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“You have no idea what I like,” he said as he leaned in closer, one hand trailing down my arm to the hem of my pants.
“It’s no wonder you need an unwilling omega with these kind of manners. Get your fucking hands off of me.”
There had been too many attacks and attempts on my life, too many asshole alphas in my past, for me to just take this. If they were going to kill me no matter what, I wasn’t going to go down without a fight.
The door opened, and Danny was forced to step away. An older man approached us. He walked slowly and with a limp, leaning heavily on a cane. The strange part was that he felt familiar, though I couldn't place why.
His hair was slicked back with enough gel to give it a slight shine, and he had a gold tooth in front that distracted me when he smiled.
“Leave us,” he ordered. Danny nodded once before stepping outside. When he turned back to me, he was smiling pleasantly, like I wasn’t bound to a chair in a damp concrete room.
“Is this good cop, bad cop?” I asked. “Let him kick the shit out of me, then you come in and try to win me over with kindness?”
“Oh, there’s no kindness here,” he clarified. The man didn’t stop walking until he was standing in front of me, supporting himself with both hands on the cane as he met my gaze. His brown eyes were unreadable, and I kept my face neutral as I blinked up at him.
“You’ve got fire. I’ll give you that,” he said. The short chuckle ended with a cough, and he didn’t say anything until he had taken several shaky breaths. “But let me tell you, we are not the men to mess with. When we ask you a question, you need to give us an answer.”
“I’ve answered Danny Boy’s questions. He just didn’t like the way I delivered them,” I told him. “I don’t know what you think I’ve got on the senator, but there’s nothing.”
He tutted softly and shook his head like I was a disobedient child. “See, I don’t believe that,” he told me. “I believe you were given an envelope at the gala. Was that the only information you were given about the senator?”
“How do you know about that?” My heart slammed in my chest. The guys were the only ones who knew about this. Was this the man they worked for? Was this what they were protecting me from?
“We have our sources. My eyes and ears are everywhere,” he told me easily. “What was in the envelope?”
“An address. It was a hotel.” I gave him the current name of the place, but that wasn’t a satisfactory answer, given his reaction. He stood strong and lifted his cane like he didn’t truly need it for support. I barely had time to hold my breath before it rained down on me, delivering blow after stinging blow. There was no holding back now. Angry red welts formed on my skin, and pain overwhelmed me.
“I don’t want to hurt you, Bailey. I want you to tell me the truth.”
My sob turned into unhinged laughter at his words.
“You could have fooled me,” I croaked out. “Fuck you! Thatiswhat was on there. Don’t fucking ask me questions if you don’t want the real answers.” I closed my eyes, refusing to look at him. He didn’t need to see me unravel.
“What else did they give you?”
It took me a few moments to speak, and although I expected more pain in the interim, he waited until I spoke. “The name of a ten-year-old girl. I still haven’t figured out what she has to do with anything. He has no known children or nieces.”
“Oh yes, you have. I know you’re not stupid, Bailey. You know exactly what she has to do with all this.”
No, I really didn’t. I could do no more than assume she was part of this trafficking operation or a product of it, but I refused to put words to it.
Silence was also the wrong choice.
More blows landed on my body, first on my neck, then over every inch he could reach. Each one was harder than the last as if he’d lost himself completely.
The torment continued. Danny eventually joined him, asking question after question that I had no answers to. I couldn’t have spoken if I wanted to.
They didn’t believe me when I told them the truth, and they also didn’t believe me when I lied, so I held steadfast to my silence. There was no winning here.
Eventually, someone brought in a chair, and the older man sat down across from me like we were going to have a little chit chat. He tapped the cane on the concrete ground, the sound monotonous enough to feed into my exhaustion. Sleep threatened to pull me under, and that terrified me more than the pain.
While I was conscious, I knew what was happening to me.
If I thought I looked bad after the first attack, it was nothing compared to how I looked now. Every inch of my skin was marked by welts, open gashes, or bruises. I’d be unrecognizable when they found me.
“This is your last chance, Bailey. Give us a reason to keep you alive.”
“I’ve told you everything I know.” My voice was full of defeat. I couldn’t undo my bindings, and I couldn’t satisfy these psychotic assholes no matter what I said.
