AllFreeNovel
Share Us
An uneasy feeling continues to rise in me at his words. I’ve never been one for flattery and compliments much less coming from someone like him.
“How did you know about me?”
“I have men on the inside,” Dick replies dismissively. “Surely you figured that much out at least.”
“Then why wait so long to get me?”
His smile changes slightly in a way I can’t quite describe. “Perhaps I just wanted to see what you would do.”
Ahhh. So, they figured the inmates would sort me out before they had to. Not terribly surprising. I can only imagine they were the surprised ones when I wasn’t raped and murdered like every other woman who has entered those walls. Well, except for Sammi.
“And?” I ask, curious what he was told and what he gleaned from that information.
Gripping his cup, he swirls it once before downing the remainder and walking back over to the cupboard.
“And I will admit, you surprised us all,” he says, chuckling as though he’s actually entertained. “I mean, does that actually happen? A woman mistaken for a man is thrown in prison and contrary to what everyone expects, she flourishes. Thrives, even.”
He makes his way back over.
“On top of that, she gets the most vicious and unstable man in the place to actually give up his own title and takes over,” he takes a deep swig before pointing the cup at me. “Now that is a story worthy of a movie or some shit right there. Shame they don’t make them anymore.”
“Why am I here?” I ask again, feeling the anger rise inside me of his dismissal of Ax, of how good of a fucking leader he really was. Dick, of course, ignores my question again.
“I have been trying for the last decade to get a plan in place to retake The Tomb,” he continues, “Yet you come in and in a manner of weeks, manage to find a way to lead those savages.”
My unease grows as I realize where he is going with this.
“I won’t work for you,” I reply bluntly and his gaze shoots back to me, calculating. He looks tense for a moment before he smiles again, sitting back casually.
“Well, that is your choice,” he says nodding before standing abruptly, throwing his chair back and getting way too much in my space. His breath is hot and heavy on my face and I do my best not to cringe.
“But I will tell you this much,” he says more quietly, bringing a hand up to my face in a mockery of the familiar gesture Ax does, “if you don’t do what I ask, you will be sold. And girl? I promise the men I sell you to are not ones your feminine wiles will work on.”
It takes everything in me to stay still, keep my gaze steady on him but I flinch when he yells for someone outside the room.
When Nick walks in I narrow my eyes at him, watching the fucker closely as he approaches.
“Take her back to her cell,” Dick tells him, now ignoring me and sipping on the last of his whiskey. “And girl, don’t forget. I am far from the worst evil out there.”
With that, I’m ushered out of the room.
Twenty Eight
Axle
Ethan took ten men down below to finish digging through the rubble. With that many, it should only take a few hours. I’m struggling with keeping focused on anything. Insane and horrible scenarios keep running through my head, flashbacks of the past mixed with my mama’s voice. It’s maddening. There are a few new cuts covering my arms, but it isn’t the same. It doesn’t have the same satisfaction it once did. The same feeling, it’s lost.
The fire of killing helped but I almost lost myself in it.
I. Need. Ana.
Thank fuck for Ethan. I don’t doubt he would be holding my mental-ass together regardless, but the fact he’s eager to go find his own woman just adds to his fuel. I don’t doubt he’ll whip those prisoners into getting that tunnel ready in no time.
In the meantime, I get to have some fun.
It’s very early morning by now and a typical time to see the first of the prisoners begin to rise. I don’t fail to notice both the lights and water are still off and make a note to use that.
I walk through the yard with purpose making my way toward the skinhead’s area, a few cells on the lower floor. Behind me Brutus is dragging a sack, a trail of blood trailing behind.
