Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 61101 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 306(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 204(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61101 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 306(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 204(@300wpm)
As he speaks, he clasps his hands together and threads his fingers through each other. His cold, blue stare stabs me in the chest where my rapidly beating heart is trying to escape its cage.
“Aren’t I meant to be interested in your work?”
I didn’t expect this to be the topic of our meeting. Granted, most of the men who work for my father fear him, so if he’s asked them about me, I know they’ll have been more than willing to tell him to avoid his usual torture methods.
“Oh,” —a dark, dangerous grin curls my father’s lips— “you can be interested, but it seems you’re more than happy to delve into the nuances of what I do, but you aren’t willing to act on my instructions.”
“If I’m going to be taking over from you, I need to be able to talk to the team, surely. They’re your men and can offer a different perspective.” I know my father is too perceptive not to see right through my bullshit.
“If you’re so intrigued by what I do, Dante, then maybe it’s time you helped me with my next job.” He offers me a smile, but it’s not filled with parental pride, it’s one of amusement because he knows I’m not strong enough to disagree with him.
The idea of doing anything with him, or for him, makes the bile churn in my gut, and I can taste the acidity burning its way up into my throat. The last time he brought me down here to show me what he’d been doing, I was sick. That was a grave mistake.
“Bring her out,” Malcolm orders one of the guards who’s standing at the entrance to the long, dark, damp hallway where the cells are.
My father has built a large underground network of tunnels with small, concrete rooms where he keeps the young girls and boys he traffics.
It’s a prison. But not only for those who are locked up, it’s a prison for me and Drake as well. When I see the girl brought into the room, I know what he’s going to ask me to do. There will be bloodshed—mine, hers, or maybe both.
At sixteen, I’m accustomed to my father’s mindset. I know what, and how, he thinks. What I don’t know is why. The reason my father is broken beyond repair is a mystery to me.
“Dante, I’d like to introduce you to someone.” My father looks at me as he speaks. “This is Josie,” he informs me as if he’s expecting me to shake her hand and welcome her to our home.
She’s scared and shaking like a leaf.
“What is this?” I say as I examine the girl who looks a bit younger than me.
She pins me with a pleading look, and the thought of what I’m going to have to do makes my stomach twist in knots. Big, brown eyes are filled with shimmering tears, and I want nothing more than to rip into my father. I want him to bleed. The idea of hurting him makes me want to smile, but I fight it back.
Violence dances in my veins, celebrating my need for savagery. The only person in this room I want to see die is the man I call Father. I used to hide the darkness I found lurking inside me, but I don’t anymore. Instead, I embrace it.
“This is your job,” Malcolm says as he hands me a folder.
It contains all of Josie’s information. When and where she was sold on the black-market, where she was born, even when she got her first period.
“And what am I meant to do with this?” I ask him as I look up from the information.
Deep down, I already know what he’s going to say. I don’t want him to speak, because any words that come out of his mouth will make me puke.
“Josie is a new arrival, and we need to train her to see things our way.” Malcolm walks over to the television set that sits on a moveable trolley. He pushes it across the room until the screen is directly facing his newest victim. “She needs to realize we’re not here to play games. Once she goes to her owner, he’ll expect her to behave.”
There’s no way to avoid this. As much as I want to run and hide, I know I can’t. Someone is going to be tortured here, and if I mess this up, it will be me. But then again, I don’t want to be the one hurting this young girl.
“Shouldn’t we allow her some time to get used to being here?”
Most girls who are brought here are kept imprisoned for a few weeks before anything happens to them. Their training will usually coincide with one of the big auctions that are held worldwide. Malcolm sells his merchandise at all of them.