Page 2 of Redd

Deep breathing penetrated my ears, and hot air spill down my face. I didn't have time to scream or cry out for help. I didn't have time to see a face or eyes, or anything to identify the person standing above me.

Whoever it was, whoever had stealthily crept into my room like a silent stalker, smothered my mouth and nose with a wet cloth.

The smell was pungent. It was a mix of salt and bleach that stung my nostrils as I inhaled with a shocked gasp, unwillingly giving passage for that scent to fill my lungs.

Then nothing. Nothing until right now, right here. The floor was cold against my cheek, my head foggy and clouded as I came to and tried to sit up.

Only I couldn't. My arms were tied in front of my waist, my ankles were bound together, and my eyes were stripped of sight.

Forceful hands yanked me off the ground, positioning me on my knees and warning me not to say one fucking word.

So I didn't speak, I just listened to these two men discussing my worth as if I was a piece of jewelry.

What the fuck is going on?

Why the hell am I here like this?

I was left without answers as I waited in anticipation of the next move.

Licking my lips, I traced the deep cracks that opened up across the surface. I had to do something, I had to intervene and try to get out of this.

I couldn't stay afraid, I couldn't just kneel there helpless and weak. I wasn't going to allow that fear to take control, turning me into a puppet as it became my strings.

Taking a deep breath, I boldly squared my shoulders, lifting my chin up high. “I'm not worth anything.” I surprised myself with how clear and stern my voice came out. It felt good, I felt empowered, like I was taking a piece of the control for myself.

But that feeling didn't last, it didn't stay crisp and rigid as I forced a pedestal to take shape at my feet. Instead I fell hard and fast, getting knocked off before I even had the time to catch my balance.

Sharp nails stabbed into the top of my scalp, tearing my head back. “I wasn't talking to you—was I?”His teeth ground his words into dust, tearing them apart so he could spit them in my face.

A soft whimper escaped my mouth as I shook my head no. Tipping back towards my heels, I tried to relieve some of the tension by leaning into his hand.

The man's lips touched the shell of my ear, his breath hot like fire. “If I want you to speak, I will ask you a question. If I want to hear your fucking voice or your fucking opinion—shit—if I want to hear your goddamn pleas, I will tell you to talk and I will tell you to beg. Until then, just kneel right where you are and look pretty.” Throwing my head forward, I felt the weight of his body lift as he took a step back.

My pulse beat inside my ears, drowning out his voice as the life I had faded away; turning from sweet to bitter, and melting into a puddle around my knees. I knew. . . Nothing would ever be the same.

I would never be the same.

This man had lost his sense of humanity, leaving it behind in whatever world he stepped out of. And now he had come to steal mine, he had come to drive me down like a stake in the dirt and take everything away from me.

Clearing his throat, the man walked around me, his voice floating from one ear to the other. “I asked you a question, Xavier. How much is she worth?”

I could feel him looking down on me; reading me, devouring numbers inside his head as he calculated my life in bank notes.

The other man took his turn to speak, asking “How much does he owe you?”

There was no response. A thick silence filled the room, dense and coarse, causing my skin to prickle.

I didn't like the silence. Ihatedthe silence.

My heart drummed like a soldier, pounding with so much force it hurt. Everything hurt. My veins hurt as they surged with hot blood, my muscles hurt as they throbbed and pulsed under the skin, making me well aware of how exposed and vulnerable I truly was.

“Well,” The man named Xavier went on, ignoring the fact he wasn't given an answer. “Whatever it is, if I were you, I'd consider the debt paid.”

“Is that really what you think?”

“Diablo, have I ever lied to you?”

Diablo?

---