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“She’s looking for me?” The question felt more internal than external. She meant it for herself, a subconscious question that didn’t need an answer.
“Yes. You know our little Dylan, always so spunky and fearless. Gallant. Your knight in shining armor has declared her noble challenge is locating you.”
The horrible thought of what she had done over the past several days or weeks churned her stomach. Even if Dylan were to find her, she wasn’t worth saving. She’d never be able to return to her after the despicable acts she had performed on herself. Ari said nothing.
Condescension dripped from Lady Katrina’s lips as she pointed to the camera with the red light. “I’m sure she’s watching right now. Do you want to say anything to her?”
The question brought Ari upright, with Lady Katrina’s help. It was odd for this woman to be kind and gentle when days and hours before, she had been a coldhearted villain. Her mind teetered, weighing the words she should say with those she wanted to say. There were no happy endings. No fairy tale romances. Her mother never got one. Life was a cruel bitch that took advantage of good people. And love? Life took love from her too.
She opened her mouth, though she doubted anything would come out. “Dylan, I am sorry,” said Ari as her voice cracked. Then she stopped and glanced at Lady Katrina next to her.
“Is that all you want to say to the woman who wants to be your savior?”
No. She needed to say more, to send Dylan running the other way. To the camera, she said, “I’m sorry. There are things I’ve done that I can’t take back. I’m not the woman you fell in love with. This place. Your world has changed me.” Then, her face lit up as if the surge of electricity that Lady Katrina had assaulted her with had finally materialized into energy. Her cryptic words had to be meticulous if she were to convey her location and surrender to Dylan’s life. “This might have started off as a job, but I fell in love with you. Until you, I never understood what it was like to be complete. I have no regrets. There is no cotton candy. No yellow underwear. And when you realize all of that ... No cotton candy. No fucking panties, Boss. You will know you do not belong in Adytum. Now, make Lady Katrina your bitch!”
Just then, Lady Katrina’s hand connected with Ari’s face so forcefully that it knocked her unconscious, and she returned to that birthday celebration on the beach.
Chapter 30
Pure, unbridled rage.
That was the only way to describe Dylan’s anger as she stormed through the grand ballroom on the hunt for Cooper, who wasn’t behind the bar.
“Cooper!” Dylan shouted, and the roar that followed shook the window panes as she ran toward the arena.
The empty La Prizonye did nothing to calm her rampage when she couldn’t locate Cooper. Ari’s confession and the image of Lucy’s battered face spiraled her out of control. Any object within her path was subject to her fury. Within minutes, the classy dark wood tables lining the edge of the arena became fragments of kindling. She launched larger pieces of wood across the room, smacking into chairs, tumbling them like bowling pins. Dylan’s mind was void of coherent thought.
She hurled her muscular frame, two steps at a time, onto the stage toward the display of kinky instruments, sweeping up the rattan cane she used days before. Memories of punishing Ari flooded into the mix of emotions taking over her body. Autopilot engaged as tornadic ferocity ripped through everything in its path. Dylan kicked open treasure chests, scattering the contents into those empty seats awaiting spectators. The once strong and tall Saint Andrew’s cross splintered in two at Dylan’s hand. Her fury assaulted everything until she picked up the bench and slammed it down onto the stage. The force of the impact caused an echo to ring through the arena.
That hollow sound, accompanied by a slight shift of a board, pulled Dylan’s attention back to the moment. She studied the stage while catching her breath. There was a bump in the middle of the Persian rug beneath the bench. After pulling it aside, she noticed a small metal ring attached to the flooring.
Hidden rooms existed in Adytum, one being a viewing room for torture porn. The possibility of anything existing below never crossed Dylan’s mind. Not until she hooked her finger into the ring and pulled, opening a trapdoor revealing a steep and dusty staircase.
Using the flashlight on her phone, she descended toward the unknown. Particles of dust danced through the light as her feet disturbed the layers with each step. At the bottom of the stairs, there was a long corridor that appeared to go on forever. It must have run the expanse of the building underneath Adytum.
In the distance, Dylan saw a light source. Small and bright. It illuminated the end of the tunnel. Uneasy, she pushed forward, hoping it would lead to Ari and Lucy. The thought of the two people most important to her in danger caused her cautious steps to quicken. Her breathing increased, matching the pounding of her feet echoing around her as she bounded toward the light.
A wave of unease washed over Dylan as a familiar smell invaded her senses. An odor she had not experienced in years. Not since her premedical days in college. Back when she thought saving the world meant saving herself. The closer she came to the light, the stronger the odor became. In the lab, this smell was innocuous, but at the end of this corridor, it was something else entirely. Dylan fought the speculation growing in her mind and tried to stay positive. Despite the smell, it could only mean one thing. Death.
The end of the corridor revealed rows of glass cases, much like suspended animation pods in the spaceships of science fiction movies. Each held a brutalized body. Women of varying ages. Some names and faces Dylan recognized as former working girls. Each body had a door behind it, giving the impression that the display case was to be opened from within. Disgust coursed through her veins as she realized she had been blind for years. This was why she couldn’t locate the former employee she had wanted to date. She was in a visual tomb within the dark chasm of Adytum.
This was the work of sick and evil people and had nothing to do with BDSM. Maxi and Lady Katrina were attacking everything she loved. They turned a beautiful lifestyle into cruelty. But they made a huge mistake. They made the mistake of hurting the woman she loved. They’d pay for it. All of it.
Around the halfway point, she came to an unoccupied case, empty and awaiting a corpse. Horror washed over her when she read the marquee headstone. Ariel Delgado. Shocked to see her name, Dylan searched the edges for a way inside. The empty case gave her renewed hope, but she wouldn’t have peace until Ari was in her arms alive.
She had been so preoccupied when she noticed Ari’s case that she failed to notice the other side. Dylan spun around, trying to find a button or a switch. That’s when she saw two empty cases. Lucy’s and her own. This wasn’t just about destroying her, this game was to rid the world of her existence. Her death and those closest to her. This was no longer Ari’s survival, or Lucy’s. It was her own.
She looked into the empty case with her name on it. Inside the glass was a mirror. Dylan peered at herself, distorted in warped glass like a carnival mirror attraction. How could she make such a choice? There were three lives at stake. Maxi’s cruelty knew no bounds. A fact Dylan saw in the deformed persona that Maxi groomed over the years. She could no longer look at the monster in front of her.
“Fuck!” Dylan clenched her fist and slammed it through the glass and didn’t stop until she shattered the mirror and the person looking back at her.
She clamped her hands around her head as if in a Vise-Grip, forcing the decision to ooze from her orifices. She had to choose between the woman who had captured her heart or the woman who was like a sister.
Desperate, Dylan decided. She frantically examined the empty cases and ran her fingers around every seam and edge. Just behind the nameplate, her finger slipped into an indentation within the wood. She pressed down, and the hermetically sealed door made a whoosh as it slowly opened.
Anxiety encased her the moment she stepped into the claustrophobic space. The sensation of the unstable floor added to her unease, but finding a way behind this second door was more important than any phobias. Obstacles like fear be damned! Finding her was the only concern. She squatted and ran her fingers along the edges of the floor and the wall. The search for a catch or a release of some sort came up empty-handed.
She pinched her eyes closed as if trying to expel any light that remained behind her lids. “Think, dammit!”
