Page 15 of Cruel God

I stepped back, finally letting go of the steel bars. “Doesn’t it?”

“No, my boy.” He looked at me, his shoulders squared, and lips curved in a wicked grin. “Sex. Women. That’s what dominates the human’s entire fucking existence.”

I didn’t understand. Nothing he said made any sense.

“Think about it,” he continued. “The richest people in the world can control anything with the mere press of a button or the swipe of a card. But there is one thing no man can control. One thing strong enough to start wars; powerful enough to make empires and cities of gold crumble to the ground. Kings and presidents, leaders and diplomats, even sons of God had fallen from grace because of it. Because they can’t control the one thing that’s been engraved in our DNA, our nature.” He licked his lips, his eyes flashing with something dark. “And that’s our most primal instinct, my boy. To fuck.”

Discomfort slithered down my insides like a poisonous viper, and I held my breath, my lungs waiting for the strike. It was too twisted to comprehend the extent of what my dad was trying to tell me.

My skin turned cold yet clammy—sweat beading at the back of my neck. “Dad…what are you telling me?”

He stared at me with so much pride, placing his hands on my shoulders. “We are traders of the flesh, Rex. The Cain legacy is far more powerful than the largest bank accounts in the world. We control it all.”

“Traders of the flesh?” I narrowed my eyes. “You mean sex slaves?”

I felt the searing pain before I registered what had just happened.

I cupped my burning cheek, my eyes tearing up as I stared at my dad’s angered expression. “That is the first and last time you will use that reference in my presence. Is that understood?”

I bit my lip.

“Is that understood, boy?” His voice echoed down the empty corridor, and I could have sworn I heard whimpers come from behind the doors.

All those women. Girls.

God.

He grabbed my shoulders and squeezed, his fingers biting painfully into my flesh. “Understood?”

“Yes, Father,” I replied, unable to hide the quiver in my voice.

“Good.” He straightened and shot his cuffs. “Now, your preparation starts today.”

I continued to wipe my hand against my still burning cheek. “Preparation for?”

He smiled. “To continue the Cain legacy the day I’m no longer capable.”

Tears burned my eyes, and my stomach churned violently. I was too busy trying to stop my tears from falling, too busy forcing the bile to stay down. Victor Cain didn’t tolerate weakness.

“Come. I have a special…initiation planned for you.”

I swallowed thickly as I reluctantly followed him down the corridor, glancing at all the doors. There were so many questions running rampant inside my head.

How many were there?

How were they taken?

How old were they?

How many girls had the same empty stare as the one I had just seen?

But the most horrifying thought of it all was…I had lived in this house my entire life without knowing what was going on underneath the foundation.

We rounded the corridor only to find more doors. But these were different. There were no steel bars or openings to be able to see what went on inside. Instead, they were all large, black doors with gold doorknobs that shimmered under the lights—skeleton keys placed in the holes.

“In here,” my dad said as he stopped in front of one of the doors.

“What…what’s in there?”

---