20
Jessica
The poundingin my skull was making me want to scream.This had to be a dream, a horrible dream where my cranium was being operated on. Damn.
I opened one eye slightly to see if anyone was around. But my eyes wouldn’t focus. Everything was distorted. Moving my palm along the floor made my stomach wrench. The awareness of where I was came back full force.
I lifted my legs and arms. My hands and feet were no longer bound together, butthey had to have injected me with something.I had both eyes open, and the world was spinning.I needed to get up and look at what was around me.I had to get out of here. Using my arms, I struggled to shove up off the floor. The closer I got to a sitting position, the worse my tummy discomfort was.
I would not let them win again. The bile in my stomach was getting worse. I crawled across the cage to the other side and was able to discharge my stomach in the bucket. After that, I felt slightlybetter and could concentrate a little more.
I needed to figure out how I got here. The harder I thought about it, the more my head seemed to ache. Then it all came flooding back—Brock in a scene with a woman, running upstairs to pack, sneaking out of the building, getting on the wrong plane. Then, they had me again. That thought caused me heave once more.
“Hello, Jessica. It’s a pleasure to seeyou back where you belong.”
That voice brought back all my worst nightmares.That was what this had to be. It had to be a nightmare, and I would wake up in Brock’s arms.
I twined my fingers together, hoping to decrease the shaking. I had tremors running all through my body.The dread was so predominant in my mind that I couldn’t figure out how to respond. I hated that they could see how scared I was.
“We dosed you with some drugs to help you sleep.You were out longer than we wanted.Next time, we will make sure to change the dosage. It’s no fun if you sleep through everything.” His voice was so hypnotic.It sent me into the past to a horrible place I never wanted to go again.
“Within the next hour, all the drugs will be out of your system.” The clicking of his high-end shoes moved across the cement, closer to the cell. “Are you excited to play again? A lot has changed over the years. I can’t wait to get reacquainted.”
The flood of memories of the man talking for hours shot through me.He loved to hear himself talk. My head was still pounding from the drugs they had given me, and the sound of his voice hurt.
I hoped Brock didn’t believe the ruse, and he was still looking for me. If Axmed kept talking, that meant time was passing without me being tortured.
“Why me again?” Why go through all this work to get me again when he could have picked someone else and not have lost so many men? Axmed knew the resources that were behind my protection. My primary goal was to keep this man talking.
My stomach took another roll. The drugs were having a profound effect on me.Unable to hold back, I leaned over and threw up again.I needed to figure out if I could get out of here.Brock had been teaching me a lot of different escape tactics over the last few months.
The cell was small. Two of the walls were exterior cinder brick. One of the walls had a window, but it was barred. The cell didn’t even have a cot whose frame I could have used to pry at the bars of the cell.The one door was at the front where Axmed was standing.
When I looked up at Axmed, he was looking down at me with excitement in his eyes.Axmed had to be in his late fifties. His face was handsome, but those eyes were empty and cold. He’d taken off his suit jacket, laid it on the chair, and loosened his tie. “You are the reason my brother went to jail, and now your friends have messed with my job.”
His brother? All these years, he had been free while his brother was in jail?They had to be twins, they looked so much alike.But his brother had grown fat and weathered in jail.He, on the other hand, had not.Why not break his brother out and leave it at that?
“I would do anything for my brother.It took years to get power and money.While your family was worrying about you, I took that moment to break my brother out. Why still come after you? In the beginning, I wanted to use you as ransom for my brother. Since I was able to get him out without you, you are now his reward.”
“They will come for you. I still don’t understand why Father didn’t just kill your brother. What’s his name?”
“This is priceless. Your powerful team never put it together. My brother, Ashkir, and I are your half-brothers. King William never could keep it in his pants.”
Everything clicked, and I understood now. “You were trying to force Dad to hand the crown to you because you’re the oldest. But why torture your sister?”
“You and Patty have had the world handed to you. We wanted to take you both to hurt William with the ones he loves. And don’t expect your boyfriend to save you.” Axmed stared at me for a moment. “I saw it on the news this morning. Patty was crying and talking about the funeral they are planning. I believe your friends from the States are on their way to Shialia to go to said funeral.”
The tears ran down my face. “I guess you won.”
He chuckled. “I always win. I play the long games. My brother will have his fun with you, and then we will sell you on the market to make up for the money you have cost us over the years.I’m not sure, with all the scars, if we’ll be able to sell you for much.Not too many men can look at an ugly whore like you.”
I tried to block out the nasty words and think positively. Brock worshiped the scars on my body. They showed what I had been through. And he would still want me. No matter what this man might do to me, Brock would still love me.
Axmed’s words about the funeral came back to my mind. Your friends are flying to Shialia to go to said funeral. That gave me hope. If Patty were planning my funeral, it would be in the States. We both wantedgraves next toMom. We made a pact years ago, and she wouldn’t break it.This was her way of letting me know they were still looking.
Brock would look for me. He would do everything in his power to find me. That man loved me with every fiber he had. Hopefully, he wouldn’t be too mad at me for taking off my tracker and jumping to conclusions. More than likely, my ass would be hurting for days.
“I wonder if your new man will show up to the funeral. I heard a rumor that this one was cheating on you as well.”