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Now if he could get a car…
But there were far too many variables that he needed to consider besides the procurement of a car. After all, even if he managed to steal one, he would likely get shut down by the guards before he could leave the property.
Damn it…
Rafaelo took his lunch package, ready to go to his regular place to eat when he spotted Natalia, a girl he’d befriended in the past few weeks.
She sometimes joined him for lunch, and though he usually preferred to eat alone, he’d enjoyed having someone to make small talk with.
“What happened to you?” He frowned when he saw the ugly, jagged scar that ran in zig-zag across her face.
It was almost as if someone had taken a knife and had purposefully carved her skin.
Her eyes flared with concern as she took a step back, shaking her head at him.
“Natalia? Who did this to you?” he demanded again.
“O-one of the g-guards,” she stammered, averting her gaze.
Although the women had been allowed to join them for work only recently, Rafaelo had noticed that they were better treated than the male workers. Of course, he didn’t know what happened behind closed doors, but he assumed that because they were considered El Señor’s property, men wouldn’t go near them.
It was entirely different for the men working on the temple though, as the guards liked to pick on them any chance they got.
Bullies, the lot of them.
If anyone got hurt, instead of helping them, they laughed and taunted.
That had happened when Jackson had been injured in the tunnel, which had resulted in a potentially permanent limp for the man.
Yet because they wereslavesand as such the lowest of the low, everyone liked to take the piss.
The hard work was one thing, and Rafaelo could get used to it over time. But the relentless bullying was quite another, especially when it became physical.
Rafaelo had experienced it first hand when he’ddaredhelp the she-devil. Because he’d touched her, even to save her, the guards had decided that he needed to be punished.
He’d gotten quite the beating before being thrown in isolation for a few days to learn his mistake, and when he’d been freed from it, he’d gotten one more beating, so he wouldn’t forget his place.
He wasn’t the first, nor the last to experience such treatment from the guards. The more frail ones that couldn’t fulfill the work quota for the day were always punished, to the point that the beatings only made them weaker and unable to work further, as such perpetuating the vicious circle.
“Did he do anything else?” Raf asked, his mind going to the worst.
She shook her head, giving him a tremulous smile before she fled from his side.
He blinked in surprise.
Why would she be so frightened? Unless… They must have done something else.
God, he’d really hoped the abuse wouldn’t extend to the women too, but it seems they had. Since the sex segregation had ended, he’d feared about that on a daily basis. Being a survivor of such abuse, he knew what a toll rape took on the body and the soul. Hell, he’d fervently prayed that no one was suffering such a thing.
But now…
Now he was convinced that the guards were taking advantage of the women.
Just as that thought crossed his mind, he heard a loud noise coming from the back. Rafaelo pivoted just in time to see one of the guards hit the old man he’d gotten close to in the time he’d been there.
His eyes widened just as a red haze descended upon him.
“No more food for you, old man,” the guard sneered and two others joined in, laughing.
