Page 43 of Don't Say A Word

His body tenses and he moves away a fraction. “I owe him everything. I owe him my life.”

“But you don’t owe him mine.”

“It’s not just me.” He speaks so quietly, I can barely make out the words. “I have a sister I need to look after too.”

This is the part he was hiding from me. “Where is she?”

“She’s away at boarding school, something I could never afford to provide her.”

“I suppose she’s part of the reason you’re doing this. You need to provide for her and trading in women must pay well.”

The bed jostles, sending stabs of pain through me as he sits on the edge, his hands pushing into his hair. “Don’t say that.”

“I’m sorry.” Sarcasm laces my tone. “Do you prefer the term human trafficker?”

“It’s not that simple. You don’t understand. You haven’t lived my life. You don’t know what’s at stake.”

“And you haven’t lived mine. The one that was taken from me. The one that is battered and bruised from the bite of Marcel’s belt.”

“I would never hurt you like that.”

“But it only happened because I am here. In my life before, he would never have even known me. I wouldn’t have been trapped in an inescapable room. There wouldn’t have been chains for him to hold me. How would you feel if they were doing this to your sister? Would you sit still and say you couldn’t let her go?”

Ryker gets to his feet, flashing the image of his pale backside. He picks up the towel from the floor to wrap around his waist again.

“You think I’m enjoying this?” He runs his hands through his hair, blowing out a long and low exhale of breath. “If I didn’t do it, if I wasn’t here, then someone like Marcel would be. Is that what you want? To be beaten into submission?” His eyes flash anger. “So I slapped your ass a few times. It was nothing compared to what Marcel did, right? You had a few raised welts, not the wounds that are there now. And Marcel only came in here because you pushed things. You tested me and I had to do something.”

I glare at him angrily. “By allowing Star to be beaten?”

“No.” His voice is thunderous. “By allowing you to see what your training could be like. None of this would have happened if you just did what you were told.”

“So this is my fault?”

He takes in a deep breath, trying to calm himself. “You knew the stakes.” He’s glaring at me, frustration tainting his movements. And then something softens within him and he sits on the edge of the bed again, reaching out to rest his hand on my shoulder. “It kills me to see you like this.”

Propping myself up on my elbow, I attempt to sit but fail when the pain stops me. “Then let me go,” I plead. “Open that door. Set me free.”

He gets up from the bed and paces the room, muscles flexing with each frustrated movement. He is beautiful, even now. The lines of his body are perfectly cut, as if God was paying extra attention when he made him. I want to hate him, despise him for what he has done, but at the same time he is my only source of comfort. My only hope.

“I can’t.” He strides toward the door.

“Ryker!” I call.

But he doesn’t turn back. He doesn’t hesitate. He rips open the door and leaves. A few moments later the red light on the camera blinks back on.

ryker

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

RYKER

Marcel’s plan for enforcing Mia’s obedience is brilliant, not that I’d admit it to him. But it’s not easy to watch. Marcel gets a sick pleasure out of hurting the girl. You can see it in the gleam of his eye, the way his tongue darts over his lips, the undeniable smirk on his face.

I’m not sure whether to be impressed or disgusted by his training skills. Star is flawlessly obedient. There’s not one fraction of hesitation, not a flinch or a whimper. She’s accepted her fate.

Even though I’ve seen the girls before, I've never seen a display like this. I don’t know what the appeal is to complete obedience, the lifeless eyes, and the forced submission, but Marcel clearly gets his kicks from it. He has no shame. It’s hard to watch. But I stop him when he takes his dick out. I don’t need to see that. I don’t want to see that. The whole thing sits uncomfortably with me but seeing the horror in Mia’s eyes makes me hopeful that I am getting through to her, that she will see what could be happening to her and chooses to obey rather than suffer like this girl is.

After Marcel’s display of Star’s obedience, I walk toward Mia, inwardly begging her to listen, to do what’s best for us all. She’s sitting on the ground where I dragged her, but her stance is anything but submissive. She closes her eyes as I approach, taking in deep breaths as though, if she concentrates hard enough, she can will herself away from here.

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