Page 48 of The Betrayal You Serve

"You did that yourself?"

"Yeah. I think I might have missed my calling in life," he says, encouraging her to sit on the chair again.

I look around his torture chamber and then into his wild eyes as he looks over his 'pet.'

"No, no. I think you're exactly where you should be."

He chuckles as he passes Alana a glass of water, giving me a chance to study her.

Aside from the new haircut, I can't see any other evidence of him doing anything to her. There are no cuts, bruises, or missing fingers. My brows draw together as I remember the blood splattered on him when he emerged from talking to her Saturday night. Was that not her blood?

"Come on, Pet. Don't keep my boy waiting. Tell him exactly what you told me," Reid demands.

Her tired eyes find mine, and I see the real changes in her. The sparkle in her eyes is long gone. She looks tired and gaunt. It's what she deserves after what she did to Letty but still, I can't help feeling a little bad for her. Aside from her recent shitty actions, she’d never actually done anything to make me think she's a bad person. And after seeing the way she stood up to Reid Saturday night, I'm now wondering what her real story is.

She certainly isn't the weak, lonely little woman that Victor claims she is.

"H-he made me," she whispers although her eyes don’t waver from mine.

"He? Who's he?" I ask, ensuring my voice is low and deadly.

"V-Victor."

"He made you tell me that you were pregnant?"

She nods.

"Why?"

"He wants to keep you."

Her words are no surprise. Deep down, it's what I was expecting but exactly what I didn't want to hear.

"He wanted you to fall for me, to come back to this life and forget about college."

I fall down in the chair that's behind me and let her words settle in my head as my fists clench.

Anger swirls within me like a storm but it's not directed at Victor, well, not all of it, most of it is at myself. At myself for believing that all of this could actually be a possibility, that he would stand by his word to let me go and to allow me to have a future outside of the Hawks and Harrow Creek.

I was so fucking stupid for believing him.

Standing once more, I lift the chair from the floor and throw it against the wall with a roar that echoes off the bare concrete around me.

"Why, Alana? Why did you do it?" I bellow, getting right in her face.

"Because I didn't have a choice," she replies without missing a beat or even flinching.

"Didn't your husband have something to say about it? About you being sent to fuck me?"

"I told you, we don’t—"

"Why, Alana? Why doesn't your husband want to fuck you?" I drop my eyes down her body. She's still wearing the Panther's shirt and short denim skirt she was on Saturday. Her goose bumps are the only sign that she's not perfectly happy being down here as Reid's prisoner.

My eyes flick to his, curious as fuck as to what he's done to her to make her talk. He's usually pretty quick with his fists or his knife but she looks to be in perfect condition right now.

"Because he won't. It doesn't matter. The less you know, the better."

"What the fuck does that even mean?"