Page 126 of Once A Crime Lord

“Sixty-six.”

“If you’re fucking with me—” Gavin began.

“I’m not,” Lucifer said crisply. “They should be coming for her any minute now.”

Blade and Angel ran through the hallway, opening and closing doors. He slammed Lucifer against the wall and grabbed him by the throat. When he began to apply pressure, Lucifer did nothing to stop him. On the contrary, he looked delighted.

“You’re trying to change your stripes, Gavin, but you can’t deny what’s inside you.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

“You’re a junkie like me, but it’s not for drugs. No, it’s for violence.” Lucifer’s voice was hoarse from his unrelenting grip. “By unleashing his true self, he freed yours too.”

He tossed him to the side. Lucifer was too quick to fall on the floor. He pivoted with perfect balance.

“You try so hard to deny your desires, Gavin. It’s a crime.”

“Fucking find my wife,” he snarled.

Lucifer opened another door, revealing a man with a drill about to do primitive surgery on a woman who splayed on the bed, looking blissed. Lucifer gave the fucked-up couple a thumbs up and closed the door.

“Stop!” Blade shouted.

At the end of the corridor a man held a limp woman draped over his shoulder. It took only a second for Gavin to recognize Lyla’s distinctive blonde hair. He started forward even as the man turned, revealing Eli Stark’s profile.

22

Lyla

The soundof the door opening roused her. The faintest hint of light penetrated through the material. Terror flooded through her. She erupted, straining at the chains. Her wrists protested, but she couldn’t stop. No, she would fight to the death.

“Stop.”

It wasn’t Sadist’s voice, but it could be one of his cronies who would take her to the ‘show.’ She screamed into the gag.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” the gravelly voice said.

She didn’t believe him for a moment.

“Stop fighting. I’m going to get you out.”

That penetrated. She paused and felt the brush of fingers on her face. She jerked back, nearly braining herself on the wall in her haste to avoid the man’s touch.

“That fucker,” he said and then, “hold still.”

The chains went taut, and she resisted the impulse to fight like an animal. When the chains loosened, she fell face first on the floor. Her arms trembled as her muscles protested being in such an awkward position for so long. She bit back a whimper and tried to lever herself up, but her arms were useless.

Two hands tucked under her armpits and pulled her into a sitting position. She had no balance and began to tip to the side. The man cursed and clamped a hand on her shoulder to keep her upright. Cramps wracked through her, and she moaned.

“Are you hurt?” he asked.

A goon fetching her for the ‘show’ wouldn’t care that she was hurt, right? A kernel of hope flared, and she shook her head since he still hadn’t taken off the gag. She desperately wanted to pull down the blindfold to see who he was, but her arms were limp noodles at her sides.

“We don’t have time,” he said impatiently.

A hard grip forced her to her feet. She whimpered as needles shot through her legs. A broad shoulder rammed into her stomach, and she was suddenly airborne. He gripped the back of her thighs and began to move. Her arms hung down, bouncing against his ass as he walked. She twitched her fingers and sucked in a breath. Fuck, that hurt. Her head spun as her white knight (or was it new captor) turned left and then right. The muffled sounds she’d been hearing through the door for hours were now at full blast. Screams and moans assaulted her ears. If she had the strength, she would have covered her ears. God, what was this place?

“Stop!”

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