AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Pierce.” He smiled brightly and came to give him a man-hug before turning to me, and I caught glimpse of a thick wedding band. Proof I’d been Pierce’s willing-unwilling captive for quite some time.
No way in hell was it quiet news this man had gotten married. I wondered who his wife was.
“You grew up to be a beautiful girl. Lucky man,” he added with a wink.
There wasn’t anything sexual about his delivery, but I had no idea where I’d personally met him before. Surely I would have remembered that? Aside from Pierce, he and his brother were the most attractive men I’d ever seen in my life. And that said a lot.
I gave him a tight smile and kept my mouth shut. It was better to watch and assess rather than knee Pierce in the balls again and demand answers.
“Have a seat,” Elias said from behind us, closing the study room doors. With our hands still intertwined, Pierce led me to one of the leather sofas and sat us side by side. There was a brief lapse of silence before Mateo began to speak.
“I assume you already made the deposit?”
“It was done a few hours ago. Have you made any leeway?”
I understood nothing. A soft rap on the door interrupted Mateo mid-sentence.
“Excuse me.” He stood and strode to the doors, flinging them open.
Someone in the hall began speaking to him in what I believed was Portugese. In the midst of their rapid fire conversation, what sounded like a pained groan reached my ears. I remembered Pierce’s earlier words to not focus on anything that was done around me. The sounds behind me were making that a hard order to follow. Pierce, as perceptive as always, rested his warm hand on my thigh.
I was wearing a simple maroon dress that hit just above the knee. When he started massaging imaginary circles into my skin, it sent an ache straight between my legs.
I kept my eyes on the dark oak coffee table, feeling Elias’ on us.
Mateo returned, but he wasn’t alone. There were three men with him. Two held up a battered man who could barely stand.
A wave of déjà vu washed over me. The man’s face was black and blue, and he was stripped down to nothing but his slacks. Ugly infected wounds covered his torso. I could count the ribs showing through his sunken skin. The sight of him was revolting. I gritted my teeth together, forcing myself to keep quiet.
There would never be a point in time when torturing another human being was okay to me. I knew it could be worse. I could be seeing another girl sold off to a savage or traded to pay a debt. I rather felt like one of those myself.
“Jensen, happy to see you again,” Pierce mused from beside me, sounding way too pleased about this.
“Jensen thought it would be okay to help himself to some pickup money,” Mateo explained.
“Kneel.” he nudged Jensen in the back of the leg, forcing his week knees to buckle. I tried to push Pierce’s hand off me. He stopping moving his fingers and dug into my skin. I bit my tongue to suppress my hiss of pain and to prevent myself from calling him a derogatory name.
“Do you think this will work?” Pierce leaned forward, keeping his death grip on my thigh.
“Well, we don’t need him anymore, anyway. We have her.” Elias nodded to me. Had me for what? Before I could ponder his words too long, he reached down and grabbed Jensen’s hand, snapping one of his long fingers back one by one with a scary ease.
My stomach lurched as the sound of breaking bone and a scream of agony filled the air.
I diverted my attention away from the oddly angled digits, disgusted. Jensen held his injured hand to his chest, full blown sobs wracking his frail body.
“How long do you think it will take him to show up?” Mateo asked, paying no attention to the man in the middle of the floor.
“Shut the fuck up,” Elias snapped, kneeing Jensen in the back of the head.
I inwardly cringed and forced myself to focus on an old globe across the room.
“Sooner rather than later,” Pierce answered.
“Who is Louie?” I couldn’t sit there any longer and pretend to be oblivious when they were talking about me. An elongated silence greeted my question.
Pierce sighed. “He’s your father.” There was no remorse detected in his tone for lying to me. Again. I shoved his hand off my thigh and glared. Had I not just asked him if he knew my father the night before?
“You’re a fucking asshole.” I stood up and made my way out of the room, not caring how upset he got. I needed air. There was a lapse of silence, and then both Remmintons laughed in amusement. It followed me all the way to the front door.
