Page 12 of Savior

“Hold. Fucking. Still!” he snarls, grasping my throat in his hand and pinning me with my head over the side of the bed. I was so close to where I could’ve gotten away.

At least, that’s what I tell myself.

“You would’ve liked it. But now, I’m going to make it fucking hurt, little sheep. Because even though I love your fire, I’d rather get this over with. Just like you.”

“What’s my buyer going to think?” I choke out. “You’re damaging goods. He might never purchase a girl from you again. He might bury your entire operation. You’re going to be ruined by me. Because I won’t keep silent.”

He tightens his grip as he looks down at me. There are windows right behind me, on the side of the bed. They cast illumination from the moon over his face. It makes him look more menacing.

“You dare taunt me?” he asks through gritted teeth.

What do I have to lose?

If he’s going to rape me, I might as well try to throw him off-kilter beforehand.

His eyes turn calculating, as if he’s considering my words.

“You’re not worth the fucking trouble. I’m going to charge him double. There’s no fucking way I’ll accept you back. And Iknowhe’s going to want to bring you back.”

His words don’t bother me. I’ve spent my life with two junkies telling me how fucking awful I am. There comes a point when you believe it.

“Get off me,” I snarl, leaning up the best I can and hissing in his face.

“You’re lucky I don’t have the energy to fight you, girl. Or you’d be bloody when I got done.”

He fears whoever is buying me; it was a shot in the dark that he would. Thank all that’s holy for that.

When he gets off me, he takes a moment to stand at the edge of the bed. It’s like he’s still considering his options. I lie there, panting air into my lungs as I wait for his decision.

He turns and leaves the room. The lock turns after he’s in the hall.

I can’t help it. I burst into tears.

Fear rattles in my chest as I roll onto my side and purge it all out.

There’s no way out of this hell, but my fighting spirit might keep me alive, or it could get me killed.

I spentthe rest of the night with my eyes on the door, never falling back to sleep until light crested through the windows near the bed.

“Come on, sleepyhead. We need to get you ready,” a woman says, shaking me to rouse me.

I open my eyes, groggily moaning as I turn over and run them over to another woman dressed in a similar maid uniform to the woman who had bathed me yesterday.

“Why do I have to get ready? I’m being sold today?”

She smiles, but it doesn’t meet her eyes, and I have to wonder if she, too, is a hostage—one he wants to keep.

“You’re going somewhere better than here,” she says, pulling the covers off my body.

I hastily shove the nightgown down because Giani had ripped my panties to shreds the night before.

“You’re sure it’s better than here?”

It’s unbelievable that I’m even considering letting excitement thrum through me at the thought of being somewhere safer than here.

I’d been free a few weeks ago. Now, men who don’t even know my name think they have the right to sell and exchange me like a piece of expensive art.

“Anywhere is better than here,” she whispers as she helps me out of my nightgown and ushers me into the bathroom.

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