Page 53 of Captured Innocence

I say we fuck the cunt.

The words echoed from somewhere, a deep foggy haze of ugliness nipping at my ears, drawing me from the black abyss where I’d been. But I heard them clearly, not the first nasty comment made in French by one of the three men who occasionally came and went from the cinderblock prison I’d been shoved in.

Time meant nothing, days and nights indistinguishable, but I was certain I’d been held hostage for at least three days. My body was weak from lack of food and water, my muscles aching. But my mind was sharp. I’d paid attention to everything that had been said, the monsters enjoying throwing out insults and threats every time they entered the space.

I dragged my tongue across my cracked lips, loathing the fact I’d issued a strangled whimper. The last thing I wanted to do was draw attention to myself.

“The little bitch is awake.” The comment was made in English this time. Did they think I couldn’t understand? I almost laughed but wasn’t at the point of being able to fight them.

Yet.

But I would.

One of the guards dared to walk closer, crouching down in front of me. “That’s not what the boss wants. She’s being saved. She’s useful.” His voice held a hint of kindness, more so than the other pig who’d groped me more than once when he thought I was sleeping.

“Women are only useful for fucking.” The fucker’s laugh had already gotten on my nerves.

“She’s a hacker. Do you believe that?”

An icy chill coursed through my veins.

The pig snorted. “Her? That’s fucking crap, man.”

“The boss wants her saved. That’s all I know.”

I remembered everything about being taken, including being shoved into the trunk of a vehicle. But the fucker staring at me with lust in his eyes would die first, and I would enjoy every minute of driving the shank I’d made from the springs of the iron bed into his eyes.

One slice after another.

I still had no understanding of the identities of my captors, the various languages being spoken confusing, but at this point it didn’t matter. After being dumped inside the wretched prison, I’d screamed at first, until the soldier leaning against the wall had shut me up with his fist. It didn’t matter that I was a woman. There was no code of ethics for monsters.

I kept as quiet as possible, stretching my fingers until I was able to wrap my hand around the sharp blade I’d hidden, the barbs digging into my flesh. The dumb bastards had thought they’d bested me, not bothering to install cameras inside the dingy space. Little did they know what I had planned. Whatever rival had challenged my family was holding me as ransom, which meant I wouldn’t survive the abduction.

The stench in the space was overwhelming, the heat brutal. Sweat beaded across my face and neck, what little I was wearing soaked. How long had I been here?

“One taste won’t hurt.” The first soldier advanced, shoving the other one away. “Now, if you tell anyone, you die. You got it?”

“Your funeral, man,” the second muttered.

I tensed as the second soldier cursed in yet another foreign language. Where were these dudes actually from? And where had I been taken?

The first laughed as he crowded my space, cupping my breast painfully. “Your family will pay for what they did, you stupid bitch.”

I opened my eyes, darting them from the second man back to the pig leering at me. “Vous allez mourir.” You’re going to die. I grinned after issuing the succinct words, studying both men, hunting for recognition on their faces and in their uniforms. Their French was crude, which meant they were attempting to hide their true nationality from me. Their clothes were black with no markings.

They were little more than hired thugs, no finesse to their techniques. That meant they were low level in whatever organization’s rock they’d crawled out from under. Even though women were considered commodities in the world of organized crime, few savages joyfully tortured them.

Unless one had betrayed them.

While the person responsible knew I was the infamous hacker, I had feeling they wanted my brother-in-law’s attention and that of every other soldier inside the DeLuca–Lazarro Empire. They obviously had no idea what they’d asked for.

“The little bitch thinks she can hurt us,” the first one snarled, throwing the other guy a hard look.

“Yeah, I can,” I admitted because I’d been taught never to tell a lie.

“Maybe I break her legs. Nothin’ said I can’t do that.” The bastard soldier laughed. “I guess your family ain’t gonna come to your rescue. We’re gonna fuck you up real good.”

“Bring it on, baby,” I hissed. There was no doubt that this was all about gaining control of my family’s empire. There would always be bloodthirsty enemies determined to bring us down. I would always have a target on my back, which was why I’d wanted to disappear, but it wasn’t allowed in my world. I would likely be forced to marry some fucking piece of scum to proctor a peace between my family and whatever enemy was trying to annihilate it. It was all I’d ever known.

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