Page 59 of Toy

I froze. They were obviously talking about Jolie. Right now I had no idea where they were keeping her—I could only assume she was somewhere in the distant mansion—so anything I gleaned from their conversation could come in handy.

“I don’t understand where she has been all this time,” the third girl said. “When I was brought here, the men said this is the only safe place in the world for females.”

Her English was very slow and stilted, but I could only presume every girl and woman here had been told not to speak their first language unless they wanted a severe beating. Most of the cult men only knew English, so if they heard Spanish or any other languages, they might assume the girls were plotting against them.

“I asked my husband yesterday,” said the older one. “He said she’s been in Hell with the Devil, her true master. The Prophet made a deal with him so that she could be returned to us for proper punishment.”

“Do you believe that?” the youngest girl asked timidly. “I saw her when she arrived. She didn’t look evil.”

The other one leaned forward. “I don’t believe it, and neither should you,” she said in a hushed tone. “But we can’t ever let them know that. You’ve seen what they do to the bad girls, haven’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Then keep your mouth shut and stay near the houses, okay? If any of the men see you anywhere near the punishment huts while she’s here, they might accuse you of being infected by her dark magic.”

I glanced over to the thatched cabins I spotted earlier. From what the girl had just said, it sounded as if Jolie was being kept in one of them.

I crept back into the forest and made my way to the nearest cabin. It was dark inside, but the neighboring cabin was glowing with candlelight. Using a side wall of the first one as a shield, I peeked around and looked through the window.

Danny Miller was standing there with nothing but a shirt on, leaning over a table and stroking his ugly pink cock. Jolie was on the table before him, naked and restrained. Her arms were stuck behind her at an awkward angle, held fast by cuffs attached to a wooden rod, and her legs had been forced wide open by a long spreader bar. On either side of the bar were metal restraints made up of sharp spiked teeth and two hinges. Judging by the blood running down Jolie’s thighs, the cruel device was designed to stop her from trying to close her legs. Every time she moved, the restraints tightened and the spikes bit into her skin harder and harder.

The rest of her body was covered with cuts and bruises, and her left eye was purple and swollen. Rage burned in my throat at the sight.

My heartbeat thundered in my ears as I dropped my pack, rushed around and crashed through the door. Danny whirled around and opened his mouth, but he didn’t get a single word out before I lifted my gun and fired off three rounds, making his head explode in a mist of blood, bone and gray matter. The gunshots made heavy popping sounds, but the suppressor on the barrel muffled most of the noise. No one beyond the cabin would’ve heard a thing.

Danny’s body teetered and crumpled to the floor, right into the mess of blood and gore that used to be his head.

“Mason!” Jolie cried out, making an attempt to inch forward on the table so she could be closer to me.

“Don’t move, baby girl,” I said, shutting the door behind me. “Not until I get you out of that shit.”

Tears streamed down her bruised face as I wrenched the restraints off her thighs and arms. There were nasty-looking clamps attached to her nipples, too. I reached forward and carefully unclipped them, my other hand stroking her marred skin in soft, soothing movements. She’d been tortured terribly, but she was alive. That was something to be grateful for, no matter how horrifying the sight of her bleeding, tormented figure was to me.

“You came,” she whispered, staring up into my eyes.

“Of course I fucking came,” I growled, pulling her into a tight embrace.

Her shoulders trembled like crazy. “How did you find me?”

“Long story. I’ll tell you later. Right now, I need to get you out of here,” I said. “Do you have any clothes?”

She looked at a bloodstained dress which lay on the floor next to Danny’s body. “That’s all I have.”

“It’s better than nothing. Put it on.”

She nodded and shakily dressed. “I think there are other girls here,” she said as she buttoned up the front.

“I know. Don’t worry, I’m going to get them out too.”

Jolie’s cracked lips turned up in a faint smile. “Of course you are,” she murmured. “I can’t believe you actually found me. You’re amazing.”

“I’m not amazing. I just fucking love you,” I said, reaching out to tuck a strand of damp hair behind her ear.

“I love y—” She stopped short, her smile instantly fading. “Oh, shit.”

I heard the door open behind me as she spoke. Before I could spin around and assess the threat, someone clubbed me over the back of the head with a thick metal bar. A spurt of blood gushed onto the floor in front of me, and my knees weakened as my vision blurred.

“Mason!” Jolie screamed.

I tried to reach for her as shadowy arms pulled her into their clutches, but the whole world seemed to be turning dark and hazy as it spun wildly around me, fading more and more with every passing second.

Then it all went black.

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