Page 34 of Born in Depravity

CATALINA

Four days passedby in a blur.

And it was the same routine over and over.

I was stuck in the room.

The door to my room was never actually locked, but there was always someone at the motel with me, so it didn’t matter if it was locked or not.

I was still very much “locked” in.

I didn’t know why they had taken me.

They knew my name. They had meant to take me, I knew that much, and the only reason why that could be was if they hated Father and wanted to use me as leverage.

They messed up.

Father wouldn’t do anything for them because of me. In fact, Father might have been glad I was no longer his problem, considering I ran away rather than married Henry.

I looked up at the ceiling.

I was in someone's shirt—I was trying not to think about it—and large black sweatpants that ran past my feet. I had to roll the waistline up a few times to get it to stay.

They hadn’t even grabbed my clothes from my truck when they decided to take me. It was the least of my concerns right now, but it would have been nice to be able to wear my own clothes.

Or underwear.

I shifted on the bed from the thought.

The clothes I had on when they took me were still here, but they were currently drying after I hand washed them last night, and at this point, I’d much rather wear their clothes than to walk around naked or be in the same dirty clothes three days in a row.

Nikolay had been the one to bring me food and the dark-eyed man visited me sometimes. Usually, when either one of them came into the room, they looked at me as if I confused them.

The blue-eyed man had stayed away ever since he’d stripped and bathed me, then left abruptly.

I should be thankful he didn’t take it any further.

And fuck, I was, but I kept thinking back to his expression before he’d left. Like he was angry with me. I didn’t want a monster’s anger.

Not knowing what he was going to do was the worst thing possible.

In fact, they were all unpredictable.

I shivered and pulled the blanket over my body, despite the heat.

Roberto had risked his life to get me out from under my father’s thumb. I wondered how he would feel had he known it only made it easier for these men to catch me.

I let out a sigh, then stilled when I noticed something different about the room.

Or more specifically, the living room outside.

It was silent.

It was never completely silent. If they weren’t walking around, they were talking with each other. They all seemed very close. It made no sense for it to be this quiet.

With my heart feeling like it was being pulled down to my stomach, I flung off the blanket and made my way to the door.

I didn’t know what I expected, but when I opened my door, I saw the living room was empty.

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