Page 120 of Caged
“Fucking do it!” Monroe screams, and tears slip from my eyes as I press the uncomfortable, gargantuan piece of jewelry up into my vaginal canal like a dry tampon. Our surroundings have gone pitch-black, we’re out of the city, and Monroe’s headlights barely provide enough visibility to drive.
The car jerks violently to the right as Monroe takes a turn fast enough to flip us over. I swear to God I feel the tires lift from the road. Somehow, we don’t flip, but the car behind us is relentless, and suddenly, we’re thrown forward as the car chasing us slams into our bumper.
“Hold on,” Monroe cautions, but it’s too late. The car behind us slams into our rear again, and this time, sends us spinning off the road. Monroe tries to course correct as she slams on the brakes, but it’s no use. The car flies, airborne, headfirst into a thicket of trees. Airbags deploy on impact, and I know instantly it’s over. Life is over. We’re fucking dead.
The driver’s side door is flung open, and I look over to see my friend struggling to regain consciousness.
“Get out,” a male voice demands. I’m ninety-nine percent certain it’s Kieren, but my ears ring with the sound of airbagsdetonating. Before I have time to register what’s happening to Monroe, my door is also flung open.
A large body shoves its way across my chest to unbuckle my seatbelt.
“No!” I scream when I realize what’s happening. “No!” I begin to kick and thrash my arms, anything to get away from Jace’s hold, but he’s too overpowering and drags me from the car by my waist despite my best efforts to cling to any scrap of seatbelt or doorframe.
In my haste to get back in the car as we escaped Sigma, I forgot to replace the gun in my holster, and now I realize I’m weaponless. As Jace pulls me to the road, my screams die in my throat when I see the horror unfolding in front of me, illuminated by the headlights of the black BMW.
“Shit,” I hear Jace curse under his breath as he sees it too. Monroe stands on the ledge of the bridge at gunpoint.
Jace’s firm hand wraps around my forearm and both of us start running.
“Kieren, stop!” Jace pleads as he skids to a halt ten feet from the madman. “Don’t do this!”
Kieren’s right arm is fully extended, the barrel of his gun pointed directly at Monroe’s forehead, as he presses his wrapped, bloody left hand against his chest. Blood covers his white T-shirt and skin. It’s smeared across his face and down the side of his neck. I don’t know how he’s even standing given the blood loss.
“Give me back my ring,” Kieren demands. His outstretched arm shakes like he barely has the strength to hold it up.
“Come get it,” Monroe taunts.
“How about I kill your fucking friend?” Kieren snaps, whirling around to face me. I scream, thinking this second is my last, when Jace shoves me behind his body.
“Move, Jace!” Kieren barks.
“Kieren, we need to get you to a hospital,” Jace states in a shockingly measured and calm tone. “Put the gun down.”
“No!” Kieren wails like a deranged animal. “She deserves to die. They both deserve to die!”
“And we’ll kill them,” Jace offers in placation. Despite knowing this would likely be my fate, I’m still dismayed and pissed to hear Jace say it out loud. To offer up my life so easily…
“But not like this,” Jace continues. “Come on, Kieren. Not like this. We caught them, okay? It’s over. Let’s take them back to Sigma, put them in their cages. You can fuck Monroe until she begs for mercy. We can kill them when the time is right. No one is going to come looking for Monroe, you said so yourself. It’s the perfect way to lessen the scrutiny, and we both know Sigma can’t afford any more scrutiny right now.”
Seconds tick by in silence, and I hold my breath thinking Kieren will agree to this outcome, even though I can’t believe the options on the table are life in a dog cage or death.
“No Kieren!” Jace shouts, and I shove him aside just in time to see Kieren stalk up to Monroe, holding the gun inches from her heart.
61
KIEREN
Present Day
“You fucking bitch,” I growl in her face. The chill of death permeates my limbs, and I shake uncontrollably. I estimate I have an hour tops before I’m unconscious.
“Is this what you want, baby?” Monroe coos, squeezing my bloody finger in the hand she holds over the water. “If you’re going to kill me, then go ahead.”
The demented smile on her face is one that could bring me to my knees.Fuck, my beautiful puppy. Sogoddamnperfect.
So goddamn dead.
“You don’t look so good, Kieren. Better listen to your friend and go to the hospital.”
