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CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

“Today we are beginning our assessments for the doves first, then the nightingales, and then lastly, the breeders. Since all three groups of employees have gone through very different training, we want everything to be kept separate.” Bradley paced the stage wearing a white tuxedo.

“If you’ve been here for some time, then you know that you’ll go to your physical check-up with Dr. Davenport, the dear friend of Dr. Noah Wimberly, who was a highly respected surgeon in our community. Then you’ll spend an hour of reflection in your original training quarters, where you’ll have a dietary evaluation, be weighed, and then cleansed with our peony tea. If you’re a new employee, you’ll need to take an updated photo,” he said.

I looked at the girls around me, some I recognized, while others I had never seen before. I noticed some girls were missing from the crowd, and I turned to the girl next to me. “Hey, have you seen Jamie?”

She didn’t turn, ignoring my whisper. I turned to the other girl beside me. We were sitting in clear, acrylic chairs in an all-white room with too much bright light that had my head hurting.

“Have you seen Jamie? She’s worked here for quite some time.”

The girl smiled at me. “Sure, what does she look like?”

“Blonde hair, light green eyes.” I paused as I glanced around the room filled with women in matching white uniforms, with matching green eyes and perfectly done platinum blonde hair.

She smiled at me. “That’s going to be hard to narrow down. There are so many people in here, and I’m sure your friend is somewhere.”

I looked up at Bradley, whose eyes were fixed onto me, and murmured, “Yeah…maybe.”

Alister had asked me to go ahead to the assessments while he had a word with Jamie. I knew there was nothing I could do to change his mind. I heard her crying and sobbing as soon as I walked away, and I knew he was plucking the eyelashes from her other eye.

But I didn’t think he’d do anything else. All she did was make a silly comment about him and use his first name.

The girls began to stand in perfect lines, and then were directed to separate sections.

I lagged and waited until I could turn and walk up the stage to Bradley. “Demi…did he touch you?” He didn’t make eye contact with me and pretended to be reading the stack of papers from the oddly dirty podium. “I want to hold you, but I know…I know they may be watching.” His voice was filled with heartbreak as his eyes flicked around the now empty ballroom. “You have to tell me… Did he hurt you? Did he?—”

“No. He never does anything. He just…wants me there.” I placed my hand on Bradley’s, knowing the risk. “Bradley, tell me I’m not crazy. Tell me that what I saw between you and my sister… She’s alive, and you…you and her were…” My heart hurt just saying the words.

Bradley took a deep breath and moved his hand away from me. “Demi, this place makes you lose your mind. It makes you see things that aren’t there; it makes you hear words that aren’t spoken, and most of all, it makes you question things that can have you killed. If your sister was alive, I’d have risked my life to let you know that. Please, Demi, go to your assessment.”

I turned away and was about to leave the stage when he grabbed my wrist from behind. “Demi…one day, you and I will escape once and for all. I promise, no more Ivory’s. Just us. You’ll wear a beautiful white lace dress and your big white hat, and I’ll have your Nike Jordans waiting for you so we can run.”

Tears built in my eyes. The Nikes were the shoes Bradley snuck to me at the Ivory estate. I had told him when I was a little girl, I’d draw a check mark symbol on a cheap pair because I’d always wanted them after seeing a picture of a celebrity wearing them in a magazine.

“One day.” I moved his hand off me and walked away.

“Miss Demi, so good of you to actually join us.” Taylor smiled at me and pointed toward a hallway. “To the left. You’ll be up next for your physical with Dr. Davenport.” She checked my name off her tablet.

“Demi Ivory,” a deep voice called out from behind a white screen. I could see his shadow as he stood.

The girl behind me widened her eyes when she heard my last name—a last name I hadn’t accepted as my own.

Walking around, I paused. He was a handsome man with light hair that I could tell had been dyed. He wore green contacts, and even his face looked like it had some makeup on it to lighten his tone.

“Mrs. Ivory, I’m Dr. Davenport. Mr. Ivory has asked me to remove your IUD that was inserted upon your arrival, as per La Gabbia’s employee protocol.”

“I’m not his wife,” I said as he handed me a white hospital gown.

“I am aware of that; however, we do ask you put this on before we commence your check-up and remove it.”

“I don’t want it removed,” I said, taking the gown and unzipping my dress in front of him. He averted his eyes and spun around.

“You’re about to be elbow deep in my vagina; I’m pretty sure I’m not going to act coy and hide my panties and dress from you.”

He cleared his throat but remained turned around as I piled my clothing onto the exam table.

There were no emotions or modesty left in my body—it was stripped away from me the moment I entered the Ivory estate in Charlotte.

I slid onto the table. “I’m ready, but I do not want the IUD removed.”

“Mrs. Ivory, I do what I’m told by Mr. Ivory, as he is the one who signs my checks.” Dr. Davenport flashed an arrogant smile. “Now, if you do not oblige, we can do this the hard way, which involves an injection and being tied down.” He pulled the latex gloves over his hand and let it snap against his wrist mid-air.

Closing my eyes, the angry tears brewed but I fought them back. I flinched as he took my IUD out.

“Very good, Mrs. Ivory. I just need to do a quick exam, and then you will be on your way to the next station. Nurse?” he shouted out, and a moment later, a woman in an old-fashioned nurse’s outfit came in.

“The vaccine please.” He nodded as I looked between both.

“What vaccine?” I sat up and saw her holding the injection needle.

“Gardasil, dear.” The nurse smiled at me before patting my arm and whispering, “Just lay back and make a fist for me.”

“What is Gardasil?”

“Prevents HPV, Mrs. Ivory. It’s in your best interest to have it.” Dr. Davenport smiled as I hesitated for a moment before letting the nurse inject me.

I knew I couldn’t fight whatever Alister had ordered, not with how Jamie went missing after simply saying his first name out loud.

“Ouch,” I muttered as she jabbed me with the needle.

“There you go, dear. I’ll leave you and Dr. Davenport to it.” She winked at the doctor before leaving.

“While the medicine is kicking in, I’ll do a breast exam, Demi.”

“Kicking in?” I tried to sit up, but my arms felt weak. “Wait, it’s a vaccine… Why would…” I trailed as my eyes grew hazy.

He ran his hands all over my breasts as I mumbled words that didn’t make any sense.

“Wow you were impacted a lot faster than some of the other pretty little doves, weren’t you?” He grinned before removing his gloves.

Trailing his cold, bare fingers down my abdomen, he pushed my legs apart before slamming four of his fingers inside of me.

“Ah!” I cried out, trying to move my limbs, but they wouldn’t. “No.” It was all I could muster out.

He began rubbing my clit, and then as I blinked over and over again, fighting the tears and haziness, I watched him lick his fingers. “Mmm…delicious.”

My heart shattered, remembering those very words were said to me by Dr. Ian Ivory late at night in my bedroom back at the Ivory estate.

“Who…are…you?” I cried as he continued to assault me.

He rolled back on his stool. “Dr. Davenport. You may not remember me, darling Demi, but do I remember you. I purchased a product from your former boss…my beautiful wife. But then she became defected, so I brought her here, hoping Alister Ivory could repair what his brother had wronged me with.

“Apparently, my beautiful wife, Daisy, is back to training and learning how to please. I thought I wanted an obedient virgin wife, but now I’m realizing I may need a bit more of a whore.”

He stood and continued to lick his fingers. “Alister assured me that if they couldn’t fix her, I’d be able to have a replacement with anyone I want.” Crossing his arms, he smiled at me. “The Ivory lifelong guarantee carries between families, too. Aren’t they just the best, Mrs. Ivory?” Winking at me, he turned and left. Dr. Davenport’s wicked laughter echoed as I laid on the cold steel exam table, half-dead.

“Now it’s time to perform our surgical procedure. It’s lovingly referred to as the husband’s stitch, in which we add an extra stitch post childbirth to tighten the vagina. Especially with your upcoming nuptials, we need to make sure you’re perfectly tight.” Dr Davenport snickered.

I wanted to scream for help, but whatever they injected me with was causing my entire body to grow weaker by the minute.

“I haven’t…had a child.”

“Oh, I know, sweetheart. But you’re a dirty whore who has had sex before, and we need to make you a virgin again.”

I wanted to die.

Perhaps, I was already dead, and this was my afterlife.