Page 14 of Hell Breaks Loose

Without a single bit of news from my friends, my home. Knowing it’s only a matter of time before Marco goes back and wipes them off the map.

Slinging me away from him, Lonnie tries to dodge my barrage of kicks and punches, lunging back as I scramble across the cold concrete floor toward them. It doesn’t even faze me that any one of them could end me with one punch.

Instead, it’s a kick, right to the stomach. As I dash through the doorway, back toward the stairs, he drives his boot into my gut as I dive past them, sending me to the ground in a gasping heap.

Air eludes me for what feels like minutes, agonizing, raging.

This is it.

The end of hope.

Lonnie doesn’t bother taking it easy on me as he snags my hair, dragging me up, hooking my arms behind my back and zip-tying my hands.

As breath makes its way back into my lungs, deep, primal terror takes hold. They're going to really let me have it…

They’re going to do what I’ve tried not to think about since being brought here.

But all the fight in my body is fading, my energy fleeting.

Sagging in Lonnie’s grip, I try to pull away. To show defiance.

“Enough.” Marco’s voice echoes in the hallway, as cold as the bare walls of the room behind me.

“She went fucking nuts, Boss,” Grico explains, dabbing and wincing at the cuts all over his face.

“Of course she did.”

Marco emerges out of the shadows, his shirt unbuttoned, his sleeves cuffed up. He’s been drinking. He looks roughed up, like he was fighting.

“You see, there’s always a little fight left, always. It’s all about patience, Grico. Every person I’ve ever tortured, when you think you’ve broken them completely… you must always wait. Because they will hold out that little reserve. It’s hope. It’s faith.”

Grico nods, but his blank stare hardly registers understanding of what his boss is telling him.

Vance and Lonnie are statues, as always, just waiting for orders.

“The real test is to feed it. That hope. Give them a single moment of reprieve. They’ll let their guard down. They’ll cry a single tear. Then the dam will break.”

The iciest chill snakes down my spine, loosening what little strength I had in my legs holding me up. I sag in Lonnie’s arms, a tiny, quavering sigh escaping my lips.

He saw me, was watching me.

Watched me come undone in that tub. Watched me collapse into that bed, surrendering to weakness.

Or he just knew exactly what would happen, what I would do.

Crouching just in front of me, he takes my face in his fingers, squeezing my cheeks and raising me to look at him. I can only stare into those eyes for a split second before sickening dread forces me to look away.

They’re vacant. Frozen.

He isn’t even disgusted by my tear-, dirt-, and blood-streaked face.

My torn nightgown. My scraped knees and hands.

“Hellena. I’m going to give you a few more nights down here to make peace with your old life. Then you will join me upstairs. Take your place. You can have all of your privileges back, but you will have to keep earning them. Are we clear?”

He just locks those black, emotionless shark’s eyes onto my lips, waiting for me to speak.

“F–fuck… y–you,” I whimper, but it’s hollow. An automatic response. There’s no venom behind it. Only despair.

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