Page 34 of Masked Darling

The masks.

Everything connected.

She remembered the words she’d been told back at The Serpent Pit, how they had tried to get her to stay for their party.

“You get to wear one of these too, sweetheart. It’stradition,” he added, pulling a plain black mask from his pocket and dangling it in front of her. The mask was simple, nondescript,but the fact she had seen it before on a group of strangersand Kademade her stomach twist with nausea.

Madison reeled back and jerked forward, spitting on the mask.

“Ohhh, fucking damn. You’re a feisty one. I like that.” He took a step closer, looming over her. “But don’t get too comfortable pulling shit like that unless you like it rough. You’ll learn your place soon enough.”

Madison jerked against her restraints, but the ropes were unforgiving, pulling taut against her skin. “You won’t get away with this,” she hissed. “There are people who will come for me.”

He just smirked again, wiping the spit off the mask onto his jeaned thigh.

“That’s what they all say, sweetheart.” He nodded to the door. “But don’t worry. You’ll have a nice buyer soon enough.” With that, he turned and exited the room to join the other man outside, leaving her alone again.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” a small voice whispered from the group of girls.

Ignoring her, Madison focused on her surroundings; The red wallpaper was peeling from the walls. The girls were huddled on the floor and an old, stained mattress where they tried to share a torn brown blanket. Some of the girls had bruises and cuts. Others looked untouched but their eyes were unfocused like they were in shock.

“What are your names?” Madison whispered as she looked them over with a sad expression. These poor girls. And she was about to be one of them.

No.

Not yet.

She was a fighter. She was smart. She could still get out of this. Maybe she could convince them to rally with her and kick past the men the next time they opened the door. Therewas probably something they could make a weapon out of—something, anything. They couldn’t just do nothing.

The woman with the braids cleared her throat and shook her head as she played with the blonde’s hair on her lap. “No names. It hurts too much to get attached.”

Now that Madison looked closer, the girl she was comforting couldn’t have been more than 15 or 16. She was still crying softly and refusing to look at Madison.

Oh, my god.

She was going to be sick.

“Should we tell her?” a different girl asked.

Madison followed the voice to see a frail body splayed out against the far wall. She was playing with a piece of the wallpaper that had come off. The woman was a little thing, and she was beautiful with her striking dark eyes and straight black hair, even though a nasty bruise covered her right eye.

“Tell me what?” Madison swallowed hard as she watched the girl drag the paper edge over one of her wrists as if it could make a papercut deep enough to end her life. But it was old and brittle and fell in tiny clumps onto the dirty carpet.

“No point,” another said from the bed but Madison couldn’t tell who said it because she was behind the others. Footsteps stopped outside the door again. “He’s already here.”

“She in there?” a deep voice asked, the sound muffled.

“Yep, she’s in there. She’s awake, too. Want us to move her to your room, boss?”

There was a long pause and Madison’s eyes locked with the woman in the braids who looked away with tears in her eyes.

“No,” he spoke. “Leave her there. I want them to watch.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

The muffled, pulsing beat of Sadie’s playlist shook the walls of the office in the back of The Serpent Pit. The music was the only barrier in place beside the door, covering any traces of the argument taking place in the small, dark office. It was the end of a busy night, and although the bar was still filled with customers, Kade and Jagger were far from enjoying the evening.

They were too busy yelling at each other.

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