of them when he shifts
his frame slightly on purpose.
They look like two frozen kittens caught in headlights as they watch the scene unfold in front of them. When Lester stands and I lower to a submissive position, my hands stretch farther away from my body as if in an offering.
“You can do better.” A cane hits my tight, and I flinch, holding back a whimper but giving him what he wants.
“Bring our guest of honor,” he demands his guards stationed around the platform.
As soon as the guard leaves, the lights dim, shrouding my children and me in welcoming darkness and leaving him in a spotlight. “Mommy,” my daughter's voice snakes into my heart.
“It’s okay,” I whisper, and Lester brings the cane down my side, and sharp pain explodes on my nerve endings, rendering me speechless.
When the door opens, I lift my head from the floor, and I see Helen striding toward Lester, dressed in white. Perfect red lips stretching into a welcoming smile.
“Helen of Troy, aren’t you a dazzling beauty?”
She stops few feet away from him.
“Where are my grandkids?” She stretches out her hand, and he brings it to his lips.
“Where is your husband?” he counters, beaming at her.
“Saying goodbye to Mark.” Her eyes glaze over, but her smile remains as wide as before while she speaks with him. “The funds have been transferred.”
Instead of watching their exchange, I look at the dark spot where my twins are swallowed by the shadows. Hoping to get a glimpse of them, to tell them how much I love them both. All the things I won’t be able to do or to say once they leave, I want to pack into that one goodbye.
My chest vibrates with sadness, running down my cheeks in rivulets as my heartbeats count seconds before we part. But they remain hidden in the dark. The two little lights that saved me from the fate worse than death. Their baby cries as they demanded to be fed, or laughs echoing around the house as they played. First steps and first words, a delight that filled me up every day.
I squint my eyes as the light blasts the spot I am in. A gasp filters through the space as I crane my neck to look at my mother-in-law. This time her perfect mask cracks at the seams, and I see the person I once met before Christmas, before life broke us, before sorrow drowned us.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Lester whispers into her ear, watching me over his shoulder. “I promise she’ll get what she deserves. For all the sorrow she caused, she’ll pay with her body and soul,” he promises her, as the conversation in the cafeteria we met a few weeks ago seeps into my mind.
If you want to protect your beloved children, you will do as I say.
Her heels click on the dark hardwood floor as she closes the distance between us. Helen kneels next to me, and I sit back on my heels, locking my gaze with hers.
“Take care of them,” I whisper, and she nods. “Don’t punish my children for my mistakes.”
She gently strokes my cheek, brushing away a curl like a mother would to her daughter. My chest vibrates with injustice, but I have no choice but to hope this woman has enough love left to protect my babies from these monsters.
“Wipe away your tears, Cassandra, you are a Cade. We don’t show the world our weaknesses. Don’t embarrass me,” she harshly barks, passing a tissue from the pocket of her crispy white pants. I take it, looking for a slither of humanity I could reach and tug to the surface. But she stands and leaves me kneeling in the spotlight surrounded by the monsters.
Then the lights dim again, leaving me in the shadows and the spotlight exposes my children huddled together.
“Hey, little kittens, come to your grandma.” And they jump into her arms, seeking someone familiar.
“Where’s Mommy?” Leon asks, trying to find me over her shoulder, but I’m hidden from them.
“Mommy, where are you?” Liane shouts out, hiding in Grandma’s embrace as Lester’s presence intimidates her.
“Let’s go, the helicopter’s waiting for us. We’re going home,” she promises them.
My chest draws in a shaky breath as someone unlocks their collars and frees them. Helen pulls my children out of the room and away from this nightmare. They dig their feet into the floor, looking over their shoulders and calling for me. But I don’t answer. I keep my lips sealed, afraid Lester might change his mind.
Relief floods me as I watch them leave. I love you more than you’ll ever know. Doors shut and then I sit on my heels, waiting for the auction to begin. The soft lighting illuminates the room, revealing every single player dressed in black in this theatre room. They don’t even bother to conceal their faces. And I realize it’s because I won’t be getting out of here alive.
“Gentlemen, let’s bring our extra treat for this evening’s indulgence. A slave who though he won’t be penalized for disobedience and escaping his master all those years ago.”
My blood chills as he speaks about the man I love like he’s some sort of animal he owns.
“It’s time for his master to serve punishment and for you to win a chance to break Mrs. Cade into this world of decadence.”
The bile rises up my throat as I see the bulge in his pants while he speaks about raping me. But what really astounds me are these men sitting in this room. Anticipation’s buzzing in the air as their eyes caress my curves with depraved hunger. There are so many of them. My skin crawls from their attention as my eyes stray to look at those who will break me or watch me break.
This is their safe island for their degrading tastes. There is no law or consequences for what they indulge in. We are the stock, expendable when depleted and quickly restocked. But what makes me choke on the bile is that my children will be around these people, who can afford such indulgences. They will grow up around the monsters.
The doors bang open, and Mark strolls into the room with guards shadowing him, pointing their guns at his back. Mark keeps his frame straight, defiance and scorn written all over his handsome features like an armor of steel. His whiskey eyes fixed beyond this reality look empty, defeated.
His muscles ripple as he walks like menace filled with testosterone and vengeance. And my heart skips a beat as the guards shove him toward the Saint Andrew’s Cross someone just pushed in the center of the room just a few feet away from where I kneel.
Once he turns around, his gaze snaps to me and focus returns. I stare at his face, losing all the color and shadows, consuming the flicker of light. My chest starts to vibrate as it finally hits me what is about to happen to us both.
“Ladies and gentlemen, let’s begin the bidding.”
My teeth start to clatter.
“Five men will get to break in the feisty Mrs. Cade in front of the rest and then the highest bidder will claim the prize.”
“Let her go!” Mark roars like an animal and starts to thrash in his binds, reacting to Lester’s words. “Me in exchange for her, remember?” His legs kick the guards who try to secure them, and the cross swerves a little from the pure force of his rage.
But when Lester grabs the whip from the guard and brings it down on him, my heart stops. I jolt, hearing a cracking sound like thunder resonating in space. Horrified, I see a red welt of blood seeping from the broken skin across his naked chest. I scream.
My throat aches, but Lester keeps flogging him without any mercy. When he finishes, thick silence feels like a void. I gasp, trying to draw in air that seems not to exist anymore. The metallic taste of blood seeps into my lungs.
“Forgive us for the delay, but my slave needed a reminder.”
They chuckle as if he said something funny and begin to bid like nothing happened.
The movie starts to play on the screen, and my insides tighten, realizing what he meant to do with the record. He’s playing our stolen moment of happiness as a promo advert for these sick fuckers.
A whimper leaves my lips, and helpless tears slide down my cheeks.
Our eyes meet across the room. My heart stutters in my chest as I see love reflected in his tormented gaze pulling me in, pouring all
the warmth into my chilling soul. His skewered skin gapes open, bleeding, but he still finds the willpower to adore me.
Mark mouths to me, “I love you,” bleeding those three words at his feet.
I manage to mouth back, “I’m sorry.”
We both stare at each other, while our hearts, tangled together in a firestorm of rage and hate, love and lust, resentment and helplessness, are about to be undone forever.
He shakes his head as tears start to pour down his cheeks. “I need you to listen to me, Lovebird,” he huskily pleads and my mind zeroes on his words instead of on the widescreen movie of us two, playing in high colors and sounds. “You need to find a space deep inside of your mind, where you were once happy and whole. I need you to go there and hold onto that memory, no matter what happens here. Do you understand me?”
I gape at him. My heart rebels against the thought of leaving him like this.
“Do this for me, Cassandra, please.”
And I whimper, shaking like a leaf.
“Do it right now,” he demands. “For me, Lovebird. Do it for me. I won’t be able to survive if I know you’re here.”
“Mark.” I gasp as my voice box no longer seems to cooperate.
Instead, my eyes are drawn to his chest, where a beautiful island hovering in the air is tattooed on his chest like a piece of heaven. A safe harbor, protecting his beating heart, is tied like a balloon to the center of his breastbone, where an unusual scar is running down like it was made with a scalpel.
“Go to your sons when they were alive and stay with them. Find Logan and let him protect you. Hold onto every beautiful memory you’ve ever made. I know you can do it because that’s how you survived their loss. Find that place again and stay there, okay?” he croaks as if it’s hard for him to breathe through all the emotions bombarding him.
Tangled IN LIES (Book#3, IN YOU) Page 30