by Nicole Fox
“So you’ve said.”
My tone makes her raise an eyebrow, and I sigh. “I’m sorry, but—”
“She is scared. She is scared and alone, and I don’t want to alienate her.”
I reach out and lay my hands on Eve’s shoulders. She tries to wriggle free, but I hold on. “And I don’t want her to screw up your chances of getting out of here.”
Eve shakes her head. “She wouldn’t.”
“She could. She already got herself in trouble with the Cartel once, and the closer you stick to her, the more you put yourself at risk.”
Eve opens her mouth to argue, but I cut her off. “You saw what happened to Number Five today.”
She closes her mouth, chewing on her bottom lip, and then nods. “I did.”
“Seeing how heartless they were towards that woman only reinforced the fact that I would let every single one of the women here die before I would ever let anything like that happen to you.”
Her cheeks go red, and her brown eyes go hard. “That isn’t right, Luka.”
“I don’t fucking care if it’s right!” I roar. “It’s the truth!”
She drops down on the edge of the bed and folds her hands in her lap. “You always do this. You always come to my rescue when I don’t need rescuing.”
“I know. And I won’t apologize for it, either.”
She looks up at me, clearly surprised that I agree with her. I shrug. “I know that I micromanage everything when it comes to your safety and Milaya’s, but I can’t help myself. My life has always been dangerous, but I’ve never had anyone in it that I cared about as much as I care about you and Milaya. I guess I’m still getting used to what that looks like for me.”
Eve holds out her hand to me, and I grab it, letting her pull me onto the bed with her. She lays her head on my shoulder. “I’m still getting used to what it feels like being loved by someone like you.”
I kiss her temple. “We are both going to have to find a good balance, but until we are out of here, I’m going to err on the side of caution.”
I feel her unhitch her breath to argue, but I squeeze her fingers and continue. “Because in here, any slipup could mean you get hurt. And if you get hurt, I’m going to kill whoever did it, probably getting killed in the process. And if we both don’t make it out of here, there is no telling what will happen to Milaya.”
Eve is silent and still for a long time before she finally crawls away from me and moves to the top of the bed, sliding beneath the blankets. She pulls back the comforter, inviting me in, and I crawl in next to her without argument.
We fall asleep that way, tangled in one another, trying to forget our troubles for a few hours.
I manage a solid forty-five minutes before I wake up to restless legs and a restless mind.
I can’t lie in bed for another minute, so I gently pull away from Eve and get up.
After rinsing my face in the sink and changing into a soft pair of pajama bottoms, I pace back and forth across the room, trying to figure out what I’m going to do next.
The plan has always been to win Eve in the auction, but what after that? We can’t just go home without our daughter. Not when her nursery is sitting there empty. Not when her swing is in the living room and her bottles are on the countertop.
Eve won’t be able to go home until we have a plan, and I won’t either.
Since I can’t call anyone on the outside or leave the inn, my options are to try and get someone on the inside to help. Which, right now, means Joel Foli. So, I wrack my brain trying to figure out how I can get him to help us.
Aside from paying his fee, I’m not sure what other way I could persuade him. Especially since we are in a silent feud over my wife.
Plus, I can’t even tell him Eve is my wife. Not while the auction is still going. Not while I’m weaponless and trapped inside the Cartel’s inn. He could use it to have me kicked out or killed, ensuring he wins Eve.
Somehow, I have to talk him into helping me without Eve being part of the bargain.
“Luka?”
Eve is sitting up in bed, her eyes squinting against the shaft of light coming from the bathroom.
“Sorry,” I whisper. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“You didn’t,” she says. “I had a nightmare.”
I sit on the edge of the bed and hold her hand in both of mine. “Are you okay?”
She nods. “Are you?”
“Yes.”
“Liar.” Eve smiles, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. She repeats my words from earlier. “Tell me.”
I explain to her what I know about Joel Foli and what I’ve been thinking about how to get Milaya back.
“I noticed his limp in the bathroom earlier,” she says.
I frown. “The bathroom?”
Her cheeks flush and she tries to move past it, but I insist she tells me the story. So, she does.
“He cornered you?” I growl.
She squeezes my hand when I try to stand up, as though I’m going to dart out of the room and knock on every door until I find his. “I got out. It was fine.”
“It’s not fine. He shouldn’t have scared you like that.”
“In some sick way, I think he believes I want him,” Eve says. “He was trying to seduce me.”
I grit my teeth, biting down on my lower lip hard enough that I think I might draw blood.
“Maybe it isn’t all bad,” Eve says. “Maybe we can use it to our advantage.”
“What are you talking about?”
She runs her fingers nervously across the comforter. “Well, we need his help and clearly … we have something he wants.”
Her meaning hits me all at once, and I rocket to my feet, shaking my head. “Absolutely not. No fucking way.”
“But if it means getting our daughter back?” she asks.
I hesitate. “Of course I would do anything to get her back, but—”
“No buts. Either you’d do anything or you wouldn’t. Which is it?”
I growl at her wordlessly, and she gives me a sad smile.
“I know you don’t like it, but we have to consider that it might be the only option.”
“The last option,” I say, wagging a finger at her. “Using you is the absolute last option. I will figure something else out.”
She opens her mouth to argue, but I don’t let her. I’ve conceded enough tonight.
Instead, I lie next to her, spin her around so her back is against my chest, and I wrap an arm around her middle. Then, I kiss the back of her neck and whisper against the shell of her ear. “Go to sleep.”
“You too,” she teases, bumping her ass back into me. “You need the rest.”
Eve’s breath goes slow and even again, but I can still feel the tension in her shoulders, as well as in my own. We are together, but each night, our troubles seem to crowd in closer and closer until there isn’t room for much else besides the fear of what is to come.
16
Eve
Knocks on the door pull me from sleep. I feel Luka stir next to me, and then we both curse at the same time.
“I overslept.” I grab the clock next to the bed and groan when I see that it is already 8:00 in the morning.
Luka opens the door and invites Kari inside. “She is running a bit late this morning.”
Kari presses her back against the door, looking like she would rather be anywhere else in the world but here.
Luka, still half asleep, walks back to the bed and kisses my forehead. “Give me a second in the bathroom and then it is all yours.”
Kari’s eyes widen at our affection and ease, and I stiffen. Such a stupid, careless mistake. I can only pray she won’t say anything to anyone else. I don’t think she will.
When the bathroom door opens, she holds out a red silk robe and a pair of black thigh-high boots. “How fast can you be ready?”
I run a hand through my hair and decide there is enough hairspray in it from the day before that I don’t need a shower. “I c
an get dressed and clean up in the sink. Ten minutes, maybe.”
She nods and then turns away while I dress. “You two seem comfortable together.”
“Yeah,” I say hesitantly, not sure how much to give away. “I suppose we are.”
She hums, clearly disapproving. I wonder how many times she has seen something similar happen at these auctions. “He seems nice.”
“If you don’t mind me asking, what is your experience with the Cartel?” I ask. “I know you said you have been with them for years, but how did it happen?”
She stares down at the floor.
“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. I have just been curious.”
“No, I can tell you.” She takes a deep breath and tucks her pale blonde hair behind her ear. “I fell in love with a man as soon as I moved to the city. I was young and had only been here a month. I didn’t know anyone, so we spent all of our time together. He was so sweet to me. And fabulously wealthy. He showed me a life I had never known before—fancy restaurants, nice cars, beautiful hotel rooms. I was pampered more than I ever had been in my life.”
“Sounds nice,” I say, waiting for the catch.
“It does, doesn’t it?” She stares straight ahead as though she is looking at a movie screen I can’t see. Then, she blinks and shakes her head. “I thought he loved me, so when he told me I should be more open to public affection when we were together with his friends, I listened. It was the least I could do after everything he’d done for me.”
“Affection?” I ask. “What does that mean?”
The silk robe barely comes to my mid-thigh, and when I tie the belt around my waist, the slit goes high enough that you can see the black lacy underwear I have on. I try to adjust the material to cover more of my body, but it is useless.
“Kissing,” she says. “At first. Then sitting on his lap, massaging his thighs, straddling him. When I tried to refuse, he would tell me that I’d do anything for him if I loved him. He would question my devotion.”
“That isn’t fair,” I say.
Kari nods and opens her mouth to say something else, but just then, the bathroom door opens and Luka steps out. A billow of steam wafts from behind him, and I realize he took an incredibly fast shower. I was so distracted by Kari’s story that I didn’t even notice the water turning on or off.
“All yours,” he says, stepping aside to wave an arm into the bathroom.
Kari clams up as soon as Luka is in the room, pressing herself against the wall.
Luka dresses slowly, and I clear my throat. When he turns around, I nod to the door. He gets the message.
“Let me get dressed and then you two can have the room to get ready,” he says, quickening his pace.
Kari is a silent statue until Luka pulls me in for one chaste kiss on the lips and then leaves to head down for breakfast. As soon as the door closes, she turns to me. “You two are really comfortable together.”
I gesture for her to follow me into the bathroom. “Keep telling your story while I get ready.”
“Well, I did everything he asked, but over time, his demands grew more and more uncomfortable,” she says, leaning against the bathroom doorway. “First, he wanted me to have sex with him in our bedroom while we had guests over. Then, we had sex in front of people.”
I gasp. She nods sadly. “I know. But at the time, it all felt so normal. I knew it was strange, but everyone around me acted like it was commonplace. I thought maybe I’d just gotten involved with a relaxed group of people.”
“He was grooming you?” I ask, taking a guess.
Instead of answering, Kari keeps talking. “Then, he wanted me to have sex with his friends. I tried to refuse, but he told me it was rude to walk around in the skimpy clothes I wore and tease them without offering them a little taste. I wanted to deny him, but he threatened to leave me. And by that point, we were living together. I didn’t have a job or a house or any money. And I was afraid what my family would think of me if I told them. So, I did it. I thought maybe it would just be the one time, but it happened over and over again. Sometimes, multiple times in the same night.”
Tears well in the back of my eyes, but I try to hold them in. I have a feeling Kari doesn’t want my pity.
“By the time I realized Edgar was part of the Cartel, I was already in too far and—”
“Edgar?” I gasp, clapping a hand over my mouth.
Kari’s face turns a deep red, and she nods. “I guess I gave it away.”
“Edgar was your boyfriend?”
She nods. “I thought so, at least. Now I realize I was just a stupid girl who he fooled into loving him. He never cared for me. Our relationship was all for the Cartel.”
“And you can’t leave?” I ask.
She lowers her chin, looking up at me from beneath pale eyebrows. “You saw what happened to the woman who tried to leave yesterday. Do you think I want to end up facedown in the lawn in a puddle of blood?”
“Good point.” I twist my hair back in a low bun and smudge eyeliner around my eyes, stepping back from the mirror. “I’m ready.”
When I get to the bathroom door, Kari stops me. “I’m telling you this because I want you to be careful.”
“Too late,” I say. “I’m already up for auction.”
“Be careful with your guy,” she says, pointing to the bedroom. “He may be sweet now, but things can change in an instant. Protect your heart.”
I want to tell her the truth—give her some sliver of hope that maybe Luka and I will be able to do something about the Cartel once we are on the outside. But I can’t risk it. So instead, I thank her.
“I do have a good feeling about him,” I admit. “But I won’t forget your story.”
“That’s all I ask,” she nods. Then, she leads me out of the room.
Instead of taking me to the lounge like every other morning, Kari takes me to the back of the inn where the servants’ quarters are. When we get there, the slaves are all gathered in one central room with concrete walls. Edgar is counting heads and then nods when he counts me and realizes we are at thirteen.
“We are meeting here today because I want to give you all a moment to gather yourselves and perhaps even practice a little bit.”
I look around and realize everyone is wearing the same thing today. The virgins are still in purple and everyone else is in red, but we are all wearing the same short robes and high boots.
“Today is about performing,” Edgar says. “Every day has been a performance, but now that the week is nearing the end, you want to do whatever you can to ensure these men want to bid on you.”
Or else you’ll be killed.
The words hang unspoken over the room.
“You need to show these men how willing and eager you are to please them. So, one by one, you are going to do your best to please me.”
Up until this morning, I knew Edgar was a monster simply because he was involved with the Cartel, but he was a strangely sexless part of the operation. Now, however, I can see the lust in his eyes as he scans the women in front of him.
He nods for Number One to step forward as he sits down in a chair. He directs her movements until she is straddling him and circling her hips on top of him.
It is obvious how much he is enjoying it when the girl stands up. The bulge in his pants is hard to miss.
Just as he said, one by one the women come forward and do whatever he says. Some of them kneel in front of him and massage his thighs as Kari mentioned. Others suck on his earlobe and kiss his neck.
The rule all week has been to avoid anything explicitly sexual, but clearly that rule does not apply to today’s activity.
When he gets to Maddie, she steps forward on trembling legs.
“Hurry up,” he commands, waving her forward impatiently.
He commands her onto her knees, which she obeys, but then he tells her to unzip his pants.
All of the air seems to escape from the room. I feel frozen, and Maddie must feel the sam
e because she doesn’t move. She doesn’t even appear to breathe.
“Now,” Edgar demands.
Maddie jumps and then reaches for his crotch. When her hand brushes along the front of his pants, Edgar groans slightly, and Maddie pulls back, covering her face with her hands and whimpering.
“Not again!” he shouts, flinging his arms to the side in frustration. “You haven’t pulled yourself together yet? There are only two days left in the auction. Do you want to be the last woman left standing after everyone else is gone?”
Maddie’s shoulders begin to shake. Her sobs start quietly but grow in volume as her emotions take over.
Edgar stands up and kicks at her, softly at first. But just like Maddie’s crying, his anger only grows. His second kick is a lot harder, and it sends her splaying across the concrete.
“I’m sorry,” Maddie sobs, wiping at her eyes with the backs of her hands, smearing her makeup. “I’ll do it. Sit down, and I’ll do it.”
“I give the orders,” Edgar says to Maddie and the rest of the room.
He grabs her by the front of her shirt and pulls her to standing only to pull his hand back and crack it down hard across her cheek. She slumps to the floor again, and I can’t watch another second.
I dart from my spot in the line and reach for Maddie, but before I can, Edgar hits me too.
The slap stings across my cheek, and I barely have time to react before he wraps his hand around my arm so tightly I wince and begins dragging me back into line.
“And you,” he growls through gritted teeth. “You are worth a lot of money, but I’ve had enough of your insubordination.”
He pushes me back into position and lifts his hand like he is going to hit me, but he doesn’t. He takes a deep breath and then lowers his hand to his side, smoothing down his shirt and vest.
“You deserve a more thorough punishment, but you are as good as another man’s property at this point,” he says, glaring at me. “I wouldn’t want to damage you before the purchase is final.”
Edgar turns and stomps towards Maddie, hauling her to her feet. She winces, thinking the same thing I am, that he is going to continue hitting her, but instead he pushes her towards me. “We are done here for today. I’m sure I’ve given you all a good enough example of what will happen if you don’t perform the way you are expected to.”