Page 50 of Heal Me

“What are you doing?” I croak as he dons surgical gloves and disinfects my throat. Somehow, I just know he’s not giving me the easy way out by killing me. He wouldn’t go through all this trouble of strapping me in tight for that. Dax is going to make me suffer for what I did.

“Don’t worry. I’ve done this to a lot of girls over the years. I even got a few to practice on before filling an order. Only one of the early ones died from complications. I’m very good at whatI do. Unlike Dorin, I haven’t cost Mikhail much merchandise loss.”

A wicked smile gleams in his eyes as he lifts a syringe and aims it at my neck. “I really hate to sedate you for this, but too much muscle movement will heighten the risk of complications, and I want you to live to feel this.”

I scream as the sharp needle sinks into my neck.

“That’s right. This will be the last scream coming up your throat.”

Terror becomes a thick haze over my brain as the sedative seeps in, stealing my scream, stealing my voice. All I can do as Dax sinks a scalpel into my neck is flit my eyes back and forth and sink my nails into the padded surface until they break.

32

DORIN

The first thing I do when I get back is to search for Zoltan. I have a nagging urge to go check on Lavinia in the padded cells, but I tell myself it’s just out of habit. Chances are she won’t be in her cell. If she’s even here, she might be with Zoltan, and I’m not giving him a minute longer to hurt her.

Once again, nothing is like I thought it would be as I pick the lock on the suite assigned to Zoltan at four in the morning. Barging in, I find the room dark and the son of a bitch sleeping peacefully.

He sits up with a start. “What the hell are you doing in here?”

“Where is Lavinia?” I ask, watching him closely from across the room. I’m not making the same mistake as with Jan, killing him quickly. With this fucker, I’ll take my time, make it slow and painful. He’ll suffer ten times as much as Lavinia did at his hands.

“I should ask you the same thing.” He stands up to face me straight on, arrogant and reckless in believing he has any say here—that he’s safe. “I want hernow.”He shoots his finger toward the ground in a demanding gesture. “I paid a fortune, and then you idiots take her away. You’ll lose so much business over this when I tell my contacts how unprofessional this place is.”

I stalk toward him, and I almost laugh as it slowly dawns on him that he probably shouldn’t speak to me like that. He remains in place, but I can tell it’s a struggle as his chin goes higher and his posture goes unnaturally straight. This guy may think he’s seeming all confident and powerful, but I can smell the fear rolling off him.

My cock stirs in my pants as I grab him by the throat and lift him into the air.

“What the hell are you doing,” he demands, but his words come out wheezy, and his brave façade crumbles as I squeeze, allowing him only just enough air to remain conscious.

Panic makes his eyes go wild as he grabs on to my hands and digs his nails in. I grunt at the delicious sensation as he breaks my skin. It makes me feel alive, and my cock swells at the feeling of his desperate, futile struggle.

I hold him in the air for a minute, imagining his screams as I break in his ass and snuff out the last flicker of his pride. But I have lots of other things I want to do to him before that. First, I need to stow him away somewhere he can’t escape, and then I need to go find Lavinia and feel her in my arms.

Releasing him, I deliver a punch to his face that knocks him out before he can find his footing. Then I fling him over my shoulder and carry him down to the dungeon, where I throw him into a cell. I strip him of the few clothes he’s wearing, shove a butt plug up his ass, and chain him to the wall.

Finally, I make my way to the padded cells, relief calming the pumping adrenaline in my veins as I imagine having my songbird back in my arms. But something nags at me as I press my finger to the biometric scanner. Even as I open the door and see her lying on the mattress, I know something is wrong.

Her back is to me, and she’s lying completely still. She’s not in the straitjacket, and my memory flickers to the night I foundher biting her arm, nearly killing herself with the sheer force of her teeth.

I rush to her, turning her, looking for blood. Looking for signs of life.

I don’t find any blood, but I don’t find much life either. Her chest is moving, her pulse beating, but her eyes are vacant. She doesn’t even look at me, not even when I grab her chin to direct her attention to me. Her eyes remain unfocused, all hope—all life—gone.

“Lavinia.” I give her a slight shake. “Say something. I’m here now. I’m not leaving you again. Not ever.” I don’t know what I’m saying; I have no idea how this will work. All I know is that I’m keeping her, no matter what.

“Say something,” I repeat, shaking her a little harder when she doesn’t react.

She swallows hard as if grief is lodged deep in her throat. It’s only then that I notice the bandage. Right at her windpipe—her vocal cords.

Terror has my breath speeding as I grip the tape and rip the bandage off. The small, clean cut on her throat looks harmless compared to everything I’ve seen. But I instantly know what it is—who did this. Only one person here knows how to do the procedure.

Fury unlike any rises within me. My pulse hammers away as I lift Lavinia into my arms and hug her tightly.

“It’s okay. I’m here now. I’m here for you. Anything you need, I’ll give it to you.” I close my eyes hard at those last words, knowing exactly what she’ll want.

She sinks into me, her hands weakly grabbing on to my T-shirt. Relief takes the brunt of the anger boiling inside me.She’s not pushing me away.She should, though. This is my fault. I’m the one who let this happen. I left her. I told Dax to put her on auction.

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