Page 195 of Heir

“Boo,” he said, punching me square in the face and knocking me out completely.

* * *

I woke up in a cage.

A black metal cage with no way out.

It was a small cage. I couldn’t even stand to my full height, and on either side of me were women in the same situation.

The girl on my left looked about a few years younger than me, staring aimlessly at the space in front of her.

It didn’t seem as if she was aware of what was going on around her.

The girl on my right was probably around my age. It was hard to tell from her messy hair and the white dress that hung off her thin frame.

She looked strung out, so I doubted she would be any help.

The room we were in was a wide rectangular room, and there were women in cages across from me as well.

Including me, there were twenty women here.

I looked down, finding myself able to breathe a little easier.

At least I was in the same clothes I had been in.

The room rocked. There were no windows, and it was damp in here. A single light bulb hanging from the middle of the ceiling was our only light source.

More rocking.

I guessed we were on a ship, bound for somewhere.

I swallowed down the threatening nausea. The last thing I wanted was to be trapped inside this cage with my vomit—as if no vomit would somehow make my situation okay.

“Hello!” I yelled. “Is anyone there?”

“No one is coming to save us,” the girl across from me said. “You’re just going to make them angry, yelling like this.”

She had black hair cut into a pixie, a small face, and a petite frame. I noticed she was also wearing a white dress. In fact, all the women here wore similar attire, each in a plain white or neutral color dress.

I swallowed, thinking about Jude putting something like that on me.

Fuck.

Tears stung my eyes, and I took a deep breath, trying to hold in my composure.

“Where are they taking us?” I asked.

“I don’t know. Just keep your head down, and don’t draw attention to yourself.”

I shook my head. How the hell—

The door opened, and I tensed. Most of the women started to move backward in their cages, as if they were trying to get away from whoever had walked into the room.

The man walked out of the shadows.

Jude’s eyes moved to mine right away, and he smiled.

I flinched when he got closer to the cage.

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