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‘I imagine very soon.’
He saw the thought cross her mind, it was so obvious.
‘Maybe you could —’
He pushed off the wall and took two long strides, his fingers coming to rest against her mouth as he cut her off mid-sentence. Sadness bloomed in her eyes, then, watery and dull. And resignation. The resignation to one’s fate was always the thing that got to him the most. He preferred it when they still had fight left in them, because fight meant hope.
Once upon a time, he’d wanted to save them all. These days, he was numb to it. But now, with this inexplicable woman sitting in front of him, he almost wavered. The temptation to take her away, to save her, overwhelmed him momentarily. Had she seen? Had she caught sight of the fleeting devastation on his face before he managed to wipe it away again?
‘I can’t,’ he said plainly, to himself as much as to her. ‘Remember? This isn’t a fairytale. I’m not your hero, Ana. Nobody is. Nobody is coming to save you.’
He stopped talking, but didn’t take his fingers from her mouth. Something disturbing stirred in his belly for the girl.
He already knew he wasn’t going to save her. He didn’t want to want to save her. He wanted to forget her. She’d be used, and hurt, and she’d be dead within five years. He knew this with certainty. Girls who were traded in this world never lasted long before it destroyed them, and the Gypsy Brothers had the blackest touch of all.
She blinked her huge eyes, and tears fell from them, running down her cheeks and hitting his hand. He lifted his hand off her lips and brushed more tears from her cheeks with his fingers.
He wanted to tell her she shouldn’t cry. That crying implied weakness. But, as the saltwater leaving her body burned on his hand, he said nothing. Because the minute he left the room, he was going to press his tongue to every one of her tears that had fallen onto his skin and taste how sweet they were himself.
CHAPTER TWENTY
MARIANA
I was so annoyed that I’d cried in front of him. I’d cried on him, right into his hand. I was so angry with myself. Before he left, he didn’t take the cuffs from my wrists, but he didn’t shackle me back to the wall, either. The manacles were heavy, and I rested them in my lap as I sat on the bed.
I had seen a look on his face. Had I imagined it? Just before he had told me that he couldn’t help me. It was a look that said he wanted to, and I sat with my whirling thoughts, the stunned disbelief and helplessness seeping into every one of my pores until I was trembling with the futility of it all.
I was going to be a whore.
I was never getting away.
And I couldn’t decide which one was worse.
My breath quickened as I imagined strangers’ hands pressing me down, hurting me, taking everything from me until I was an empty shell.
I was so confused, so achingly numb. But the numbness was punctuated with fear, random moments of panic that would suddenly slice through me unbidden. He had answered the question of what was going to happen to me, and been smart enough to realise what I was trying to do before I even really realised myself. Making pretty eyes at him and trying to get him to help me. I could tell that he liked me. But I couldn’t figure out how to make that like into something that could save me from the hell that was imminent.
A couple of hours after he’d so graciously fed and watered me, Dornan was back, this time with Emilio. I flinched as soon as I saw the insipid kingpin, my ribs reminding me not to piss him off. I didn’t move from my spot on the bed when they entered, just watched and waited.
I was expecting something nasty, but when he asked me the first question, I definitely wasn’t prepared.
‘Are you a virgin?’ Emilio asked casually.
A virgin? I opened my mouth and laughed, a genuine laugh that started in my belly and spread through the room, unwelcome. I stopped abruptly when the vibration rocked my ribs, gasping and holding my side. I looked past Emilio to see Dornan’s mouth twitching up at the side.
Bang! Before I knew it, Emilio had stepped closer and struck my cheek. I tasted blood.
I cleared my throat. ‘I’m sorry,’ I said in an acid tone. ‘I figured you were joking.’
Emilio grinned.
‘We’ll just have a look, shall we?’
I rolled my eyes, but fear crept into my bones and glued my thighs tightly shut. ‘I assure you, I haven’t been a virgin in a long time.’
Emilio snapped his fingers and Dornan stepped forward.
‘I want you to find out if she’s a virgin or not,’ he said, his condescending expression fucking infuriating.
