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Since I had woken and had that brief chat with Amelia, we hadn’t said another word to each other. In fact, she was doing her best to pretend I wasn’t restrained to a metal post no more than six feet from her as she tended to her baby on the couch or the few times she dragged herself into the kitchen. Her first venture in there, she had discovered that there wasn’t any food in the fridge besides beer and old takeout containers. After searching all the cabinets and yelping when a cockroach had leaped out of one of them, Amelia had been able to find some crackers. She ate them slowly with one hand and held her sleeping baby with the other.
Her baby’s cries made my molars hurt. My whole body seemed to clench up at the sound. I hated that I had a front-row seat as she changed her baby’s diaper with a small amount of supplies she kept in a plastic grocery bag, or when she opened her gown and brought him to her chest. The breastfeeding never lasted, though. For some reason the baby wasn’t having it. He fussed and cried against her chest each time. Then Amelia would eventually curse and reach into her grocery bag of supplies and pull out a small premade bottle of formula. The baby had taken to it each time as if he had been starved. Either Amelia’s milk hadn’t come in or her baby had difficulty latching. That knowledge ripped me apart on the inside. I wouldn’t have known that had I not read baby books when I’d been pregnant.
I hated her. I hated her baby, and as the time ticked by, that hate made it harder and harder to remember how important it was to stay calm—to stay clearheaded.
“Did your husband tell you to babysit me?” I snapped when I couldn’t take it anymore. For someone who had been doing their best to ignore my presence and clearly didn’t want to be around me, I didn’t understand why she stayed in the living room. Surely she’d be more comfortable in bed if there was one. From what I’d seen of this apartment so far, I wouldn’t be surprised if there wasn’t.
Amelia finally looked over at me with pity molding her face. “He wants the baby and me to stay in the living room.”
I pulled my cuffed wrists apart with all my strength. The biting pain of the metal digging into my skin was the only thing keeping me from exploding. That bastard wanted me to see what he had taken from me.
I tried to not let anything show on my face, but I must have revealed something. Amelia stiffened and fear filled her pretty ice-blue eyes.
I had to look away from them. I was going to lose it if I didn’t. I made myself stare at a stain in the carpet by my knee and I screamed on the inside. For I didn’t know how long, all I could hear was screaming in my head and all I could feel was the pain I was inflicting on my wrists.
It took many deep breaths to battle for control. If I didn’t regain it, he’d win.
With one last, long, calming exhale, I turned my attention back on Amelia. “Do you love your baby?”
She didn’t respond, but she did bring him to her chest, hugging him close. That was answer enough for me.
“Then you need to take him and walk out that door right now,” I said. “Buck isn’t here, and I doubt any of his remaining gang are around either. You won’t get a better opportunity.” This was my last effort of mercy or kindness or whatever the hell it was.
She glanced at the door, biting her lip. I could see the wheels spinning in her eyes and it was obvious that fear was shutting everything down quickly.
“You see, Buck thinks he has you so well-trained or broken that you won’t leave him. He knows he has you too scared to disobey. But what he doesn’t understand is that love can be just as strong as fear.” I glanced at the baby in her arms for a heartbeat before I had to look away. “Right now, you need to love your son more than you fear his father and get the two of you out of here.”
My words didn’t seem to reach her. She went back to pretending that I wasn’t there.
“You stupid, weak bitch,” I seethed, my control and patience with her completely dissolving.
My words made her wince, and I relished the reaction.
“You will be the reason why your son suffers. You’ll both most likely die because you’re too much of a coward to do—”
“Because you’re going to kill us?” she snapped.
I couldn’t deny it. I wanted Buck to suffer. I wanted him to suffer worse than I had, and I didn’t know what that made me capable of. So instead, I snarled, “You don’t deserve to be a mother. You don’t deserve to know what it’s like to hold that baby in your arms!” As the words left my mouth, evidence of my pain left with them.Damnit!This was what Buck wanted.
Tears filled her eyes and she stood with a wince. She walked away without a word. For a moment I thought she was actually heading for the door, but she veered to the right and disappeared down the hall.
CHAPTERTWO
Amelia didn’t stay away long. I barely had time to relax—well, as much as I could in my predicament—before she rushed back into the living room. This time, carrying a laundry basket instead of the baby. For a moment, I was relieved she didn’t have him, but that relief was snuffed out as she set the basket on the floor carefully before taking a seat on the couch. Through the open slits along the side of the flimsy, white basket, I saw the baby was swaddled inside on a bed of crumpled linen.
The front door to the apartment opened not even a minute later. One of the last three of Buck’s Aryan lackeys walked in. He was a short man. Maybe just an inch or two taller than me. He had a beer belly and greasy dishwater hair. His gaze traveled to Amelia first before it landed on me. He smirked and moved further into the room, heading in my direction. “Buck will be happy to see that you’re awake when he gets back.” His eyes lit up with what looked like excitement and hunger as they dropped down to my chest. “He has special plans for you, bitch.”
I blinked slowly and let out a bored sigh. “I have to pee.”
The Aryan’s smirk slipped a little.
“Unless Buck has a thing for golden showers, you might want to take me to a bathroom before these special plans begin,” I added.
The excited light in his eyes went out and was replaced with irritation.
Ah, shucks. Poor little Aryan is upset that I’m ruining his fun.
I had to bite my tongue to keep myself from smiling as he made his way behind me with a scowl. Shoving his hand in the back pocket of his jeans, he pulled out a little key. He squatted behind me and out of my view. I held back the relief-filled moan that tried to barrel its way up my throat as one of my wrists was uncuffed and I was able to relax my arms forward.
