Page 43 of Sacrifice

“Not likely,” the man replies as the motor revs.

Counting to a thousand, I give them time to get away from the area. I get up and quickly move the blanket back around myself. Moving as fast as I can around the tree, I come up against a man and a dog. The hound howls and I wince.

Looking up, the man from Vincent’s house is there and dread fills me.

“You’re smart,” he laughs, and takes hold of me. “Alejandro is going to start a war because of you. Too bad you didn’t keep running straight ahead.”

My voice is pretty much gone, but I still have to try. “Let me go. Please.” I cough out the last word and tears well in my eyes.

The man chuckles and hauls me up so I can see his face. “Not a fucking chance, little pawn.” He brings up one of his fists and knocks me upside the head. The world spins and blackness takes me.

Bright lights hit me and I whimper. Or I try to, but no sound comes out. I’m upside down with my feet tied to a wall. My head is above a bucket.Don’t panic.That’s my first thought. I almost laugh at the absurdity of what I’ve been through.

“Ah, she’s awake,” someone says, but their accent is different from the man who found me.

“Donna bella, do you hear me?”

I don’t say anything. It’s not like they can hear anything coming from my mouth. Instead, I give them a nod.

“Good. Good.” He says, and the world turns until I’m upright. My head hurts and I shut my eyes to keep the swirling feelings of dizziness from overtaking me. All I need right now is to faint again. God, I have never felt so weak in my life.

“Alejandro has brought you to my territory to keep Vincent on the run, chasing his tail. For this, I’m allowing Alejandro to live so I can watch the aftermath of their feud.” He says all of this with a giddiness that makes me wonder if he’s a psychopath.

The door to the room opens and Alejandro comes through it. “I see my present is awake. The auction will start in a few hours. Let’s make sure she is ready for it.”

“But she’s mine now. I have clients wanting a taste of her.”

Alejandro slaps the man and grabs him by the collar. “My present to you isn’t the whore. It’s the money you are about to make when we sell her.”

Alejandro comes over to me, leaving the man, who’s dressed in gaudy multi-colored clothing, to hold his cheek and glare at me.

“If you’re a good girl, I will let you out of the ropes.” He touches me and I grimace. “You’d like to be free, wouldn’t you?”

His voice is soft, like he’s talking to an injured deer. My entire body screams to get away from Alejandro, but I can’t. The tightness in my body reminds me that if I do anything bad, I’ll get a beating again.

As he moves his hand down my neck, I lose it. I struggle to get away from him and the other man in the room snickers. “She’s not going to be a good girl for you.” He whistles, and three more men come into the room.

My struggles stop instantly as Alejandro grips my neck. One of the men holds a blow torch, one holds duct tape, and the other holds a black suit.

“This is a latex body suit that covers you from head to toe.” He walks over to the man and grabs it.

“Alejandro, why don’t we put her in it, with the duct tape on her mouth so that when we torch her body, we won’t hear her screams? Hmm?” He looks almost giddy at the thought of setting me on fire.

Fearfully, I look at Alejandro and he looks as panicked as I do for a moment. I watch as he clears his emotions and looks down at me with a grin. He bends down and licks my ear.

“If you cooperate, you won't have to go through latex poison, Aribella. The chemical reaction of fire and latex melting intoyour skin and suffocating you will be terrifying and painful. But, you can stop this, if you mind me.”

They have gotten my attention. I stop thrashing and look at Alejandro. He must see my willingness to obey because he looks at the man that captured me for a second time. “Untie her.”

Once someone unties me, I fall to the ground and it hurts. I’m already so bruised and broken, but everything seems to hurt tenfold.

“Get her up.” One of the men helps me up and I stand there, feeling the pain in my body radiating. The man with the blow torch grins at me and I shiver. They are truly crazy.

“Now, get on your knees,” Alejandro demands, and I just stand there. I’m too tired to move. Or maybe it’s because I feel like I may faint if I do.

The blow torch turns on and I drop instantly to my knees. “Excellent, Aribella. I’m glad we have an understanding.”

Alejandro pulls a leather strap out of his pocket and places it around my neck. “This collar is fitted with tiny needles that hold a paralyzing drug.”

---