Page 26 of Heal Me

18

LAVINIA

I have no idea how long I sit here, staring at the padded walls. At some point, the stunned horror turns into rage that simmers inside me, making me clench my fists and bite down on my molars. Then I just wait—for Dorin to come, so I can let it all loose on him.

When the heavy thuds of his boots echo through the hall and the scanner beeps, I shoot up, fuming as I watch the door open.

“Where the hell am I? What is this place?” I demand before I see him.

But instead of a huge bulky man with a terrifyingly cold gaze, a short, pudgy man enters. Half his face is discolored from bruises, and his grin is lewd like a hungry hyena as he approaches me.

“You really don’t know what this place is?” he says.

I shake my head, backing up a step.

He stops halfway, tilting his head as he rubs his stubbled jaw. “You mean to say thatbig badDorin has been sheltering you all this time? Keeping you like some little pet with no idea what’s going to happen to you?”

Not knowing what to say, I don’t respond.

He takes my silence as confirmation, and his smile grows even wider, revealing a crooked set of yellow teeth. “This is almost too good.” He takes another step, making me back upmore, hitting the wall. “Let me be the one to tell you then.” He closes the distance, and when I try to scoot to the side, he grabs my neck and leans into my face. “You’re here to be trained like an obedient slut. Once Dorin gets tired of coddling you, you’re gonna be sold to be agoodlittle slave, who knows how to deliver thebestblow job. Who knows, maybe Dorin will even remove all your teeth to make it extra nice and soft.” He lifts his brows in an enthused expression.

Disbelief and horror wash over me. I shake my head. He’s lying. I know this is not a mental facility, but there’s no way Dorin would dothat.

“You don’t believe me?” Using his free hand, he removes his phone from his pocket and scrolls until he finds the right thing. “This is all Dorin’s work.”

I squeeze my eyes shut as he shoves a horrible image of a toothless girl into my face.

“Look at it,” he demands, giving me a shake by the throat.

Panting through the horror, I open my eyes and look. A girl with vacant eyes stares into the camera while thick, dirty fingers part her lips to reveal a toothless mouth.

“No,” I squeal, unable to believe it, unable to stand the sight.

“No? That’s not up for you to decide.”

“Let me go.” I jerk against his hand, but he only tightens his grip. Shooting my hands up, I grab onto his arm, but it’s no use. So I try the only card on my hand that means anything. “Dorin will be here any second.”

“Aww, you think Dorin’s gonna come save you? That’s so sweet. The big bad wolf has turned into a romantic.”

“He’ll kill you when he finds out you’ve laid your hands on me.” I’ve felt the possessiveness in Dorin, and I know it’s real. I might not have grasped the full meaning of this place yet, but I know for sure that I belong to Dorin and no one else is supposedto touch me. Slowly, things start to add up—the men who all fear Dorin, never touch me—but I don’t get to linger on it.

He scoffs. “I’ll make sure not to do any permanent damage.” He leans in to whisper into my ear. “He’ll be quite pleased to see that I’ve learned to hit injustthe right places.” With that, he hauls me away from the wall. I’m about to scream, but before I can get a sound out, he shoves a cloth into my mouth. I try to spit it out, but he somehow manages to keep his hand over my mouth while throwing me stomach-down to the floor and straddling me. I keep fighting, using all the energy I have, but he easily ties my hands behind my back and secures the cloth in my mouth with more rope going around my head.

Then he pulls a hood over my head. “Good luck getting saved now. No one will recognize you like this. Everyone will think you’re just another bitch getting what she’s got coming.” He drags me out of the cell and down the hall, sending cold fear through my veins as he says, “I just landed Dorin a job he won’t be able to resist. He’ll be preoccupied for quite a while, and I’ll be long gone once he finds you. Or should I say, the remaining scraps of you.”

19

DORIN

“I have a job for you,” one of the guards says, catching up with me as I walk down the hall, on my way to go upstairs and feed Rex dinner.

“I have somewhere else to be.”

“You’ll want this one.”

“I’m sure I don’t.”

“It’s a full tooth-pulling job.”

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