Page 6 of Jay Bird

Chen’s eyebrows lifted.

It was probably the first time in three years she had openly told him no.

Willow pushed herself up slowly, unsteady as she rose to her feet. Her cheek burned and throbbed where he had struck her, and she could taste blood at the corner of her mouth, but even as fear churned violently in her stomach, something deeper began to surface beneath it. Something stubborn. Something Chen had never been able to strip away fully, no matter how long he had kept her here. A quiet, unbroken part of her that captivity hadn’t managed to destroy.

Willow had spent three years doing whatever she had to do to survive, swallowing her anger and hiding her hatred because she had believed patience would eventually give her the chance she needed.

That chance had just run out, and Willow felt it settle over her like a final, crushing weight. Chen could hurt her. He could even kill her if he wanted to. But she refused to let him cross one line. No matter what happened to her, he was not touching Lily.

“No,” Willow repeated, steadier this time. “You don’t get to touch my daughter.”

Chen’s expression darkened as he took a step toward her.

Willow knew with absolute certainty that if she wanted Lily to live, she was going to have to get them both out of this house tonight.

Before she could register what was happening, Chen grabbed her hair and dragged her into the bedroom he had attached to his office.

“Please. Don’t do this,” she pleaded, tears flowing down her cheeks.

“You should’ve thought about that before you decided to be an enemy,” he said as he threw her towards the bed.

“I’m sorry,” she screamed.

“Apologies are for mistakes, Willow. What you did was a choice, and now I’m going to remind you what happens to those who choose to betray me.” He yanked the belt from the waist of his pants and ran it over his palm. He swung the belt and struck her over her shoulder.

“Stop!”

He struck her again and again as he told her she was nothing but a warm pussy for him to stick his dick in. He degraded her in every way possible.

Willow cried out and begged him to stop. She had fallen to the floor and was covered in welts.

“Please, Chen. I swear I’ll never betray you again,” she told him as she continued to cry.

He fell to his knees and pulled her up by her cheeks. His dark, almost black eyes bore into hers. “Look what you made me do. Willow, you were special to me. So very special. But like I told you when you first came to live with me. This is your life now, and I will say when it’s over.”

Her lips were quivering. She was petrified. She had Lily to think about. She couldn’t let her precious little girl be left in Chen’s hands.

“Please, Chen. I’ll do anything,” she said, the tears rolling down her cheeks.

“Then you need to show me how truly sorry you are. Get undressed, and get on the bed. Convince me to spare your life.”

Her eyes widened. The last thing she wanted right now was for him to have her. She obviously didn’t move quickly enough as he pulled her up by her top, ripping the material and lifting her to her tiptoes. His face was against hers, his spittle hitting her cheeks and eyes. She could smell the alcohol on his breath.

She scrunched her eyes together and tried not to breathe his scent in. The thought of how he was going to degrade her in such a way caused turmoil and disgust to swirl in her empty belly. She half wondered if it would be better if he just killed her.

No! Be strong for Lily!

“Do you want your punishment to be worse?” Chen asked, his voice so eerily calm that it sent another wave of fear crawling over Willow’s skin. “Would you rather I have the men take you downstairs to the dungeon?”

Willow’s stomach lurched. Oh, Jesus. No.

She had never been taken to the dungeon, but she knew enough about what happened down there to understand why the mere mention of it was enough to make some of the women cry. She had heard the screams coming from beneath the house. She had seen women taken downstairs and returned days later looking like hollowed-out versions of themselves. Some never returned at all.

“No,” she whispered.

“Then do as you’re told.”

Willow swallowed the bile rising in her throat and reached for the buttons of her top. Her fingers trembled so badly that she fumbled the first one, and apparently that was enough to exhaust what little patience Chen had left.