Cree
I yell over and over until my throat burns. How can Riggs let her out of his sight? They’ll break Eva. How the hell will I get us both out of here? Michelle saunters into the room again.
“Get the fuck out!” I yell. “You better pray I don’t get out of these binds because I’m coming for you first, then I’m going after your fucked-up husband.”
She smiles. She’s so sure I’m not gonna get free that she ain’t worried by my threats. “I have someone here to see you.”
Emily enters the room and I sag in relief. “Emily, are you okay?”
“Yeah, Cree. I’m all good.”
“I’ll leave you two to get reacquainted,” says Michelle as she leaves the room.
Emily turns off the porn that’s been playing on loop for hours. My ears are ringing against the silence of the room. “Emily, you have to get me out of here,” I whisper.
Emily smiles and lowers to the floor in front of me. She tucks her feet under her ass and gets comfortable. “Cree, I have something to tell you.”
I frown as a memory of Emily holding a needle in my thigh assaults my brain. “You said you weren’t who I thought you were,” I repeat her words from last night.
“You knew my mum,” she says.
“I thought your mum wasn’t around,” I say. “How would I know her?”
“She was a client of yours,” says Emily. “Her name was Rose. Rose Gray. She died, but you wouldn’t remember that part.” She sounds bitter and I rack my brains trying to remember the name ‘Rose Gray’.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t know that name,” I say. “Help me get out of here and we’ll talk about it. We can go back to the centre and speak to Marcus.”
“Poor, unsuspecting Marcus.” Emily sighs. “I know I look young for my age, but seriously, how did he not see that it was all one big lie?”
I tug angrily at my restraints again. I don’t have time for this bullshit. “What the fuck are you talking about?” I growl.
“My mum was a victim of you and your bastard step-dad. Between you, you ripped my family apart and ruined my life.” I stare at her blankly. “You got her hooked on heroin. In the end, she loved that shit more than me. Hell, she loved you more than me.”
“Emily,” I snap. “I don’t know what the fuck is going on. I feel like I woke up in some alternate universe. Stop talking in riddles and explain what the fuck I did because I don’t know your mum.”
Emily reaches into her pocket and slides out a photograph. She places it on the floor at my feet and I stare at it. I know the woman in that picture, but she wasn’t Rose to me. Her name was Lisa. I feel the blood rush from my face.
Emily stands and presses some buttons on the television. An image comes into view and I know straight away without looking up what she’s going to play.
Eva
I stare through the darkened glass at my gorgeous Cree. Blood drips from his leg onto the ground. There are scratches on his chest and face, and he looks tired. His eyes are fixed on the screen playing a porn video of a woman and younger him. They’re having sex. It’s the sex Cree likes, the type where he’s in charge, because the woman has her hands tied behind her back and he’s slamming into her. Younger Cree is handed a needle that he holds in his mouth while he’s pounding into the woman. He jacks up her leg and gives her the shot. Within minutes, she’s floppy and unresponsive. “Keep going,” someone barks out from behind the camera. Cree keeps fucking the unresponsive woman until he climaxes.
The next film clip begins to play and it’s pretty much the same thing. I look at Cree, and he doesn’t look away from the screen. His expression is hard and angry.
“You see, my pretty, he isn’t the man you thought he was,” says Callum as he brushes my hair away from my neck. “We have a very important meeting up next. You must not speak unless spoken to. You must be polite and respectful. If you mess this up, I’ll make sure Cree pays the price. Are we clear?” I nod my head and Callum rips my head back by my hair. “I said, are we clear?” he growls into my ear.
“Yes,” I hiss. “We’re clear.”
I’m taken into another room. This place looks like a disused police station. There’re three men in the room—two stand in opposite corners and one man sits in a chair by a desk. He’s wearing a suit that looks expensive. He stands when we enter, straightens his jacket, and says something to Callum in what I think is Russian. Callum responds and they share a laugh and shake hands.
The man takes my hand and kisses the back of it. “The pictures didn’t do you justice,” he says. “You are very beautiful.” He takes the ends of my hair between his fingers and I instinctively move my head. “But I wonder why you brought her in here on her feet?” he asks, looking at Callum for an explanation.
“We haven’t begun training,” explains Callum.
“Then now is a good time to start, don’t you think?” he asks.
“Of course. Eva, kneel.”
I laugh, and when I see that he isn’t kidding, my eyes widen. “On the floor?” I ask and the foreign man laughs hard. Callum glares at me, outraged, and then grips my hair hard and kicks the back of my knees, causing me to buckle until I’m kneeling on the floor.
“I am wondering if perhaps you have taken on too much with this girl, no?” asks the man.
“I’ll have her ready in the time you stated.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I snap. Callum’s hand tightens in my hair, a clear warning.
“You’re going to be so much fun. I want to watch the moment you break,”
