Page 65 of Degradation (The Brethren Lords #3)

Pailtyn

I t’s freezing cold. Pitch black.

All I can hear is the distant sound of someone screaming.

Oh, I know where I am. Where I’ve been taken too.

I used to think this place was the worst nightmare I could imagine but after Gunther, I’m not so sure.

My arms are locked into shackles that keep me pressed against a freezing stone wall. My legs are curled under me. I don’t know when they stripped me down but I’m naked. Completely naked.

I shudder, wondering what horrors come next. Will Magnus auction me off? Will he sell me to the highest bidder? Or will he parade me out, let all those degenerates have a go with a Founder?

The thought of it, the thought of enduring more pain, more abuse, I hang my head praying that my body might break, that god will be merciful.

That he’ll look down on me in this moment and just strike me down, give me a heart attack, a stroke even.

Something that could be quick and relatively painless.

I at least deserve that after everything my husband put me through.

My thoughts falter as I hear the lock click and then the heavy door swings open.

One pair of boots scraps across the floor as whoever it is struts in.

Is this my new jailor? My new guard?

I gulp and then my body trembles with horror as I realise who it is. As I get a whiff of him, of his stench.

“You’re mine now, bitch.” Guthrie says as he squats down, getting right into my face.

“No.” I gasp.

He grabs hold of me, grabbing hold of a part he has no right to touch.

Behind him, someone else walks in and I pray that this is a mistake, that this is my salvation. Is this Antonio or my mother? Please, let them be here, let them save me.

Only, it’s not either of them.

“Magnus.” Guthrie says.

Magnus says something back as if he’s bored of me, bored of my existence.

“Well?” He adds.

Guthrie gets to his feet, stepping back but I can feel that he doesn’t take his eyes off me for a second.

“You want to save your brother then this is the deal.” Guthrie says. “I get her. I get the bitch. As far as anyone else knows, she’s dead. She died in the attack…”

“And what about Devin?” Magnus cuts across him.

Guthrie lets out a huff like he wants to call out the interruption but thinks better of it. “You can have him. I don’t give a fuck what happens to him. The bitch was the one to do it anyway. There’s no connection…”

“It was his knife.” Magnus states.

“Only, you, me, your brother and this whore know that for a fact. I’m willing to keep it secret in exchange for a few favours.”

Magnus shifts just enough to set a voice screaming in my head. “What favours?”

“Ten million.”

Whatever Magnus’s reaction is, it’s enough for Guthrie to give a chuckle that sends a chill down my spine. “How much is your brother worth? How much is your family’s reputation worth? Ten million is pocket change to you.”

“Are you threatening me?” Magnus snarls.

“No,” Guthrie says. “I’m stating facts. You want your brother out of this mess. We can both ensure that. All you have to do is give me what I want and all of it will go away.”

I can practically hear the clogs in Magnus’s head as he thinks it over. Why wouldn’t he? Why wouldn’t he save Devin? And for only ten million, that price is a steal and we all know it.

“Fine.” Magnus replies.

“And the bitch stays here. I know you have private cells. Elite slaves, owned by one individual. That’s what she becomes.”

“Fine. The bitch stays here. But if anyone finds out, anyone at all, I’ll slit her throat myself.”

Guthrie moves his arm, does something to make his fancy suit ruffle. “No one will know. You have this place locked down better than even your father managed.”

Magnus grunts, murmuring about transferring the money and the need to see to his brother.

“Wait,” I scream as he turns to leave. “Please, wait, Devin…”

His fist slams into my face. The force of it smashes my head back into the stone and pain explodes behind my empty sockets. “You keep his name out of your mouth.” Magnus snarls. “You forget him. Forget he even exists, do you hear me?”

“But…”

Magnus goes to beat me again and Guthrie is there, stepping between us. “I’d rather you didn’t ruin all of my fun.” He says. “Give me a month and this bitch won’t even remember her own name, let alone anyone else’s.”

Magnus grunts, probably giving me a look his brother has given me so many times before.

“Fine.” He spits. “I’ll have her moved by nightfall.”

He walks out without another glance at me.

Guthrie is still stood so close and while I hate this man almost as much as I hated my husband, he’s my only chance now.

“Please…” I beg as soon as the door shuts.

Guthrie immediately backhands me. “You keep your mouth shut, bitch. The only time you get to open it is when you’re choking down my cock, do you hear me?”

My chains rattle from the violent shaking of my body. I can’t keep the tears down as I realise what this is, what my future is now.

He squats down, taking hold of my face. “He never let me touch you. I sat there and I watched from the sidelines as he let everyone else fuck you. As he let his guards have their fun, as he let his damned Senate get to play, but me, me, I was off-limits.”

His hand smashes into my face. Into my socket. My head jerks back, slamming once more into the stone and I scream, turning my head, reeling from the impact.

“What makes you so special? What makes you so fucking precious that my brother kept you from me?”

He hits me again, aiming for my mouth this time. I feel my lip split, I feel my blood start to pour, and I can taste it on my tongue, between my teeth.

“I guess I get the last laugh, don’t I? You’re mine now.

All fucking mine. Gunther thought he was so smart, strutting around, telling us what to do all the time, but you wanna know a secret?

” He yanks my head, lowering his disgusting face so that he’s right by mine.

“I know who killed my brother.” He taunts.

“And I know it wasn’t you or that fucking guard either. ”

He shoves my head back, crushing it into the stone. I swear my skull actually cracks; I swear my brain turns to mush. A pain so excruciating I can barely describe explodes in my head, shoots down my spine.

“You’re mine now, bitch. Mine to touch. Mine to fuck. Mine to hurt in any way I please.”

I jerk in my chains. I scream out as I hear him undoing his belt. I know what’s coming. What he’s going to do. Somehow it feels so much worse knowing it’s him violating me. Him touching me.

But this is my future now. This disgusting brute of a man.

And I can’t escape it. I can’t get free.

And worse than that, I know no one is coming to save me. No one even knows I’m here.

As far as the world is concerned, Paitlyn Helseltine no longer exists. Paitlyn Helsetine is dead.

I’m a nameless slave now. A nobody.

And I’m trapped in this hell until the day I’m finally allowed to finally die.