Page 73 of Call Sign: King
Moving as stealthily as possible, she reached down to see if she’d perhaps tipped over a water bottle. Her touch connected with the wetness, but when she lifted her hand, she found her fingers were now red.
Covered in blood.
Panic set in. Was the brand bleeding?
That didn’t make sense. The hot iron would have cauterized the wound.
The wound where they’d dug the GPS tracker out of her was now against the floor. A quick brush to that location proved that was not the source of the blood.
Lifting her head, she glanced over at the sleeping Irena. She didn’t look bloody and even if she was, she was too far away for the blood to belong to her.
Her body chose that moment to deliver a sharp cramp in her lower abdomen, as familiar as it was unwanted.
I started my period.
The truth slammed into Khloe hard, taking with it what small glimmer of hope she’d been holding onto. She’d been so sure she was pregnant — even without seeing the test results back in Toronto. Dreaming of carrying Ryder’s baby had been the tiny ray of happiness she’d been clinging to since Vlad had barged into her suite, and now even that was gone.
Hot tears fell down her cheeks unchecked. She’d been brave… holding it together and fighting but laying naked in a pool of her own blood, she felt that determined facade crumbling.
Khloe had never felt more alone in her life.
Oh, the irony. As privileged as her life as a celebrity was, she regularly complained that she never got any privacy. Even in her own home in Malibu, Trevor was in the house with her if Ryder was away for work. She traveled everywhere with an entourage… publicists, agents, directors, reporters, paparazzi, security… She’d been known to lock herself in her bathroom just to get some privacy.
She was pretty sure this fell into the category of ‘be careful what you wish for.’ Never again would she take her magical life surrounded by love for granted.
The question was: would she live long enough to appreciate her newfound revelation?
The four guards approaching, shouting in Russian dragged her attention back to her present predicament. She could tell they were aggravated that she wasn’t moving, but she honestly had no clue what they wanted from her.
Finally, one of the guards used his boot to kick at her injured hip, forcing her onto her stomach. She didn’t want to know what they were laughing at as they manhandled her around. She picked out the sound of a camera’s shutter as the men took photographs — moving her from one salacious position to another and even wiping the blood she’d shed all over her legs as they ridiculed her.
They took the most photos of the V branded into her hip. Her tears were back, this time shed for Ryder. The photos would hurt Ryder more than the hot iron had destroyed her flesh. Of that, she was sure.
As relieved as Khloe was when the men finished their photo shoot, Irena’s strangled cries of pain as they taunted her weighed on her. Her heart went out to the woman who’d been betrayed by not just one Volkov man, but two.
Thankfully, the men grew tired of their game of torture of the woman of the house. The two guards who’d been there all night finally left and the two new men took their stoic positions in front of the heavy doors.
They represented just one more barrier between her and freedom. Between her and Ryder and his men.
She hadn’t lied to Vladimir. Ryder would come for her. Before she’d gotten some sleep, that knowledge had comforted her. Now, several hours later, reality was sinking in as to just how impossible it would be for Ryder and the BSO team to free her from the Volkov fortress. Even if they managed to get onto the grounds and into the mansion, this room was impenetrable.
“Did they cut you?” Irena asked, her voice barely a whisper.
She must have seen the blood.
“No. I started my period.”
Khloe’s voice choked with emotion on the last word.
“God forbid they let me use the restroom or even help me clean myself up,” she added bitterly.
“At least they left us alone again,” Irena offered.
Was this her existence now? Hoping to be left naked and chained because that was better than being beaten or worse?
“Did you mean what you told Vlad?” Irena asked.
Khloe was grateful for any kind of distraction from the pain and panic.
