Page 54 of The Boy I Loved
A small breath of relief escaped my lips, and I turned back to the girl on the other side, kneeling so that we were closer.
“They will get away with it.” She lifted her head, her dull, brown eyes clouded with despair. “They never stay long in onelocation. By the time the police even suspect the operation here, they’ll be long gone, and we’ll either be sold or dead.”
Agony sprouted within me, trickling through my veins like liquid lava. I knew she wasn’t wrong. There were so many predators out there that it would be impossible to stop them all. Still, that small thread of hope I’d been clinging to, died all the same.
“Who brought you here?” I asked? “Did you see their faces?”
She nodded, her face twisting with pain. It was so odd seeing Stacy like this. She’d bullied me for years. She was always so put together and beautiful. Now, she was … sad. Despite all the torment she’d inflicted on me throughout high school, all I could feel for her was pity. She didn’t deserve this—nobody did.
“Hazel … It was?—”
My cell door opened with a loud clang, bouncing against the bars. I whirled around quickly, my heart thudding against my ribcage.
Vincentsauntered inside, his blue eyes sparkling with malice. I’d always thought he was intimidating, but now that I knew he was a part of this sick and twisted shit, those feelings were amplified by a shit-ton. I shrank toward the hard, metal bars, pressing my back against them.
“Why so timid?” he mocked, strolling forward with slow, calculative movements. “Was Dom right about you? You’re just a scared, timid thing with no fight?”
Dominic said that?
Now wasn’t the time to get lost in my feelings, but I couldn’t help that it stung just the smallest amount. He made me sound so pathetic. But perhaps he was right. Fighting would only get me into deeper shit than I was already in. I’d fight, but only when the time was right.
Vincent’s gaze flicked from me to where Stacy was, crouched on the other side of the bars. His lips twitched in amusement, as if he got complete satisfaction out of seeing us this way.
When he returned his attention to me, the amusement had faded from his expression. “I’ve come to collect your clothes. You won’t be needing them from here on out.”
My throat bobbed with a heavy swallow. “Y-you want menaked?” I asked incredulously.
“The only time women are allowed clothes are when they eat or when it’s otherwise required,” he clipped dryly, his tone holding no room for argument. “You’ll also learn to obey without questioning. Let this be your one and only warning.”
Defeat washed over me, shame filling every crevice of my body. Slowly, I reached for the hem of my shirt and tugged it over my head. Embarrassment settled into my limbs when my nipples pebbled from the cool gust of air wafting through the vents.
Vincent hummed thoughtfully, his gaze raking over my chest. Quickly, I hurried to cover them with my arms, repulsion bubbling through my veins.
“I’ll be seeing a lot more than your tits, Hazel. Might as well get used to it. You and I, we’re going to beverywell acquainted in the near future.”
“Why?” I whispered, my voice trembling.
Vincent’s lips twitched, but not from amusement this time. His arm snapped out, the back of his hand connecting with the side of my face. A searing pain radiated through my cheek, and I had to bite back my whimper.
My breathing was ragged when I turned to look at him again, confusion clouding my thoughts.
“No questions, remember?”
I nodded, shaking as I hooked my thumbs in the waistband of my pajama pants, and shoved them down past my knees. They pooled around my ankles, goosebumps pricking over my thighs from the change in temperature. With slow movements, I stepped out of them and did the same with my panties.
Once I was completely bare, I knelt, scooping up the discarded clothes and rose with shaky movements.
“Good girl,” he praised. “I knew you’d be a fast learner.” He reached forward again, and this time, I flinched away, knocking my head back against the metal bars. His thumb brushed over my lower lip slowly, flipping it downward in an almost intimate gesture.
“As soon as your lab results come back, you and I are going to have a lot of fun together.”
I recoiled from him, pressing against the bars as far as humanly possible. He was fucking deranged—he and Mason both.
It wasn’t that he was bad looking. He was pure, fucking evil. It all made sense now. Why I’d felt so wary around the two of them. This was what they did in their spare time. Beating and raping women—possibly even selling them and killing them.
Vincent smirked before stepping away. The added space between us allowed my breaths to come in easier and my shoulders relaxed a fraction as a result. He took the clothes and turned on his heels, making his way out of the cell. He closed the door and locked it before disappearing, a breath of relief rushing from my lungs.
“Be careful,” Stacy murmured lowly. “Vincent and Tristan are the worst out of all of them.”
