16 Chapter 15 (2/2)

My reaction seemed to calm the beast, to satisfy him. He sucked in a breath and let his shoulders drop, as if composing himself.

'My name is Emilio,' he breathed, his gold tooth glinting in the harsh light of the bare bulb above us. 'But you will call me Master.'

Before I could protest or cry or make some smarta.s.s joke, before I could even decide how to react, he reached around and grabbed the back of my neck, pulling me from the bed and slamming me forcefully to the ground. The damp concrete knocked the air from my lungs, and I gasped.

Crack!

He kicked me in the ribs, forcefully enough for me to hear a snap as something broke. White-hot pain sang in my bones, reaching a brutal climax when my nerves relayed the searing message to my brain.

I thought I'd be braver. I thought I'd be able to take his torment, his violence, and smile at him with blood-smeared teeth. But I wasn't brave. I was scared.

I broke.

I opened my mouth, and screamed.

He left the room after that. I curled into an awkward ball, not too tight, because my ribs were screaming in agony, but as tight as I could, because it was freezing in the room.

Time stretched out, as my stomach rumbled and my ribs protested their pain.

Hunger. Pain. Sadness. Despair. They all threw a party inside me, and all I wanted was for them to go away, to give me some peace for a few brief moments. All I wanted was for the pain to go away.

I recoiled as I saw a boot appear in my vision.

'Hey,' the voice that belonged to the boot soothed. Dornan. 'It's okay. I'll save my beating for tomorrow.'

I frowned, looking up at him as he knelt beside me; he was smiling and I couldn't tell if he was joking or not.

'I think my ribs are broken,' I wheezed.

He nodded. 'Probably. I heard something snap.'

I moaned, trying to roll over. I eventually managed to get to my knees, and he helped me to my feet like I was as light as a feather.

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I sat on the edge of the bed gingerly, trying not to move anything. Each time I took in a breath, white-hot pain radiated from a spot underneath my heart. He broke my ribs! Beneath the fog of pain, I was furious. Wasn't taking me from my family enough? Wasn't killing my boyfriend enough? Wasn't forcing me to swallow those fake cocaine capsules enough?

Of course it wasn't enough. He would keep hitting, keep hurting, keep taunting, until I stopped responding. He was a power-hungry psychopath. He did a magnificent job of playing the b.a.s.t.a.r.d. He didn't care if I suffered; in fact, my suffering was essential to him.

I chastised myself for being so receptive to Dornan. He was the enemy. It was like a really s.h.i.+tty version of good cop / bad cop, and I had fallen for it hook, line and sinker.

'I'll get you something to eat,' Dornan said. 'I'll be right back.'

I looked at him with all of the disgust I could muster.

'Don't bother,' I said mechanically, no emotion in my tone. He was Emilio's son, not my friend, and though he'd bandaged me up, and said he liked my blood, it would be the last of my blood he would get to touch without a fight.

I wasn't falling for his bulls.h.i.+t act. He was a Gypsy Brother. They might own me now, but it didn't mean I had to like it. Like him.

Dornan raised an eyebrow. 'Lost your appet.i.te? Yeah, he does that to me, too.'

I didn't respond, and eventually he took the hint, and left.

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