Page 58 of The Caged Girl

And my God, didn’t it feel nice?

* * *

I didn’t recognize myself as I stood in front of the oversized mirror, brushing my hands against the black beaded gown.

“Mrs. Ivory, it’s time.” A young woman named Anu, who I remembered meeting earlier, came over and handed me a gold ticket. She was the one who hid me under the cart to see Euphoria for the first time.

I took it from her and slid it into my bag. “Thank you.”

She led me down the hall and down to the bottom floor of the resort. “Mr. Ivory is waiting for you.”

“Excellent.” I stared forward and waited for the doors to open so I could exit.

Leaving the elevator, I walked toward the ballroom that had “Cinema” blazed in gold above it.

Two men dressed in all white opened the doors with their heads bowed. Waltzing in, my lips parted. It was mostly dark beyond a screen and stage. Every single row was filled with men wearing black suits and clutching popcorn in their hands.

I walked down the red carpet until I saw him. Alister stood immediately, his eyes trailing my entire body before his gaze locked onto mine.

“Perfection,” he mouthed before quickly putting his hand out for me.

Taking it, I looked around. All the men had stood.

Were they standing for me?

I took a seat and so did they. “Demi, you are breathtakingly beautiful,” Alister whispered in my ear with our hands still laced together. “I think you’ll love tonight’s film production. It’s a mix between an action, romance, and horror film.”

My throat felt dry as a man came in a red-and-white-pinstriped outfit and brought popcorn to Alister and me.

Taking it from his hands, I sat back, and the lights went completely dark.

A black-and-white film started to play, but I instantly recognized the location. It was La Gabbia.

My heart began to race as Declan Rothschild filled the screen. Was this what I thought it was?

This was the man who would take Bradley and Layla’s baby away. This was the man who would raise their child.

He was having sex with the dead woman that replaced me after he had choked me to nearly dying.

Her body flung around as he aggressively defiled her. His moans of pleasure sent chills up my spine.

I glanced over at Alister, who was smiling. This is what our wedding night had been. What was this obsession with…

The scene changed from Declan to one I stopped breathing for.

It was my sister. Layla was sitting in the life-size cage, swinging while another woman was being raped by a man I didn’t recognize.

She was grinning as his hands wrapped around the woman’s throat and he assaulted her. As soon as he finished, he let the corpse fall to the ground before he moved to kiss my sister.

“Just in case you thought Layla was unhappy here, my love…” Alister said before pressing my hand against his lips.

I couldn’t stop watching. The crunching of popcorn echoed around me as I felt my skin crawl.

Another woman came in. Jamie. But it wasn’t really her. Jamie’s face had been peeled off and put on another woman, the stitching on the other girl’s face grotesque.

Bile rose in my throat as tears stung my eyes.

My sister and the man continued kissing and groping the other girl wearing Jamie’s face. She was clearly panicked and pleading for them to stop. I gasped as I watched the flesh loosen around her jawline.

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