Page 37 of Defiant Devotion

Fuck you. Fuck you both!Bottling in my fury and panic nauseated me, but I couldn’t try to find a rational line of optimism or hope to keep me from vibrating with rage. I felt like a coiled-up, ticking bomb, ready to lash out and explode.

Soon, in a blur with how shocked I was at the rapid sequence of too much action in a short span of time, I spotted a warehouse further from the city.

The Ilyins were rough as they forced me out of the backseat and coerced me into entering the building. Maybe they considered this a safehouse, but I knew what it really was. Cots lined one wall. Pots used for toilets sat next to them. Fortunately, no other occupants were being held here at the moment, but I recognized this building as a halfway stop for where they’d keep or move the children and women intended to be sold into trafficking.

“Don’t even think about it,” a soldier growled as he lowered to grab my wrists.

I didn’t bother to ask whatitwas. With how I’d left them before, killing a guard and severely injuring another, he had to be wary of my putting up a fight again.

To my surprise, he cut the chain of metal links that held my handcuffs together.

Why would you want to?—

Then he yanked me up to stand so he could punch me.

No!I realized what he was doing a second before he delivered the strike. His fist reared back, and in that brief beat of time, I had the protective instinct to drop down.

He couldn’t hit me like that. Not on my stomach. Nowhere near my baby! Terrified of what I could face here, I let the boiling anger and fierce need to protect my child rule me. I would be a feral, rabid, and uncontrollable mama bear. If they wanted to show me how mad they were that I’d gotten away before, they wouldnotharm my baby!

Dropping down ensured that he’d punched my face instead. My head jerked back, and instant agony lanced over my skin.

“You stupid ass,” another Ilyin man yelled at him, forcing him back and away from me as I breathed through the pain of the beating. “You can’t hurt her where anyone can see! Benson won’t want her delivered with bruises.”

“I don’t give shit. She killed my brother. Benson can have his fucking virgin however she’ll look like by the time I’m through with her.”

“Dumb cunt,” another man said as he kicked my leg.

Again, I curled to protect my stomach. They could try to break me down all they wanted, but they wouldn’t get to harm my child.

Over and over, they struck out at me. When they stopped, pausing, one held the others back. They all heaved out harsh breaths, winded from the exertion of attacking me.

“You’re—” He wiped spit from his mouth. “You see how she’s leaning over?”

“Huh?” One of the others narrowed his eyes.

“She’s holding her stomach,” the one pointed out. “Are you—Fuck!” He lunged to grab my arm and pull it back. Moving so quickly, he had an advantage in the element of surprise. I wasn’t prepared to keep my arm close, and as he yanked it aside, they all could see my small baby bump that I was trying so hard to protect.

Tears streaked down my face, wetting my skin with the scalding liquid, but I’d be damned if I wasted the time to wipe them away. Pain filled me. Every cell of my body seemed to be lit on fire with inflammation. But my priority was to wrap my arms around my stomach again.

“She’s not a virgin anymore!”

“Someone knocked her up?”

“We’re supposed to give him a virgin.”

“How the hell did this happen?”

They shouted and cursed, freaking out with their voices overlapping each other’s in a frantic flurry of anger and shock.

“You stupid fucking bitch!” the leader of them roared. “You’re not taking some bastard baby to your fiancé. You hear me?” After stepping aside, he returned with a crowbar. “Your little bastard isn’t going to fuck up the plans. You’re going to marry Benson, but not with someone else’s bastard in your belly.”

As he reared the crowbar back, as if to swing it like a bat at me, two others grabbed my arms and held them back. With my stomach thrust out, the sadist had a clear shot to strike my belly.

“No!” I screamed it until my face stretched with the force of straining my face so hard. “No!” I kicked and bucked, flailing and fighting to break free with every last reserve of my energy. “Don’t!”

“Shut up, you whore,” the man warned, a nefarious snarl curling his lips. “Shut up and pay for your sins.” He lifted his arms again, the metal rod lined up to come into contact with me.

But then a hole showed on his brow. A single dot, clean and small. Blood rimmed the new spot.

---