Page 2 of Choke

The door flies open, and Callum barges in with a pretty woman who looks to be in her early twenties. Despite her ragged, filthy clothing, her beauty is undeniable—especially her large, emerald eyes framed by long, black lashes.

“She’s staying with us. I’m her bodyguard for the time being. Marcus is worried the other guys might get rough with her.”

“Mona,” the girl says firmly as she tugs her arm from Callum’s grip. “My name is Mona.”

Callum steps toward her, his large hands framing her delicate face. His nostrils flare, and his eyes blaze with fire. “I don’t care what your name is. Learn to keep your mouth shut. If you do anything to fuck up my life, it’s not the other guards you’ll need to fear. I’ll fuck you up so bad that the pain will be ingrained in your nervous system.”

The girl, Mona, glares at Callum. She doesn’t flinch; she doesn’t balk or cry. She holds his glare with a determined expression, a silent challenge laced in her pretty green eyes.

What kind of internal strength does it take to stand up to someone who could crush her so easily?

“I was seven when I witnessed the execution of my father. Six months later, I watched as my sister received seventy-four lashes because perverted men couldn’t handle their twisted urges and sexualized a thirteen-year-old girl. I was nine when I trekked across a desert, worried my mother would die of starvation because every morsel of food she had she gave to her three children. My first ten years were more brutal than most adults experience in a lifetime.” Mona steps closer to Callum, her breasts flush with his chest. “Cowards like you don’t scare me.”

Callum’s hand shoots out, and he laces his fingers in Mona’s long tresses, bending her body backward. He leans over her, his face barely an inch from hers. “You know what I do for a living, little girl? I destroy people. So, if you don’t get in line, I’ll break you.”

Mona’s full lips twist into a smile that’s unnerving for such a stunning woman. “You can’t break someone who’s already shattered.”

Callum releases her hair and steps back, and Mona crashes to the floor. He looks as if he’s received a lethal blow. His face is ashen, his confidence visibly shaken. I’ve never seen Callum off-kilter. He’s always collected, calculated, and lethal. Never would I have imagined he’d come undone because of the words of a beautiful stranger.

For a moment, I think Callum will walk away, leaving the girl huddled in the corner.

But that thought is foolish.

Callum’s back is rigid, his hands clenched into fists. The man I love is no longer visible through the dense fog of his anger. He’smy father’s henchman, a man I once believed capable of ending my life.

This is the Callum I forgot existed.

This Callum is a stranger.

3

CALLUM

Is redemption possible for monsters like me? I harbor hope that my dark soul will one day find salvation. That a time will come when goodness grasps me from my continued descent into hell.

A girl who doesn’t know when to shut her mouth has just shattered that delusion.

Each step I take toward her is heavy. Not because of an ill-informed notion that what I’m about to do is wrong. My moral compass became skewed years ago when my impressionable mind was far from fully developed. What makes me hesitate is the defiant spark in her eyes. Tears well and spill down her cheeks, a silent torrent of emotion, but her eyes unwaveringly hold mine in a silent challenge.

“Your body can’t cash the check your mouth wants to make,” I spit as I lean over her, shadowing her with my massive frame.

“You ever wonder why your handler wants me kept safe? Why a man who barters and trades women like cattle cares that I’m safe? Or is your job as a mindless enforcer not to question the atrocious acts he commits?”

I take a moment to allow her words to permeate the anger and frustration consuming me. She’s correct. This behavior isn’t standard practice for Meyer. He’s violent and ruthless and rarely gives anyone grace or displays kindness, not even to his own son. That he wants this girl kept away from the other guards is peculiar and contradicts the brutality he inflicts on other, less willing women.

Mona has been assigned to that group. The undesirables. Ironically, their captivity and brutalization stems from their inaccessible allure. Unlike the other female members of Meyer’s organization, who want to be engulfed by Meyer’s religious rhetoric and madness, these girls are prisoners. Taken against their will and bent and broken until they eventually submit.

My body lurches as a firm hand grips my shoulder.

“Leave her alone, Callum. That’s enough for one night.”

I gaze at Atlas, anger sparking every nerve ending in my body. He raises his arms, aware of the rage that consumes me. Atlas isn’t stupid. He understands that I love him, but he also has a firm grasp of the reality of our lives. I can only keep him safe if I indulge in the madness perpetrated by his father. I know what I’m doing is corrupt, vile, and evil. Atlas knows it, too, but we also know we have to play with the devil to survive hell.

“Leave it for tonight,” Atlas whispers, the words a dying prayer on his lips.

“You’ll pay her pound of flesh?” I ask, hating myself for asking when I see the weariness in Atlas’s eyes. His defeat isn’t due to the acts he knows I’ll expose him to. The sorrow in his eyes is because he’s trapped in the hellscape crafted by his father and because he loves me—his father’s head demon.

Atlas peers at Mona and nods. “Yes.”

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