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CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

“We are a society of men who have been hand-selected to keep the legacy of what real men should be like alive,” Alister boasted as he stood on stage with one hand snaked around my waist.

Each man in the audience had a glass of champagne.

“Declan Rothschild has always wanted to be a father. Understand, I don’t simply grant wishes, especially when it comes to a customizable child—I must be selective. Declan wanted to have a child born to a woman of strength. My precious little nightingales make for the perfect breeders; however, not all have the strength you just saw. Raven is special. She has immaculate genetic makeup, she is obedient, and she is beautiful. She gives and doesn’t take as a woman should. Jamie was a dove, who was naughty and disrespectful, so now we must cleanse her body and make her useful elsewhere. We took her face and put it on another woman who was obedient in hopes that Jamie’s soul could learn that skill. As you know, La Gabbia doesn’t believe in wastefulness. We reduce, we reuse, and we recycle.” A sinister grin grew on Alister’s face as he looked down at me.

“As you all know, I recently married my own beautiful bird. You see, when I met Demi, I didn’t know where to place her. She’s obedient like my precious doves, but she’s got a very dark side, like my nightingales.” He brushed his hand across his mouth.

“I just know she’ll do whatever it takes to continue this legacy. Many do not understand our kind—they say we are a dying breed of men. If you’ve been to the therapist here for your one-on-one session, you know we aren’t sick or tainted. We are masculine men who crave full control in all forms.”

I didn’t understand what Alister was talking about. Society? I licked my lips as the men lifted their glasses in the air.

“To never healing. The only healing that needs to be done is for those who are broken, and we, gentlemen, are not broken. We will create a legacy the same way my father did for my brother and me. We will release our inner rage and become better fathers and husbands. We will know that La Gabbia is our source of solitude, and our families can have the other version of us. We can mask who we are, knowing we have a place where we can be seen.”

“Cheers!” Alister lifted his glass and drank. Saving just a bit, he handed it over to me. “Drink it, my love. It’s infused with the peonies we grow on fertile soil. It’s time we prepare your womb for my seed.”

Stomach acid tickled my throat.

Drinking the remainder of the champagne, I looked at the crowd. These men were wealthy celebrities, bankers, doctors, singers, financiers. These men had trust funds and bank accounts larger than anyone could ever imagine.

But these men were all sick.

* * *

“I need to understand what this society is exactly?” I sat at my new, hand-carved vanity Alister had gifted me as Kandi and Taylor helped me get ready for bed. It was Alister’s rule that I always looked presentable and had them help me with every outfit change, including bedtime.

“Mrs. Ivory, we don’t know anything about your husband’s society. We are here to simply work and serve you both and the rest of our beloved guests.” Taylor cleared her throat and continued to brush my hair as Kandi removed my makeup and began doing my skincare.

“I’m sorry for how I spoke to you both earlier.” I looked at them through the mirror. Truthfully, they were the ones who’d worked here the longest.

“Nothing to apologize for, ma’am.” Kandi rubbed some fancy serum into my skin.

I had to tread lightly. “He was talking about some society, and that’s why La Gabbia was created.”

Kandi looked at Taylor before sighing. “Mrs. Ivory, La Gabbia was created as a piece of heaven in a world that is otherwise mostly hell.”

“Heaven? For whom, exactly?” Taylor coughed out.

I put my hand up and asked them to stop. “I know they are abusing women here. But where are these women coming from, and how come none of the wives are questioning anything? They are here just enjoying the amenities without a care?”

“Some come here in hopes that their husbands will heal and change. That they won’t bring home their fantasies. They believe Mr. Ivory will make their husband’s fantasies come true here so they can act normally in their real life.” Kandi squeezed some cream out of a tube.

I looked at the tube, seeing no label on it. “What is that?”

“Alister— I mean, Mr. Ivory asked for me to start using this skin-tightening cream on your face.”

Looking at the tube, I saw it had a small list of ingredients, and written in small gold font, “La Gabbia Skin-Tightening Serum.”

Squinting, I looked at the list.

Ivory seminal fluid. Organic peony. Rose water.

“Seminal fluid?” I looked up at Kandi, whose cheeks flushed red.

“It’s Mr. Ivory’s…”

“His semen? He wants me to put this on my face?” I threw the tube at the vanity. “He’s making others use this?”

Kandi nodded and looked down at her feet.

I wanted to tell them we had to put an end to La Gabbia—it was the last known Ivory business. But then I remembered, I couldn’t. That vigilante part of me had gotten me nowhere. I looked around at the gold-encrusted, but otherwise, all-black room and remembered how incredible it felt to be up on stage as everyone respected my husband and me.

Did I want to go back to the cage? Did I want to become my sister?

My sister. My heart ached at the evil I saw oozing out of her.

“That’s fine. Please apply it.” I closed my eyes and let Kandi rub the ‘serum’ all over my face.

After the ladies helped me prepare for bed, I slid into the tight black lingerie Alister had selected for me.

My body ached in every sense possible, but tonight I knew he’d want us to consummate our marriage.

I knew I had to succumb to him and every desire, no matter what or who he brought to our bed.

This was my life.

I was Mrs. Alister Ivory. It was my entire identity and the only identity I could uphold that would protect me from becoming one of the other girls here. The ones that could be recycled and reused.

Kandi and Taylor left, and I tugged the thin robe open, letting the lingerie be on full display.

“Alister.” I brushed my freshly painted black nails down my cleavage.

He turned away from the ocean-front balcony and looked at me.

His jaw clenched as I let the robe slide down my body.

“Demi,” he breathed out as the sea air blew the curtains. I stared into his dark eyes as I began unbuttoning his dress shirt.

“You did incredibly well with your speech, and the film was one of the best I’d ever seen.” I licked my lips as I peeled his clothing off.

His head tilted as he watched me unzip his pants. “You enjoyed the film? Even though…”

I looked at him as he stepped out of his pants and gripped my arms.

“Even though, what?”

“Your sister…” he asked curiously.

“I don’t have a sister. Raven, as you call her—which I do not approve of you calling her that since you call me the same name—is nothing more than an employee. Our employee. Am I right, my husband?” I asked as I leaned in closer with my lips brushing against his.

“What would you prefer I call you? You are my most precious bird, after all…”

“I’m not your bird, Alister. I’m your wife, and as such, you will treat me that way. I have ideas and dreams for us and our future children. Tonight, when you discussed our…legacy, I realized I wanted to make sure that they reap the benefits of all the hard work their father…and now, their mother, has invested. I want them to have an even bigger empire. I am Demi, your wife. I will not be one of your?—”

His hands wrapped around my throat, and he tightened them. “Demi,” he rasped as he dragged me off my feet.

Gagging, I fought back the fear I felt in my lungs as my breath grew erratic.

Throwing me onto the bed aggressively, he pushed my legs apart and pushed inside me.

“Ah!” I cried out. I never quite healed from the surgery the demented doctor had done to me.

Clenching my eyes together, he continued as my nails dug into his skin.

“Please, st—” I cut myself off as he tugged a knife out and began carving it into the flesh right under my collarbone.

I began bleeding. He leaned in and began licking up the blood seeping out of my skin.

“Your blood will keep me alive longer,” he groaned as he dug into my skin even deeper.

“Alister,” I cried. The pain was too much, but I forced myself to moan.

“We will rule the world together, my queen.” He began choking me until I lost my breath.