Page 138 of Severed Rivalry
sinister flavor of misery
Sariah
“Let’s go.” The hand attached to my upper arm yanks, the grip firm enough that it’ll leave bruises.
I want to scream “Don’t touch me” but I won’t expend the energy. I need every last ounce to save myself and to save Renée and Rosie. To help Emma escape. I need every ounce of focus on being ready to protect them.
I know the enemy inside. I know the lay of the land. I hate it, but I have the advantage if I can just keep my cool while my worst fears in life come to pass…
Watching my daughter turn gray in fear when I told her why I ran. Seeing the look on her face when I explained why I’d hovered and shielded her so much… It gutted me. All my running was for naught. All our “new beginnings” weren’t worth it.
I told her almost everything on the plane ride. I felt the blood like ice in my veins as I laid out what I never wanted her to know, my secrets, how Rosie became my mom. How I was younger than she was when I hitchhiked to freedom.
I didn’t want to tell her. I don’t want her scared. But I need her prepared.
To be an observer as she put the story together, knowing the man in the cockpit is that heinous and that the danger is this real and present, was glorious and terrifying.
She’s smart.
She’s calculating.
And she’s terrified.
Poor, sweet Emma, though. She whimpered. She fought. She panicked. It took everything I had to keep her quiet. She’s not at risk. She better not be at fucking risk.
We’re dragged from the car one by one. When Rosie—who is last—alights, they begin slowly marching us toward the compound. From here, it doesn’t look like much. Just a hunting cabin set far enough off the road that it doesn’t garner much attention.
But through the doors and out into the property behind lies hell on earth.
Three men are with us. Jonas, the leader and Renée’s biological donor, has her in his grip ahead of me. Another man I don’t recognize holds me. The last is with Rosie at the rear. He drove the car to pick us up.
Emma, unguarded and uncalculating, makes a run back for the road. None of the men look back. My daughter screams her name as the girl runs. Her scream is short-lived since she’s slapped across the face with a swift ferocity that has her face jolting to the side.
“Never,” I seethe. “You will never touch her again—” My words are cut off with a brutal punch to the cheek that puts me on my ass in the dirt.
“Mom!”
I tilt my face to Renée and smile through the tears. “Remember?”
She nods, all the while her chin quivers as she fights to not make a sound. She takes a deep breath, lifts her head, and pulls her shoulders back.
It’s an act. My girl is smart and brave, but no woman or child was ever made for this. And we haven’t even made it inside.
When we do, the first thing to assault me is the smell. I forgot it… forgot about it. It’s earthen mold, with the bitterness of rosemary and the powder of rose. I shut my eyes and take a deep breath, tasting the sinister flavor of misery.
I’m summarily stripped. I stand naked before their greedy eyes, Jonas studying me before turning to my daughter.
I move in front of her, blocking his line of vision. My eyes narrow on him in disgust. “You will not?—”
I never finish the sentence.
Pain explodes through my head and blackness sucks me under.
Cian
“What do you mean ‘gone’?”
Liam lifts his head from his screen to simply stare at me, not dignifying my question with a response. He returns his gaze to the laptop, tapping keys with enough force to pop them off their stems.
