Page 28 of Wanted

“What’s bothering you? I only want to help,” I whispered so low that I was positive I was the only one who heard the words.

“I don’t want to talk. I want to forget.”

“I know that feeling very well,” I assured her. Taking a deep breath, I decided to be the mature woman everyone expected me to be because of my age and what I’d gone through. “Ever since my escape, I started hearing things. Memories of my past. Things I’ve never thought of before. It’s like the dam broke, and whatever’s broken free is adamant on poisoning my soul. I hear fights that I used to have with my mom, and I remember the sweet things she used to tell me. Those hurt the most. When I’m feeling the worst, I hear Aram in the early days of... You know, back when he started… raping me.”

Her entire body twitched at the word, and I took a break from my heartfelt confession.

“Manuel.”

“What did he do?” I asked, clenching my fists.

“My father’s men picked me up when I arrived in Chicago a couple of days after you left. It felt like his entire cavalry was there to intimidate me, make me feel small and powerless.” Mandy kept staring at my trembling hands, and I didn’t know what to do about it. “I’ve been with him ever since. He locked me up in the room that I grew up in. It’s abandoned now, the servants’ quarter. My father is so paranoid that he doesn’t let his staff sleep on his property anymore…”

I let her collect her thoughts while I processed what she said.

“Manuel joined me in that room.”

“Okay.” I found myself speechless because I knew the look on her face. Betrayal and disappointment were old friends of mine. Once upon a time, I’d been the girl that Mandy was right now. Her innocence was gone.

“Manuel used me in that room.” Her voice grew icy, her body turning to stone. “I think… I think Jordan killed him. I’m not sure. I don’t remember how Jordan got me out of there, but I remember Manuel on the floor, bleeding out. I don’t like what I feel right now. I’m satisfied, but I ache. It still hurts, Kamila. It’s been months, and it still hurts.”

“Your stomach?”

“It’s more my abdomen now. The entire area.”

“And it’s not period-related?” I asked.

She shook her head. “Who are these people? Why are they helping us?”

“Travis and Jordan are old friends. I don’t know much more than that. Jordan knew exactly how business was run back when Travis still worked for your father,” I suggested. “Now that we are together, we could leave, you know. We just need to find some money. I don’t know how… There was an altercation between Fylox and Alex. I was caught in the middle of it, and I got injured. I’m still mad about it. My father and your father are looking for us everywhere. We just have to be careful. This is Travis’ doing, and I can’t bear the beating heart in my chest if that piece of shit is the one that saves us.”

“I never heard of a Jordan Winters in the past,” Mandy revealed.

“Things aren’t looking good. Fylox let me watch some television the other day, and I felt like shit afterward. Weston and Aris are going through the motions, but they’re pissed.”

“I miss him,” she blurted out.

I grabbed her hand, and I intertwined our fingers. “What happened between you two?”

“Nothing.” I cocked my head, judging her for keeping secrets from me. She sighed. “Between finding out that Spencer’s not my biological dad, that my mother was murdered by Travis on Spencer’s orders, and that Weston wanted to keep me in Katantia to own me, I needed time off. Thinking back to it, I should’ve stayed in Katantia.”

“You can’t change what happened,” I told her. “We’ll get through this. First things first, I’m telling Jordan that we need a doctor for your aches.”

“What’s going on between you and the two…”

I smirked. She was a curious little kitten, wasn’t she? Her pale and hollow state saddened me. “It turns out that wherever I go, I become a captive. The only difference is that when I’m in Katantia, I get dick.”

“You’ve been here for three months, and you haven’t had sex with either of these guys?” she whispered in fear that they’d hear her.

I chuckled, but it hurt like hell on the inside.I’m the only one who gets to fuck that cunt. Me, and all of my friends. You’ll never be loved, cunt. I gave you life. I’ve ruined you. I’ll be the one that takes your life. Ugly bitch. I told you to get your hair done. I don’t want to see that red shit!

“But they look at you like…”

“Yeah, they feel guilty,” I told her. “Guilty that they’re keeping me here. Guilty that Fylox shoved me, even if it was somewhat of an accident.”

“I think it’s more than that,” she contended.

I rolled my lips, shifting on the sheets. “Even if it were, I’m not going down that route with a guy who almost gave me a concussion. I’ve spent half of my life being fucked into oblivion by a guy I loathed. I don’t need to add more to the list of shit Kamila has pulled in her lifetime.”