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Burning pain shoots up my arms as they push long and thin splinters of wood in underneath my fingernails.
But still, I don’t scream.
And I don’t tell them where Rico is.
Next, they try waterboarding me.
My body shakes and my mind is screaming in panic.
But I still refuse to tell them where he is.
I try to convince myself that it’s because it would only doom me further if I confirm that he is indeed still alive. But in my heart, I know that it’s a lie. They already know that he is alive. It’s why they’re here, torturing me, after all.
No, the real reason why I refuse to tell these bastards where Rico is has nothing to do with my own survival. And that realization terrifies me more than the Hands of Peace and the torture I’m being subjected to ever could.
The real reason why I’m protecting Rico is because I feel like he is the other half of my soul that I have been missing.
I felt the first flicker of it that night I was supposed to kill him, and the feeling has only grown stronger these past weeks when I have gotten to know him. He is a part of me. Always has been. A part that the Hands of Peace will never be able to take from me, regardless of how much pain they inflict on my body.
So no matter what these assholes do to me, I will never give them the part of my soul that resides in Rico. I will never give them Rico.
When I pass out for the third time, Derek slaps me awake and curses at me. I just let my head roll to the other side. He raises his fist again, but before he can hit me, Sebastian calls to him from where he’s standing in the doorway.
When did he even leave the room?
“It’s almost time,” Sebastian says, holding up a phone. “He is expecting our call in the next two minutes.”
He. The Master. Waiting for his bloodhounds to report back on their progress.
My stomach lurches as Derek frees me from the chair and hauls me up. Dragging me over to a cage that looks like it’s meant for large dogs, he throws me into it and then snaps a pair of handcuffs shut around my wrists. I just lie there on the ground as he stalks back out and locks the cage door behind him.
“Alright,” he says to Sebastian. “Let’s get ready.”
Lying on my side, I remain exactly where they left me as I watch them leave.
The moment the door has closed behind them, I push myself up into a sitting position and reach around my body towards where I keep my lockpicks sewn into my pants.
Every muscle in my body screams, and fresh blood wells up from the wounds across my chest and abdomen. My fingers fumble, but I at last manage to get the lockpicks out.
I draw in a steadying breath to clear my swimming vision as I start picking the lock on the handcuffs. They click open.
Casting a quick look towards the door, I get to work on the lock on the cage. It takes longer than it usually does, but I manage to get it open eventually. After carefully opening the door, I slip out and run towards the hook and chain that is still hanging from the ceiling.
There is no time for second thoughts. This plan I concocted while I was trying to distract myself from the pain earlier has to work. It has to.
Leaping up, I grab the end of the chain and start pulling myself upwards.
An intense burst of pain flashes through my whole body. It’s so overwhelming that I almost pass out.
Dropping back to the floor, I have to gasp in a silent breath and pause for a few seconds to block out the waves of pain rolling through my every nerve.
Then I leap up and grab the chain again.
This time, I’m ready for the pain so I manage to brace myself for it.
Gritting my teeth, I use only my arm strength to pull myself up that chain. My muscles are trembling. Screaming at me to stop. Blood runs down my chest and stomach from the wounds that I have yet again opened up. But I don’t stop. I can’t. Either I escape now, or not at all.
Once I reach the top of the chain, I throw up an arm and grab the edge of the metal beam that it has been secured to. Everything inside me protests violently as I drag myself upwards. I swing a leg up, managing to get it over the side of the beam. Using that as leverage, I at last pull myself the final distance and roll onto the beam.
