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She lifted herself out of the water with a frown as she looked around the room. “Where is the towel?”
Lady Katrina’s cackle invaded the room again. “Why would you think you’d get one of those? You need to make your own body heat to stay warm. Besides, your erect nipples are the star of the show. We can’t cover them up with a towel. How silly would that be?”
Emotionless and silent, Ari chose not to react. Instead, she walked toward the warmth of the red lamp, which was a source of heat and also a close-up lens for the camera. There’s a chance that someone in the perverted audience would like to lend a hand. She looked into the lens, silently pleading, as she pushed out a few tears. Her ducts were close to being empty, all out of hope for her survival.
“Save the dramatics,” Lady Katrina said.
Just then, the door clicked open, and her captor walked inside wearing a plague doctor mask, a long leather coat, boots, breeches, hat, and gloves. In her hand was a cane, which she twirled in the air.
“Talk about dramatic. I’m not the one who hides behind costumes and wigs. At least this is who I truly am. Ariel Delgado, CityBeats reporter, who lives at—”
“Blah. Blah. Blah. The camera feed is offline for the moment. Why? Because I am going out on the town. I’ve been doing this for a very long time, little one. The generous people who want to jerk off to your death pay to fix the technical difficulties. By the time I return, our little number won’t be so little.”
It was as if the number ticked up a dollar for every second they were off the air.
“Why are you doing this?” Ari asked in the sincerest of voices.
“I like money. Twenty million dollars of it, to be exact. A million for each one. You’re a milestone. And I do plan on celebrating when I feast on your cold, rotten flesh tomorrow.”
Ari gulped. She glanced at the counter, and again, it stroked upward toward its goal. As Lady Katrina turned toward the door, she lifted her cane and pressed it into Ari’s leg. It sizzled with a pulsating charge, causing her to fall to the ground.
“Please. Let me go!” Ari said, gripping Lady Katrina’s leg as she tried to walk away.
The cane slammed down on her head, then smacked her across the face. Her body flew back as Ari gripped her head. Warm red liquid covered her hand where she pressed it against the pain. She didn’t see or hear Lady Katrina walk next to her, but her finger slid over her blood-soaked hand. When Ari looked up, she saw Katrina’s finger in her mouth.
“Oh yes. I’m looking forward to tomorrow. Now go to bed. I don’t need you hurting yourself while I’m away.”
Ari pulled herself from the ground and shuffled to the bed, ignoring the slight discharge of electricity from the cane as it prodded her forward. She wasn’t on the bed for more than a second when Lady Katrina pressed a button on the wall. The chains attached to each of her limbs retracted toward each of the four corners as if they were about to tear her arms and legs away from her body. The more she strained against the movement, the more her muscles seared in pain. Instead of fighting, she allowed herself to drop into an X. Her joints popped just as Lady Katrina pressed the button again. If she hadn’t, the chains would have continued until they ripped each extremity from her torso.
There was no slack. Her muscles cramped. Ari’s panting, laced with hisses, caused her to go lightheaded from pain unlike anything she had experienced. Unconsciousness was just on the other side of fear. All she had to do was close her eyes and slip away.
Life is a matter of choices, and every choice you make makes you.
Ari’s body stilled, lying naked in an exhausted pile of flesh. She relaxed, easing the muscles, ligaments, and tissues into a state of sleep. “I am making a choice to live,” Ari said to herself.
When Lady Katrina’s hands fumbled around her sex, Ari didn’t struggle against it. Maybe what she had done to free her mind helped because she barely felt the vile acts that defiled her.
Ari closed her eyes. Not to enjoy it, but to embrace her reality and live through it. Her mind melted away, taking her body with it to a state where Lady Katrina could no longer hurt her. The woman must have grown tired of the lack of response—the lack of fear—because she stopped fucking her with the electric cane. Lady Katrina said nothing when she left.
With a flick of the light, Ari’s world plunged into pitch-black darkness. She had already faced nothing. Looked at nothing. And on the other side of the void was something else. Her life.
Life is a matter of choices, and every choice you make makes you.
Her mind turned on itself. It sorted through her twenty-four years, drawing a mental pros and cons list of people, places, events, and things. Lady Katrina and everything she had done to her over the last several days. Or had it been weeks? Ari’s internal time clock had ceased when she entered her death chamber. Maxi and The Twins, who had sucked and fucked her. All three with vicious laughs, mocking her and ripping her innocence away. Before that, Terry and his lies. Dylan’s lips. Her hands. The ghost of her finger between her legs driving her mad.
Her mind raced back even further. The struggle. The scrimping and saving. Long hours. Days on the streets. Rejection notices. All that effort and all that pain. Further back. Neurons chased each other in circles as they flashed even more memories.
Happy ones. Smiling. The vacation on the beach. A girl of ten chasing a kite. A best friend who danced on top of a bed with a hairbrush as a microphone. First kisses. Her mother at her graduation. The last words: “I’m so proud of you.”
As if each brainwave met at an intersection, Ari’s emotions crashed into each other. The accident. Phone calls. Rushing to the hospital. The doctor, whose solemn face said her mother no longer existed. Flashing lights. Police. So many faces all talking at once. Her eyes darted down the hall. A woman in handcuffs. Those eyes. That arrogant and cocky grin.
Dylan.
Chapter 28
Contents of drawers tipped out and papers fluttered to the ground as Dylan searched for any clue she could find. After turning over every inch of the office, a small piece of paper sticking out from under the printer caught Dylan’s eye. With a lift, she freed it. Carefully, she unfolded it, and her sweaty hands smoothed it over her desk as she studied it. The blueprints.
Her frenzied eyes examined it, noting the main areas of the club and the various rooms that didn’t exactly exist. As Ari had done, Dylan scrutinized the details. She pulled out her phone, snapped a few photos, and then tucked it back under the printer.
