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Heloise’s Hellish Prison

St. Louis, Lower River District

Emmett didn’t take kindly to being puked on. He dropped her on her feet and delivered a stunning backhand to her cheek. Unable to withstand the force of the blow, Rowie flew into a bench seat before crumpling to the floor.

Bending over her, he shouted in her face, “Puke on me again, and I’ll throw you into the nearest gully and leave you for the buzzards. Understand me, bitch?”

She did, but the notion of being left for deadseemedpreferable to the fate he planned for her.Besides, she would be with Carson.Whenshe didn’t respond, a sharp pain jolted through as his heavy boot connected with her ribs.

“Getup,”he barked, his voice rough like sandpaper. “We’re leaving.”

Lyingthere, overwhelmed by misery and despair, earned her another harsh kick.

His cruelty ended up backfiring, however.

Shecouldbarelybreathe, let alone stand, which forced him to assist her.

He proceeded to half-carry, half-drag her through two cars, where four other menwererobbing terrified passengers.

Ashe left the train, the sound of his boots clanging on the metal steps contrasted with the sickening thud of her head hitting the handrail. Ifheheard, he didn’t stop or react.

With her ears still ringing, he flung her over a saddle and bound her wrists behind her back. The others soon joined him, and, whooping and hollering, they mounted up and rode off at breakneck speed.

They didn’t stick to the cleared area around the tracks but veered into the woods onto one overgrown trail after another.

Being jostled while hanging upside down with the blood rushing to her head didn’t help the throbbing in her face or her churning stomach.

Vaguely, she registered water splashing as they stopped at a creek.

Emmett shoved her off his lap into the dirt, the impact with the ground jarring her whole body.

Her ribs screamed in protest from his earlier abuse and from the saddle horn digging into her for hours.

She didn’t attempt to stand to get a drink or take care of other necessities.

With her hands tied behind her, she couldn’t have stood if she wanted to.

When they started off again, Emmett grumbled foully when he had to put herback on the horse, facedown once more in a humiliating and uncomfortable position.

A few minutes into their ride, she could do nothing to stop him when he flipped up her skirt and petticoat to explore what lay beneath.

Her feeble attempts to resist only amused him and the other men who watched and shouted their encouragement.

“Too bad we can’t keep her,”one said.

“A woman on the trail? No cunt, no matter how sweet, is worththataggravation,”said another.

“We come this way a lot. More so with a reason to visit Madam Heloise’s newest piece.”

“She’ll be well used by then. We should get a free taste before that happens. ’Sides, she’ll want us to pay for it.”

Rowie whimpered and squirmed in alarm at the idea of all of them taking her.Goodgod, when would the nightmare her lifehadbecomeever end?

Convinced Emmett was Satan himself, the stinging slap to her exposed backside confirmed it.

“Stay still unless you want to fall and break your fool neck. That would be a pity before we get paid. As for the boys, it’s been a while for them.

But you might as wellgetused to it. A purdy piece like you will be in demand at Heloise’s place. ”

Rowie gazed at the ground moving swiftly below her. They were in the lead. If she were to fall, the other horses would likely trample her. Would that be so terrible?

With her husband dead and nowhere to turn, Eldridge Housegone, along with the stables—the most cherished part of her father’s legacy—and now, taken against her will and abused with more looming, what did she have left to live for?

Emmett’s fingers found the seam of her split drawers and delved inside. Any stranger’s touch would make her skin crawl.Thatitwasher husband’s murderer made itthatmuch worse. Her stomach heaved again; this time, she got him and his horse.

Cursing vehemently, he reined in hard and shoved Rowie from his lap. With her body as limp as a rag doll, he dragged her across the ground.

“Johnson,”he snarled, dropping her at the horse’s hooves, causing it to snort and stamp nervously. “You deal with her spewing. I’m done.”

Her new captorwassmart enough not to dangle her upside down.

Seated upright in front of him, it didn’t happen again.

Utterlyexhausted, she didn’t staythatway for long.

Rowie slumped in his arms, head lolling and bobbing as they rode on.

Sheknewtheywereheadedwest because the sun sank behind the mountains ahead of them, but after it set, she couldn’t mark the passing of time and didn’tknowhow far they traveled.

Onlyhalf conscious when they stopped, shehadto be carried inside, cradled, not slung like a sack over a shoulder—another wise decision on Johnson’s part.

Raucous music played in the distance. She struggled toseewhere theywerewith only onegoodeye and her hair obscuring her face.

Shecouldtell by the change in his stridethatJohnson climbed stairs, at least two flights, with him getting winded toward the top.

Sheheardmen laughing, women giggling, loud moaning, and bedsprings squeaking. Morbid curiosity made her turn tolook.

“Quit squirming, or I’ll drop you,”the young man warned.

“Bring her in here,”a woman said, and, a few seconds later, he dumped her onto a bed.

“What do you think?”She recognized Emmett’s voice and tried to sit up, but rough hands pushed her back down.

“That she smells like a sewer,” the woman quipped.

“She’ll wash,”he replied, sweeping her hair out of her face. “Evenfilthy, youcan tellshe’s a beauty.”

Fingers caught her chin and angled her face to the side. “She’s bruised beyond what cosmetics will cover. I’ll have to wait until the swelling goes down before putting her to work if I take her at all.”

“You can’t let a prize like hergetaway,”Emmett coaxed, yet, to Rowie, he still sounded like a venomous serpent. “She’s small but feisty and won’t beeasilytamed. Your customers who like a challenge will love her.”

“Her hair is extraordinary,”the woman mused as she picked up a handful of auburn waves and rubbed it between her fingers. “We’ll have to change the color though.”

“The hell you say,”he exclaimed. “What for?”

“I’ve been at this a long time. Blonde and brown sell. Never red.”

“What about the other?”

“That is easily dealt with as well,”the woman replied.

Blinking up at her through the grit from the salt of her tears and the dirt and sweat from the trail, she couldn’tseemuch other than a mass of blonde curls piled atop her head and a mouth the color of cherries.

“My mama taught me better than tobuy apig in a poke,” she stated in a business-like fashion. “I’ll need to see the rest before I can decide. Strip her down to her skin.”

Rowie would have believed it all a horrible nightmare if not for the sound of cloth ripping as her captors rolled her from side to side and tore off her clothes.

“Please, help me,”she croaked through dry, cracked lips. “They robbed the train Iwason and shot my husband.Then, they abducted me against my will. Call the police.”

“Would I be stupid enough to bring you here ifthatmattered to them?”Emmett asked in a caustic tone.

“He’s right,”the woman agreed as she sat on the edge of the bed beside her.

“If a man has money to spend, we don’t ask how he came by it.

We only have onehard-and-fastrule. Guns and knives are checked at the door.

”She shook her head while making a tsking noise with her tongue.

“It’s next to impossible to get bloodstains out of brocade upholstery. ”

Finding her amusing, the vile bastard chuckled. The grating sound sent a chill over her skinthat, like his touch,she’dnever forget.

“Asfor your claim of an abduction.”The madam pursed her red lips in distaste. “Thatis such a harsh word. I prefer to think of it as an unforeseen opportunity requiring a bit of artful persuasion.”

Rapidlyblinking, Rowie’s vision cleared somewhat, and the woman came into better focus. Judging by the lines around her eyes and mouth, shewasolder, at least in her mid-forties.

“Think of it however you like,”she replied. “Thereis nothing artful about seeing your husband shot before your eyes, getting kidnapped at gunpoint,thenbeing beaten and molested by a disgusting pig along the way.”

The woman sounded amused when she asked, “You’reusuallyso popular with the ladies, my friend. Are you losing your touch?”

“Justgeton with it, Heloise,”he demanded, his amusement vanishing as fast as it came. “I’ve got another job togetto and two days of hard riding ahead of me. How much for the bitch?”

“So impatient,”she muttered, laying her palm against Rowie’s bruised cheek. “Butyou’re correct; under all the filth, she’s a beauty with the most incredible green eyes.”

Heloise’s hand moved down her body, fingers stroking, squeezing, and prodding in averyintimate and mortifying inspection.

Stillbound, Rowiewashelpless to prevent any of it.

Her touchwasn’tgentle, but she wouldn’t describe it as cruel.

Itseemedpracticed and impersonal, like the times her physician examined her whenshe’dbeen sick—but she’d never had to disrobe fully, and nothinghe’ddonehadbeen anywhere near as thorough.

Whenshe reached her thighs and pushed them apart, Rowie closed her eyes, guessing and dreading what would come next.Whena finger slid inside her, a keening, pitiable whine rose from her throat.

“This isn’t a virgin cunt,”the crude woman announced. “Butit’sniceand tight.Gentlyused, I would say. How old is she?”

“Fuck if Iknow,”was Emmett’s charming reply.