Page 89 of Inflict

Her hair was blonde.

Her eyes, green.

Just below the hollow of her throat rested a brand scarred into her skin that looked like a scripted C, and it was still angry and red enough to tell Connor it was rather new.

This was not a girl like the others.

She would not be placed in some whorehouse or salon.

She was an order.

She had likely been specially asked for, from her heritage, to her skin, eye, and hair color. Likely a virgin, but they weren’t always pure. Still, untainted by too many others, young enough to be kept for years yet to come, and rebellious enough to be trained properly, if that was what an owner wanted.

She stood in the opening of the container, and stared at each of the men, her gaze lingering on Connor in the back for a while longer than the rest. Maybe it was because he stood far back from the others, or because he didn’t try to approach her like they did when she moved, or even because he didn’t talk at all. He wasn’t sure, but her gaze kept going back to him.

Her hair wasn’t quite the same shade, and her eyes were not as vivid of a green as Evelyn’s, but it was enough of a comparison for Connor to feel like his lungs were being sucked out of his feckin’ chest. It was enough for him to see this slave, this bought for product, this human being, and think, She could have been Evelyn.

That killed him.

“Pretty thing, isn’t she?” Trevor asked as he came to stand beside Connor.

Connor hadn’t even realized the guy had moved. “Young, I would say.”

Trevor nodded. “That, too. Taken off a cruise ship over near Germany, less than a month ago. She’s a hot damn commodity right now—wanted, if you get my drift. Her buyer spent a lot of money to get his hands on her.”

“Is that so?”

“One of the very few orders I’ve had where he hand-picked the girl. Met her once, apparently, a year or so back, when her father brought her over to the States when he was doing business. Made for a difficult pick, but she didn’t fight too much.”

Connor cleared his throat, willing the uneasiness out of his tone. “Her brand—that important or something?”

“His request. We just fill the order.”

“I see.”

“You all right there, Connor?” Trevor asked, a hint of amusement coloring up his voice. “You seem a bit bored.”

Grand.

That was exactly what he wanted the bastard to think.

Sean had put Connor here for a damn reason. He didn’t doubt for a feckin’ second that his father planned on getting a report from his associates about how Connor had acted, reacted, and subsequently worked, while he was under their watchful eye. He hated this—all of it.

Right down to his blood and bones.

It disgusted him.

But until he understood why, until he knew what he could do to never have to stand in this place again and do this, Connor would get the job done.

“What’s first?” Connor asked, turning away from the girl.

She could be Evelyn.

It still rang in his mind like a toll bell, heavy and foreboding.

He pushed it away.

He’d deal with the hell in his head later.