That’s when I realized I had to take matters in my own hands. I want to be free, but only now am I realizing the only person who can free me is me—and perhaps Trey. He killed a member of his crew for me without a single snip of hesitation crossing his features. I was shocked, and it had me replaying how he tossed me out of the line of fire on repeat in my head, but since it wasn’t the time to sit down and work through my confusion, I got my head back into game mode.
As I do again now.
“He took her,” I repeat in Czech. “She was right there. He snatched her away.” Sick of the horrifying life I’ve been forced to live the past six years, I dig the tip of the glass in deeper to the vein in my neck that won’t quit pumping out its own tune. It’s been that way since I unearthed Trey’s true identity last night. “If he kills her, I will die. Do you understand? I’ll be dead.” Tears prick my eyes when a wish to live overwhelms me. They’ve been so far and few between the past six years, even I’m shocked by my mumbled confirmation. “I don’t want to die. I’ve barely lived. It’s not time for me yet. Please help me. That’s all I’m asking. I just need some help.”
Nero ensures his gun is pointed at my heart before he steps closer to me. “Don’t,” he pleads when his closeness has me piercing the glass in further to my vein. “I’m trying to help you. You want my help, don’t you?” When I nod, he inches closer. “Then put the glass down.” I stop shaking my head when he asks, “Is it your sister? Is she who you’re after?”
It takes me a few seconds to click on to who he’s referencing, but when I do, my heart launches into my throat. It isn’t a good launch. It reminds me how Achim never strays from his preferred choice—blonde hair, blue eyes, and a slender frame. Even his wife has the same features, so it’s understandable Nero is mistaking Ana as my sister. We often used our likeness to our advantage when the pain of Achim’s demands became too much to bear.
Even knowing Nero won’t understand a word I’m speaking, I can’t help but reply. “I need her back. If I return her to Achim, I’ll be free. He’s sending men to collect her. He knows she’s here.”
Before Nero can reply, Trey returns to the room. He isn’t alone. The man and woman who freed me from captivity only twenty-four hours ago follows him into the room. “What the fuck, Trey?” the dark-haired man grinds out when he spots the glass piercing my neck.
When Trey notices the droplets of blood coating my feet, his response is barely legible since it’s chopped up by the anger clutching his throat. “She doesn’t speak English, and your girl speaks multiple languages, so I figured it wouldn’t hurt to know what her demands are.”
The rattle of his vocal cords reveals how close to the edge he is. He’s on the brink, ready to explode at any moment, which both terrifies and excites me. I snuck out of his room last night because the burden of my freedom doesn’t belong on his shoulders. I walked through the gates of hell hoping to be freed, so I have to deal with the blisters my walk caused alone.
Just like I’ll be the one who falls on the knife when Trey realizes how I deceived him.
My fear takes on an entirely new meaning when the dark-haired man growls, “We don’t negotiate with whores. We tell them what to do, and they either listen or die.”
“We’re not whores,” I fight back in Czech. “We’re mothers, sisters, and daughters. Women who deserve to be treated better than we’ve been.” I shift my eyes from the dark-haired man to the woman he calls hisAhrenwhen I recall what Trey said earlier. She may understand me. “My sister. He took my sister. I need her back. Please.”
It takes me repeating myself another three times before she whispers something into the dark-haired man’s ear. I can’t hear anything she says through the thump of my pulse in my ears, but I’m reasonably sure she’s the only woman in this compound capable of helping me. She has control of the dark-haired man’s heart—just like Ana does Achim. That’s why his wife sent her away. She knew it would be only a matter of time before he gave her crown to Ana. Since she didn’t want that to occur, she sold his favorite whore like the commodity she is.
My grip on the glass loosens when the pretty redhead recites what I tell her to the man using his body as a barricade to keep her safe, “Her sister was here last night but vanished this morning. She wants to know where she went.”
“Her sister was here last night?” the man double-checks after swallowing harshly.
“Spala vedle me, ale když jsem se probudil, byla pryc.“
She struggles to understand me, but she gets the gist of what I’m saying. “She’s adamant her sister was sleeping next to her last night, but when she woke this morning, she was gone.”
When Trey left with my orange, I laid down next to Ana, hoping to rest through the hunger pains ripping through me. My head had barely hit the pillow when my arm was suddenly clutched, and I was dragged out of the room.
Once again, no one came to my aid.
Ana didn’t even budge an inch.
I had barely escaped the man’s vicious clutch when he shifted his focus to Ana. I tried to hold onto her. I gripped her to the death, shredding my nails through her arm as well as the man’s grubby ones had done to mine, but my fight wasn’t enough. He disappeared down the corridor with a half-asleep Ana faster than I could snap my fingers.
That’s when I ran to the kitchen, unaware I was wasting precious seconds.
Tears burn my eyes when the dark-haired man shifts on his feet to face Trey. “Where’s her sister?” I told you the redhead owned the key to his heart.
Trey shrugs, truly unsure. “I don’t know. We’ve got nearly every nationality covered in this room, but none of the girls speak English.”
“How many women did you bring here last night?”
“Seventeen,” Trey answers him after a quick mental calculation. “Six each in the first two SUVs and four in the last.”
“That’s sixteen,” the man roars, startling me so much I jump.
The possessiveness in Trey’s tone can’t be missed when he confesses, “One rode with me.” The blue-eyed man appears as shocked as I felt when Trey separated me from the pack. I was scared by his attention, but if I’m honest, that wasn’t the only emotion I experienced. I was also excited. Not once since the night in the butler’s pantry have I been chosen first, so once again, my wailing confidence craved his attention.
Unease melds through my veins when Trey mutters, “She reminded me of India.”
If I were missing any pieces of the massive puzzle in my head, I’m not anymore. India isn’t a common name like Ana and Sarah, but it grew more popular when India Dvorák married aristocratic royalty, Achim Novak, in a lavish, multi-million-dollar ceremony six years ago. Citizens of Czech have a weird fascination for naming their children after important members of society—even ones that cheat, rape, and steal for everything they have.
