Page 149 of Retribution
“Are you responsible for burning down the boss’ business?” Royce asks, his arms bulging with muscles as he glares down at me.
We’ve been getting to know each other, and it’s been less than pleasant. He keeps asking me things that I don’t have the answers to.
“I didn’t,” I say, teeth crashing against each other so hard that I’m worried I may crack a tooth. “When you find out, let me know so I can send them a fruit basket.”
I’m kneeling on a cold stone floor, my ankles bound in the usual wood block with my wrists pulled cruelly back. I feel as if I’ve been thrown back into my past, except I haven’t been raped yet.
Instead, it’s torture that won’t leave a mark where anyone can see.
A cane slams down on the backs of my tender feet, causing me to scream as the white heat of pain explodes through mybody. Hot and cold, cold and hot. This is the dichotomy of torture that these alphas have been putting me through, waiting for me to crack.
The heat is never enough for me to hold onto so I can get warm, and I despise the cold as it leaches everything good from my mind. It’s debilitating, and it’s hard to think as I shiver. Yet, it’s not the worst that I’ve ever endured and I’m strong.
And so I find the strength to mouth off to my jailers.
“It’s all gone,” Ophelia says, her black dress a sign of mourning as it drags along the ground.
I know for a fact that this warehouse is a newer purchase. My handlers are loose lipped and mentioned that Ophelia has been selling off all of her human inventory in an attempt to stay as liquid as possible financially.
However, it seems that someone is hunting Ophelia, and the omega can’t get a break.
There’s no heating in this building, and Ophelia has been disappearing into her laboratory to continue making her special drugs. Somehow, this new venture of hers is worse than simply stealing and selling omegas because she’s helping others do what she has for a higher payout.
I’m simply a loose end for Ophelia.
“Did you lose the butt plug that keeps you standing like that?” I ask, gasping when the alpha behind me grabs my ankles and topples me onto my face.
There’s no way I can catch myself since my wrists are bound in heavy wood behind my back, and so are my ankles. Instead, I turn my face so my cheek catches the brunt of the cold floor.
Ophelia’s shoe grinds my face into the ground, and I’m certain I have dirt from it grooved into my skin. Fucking gross. My face is squished, making my lips open like a fish as I silently wince.
“Still so cheeky and rude,” she mutters. “Do you know what the only thing keeping my men from fucking you until you die is?”
They don’t like to fuck a sentient omega. I know it’s the same bullshit as always. For the past ninety-six hours, Ophelia has been sending different pills and injections out with a girl helping her in the lab.
The girl peeks around the corner even now, and has to be five years younger than me. Barely nineteen. What the fuck is she doing with Ophelia?
And why hasn’t she been sold? I know that morals can be twisted while with Madam Ophelia, but I’ve never helped create drugs that’ll hurt others.
Fuck this girl.
“What?” I ask, the word mangled from her foot. I may as well play along with Ophelia before she breaks my jaw.
“I can’t fucking get any of the heat accelerants to work!” she growls. “What the fuck did you do?”
“Fucked with your fun, twatgrinch,” I grunt. “What’s all gone?”
“Leave me with the slut,” Ophelia says. I can’t see her from this angle, but I do hear the feet walking away.
Soon the room is silent except for Ophelia’s heavy breathing. Girlfriend is having a stressful day. Raising her foot, she kicks my shoulder as I hold back a pained sound. Fuck, what happened to keeping bruises off me?
Crouching down beside me, she scowls as she gazes at me.
“You think you’re better than me because you escaped this life, but instead you forgot yourself. Death is what you managed to dodge. I shall be rectifying that as soon as I can,” she hisses. “Someone stole all of my money, and my business went up in flames yesterday.”
“Maybe you should light some sage and fix your bad karma,” I suggest.
“No, I think someone is looking for you. Don’t think I can’t see the bites on your body, little whore. I am going to break your bonds, force your heat, and use you to get back every cent that’s been stolen from me,” she says, forcing herself to calm. “Your alphas have help. All of my buildings have been broken into and burned to the ground.”
