Page 23

I’ve never been good at controlling my mouth, but in a house full of rabid men, the last thing I want to do is test my luck. So, I keep silent even as he leers at me.

“You keep your mouth open like that, don’t be surprised when someone sticks their cock in it.”

My eyes round and my teeth snap shut. The man chuckles from the audible click.

My heart picks up speed, and I take a few steps back. The fear pumps through my veins, settling low in my stomach and eating at my insides like acid.

“Jerry, her room is ready. Extra fucking chains this time,” one of the men calls from the table, pointing towards the girl.

My eyes widen impossibly further. Did she escape or something? I have so many questions but know better than to ask any of them. I’m relieved to hear that she’s not dead, at least. Otherwise, chaining up a corpse would be… I shudder from the thought.

The man—or Jerry—shifts the girl on his shoulder and walks off without another word, aiming one last scathing look my way.

Sucking my bottom lip between my teeth, I bite hard as I watch him head towards the kitchen. He’s lucky I don’t bark at him like a dog as I’m tempted to. Anything to make the dickhead think twice about looking at me like that. But that would be stupid, and I cannot be stupid in this place.

The last thing I see right before he disappears is the girl’s head lifting. Dark brown eyes meet mine through tangled tresses of blonde hair, filled with both fire and ice. The look on her face stops my heart cold, but the creepy smile on her face is what sends it sinking down to the pits of my stomach.

Christ, the look on her face is straight out of a nightmare.

My mouth parts again, but they’re gone before I can register what just happened. I’m equal parts scared for and of her.

“Don’t worry. If you’re a good little girl and do as you’re told, we’ll keep you conscious from here on out,” Rio says, pulling my attention back to him.

I’m not sure I want to be conscious.

Furthermore, I’m two seconds away from telling him that the girl needs to be admitted to the nuthouse.

But I don’t say that out loud, considering we are in a fucking nuthouse.

He nods his head towards the direction Jerry and the girl disappeared off into.

“Let’s go. Francesca and Rocco should be back in a few hours, and she’ll come to meet you. But until then, I’ve been ordered to show you to your new room.”

I glance behind me, staring out the still wide-open door

and at the shiny black van. My brows furrow, expecting it to be damaged from when they ran me off the road. Instead, this one is brand new, not a scratch in sight. They must’ve switched it out at Dr. Garrison's, and that makes my stomach roil.

I know enough about tracking that they would’ve made it incredibly easy for Zade to find them in a vehicle with a crushed fender.

But then a smile forms on my face with the reminder that Zade is coming, and he is more than capable of finding me, whether they’re transporting me in a fucking Ferrari or a Volkswagen from the 1980s that farts pollution every time they hit the gas. He’ll find me.

It’s right then, a memory sidelines me, and my smile falls to a dramatic death as horror takes over.

Just get her in the van, Rio. Max is already going to be pissed we fucked up his van…

My eyes blow wide, and when I whip back around, Rio is staring at me with dark eyes, tense and ready to charge at me. My gaze flickers down, noting the gun in his hand.

He probably assumed I was about to make a run for it.

And I can’t say I didn’t briefly consider it, but I’m not dense enough to think I’d make it more than five feet without one of them catching up to me. Or one of their bullets.

I’m injured and can barely stand upright, and I’ve no idea where the keys are. Running right now wouldn’t be wise. And if Zade were here, he’d tell me to bide my time until the right moment.

Don’t act irrationally.

I can’t let my panic and desperation rule my decisions. Not if I want to get out of this alive.

Licking my lips, I take a step forward, indicating that I won’t be running. “Max sent you?”