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Her hand strays to the bandage on her cheek. “I don’t know. Maxim, she—she scarred me.” More tears fall faster. She’s sobbing now. My jaw clenches as anger wells up from some vast reservoir deep inside of me.
I close the distance between us. I touch the bandage and begin to peel it off. Siena flinches but I stop her from pulling away.
“Easy, asshole,” Mira says, slapping my back. She’s like a butterfly batting me with its worthless wings. I ignore her and take off the tape.
The bandage comes free and Siena sucks in a sharp breath as the dry blood pulls at the wound.
It’s bad. It’s very bad. Deep and long, from her earlobe to the corner of her mouth. It’s been cleaned, but it needs stitches to fully heal.
And she’s right. It’ll scar.
Agony fills me, white-hot and blinding. I release a growl like a beast, and it’s taking all my self-control not to stalk off and break Zita into pieces with my bare hands. I want to torture the worthless monster until she screams and begs for mercy. I want to twist her mind into bits as her entire world becomes pain.
I hate her with a vastness I didn’t think I had.
“I’m ruined,” Siena whispers. “She did it on purpose. She wanted me to suffer.”
“You’re not ruined.” I touch her other cheek gingerly. My fury bends for a moment. I need to help Siena. “I know a doctor. We’ll get you stitched and fixed.”
“But the scar. I’ll always be ugly.”
“Scars don’t matter. You’ll never be ugly to me, princess.” I kiss her softly, biting her lower lip. “I’m so sorry, Siena. I’m so sorry I wasn’t here to stop it and I’m so sorry I didn’t come before now. I’ll never let them touch you again. I swear it, Siena.”
She sobs then and I hold her tight. I hug her close while more girls filter into the room. They stand and stare, and one of them looks shocked, her mouth hanging open.
“Oh, shit,” the girl says and turns to get away.
“Karmen!” Mira shouts. “Grab Ora. Don’t let her run!”
A scuffle. I can barely follow what happens as fists fly and hair gets yanked. Siena pulls back to watch as six of the girls pile onto one bigger, angry-looking whore. She thrashes and fights but they beat the hell out of her, kicking and punching and pulling her hair so hard it looks like it might tear from her scalp, until they finally subdue her and pin her down on a bed. Siena looks shocked as it happens.
“She’s not going anywhere,” one of the girls says, grinning huge with a bloody lip.
The one named Ora struggles and spits and curses, but she’s pinned down by four other bodies. Her nose is bleeding and her right eye is already puffy, and I think there’s a patch of hair missing from her temple.
“This is your chance, girl,” Mira says, coming to Siena. “You gonna take it or not? We’ll make sure Ora doesn’t tell Zita. You can run.”
“Mira,” Siena says. The pain in her voice hurts me. How could I let her stay here? How could I let any of this happen?
“Go on, get out of here. This psycho Russian asshole clearly loves you. Just get going.”
Siena looks at me. I don’t deny it. She chews her lip and grimaces when the injury pulls.
“I can’t leave you,” she says, shaking her head.
“We’ll come back for her,” I say, pulling on Siena’s hand. “But first, we need to fix our situation. The girls will be safe. I’ll make sure of it.”
“Go,” Mira says. “We’ll always be friends. Just get going.”
Siena hugs Mira tight. I watch the other girls and see nothing but misery etched on their faces. A cold, dark fury has been spreading through my body since the moment I saw the cut on Siena’s face, and I can barely control myself. I’m trembling, shaking with rage. I want to burn this place to the ground.
But first, I have to make sure Siena is safe.
Then revenge.
“I’ll be back,” Siena says. “I swear I will.”
I wrap my arm around Siena and put the bandage back into place. “Leave your stuff. We’ll get you new things.” I steer her out the back door and into the early morning sunlight.
