Page 91 of Hart of Darkness
Quick and sharp, a pain gripped my chest. He was the man who’d tapped on my window while I was watching that gang house.
I wrinkled my nose and squirmed, pulling up on my hands that I found zip-tied to a chair.
Hooknose angled his head one way then the other. “You sure are a pretty thing with those big greens.” His thorny voice felt as if he were sticking thousands of pins in me all at once.
Horror, dark, twisted, and eerie, swirled in my gut. Any numbness I had was history. Maybe if I went back to sleep and woke up again, I would find myself in a cozy room, curled up next to Dillon with his arms around me, protecting me. Or we would be sitting at a table at Tapas, eating, talking, and laughing. Then maybe he would kiss me.
Instead, I sat chained to a chair in an open and vast warehouse. I took inventory from all sides that I could. Windows high above told me it was dark outside. A door was carved in the corner on my right, and when my gaze darted to my left, my jaw fell into my lap. Six cages lined the side wall. They were filled with women who were watching what was about to happen to me. They’d probably been in my shoes not that long ago. I gripped the arms of the wooden chair so hard, a splinter dug into my palm.
I welcomed the pain. It reminded me I was alive, at least for now.
“Boss,” the other man who I couldn’t quite see said. “Do you want me to throw her in the cage until she’s ready?”
Ready?
Hooknose produced a large hunting knife from somewhere behind him.
On instinct, I thrashed around, even though it was pointless.
The man came at me, holding the tip of the blade eerily close to my face. I tried to kick, but my legs were tied to the chair too.
He dragged the blade down my face until he reached the scar on my neck. “Who gave you this horrible scar?” He sounded as if he cared.
I spit in his face, or tried. My spittle only dribbled down my chin.
Hooknose guffawed loudly, grating on my nerves.
“Boss?” the other man said, his feet clicking on the cracked cement floor. When he drew up alongside his boss, my blood pooled at my feet.
I slid my gaze to Hooknose. “Who gave me this scar?” I bared my teeth and flicked my chin at his soldier. “He did.”
The flashback was swift, and I couldn’t stop it.
“Shut the fuck up,” Cory had shouted as he rammed his dick into me over and over again.
I had shut up only because I’d munched on his ear.
I smiled at the memory before zeroing in on his right earlobe. A small piece of his skin was missing, and that earlobe was shorter than the other.
Studying me as if he were an animal trying to figure out his prey, Cory Calderon loomed over me once again. Only this time, he wasn’t holding a knife or raping me. He wasn’t tearing my body apart like he had when I was fourteen. Nausea rose like a fast-moving hurricane. I had wanted this moment since that horrific day. I’d wanted to catch him doing something illegal so I could give Ted the evidence he needed to put Cory away. But as I sat there, shrugging out of a drug-induced state, more than anything else, I wanted to kill Cory with my bare hands.
I wanted to erase that smugness he was wearing with pride.
Hooknose gave Cory a sidelong glance. “Are you sure this man gave you that scar?”
Cory bore his dark, evil, and ghostly eyes into me as though he dared me to say yes.
I glowered at Cory while answering Hooknose. “Why do you care?”
“I don’t like when my girls are scarred,” Cory’s boss said. “I lose clients.”
Cory swiped a fat hand over his thinning black hair. He seemed to be thinking quite hard. Then a chilling smirk emerged. “I remember you now. You were my first victim.” He sounded proud of that. “You fought hard.” Then as if the doors opened wide to the memory, he tugged on his ear.
Come closer,I chanted silently. I wanted nothing more than to rip off the rest of his ear. “You deserved that scar,” I seethed.
He spat on the floor. “You and me are going to have a good time tonight.”
His boss watched as though he were enjoying the show. I could’ve sworn I saw admiration wash over Hooknose’s hardened face.
