Page 31 of It Was Always You

“We’ll deal with that later. Spit out why you’re here, we don’t have all day.” I cut his bullshit off.

“See the two are connected really. I mean I didn’t know it at the time but uh Sam? My best friend?” He shifts his weight from foot to foot, doing a good job at studying the floor tiles as if that will help him.

“You mean the guy Cora caught you balls deep in?” I scoff.

He swallows nervously, the gulp echoing in the otherwise silent penthouse, before saying, “Um yeah him. Turns out he was only my friend because he was working a job and he was using me to get close to Cora.”

“Close to Cora?” Jonathan echoes looking as confused as I feel.

“Yeah, turns out he’s part of some Scottish gang? After Cora left me, he ghosted me and then this man called Angus appeared on my doorstep, threatening me to keep my mouth shut about ever knowing Sam or Cora. So I did some digging and…here.” He thrusts a folder at us which I flip through as he rambles on. The folder Corey hands us is filled with information about Angus’s activities and his connections to various criminal enterprises. It also contains a photograph of Sam, someone I feel I should recognize but can’t place.

As I hand the folder to Jonathan and tune back into the conservation, he’s saying, “I hope you understand, given the nature of what you’re telling us, I’m going to have to ask you to go with some of my men here. You don’t really have any option but you’ll be safe.”

Once he’s escorted out, I muse, “Did you see the picture of that Sam guy? He looks familiar but I can’t pinpoint—”

As he flips back to the picture and examines it, he freezes before muttering a curse, grabbing his phone and calling someone.

“Get that new recruit of yours up here now!” He snarls down the phone before turning to me and saying, “He went from playing the role of a spy in Cora’s relationship to playing a spy in our fucking ranks.”

Which means Angus has a man on the inside, spying on us for fuck knows how long.

Fuck.

Chapter 26

The discovery that I’m pregnant was like a match being tossed onto a situation already doused in gasoline.

Being ignored and left to rot in my cell is a memory long forgotten. Instead, I face daily beatings now. With a lot of their efforts being aimed at my stomach. Not on my fucking watch. With what little strength I have, I’ve been doing everything I can to either put up a fight or at the very least protect my stomach from the brunt of their attacks.

Currently, I’m curled on the floor of my cell, arms protectively wrapped around my abdomen, while Thug One and Thug Two alternate delivering harsh kicks to my ribs. As pain takes over and my vision gets blurry, I can’t help but think it would be easier to give up but then I’d never see Owen again. Owen, who doesn’t even know that I’m pregnant. This baby won’t live if I don’t. Giving in to the pain and giving up isn’t an option as much as my body screams at me to do so.

With that thought ringing in my head, I grit my teeth and try to stand. Channelling every ounce of muscle memory from my training sessions with Owen, I land a solid punch to Thug One, before Thug Two pins my arms to my back.

“You fucking bitch. You’re gonna regret that,” Thug One snarls as he advances on me. He stops in front of me with a predatory look, saying, “Yo, T, why don’t we try out the merchandise.”

T, or Thug Two as I had been calling him, chuckles darkly and shifts so he has a free hand to grope one of my breasts. I try to thrash away but that just moves me closer to Thug One who steps so close I’m pinned between them. As they continue to grope me, I can feel them getting aroused which makes me sick to my stomach but trying to get away only seems to excite them more.

“You know, Dan, that might just be the best idea you’ve ever had. My dick’s been desperate to finish what I started in that alley for months now,” T says, grinding said dick against my back. Knowing I was so close to being attacked makes me so fucking glad Jonathan had the Finlay brothers on my tail.

Dan laughs and grinds against my front while covering my mouth to muffle my screams while he pinches one of my nipples, tugging it to the point I seriously wonder if he’s trying to rip it off.

Spotting that damn ring again, I spit at him as I snarl, “How’s your balls? Missing my knee? I can reintroduce them for you if you want.” As I attempt to knee him, he blocks me.

The doctor’s abrupt entrance interrupts this ordeal. She observes us with a cold cool and dismisses them with a cold command, turning off the camera briefly to whisper, “I can’t keep this off for long, but just know, help is on the way, Cora.”

It feels so foreign to be addressed like that. Like I’m an actual person and not just a prisoner or someone’s punching bag. She turns the camera I wasn’t even aware of back on and walks over to me with an indifferent mask on her face.

She quickly checks over me and then leaves.

No matter what, I can’t give up hope because the moment I do, they’ll win.

* * *

It’s a few days later when T frog marches me out of the room. It’s clear that was just the calm before whatever storm that has been brewing.

He yanked a blindfold on me so to say I’m stumbling all over the show is an understatement. With a muttered curse, he yanks harder on my arms and growls at me to watch it.

I hold a snort in because really?

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