After almost gagging on that man's heart, I'd tried to put myself together and not show how much I'd been affected by what I'd done.
There are some things that even I consider too much. Adding cannibalism to the list now... I almost want to hurl just thinking about it.
And it all had been for nothing.
After the auction had started, we'd watched, observing every single person bidding. But without any additional information, there's just been no way to weed out Jimenez. We might know he's usually at the Block, but if we don't know what he looks like, we are back to zero.
We'd ended up leaving disappointed and maybe with a little more baggage than we'd come in. Which is why I thought of this plan.
Remembering Martin's words that Jimenez had wanted me, I decided that what better way to draw Jimenez out than to put myself on the auction block, hoping he would be the one to buy me. If I go as Bianca Ashby, the odds of him hearing and participating are much higher. And probably our best bet if we ever want to get to Jimenez.
"I know... Fucking hell." Adrian curses out loud. "I'm not letting you do that. You saw what they do with the people they auction off. They fucking dress them in skimpy clothes, put them on display, and then give them to their new owner in a fucking leash. B..." He shakes his head. "No, I won't have you do that. Absolutely not."
"You do realize we have no other way." I try to explain it to him. "We don't know what Jimenez looks like. How are we going to catch him?"
"Then, we won't. I'd rather give that up than know the danger you'd put yourself through. No! And it's final!" He leaves the room and slams the door in his wake. He's probably going to clear his head.
He always does that when he gets too heated. I sink on the bed and sigh. It really is the only way, but I can't make him see that.
I also can't have him give up on this. It's been his goal for years on end.
No... I have to do this. Only then will he be able to be happy... with me. I smile to myself. Yes, if I manage to get Jimenez for him, he's finally going to accept that we are meant to be.
Chewing on my inner cheek, I start planning. He'll never approve this, but I'll just do it first and ask for forgiveness later.
I take out my phone, and I dial Vlad. I've been sensing some tension between Adrian and Vlad, and I'd rather he not catch me calling him.
Indeed, Vlad's not always too forthcoming, but even when he intentionally leaves out information, I know he wouldn't send me into the lion's mouth.
"You idiot." I start. "You knew where you sent us, didn't you?"
Vlad chuckles on the other end.
"I'm guessing it didn't go that well?"
"I had to fucking eat a human heart. You call that well?"
"You got the heart? Pfff..." Vlad sighs out loud. "And here I only got an arm last time. Lucky you." He whistles, and I'm shocked. He's been there too? As if knowing my train of thought, he adds, "You didn't think I'd send you somewhere I hadn't already been."
"You've been there?" I ask in disbelief. Why? This is contrary to everything I know about Vlad.
He doesn't answer, but I'm not too concerned right now, since that's not what I want from him.
"You did realize when you sent us here that the chances of us actually finding Jimenez are null."
"I know." He says casually as if it's a game.
"Then why did you?"
"Your husband wanted information. I gave him what he wanted."
"Fuck you!" I say, and he just laughs. Of course.
"Anything else?" He asks in that amused tone of his.
"Yes. I want to auction myself off."
"Woooow. You really went the extra mile."
"How else are we to draw Jimenez out?" I add sarcastically, but Vlad stuns me.
"I knew you'd go for that."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean... in the beginning, I have to admit, I exchanged the info for the club because it was convenient, but after hearing Martin's words, I realized this would be your best chance at catching Jimenez's eye."
"So you planned this?"
"Planning? No, come on B you know me. I'm not a planner; I'm an opportunist. It just happened that the puzzle pieces fell into place on their own."
"Great..." I mutter but then get to the meat of the problem. "Since you assumed I would auction myself, you must have researched how."
"Now, that is planning." He baits me, but I don't reply. "I've talked to someone. I'll text you the info. But I'm curious. Did that husband of yours agree to this?"
"No, he didn't."
"Sneaky... You do do sneaky best. I'll tell my guy to expect you this afternoon. He'll take care of everything."
"Thanks," I say and hang up.
Vlad is definitely up to something. Ugh. Too complicated to think about this right now. I have one job: to get Jimenez to buy me, and then... well I don't know what then, but one step at a time.
All I can think of is Adrian's expression when he gets Jimenez.
"Bianca," He would say, his eyes full with love. "Will you marry me again? Renew our vows." He would get down on one knee and propose to me again. I would jump on him and pepper kisses all over his face, saying "Yes" a million times.
I shake myself from my fantasy, now more motivated than ever.
I drag my suitcase full of weapons on the bed and proceed to arm myself as best as possible, opting for the smallest but deadliest weapons I have. This is one of those instances where a knife is more useful than a gun. I'm also making sure to add some listening devices in case I manage to drop a few backstage.
After I'm satisfied with my arsenal, I leave Adrian a quick note, and I slip out of the room before he returns, stealing his bracelet so he can’t go to the club at night.
Vlad's already texted me the instructions. I am to go to the club's location, ask for a certain Diego, and show him a code I'd received via text.
As before, I have my bracelet on.
When I arrive at the abandoned factory, I knock, showing the bracelet and asking to speak with Diego. The bouncer looks me up and down before giving me a brisk nod and guiding me to a different part of the club that I hadn't seen last night.
A man is waiting for me in front of the door.
"Diego?" After I show him my code, I ask, and he opens the door to take me inside.
The room is bare except for a few items. It's also the size of a closet.
Maybe it is a closet...
"Vlad told me you want to sell yourself." He adds as he goes to a big bag in a corner and removes a white gossamer dress, some face paint, and a neck collar like the one we'd seen on the auctioned people the other night.
All of the auctioned girls had worn some type of sheer dress, but the colors had been different. Some had worn white and some red, for obvious reasons.
"It's a dummy." He indicates towards the neck collar. "It will emit light pulses, but it will not actually electrocute you. So you must pretend if anyone activates your collar."
"I can do that," I add dryly. It's what I've been doing my entire life. He proceeds to show me how to manually remove the collar in case I need it off.
He then explains how everything is going to go down. I will be dressed in that see-through dress, and I will have to paint my face and body with paint to seem bruised. He emphasized the fact that I must seem unwilling.
"I've already spread word of your presence, as per Vlad's instructions." He adds before leaving me alone for a few minutes to change.
"Wait. What about weapons?"
"You can't take anything with you. I'm already running a risk with your fake collar. Vlad said you can handle yourself." He shrugs and leaves.
Damn.
And damn Vlad. He could have at least warned me... What's his actual game? I mean, sure, I can handle myself, but I will feel a little bit too empty without any weapons...
I shake my head and start taking everything off.
I take some blue, yellow, and purplish paint and do my best to emul
ate some bruises. I add them on my arms, my neck, and on one cheek.
Just to be sure, I add a few smaller ones on my legs. Then I take the red paint and streak some blood in my hair.
After I add the collar and the dress, I look at myself in the tiny mirror Diego had provided, and I'm pleased with what I'm seeing.
He eventually returns and nods at me in approval.
"You will now be taken with the rest of the captives. Once you're there, you're on your own. I can't foresee who will buy you, or if whatever you have in mind is going to work. Whatever happens, I don't know you. Are we clear?"
"Sure."
He then connects a leash to the collar and tugs me out of the closet and deeper underground. Wow... I would have never believed all of this was under the abandoned factory. It's tunnels upon tunnels.
At some point, we take a right turn, and I see cages on each side of the walls. As we walk, I sneak a glance and see tens of people huddled together in one cell.
Diego suddenly stops at one of the cages, opens the door, and roughly thrusts me inside before locking up and disappearing.
I quickly get my bearings and look around. The cage is less than 90 square feet, and there are about five other girls, all of them wearing the same white dress. I see this as my chance to gain more insight into how Jimenez acquires his captives, so I start with a shy greeting.
"Hi," I say and notice that the girls aren't even looking at me; instead, they are forcing their gazes to the ground.
I frown and try again. "Hi there. Do you speak English?" I add that because maybe they are foreigners. No response. They keep ignoring me as if I hadn't spoken a word.
"Don't expect an answer." The girl closest to me whispers to me.
"Why?" I lower my volume to match hers.
"We aren't allowed to speak to each other. They are afraid of getting punished."
"Punished?"
"The guards...they must not hear us speak." The girl continues, her eyes looking outside the cell for any movement.
"How long have you been here?" I ask her, following her example and looking anywhere but at her. I also see the cage across ours and notice the women are all wearing red, not white.
"I arrived here yesterday." She whispers, and it's at that point that two guards appear and aggressively open the cell.
"What did I say about talking?" He smirks down at us, and the girl next to me instinctively huddles closer.
"I was asking about food. I'm hungry." I quickly make up something to take the fire off the poor girl.
"Really?" He looks me up and down in a lascivious way and grabs me by the collar, one hand trailing down my chest. Shit...
"Cabron, dejala. Es blanca." the other guard says, implying that those wearing white can't be touched.
"Pues que quiere que haga? Mirala, se la pide." The idiot continues, and I thrust myself backward, trying to avoid his roving hands.
"Hija de puta!" He curses and backhands me.
Hard.
This time the force of his slap catches me off guard and throws me sprawling on the cage's floor. The other girls all scurry to the back to avoid any punishment.
My hand goes to my cheek, and I feel the sting of it.
I want to spit out what I think must be blood and kill the fucker.
But I can't.
So I pretend.
I start sobbing my heart out.
From the corner of my eye, I see the guard who hit me unbuckle his belt, and for the first time ever, something akin to fear starts growing in the pit of my stomach.
"Cabron." The other guard tells him off again, this time more annoyed.
"You're lucky." The douchebag says, palming and stroking himself in front of me. He stares at me for a few seconds before he locks the door and goes to the cell across. He takes one of the women wearing a red dress and drags her directly in front of our cell's door. He shoves her to her hands and knees and gives me a satisfied gleam.
"See what you caused." He lifts the red dress and throws it over her hips so that her ass is exposed, and without any preliminaries, he impales himself in her.
She gives out a pained wail, before falling silent when he grabs her collar once again and her body spasms from the electrical stimuli. Her head is hung low as she stares at the ground. His grunts are the only sounds filling the air now.
I tilt my head, watching the scene in front of me with tears on my cheeks. I don't really care about the woman being raped in front of me.
Not personally.
Though the act itself goes against everything I believe in, and so, I will remember the face of this fucker. And he will die by my hand.
The other guard is just watching as he pumps in and out of her. He finishes with a moan and clutches at the hips of the woman to stabilize himself.
"No te cansas de mirar?" He gloats to his friend while zipping himself up. He then shoves the woman in her cage and gives me another heated look before leaving.
Now I realize why Diego gave me a white dress. That could have been me.
Hours pass before we are mobilized towards the main area of the club. Hours in which I don't try to talk to the other girls again, not after that display.
We are given food once... if that can be called food. It's no wonder why some of these girls look so skeletal.
I scrunch my nose at the food, but I refuse to eat it. God knows what they could have put in it. The guard who comes to take the empty food containers is the one who was only watching earlier. He sees my untouched food and raises an eyebrow. I refuse to acknowledge him, or anyone really. I need to preserve my strength.
After the unsuccessful dinner, the cages are being emptied one after another, until our turn comes. Guards come in and hook leashes to our collars, and then they proceed to lead us down the corridor in a prisoner row. They take a few turns before we are led in another room that I'm guessing is connected with the stage.
We are the only ones here, so I'm thinking the other people have already been auctioned off, and our category is next.
The guards bark some commands at us and tell us to stay put. Immediately, one after another, girls are being led by their leashes towards this huge double door.
I'm trying my hardest to listen to everything that goes around me while still trying to look as terrified as the girls in front of me are.
At this point, I have no notion of time...
In fact, I'm almost bored waiting for my turn. When the guard comes for me and tugs me towards those same double doors, the only feelings brewing in my chest are anticipation and curiosity.
Behind the double doors is a vast room, the size of a basketball court. It's mostly filled with technical equipment, and a few people are running around checking things. I also see the electric grill in one corner.
The guard leading my leash passes me to last night's host, looking mightily disinterested until he hears my name uttered. Then his eyes widen, and his mouth curls up.
"This should be interesting." He says, and he takes the leash. I again do my best to look scared and intimidated by all the men around me. He pulls me towards the backstage, and without warning, he pushes me onto the stage.
I stumble in the process and fall precisely in the middle of the stage, where the light focuses on me.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the latest addition tonight. The daughter of the notorious Martin Ashby. Someone personally plucked the little bitch from her posh mansion and dropped her on your laps. Let's see how much you are willing to pay for her."
The crowd starts shouting, and with my hair covering most of my face, I cower and furtively look around. I can see the VIP balconies, but the lighting makes it hard to discern who is inside.
At this point, the host's already raising my value, and people are clamoring for it.
It's all going so fast I can't keep track of who is bidding.
"Six million." My head snaps around at the number, and I hear the host again.
"Anyone else?..." No one dares to raise the
number further, so he declares:
"Sold! To El jefe." To the boss? Hope blossoms in my chest.
Two bouncers come and take my leash.
One walks behind me and one in front of me. They take me off the stage, and they lead me back to the tunnels.
Strange...
As I look around, I realize it's an entirely different area than where the cages were located. Even though this is still underground, the pathway is better lit, and instead of cells, there are doors on each side of the hallway. The bouncers stop in front of one of the doors and knock.
"Come in." A voice says from the other side. One of them opens the door and leads me inside. I have to blink twice to let my eyes accommodate to the blinding light.
The room is decorated in a Louis XIV style with a huge double poster bed full with gilded curtains. The furniture is just as ostentatious. At the back of the room, I can make out the figure of a man. He is with his back to us, in front of what looks to be a decanter.
The men push me inside the room and silently take their leave, closing the door.
I take a few steps inside to get a better look at the man. Something isn't right...
The host clearly said I was sold to the boss, but the man in front of me doesn't look old enough to be Jimenez. In fact, he seems to be around Adrian's age.
Carrying a glass in his hand, he slowly turns around, and his eyes look me up and down.
Yes, definitely not old.
"Who are you?" I ask, doing my best to memorize his face. His most distinctive feature is the scar that bisects his right cheek. He is not an unattractive man, but there is something about him...
There is a glint in his eyes that makes me instantly wary.
"Who am I?" He chuckles and casually goes towards the bed, where he makes himself comfortable and continues to watch me. I'm really tempted to glare at him, but I need to remain in character.
"Yes..." I try to make my voice tremble.
"Your new master." He says simply, and I decide to prod a little further.
"You are... Jimenez?" My voice is small, and I square my shoulders, so it looks like I'm intimidated.
"You could say." He smirks.
Morally Corrupt: A Dark Romance (Morally Questionable Book 1) Page 26