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CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Something cold was brushing against my face as I slowly opened my eyes. There were no lights on beyond a television screen in front of me.

My entire body ached as I turned my head slightly. Alister Ivory was caressing my face with his fingers.

I was in his bed. His forehead creased as he stared at me. “I want to leave.” My voice was scratchy as a tear slowly rolled down my cheek. My throat was aching from my screams and cries as Declan attacked me.

A trivial smile grew on his face. “My beautiful Demi, you know the only way you can leave the resort is in a casket.”

“Declan is being taken care of. He’s going to have a penalty fee to stay. But why, my sweet dove, did you come down to La Gabbia’s Euphoria?”

“I wanted to see you,” I lied. Although I felt weak and terrified, I knew Alister didn’t lie. I’d never leave the Ivory family unless I was dead.

“Demi, I knew there was a reason I had to have you, too.” Alister brushed his fingers through my hair.

My body tightened as I could feel his breath against my face. “Let’s watch this movie I had made especially for you.” He turned over and sat up in the bed. Reaching over, he handed me a tub of popcorn.

My stomach churned. Dr. Ian Ivory had a popcorn cart in his home office, where he’d watch the girls he held hostage.

Pushing myself up, I realized I wasn’t in the tulle skirt anymore. I was wearing a thin, black nightgown. Glancing over at Alister, I didn’t understand why he saved me from Declan.

Focusing on the massive screen in front of me, I realized it was the same room I was trapped in with Declan.

Declan was pacing around the space, shouting at the cameras to let him out.

I glanced over at Alister and saw him eat his popcorn with a large grin on his face. He looked like he was just a normal man enjoying a movie.

Suddenly, Declan’s door opened and two girls in black gowns and masks came in, rolling a steel table that had something concealed under a white sheet.

“This is my favorite part,” Alister whispered. “He had specifically checked off on his form that he did not want this exploration. He was too scared.” Alister let out a laugh.

The two girls began explaining something to Declan, who dropped to his knees and screamed.

“No! This isn’t what I agreed to,” he screeched. The girls backed out of the room as the door slid shut.

Declan stayed on the floor for a while, and Alister pressed a button on his nightstand. “Get the fuck off the ground and do what you need to do, Declan. You know you want to. She’s put you through hell. Didn’t you say she laughed when you couldn’t give her an orgasm? Didn’t she compare you to your older brother? Didn’t she…” Declan rose as Alister taunted him. “You’ll never be man enough for your wife unless you heal here. It’s this or death. You should be so lucky that I’m allowing you to breathe.”

Declan’s fists clenched as he stood and peeled the sheet off the table.

“Oh my God.” I slapped my hands across my mouth as I slammed my eyes shut.

It was a woman in all white with blonde hair.

But she was pale in a way that I knew she didn’t have life in her.

“Alister, no,” I cried out and tugged the blanket higher.

Alister pulled the blanket down as my breathing grew shallow.

“Keep your eyes open and watch the screen, Demi.” I knew it wasn’t a suggestion, but rather a threat.

Declan swung his fists at the dead woman in front of him.

“No!” I screamed and slammed my eyes shut.

“Open them or I’ll peel your eyes out.” Alister shook me.

“Demi, the Euphoria program saves marriages. It saves these men from doing something detrimental to their wives and wrecking their families—the families that our society and world need. Look what he did to you, my raven. We’ve got to heal him.” Alister spoke calmly as tears ran down my face.

“Sage! I fucking hate how you don’t see what I do for us. I paid so much money for you!” Declan was choking the pale corpse.

“This is sick. Alister, I’m begging you to stop.”

Alister looked over at me, then leaned over, wiping my tears away before licking his fingers. “Mmm, delicious. Your pain tastes so delicious. My brother was right.” Alister sighed.

“The man and woman on the boat saved me from the ocean. They saved Bradley, too. That’s why they brought me here. You had me followed?” I shuddered as I averted my eyes from the screen.

Alister put his popcorn on the nightstand, turned, and leaned in on his palm. “I had heard of you. My nephew Bradley hated his father, and I couldn’t blame him. Ian was always an entitled asshole. We grew up in the same home and were told by our father to leave a lasting impression on the world. Ian took it too far.” Alister yawned.

I let out a dry laugh and shook my head. “ Ian took it too far? What is this?” I pointed at the screen but froze.

Declan was naked and laying on top of the dead woman. My body instantly folded over as I grabbed the popcorn bucket and vomited into it. “No,” I cried. My stomach churned at the pleasure written all over his face as he dug his nails into her body and pushed inside her, at the satisfied moans as he called her by his wife’s name.

“He’s going to go home a better man, Demi. Have you seen the news recently? There are suburban husbands and fathers killing their families. There are men who are abusing the woman they swore in front of our Lord and Savior to protect.”

“Alister.”

He stood and wiped my mouth with a tissue. “The issue is you can’t see the bigger problem I’m fixing.”

Clenching my teeth, I took a step back from him. “This is not a solution. Aren’t the nightingales someone’s daughter, sister, wife?”

Alister tilted his head. “No. Some are the caged girls you chose to leave behind. I saved them. I brought them here and turned them into my beautiful doves. They are caretakers; they see sunlight and interact with guests. The nightingales are women from our society who have done nothing but hurt us. They are mostly the drug addicts I’ve collected and saved. And then, there are the breeders.” Alister took the bucket from my hands and placed it down before taking my hand and walking me to the luxurious bathroom.

“The breeders?” My voice trembled.

“Demi, we are an all-inclusive, exclusive resort for the wealthy. We are full-service. Sometimes we have unique couples coming to us with their marriage in shambles because they cannot reproduce, so we have options for that, too.”

“I don’t understand what you mean by that. Who are the breeders? These girls aren’t birds or animals, Alister.” My head turned as his palm cracked against my cheek.

Gasping, I clenched my eyes shut as he aggressively took me to the bathtub. My skin stung as I slowly opened my eyes and looked at the monster in front of me. “I wanted you to be a nightingale. I wanted you to be in my own Russian roulette. You don’t even know what happens every time a guest checks out. You don’t even know about my fun little game to ensure no man or woman leaves this establishment with the intent to ruin all my hard work.”

Ripping my lace nightgown off, he smiled as he looked at my naked body. “Then I saw you… I saw the chocolate eyes that enticed my brother and nephews. I knew I always had to have more than him. Look at me now, Demi.” He turned the bathtub on and demanded that I get in.

“Please, I don’t want to,” I whispered.

He snapped his fingers and just like that, a woman appeared. It was Marcie, wearing her usual all-white outfit. “Marcie, darling, will you clean up the favorite girl of La Gabbia, please? She vomited earlier, and I can’t bear the smell of her.”

Marcie’s eyes met mine, but she quickly looked away. I could tell she was forcing herself not to say what she wanted to. Alister left the bathroom and shut the door behind him.

“You look just like her, you know…” Marcie said quietly as she lifted my hand and guided me into the tub.

“Marcie, I went down to…”

“Hell?” she answered as my body sank into the warm bath.

“They call it the Euphoria program.” I was scared to close my eyes and see the scenes of Declan raping a dead woman or beating her lifeless body.

“It’s uncanny how much you both are alike.” Marcie squeezed a sponge and began lathering soap onto it.

“Who?” I paused.

Marcie sighed. “Your sister, Layla, of course.”

My heart pounded against my chest but suddenly, everything felt still.”

“Marcie…” I trailed as my head ached with confusion.

“My sister died in Nashville, Tennessee. She was the reason I went to Charlotte and ended up in Ian Ivory’s torture chamber. She betrayed me. She fell for that monster—the man who trafficked girls into Ian’s arms.”

Marcie slapped her hand over my mouth, but I hit her hand off me. “Don’t you dare touch me.” I seethed as hot tears stung my eyes.

“Demi, your sister didn’t betray you. She saved you.”