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Sara’s anguished gaze stops me in my tracks. “Zain, please,” her voice breaks as tears stream down her face. “It’s not too late.”
Until now, I never considered Sara’s ghost for more than a brief second. My fingers twitch with the urge to reach out and comfort her. To pull her into my arms and beg for her to understand this is how it has to be.
Instead, I suck in a breath, step around Sara, and pull the front door open. I don’t look back as I jog down the stairs and to my car.
“She always did see the world through rose-colored glasses. That didn’t change after death.” Azrael taps a finger on the dash.
He’s right about one thing, that girl came into the world with those fuckin’ rose-colored glasses. Only seeing the beauty and none of the pain.I should have done more, tried harder. I wanted her to be a kid, but it was my fuckin’ job to prepare her, to make sure she was strong enough.
I want her to wear them as long as she can before the real world rips them from her face.
And isn’t that exactly what the fuck happened? Her beauty, her happiness, her innocence. Tell me, what kind ofGodshows you a glimpse of something better, something more, only to rip it from your grasp?
“You know that is not how He works, Zain.” Azrael turns his head to look out the window. “He is not malicious. He does not find happiness in our pain and suffering.”
Slamming my hand on the dash, I shout my frustration. “Yet here I am, consumed with pain and fucking suffering.” Another punch, then another until my barely controlled rage begins to subside and I can focus on what’s important. Sara is dead. And though she continues to haunt me, nothing will bring her back.
***
For years, the Heaven’s Guardians have spent countless hours ridding the world of filth and depravity. We searched them out and determined their worth based on the weight of their sins. We captured them, tortured them, and took pleasure in their pain as they passed from our world to the next.
Tonight, the scum of the earth has gathered at one of Demonio de Hielocartel’s warehouses to participate in an auction. Up for bid? Girls.Younggirls.
“Mr. Cyler, Phillip said you’d be coming. I’ll show you to your seat.” The woman, a tall brunette in a tight, black dress and six-inch heels extends her hand and I follow her through the growing crowd.
With every step I take, I glance from the corner of my eye, searching the guests for familiar faces. Liam combed through the guest list and cross referenced any associates with the Heaven’s Guardians, so even though I should go unnoticed, I’m not taking any chances.
Chapter 10
Isadora
24 hours earlier…
Darkness covered the compound and silence lingered in the air along with a thick, almost choking shroud of tension.
The steel gates opened, and with my wrists bound, I was led back into the compound the way a traitor would be paraded through the streets of a medieval village. All that was missing was the crowd throwing stones and shouting “Shame, shame, shame.”
My father stood in the doorway of the mansion, his face blank. On either side of him, two men stood with their hands over their guns.
“Isadora, thank God you are safe.” He spoke those words in a tone that would have me believing he was truly concerned for my welfare. The hand that gripped my bicep said otherwise. He tightened his fist and drew me closer. “You will pay for this, daughter. Dearly.”
God, what have I done?
My hate was a palpable thing, poison lurking beneath my skin, begging to be set free. God, how I wanted to say those words out loud. Instead, my knees buckled, and fear laced with disgust took over, sending shivers down my spine.
My father clenched his fist around my bicep to steady me before he gave me a shove and stepped back. “Throw her in with the others.” He waved a hand toward his men. “At least this way I’ll make some money off of her.” He turned and walked inside without a backwards glance, slamming the door behind him.
***
Now…
Naked and shivering, I wrap my arms around my knees and huddle in on myself. Around me, fifteen girls await the same heartbreaking fate.After we were chained to a grate in the bathroom floor, we were hosed down from head to toe.
Pin pricks of icy cold water assaulted my body before an old bar of soap was thrust into my chest.“Wash yourself, slut. Get all those cracks nice and clean.” Dark eyes perused my wet, naked form and a smirk curled his lips. “I inspect every inch… inside and out.”
My stomach clenched as I washed myself, my eyes on the steel shower base. Every drip of water that fell down the grate made me wish I was nothing more than water, flowing, dripping, escaping through the floor and floating away to freedom.
True to his word, the second the water turned off, his hands violated our bodies. I held back an excruciating wince of pain when he parted my ass cheeks and shoved a finger in.
