Page 107 of Like An Animal

“Really? You’re not going to ask me to keep her alive?”

I don’t say anything, but he chuckles in my ear. “Then, what I’m going to do is keep her alive and let Joe keep her since he likes fucking her so much. She’ll be his slave.”

I try to fight him again, but his hand comes down so hard against my ass that I’m surprised I don’t start bleeding.

“That’s what I thought. You want me to kill her to end her suffering but that would be a reprieve. A reward. Besides, that would make Joe sad.” He mocks me with his words.

“You got your wish, Father Joseph. She’s all yours.” He calls out and Cheryl starts trying to break free of his hold.

“No! Leave her alone!” I scream before Isaac slams my face into the table and everything goes black.

CHAPTER 43

THE GHOST

“Bron.”

I’m roused by a single whisper, a soft feminine voice amongst the silence.

“Bronwyn, wake up.”

No. I don’t want to wake up. Nothing hurts in the darkness.

“Darling, come on. Open your eyes,” the woman’s voice hisses and I slowly blink open my eyes, feeling the pain vibrate through the back of my head straight through to my forehead.

“Huh?”

“Bron, turn your head. I’m right here.”

I move my head before settling my eyes on my aunt.

“Cheryl!” I cry and she shushes me.

“I’m okay, darling. Please, don’t cry. I’m okay. I’ve gotten used to the daily torture. Are you okay? He hit your head pretty hard.”

I take a deep breath to calm myself. “Relatively speaking, I’ll survive. I’ve been tortured to the brink of death before. I’m fine.” Physically speaking anyway. Mentally, I’m dealing with a whirlwind of emotions from reliving old traumas and experiencing new ones.

“How did they catch you? Where is the?—“

I cut her off as a tear comes to my eye. “My husband’s grandfather turned me in. The child is safe with dozens of guards in a fortress.” I scoot as close to her as I can get with my hands still bound but the restraints have been moved to put them in front of me. Leaning into her ear, I whisper, “My husband put a tracker on me in case something like this happened. Him and an army of men are coming. We’ll be out of here soon, I promise.”

Her eyes narrow but she slowly nods.

“Where are we?” I ask.

“They brought us to my cell. We have maybe another hour of rest before Isaac and Joe come back.”

I turn onto my stomach and push my body up until I’m sitting on my tender ass, looking down at myself. My clothes are gone, replaced by one of the white dresses they give to anyone who is either in training or misbehaving. Cheryl has one, too.

“Do you need help getting up?” I ask and she slowly nods. Grabbing her arm, I start to pull but she squints from the pain. I release her arm and climb out of bed before lifting my bound arms over her head and down until my arms wrap around her stomach. Then I lift her into a sitting position. Cheryl lets out a loud sigh of relief.

“Thank you,” she whispers a moment before there’s a loud bang and the entire room shakes. Grabbing Cheryl’s arm, I manage to drag her out of the bed before a slab of cement falls onto the bed.

“What the fuck was that?” she asks before I hear something off into the distance nearly masked by the screams of terror.

And it sounds like the words “where is she” in a voice I would know anywhere.

“That would be my husband making his grand entrance,” I say with a grin plastered across my face.