Page 53 of Rescuing Rebel

She stops at a slight blonde with haunted eyes. Running a nail down the girl’s cheek, she muses aloud. “Pretty face, nice shape. You’ll fetch a good price.” The blonde squeezes her eyes shut, and tears streak her grimy cheeks. Rebel grabs her jaw, nails biting in. “But we’ll have to fix this skin. No man wants to fuck a girl with blemishes.”

The blonde chokes back a sob.

Grinning, Rebel releases her and steps back. “You’re the elite now, ladies. The best of our stock. You should be grateful you’ll be auctioned to gentlemen rather than whored out on the streets.”

Their despair hangs thick in the rancid air. Bile burns my throat. I know depravity, but never like this. And the woman I once cared for is somehow at the heart of it?

What happened to her?

What happened to the Rebel who clung to me as I carried her to safety? This polished monster is a stranger to me.

I still remember how she looked at me with relief swirling in her emerald eyes. I’ll never forget the brush of her fingertips as I draped a blanket over her shaking shoulders, whispering over and over, “You’re safe now.”

As the shock of her abduction and imprisonment faded at The Facility, I swore I’d protect her. Cradling her outside under the stars, her tears of gratitude dampened my shirt; I promised she’d never suffer again.

I was her salvation. Or so I thought.

But the woman I hold in my memories bears no resemblance to the monster crossing the room in scarlet stilettos. This ruthless woman holds no warmth as she condemns innocents to unspeakable fates. The sweetness of her body wrapped around mine now tastes like bitter, acrid bile.

I should roar out in rage, make her sorry she ever crossed my path. I should feel disgusted at how she strokes their hair and whispers false comfort to the condemned. But as she passes by my shadowed alcove, a hint of lavender trailing in her wake, my gut churns with something far more shameful.

Hunger.

She is poison incarnate, but that doesn’t stop my damned foolish heart from wanting her still. Lust wars with rage until I choke on the bile rising in my throat.

Rebel, what have you become?

And why can’t I stop wanting her?

Once, she was locked in a rust-streaked cage. Now, she cups each girl’s face with false warmth? Whispering empty reassurances as she coolly selects which poor soul to condemn. It makes no sense.

I’ve stared true evil in the eyes, but this cruelty unnerves me.

I watch her trail one long, red nail down another girl’s cheek and my fist clenches. In Nicaragua, I stroked those same tears from her face and promised to protect her. Promised she’d never suffer again in this rotten underworld that deals in the destruction of innocence.

Yet here she is, multiplying the pain.

Bile scorches my throat as she laughs breezily and condemns another. I want to believe this is an act. That the woman who clung to me still lives inside somewhere, but the cool efficiency in those emerald eyes, as she sentences them to hell, chills me to the core.

What twisted lies did they poison her mind with to turn her into the thing she fears most? I search her painted face for any shred of the woman I saved, looking for a crack in this polished new facade.

But I find nothing.

“Ready when you are, boss.”Hank’s gravelly voice in my ear comm yanks me back from the edge of despair. My teammate knows nothing of the ghost from my past taunting me from across the room. To him, this is just another mission, another horror show we’re here to shut down. For me, it’s turned personal.

“Stand by,” I grate out, clenching my jaw so hard my teeth ache.

“You see something?”Hank presses.“Want Charlie team to engage?”

I should give the order and put an end to this depraved scene. Take Rebel down. She’s the enemy. A traitor. It’s what Hank would do if he were here, seeing what I’m seeing.

“Boss?”Hank’s voice buzzes impatiently as I hesitate.

What do I do when the woman who haunts my dreams reappears as a nightmare in the flesh? When the lips that once begged for rescue now drip contempt and death sentences?

I harden my heart. “Stand down. I need more intel.”

“Copy that. We await your signal.”

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