Virgin Bride(71)

“Good,” I say. “Are you willing to do whatever you need to?”

“Yes,” she says.

I walk toward her, smiling slightly at her. “I don’t think you understand what you’re agreeing to.”

“Maybe not,” she says. “But I’m stronger than you think.”

“Oh, I believe you,” I say, crouching down in front of her. “But you and I, we’re in this together now, Riley. If you want to survive, you’re going to have to do whatever I ask.”

“Who are you?” she whispers.

“I’m the man that’s going to own you. That’s all you need to know.” I put my hand on the armrest of her chair. “Do you understand, that, Riley? Your life, your body, it’s all going to be mine.”

“I understand.” She’s biting back tears and I hate myself for what I’m doing.

“You’ll survive this. If you listen to me.” I pause, hesitating, but I plunge forward. “I won’t hurt you and I won’t take you against your wishes. But if you disobey me, or if you break a rule, I will punish you. Understand?”

“Yes,” she says.

“You can hate me,” I say quietly, “but you will obey me. You’ll get through this if you do.”

She looks away from me, fighting to keep her tears back. I stand up and walk across the room again, feeling conflicted as hell.

How far can I push this girl before we both break? I don’t think I have an answer for that question. I’ve done things in my life, hard and awful things, but always for the greater good. What I’ll do to Riley will be for the greater good, too, but she won’t know it. Her suffering will be my fault. I can do everything in my power to make this as painless as possible for her, but in the end I’m going to have to go through the motions.

I have to convince Anton and his people that I’m for real. I can’t just go easy on Riley if I’m going to be able to move around the Mexican compound freely. Things are only going to get more difficult from here on out, and I’ll need to use all of my skills to get through this.

I hope Riley is stronger than she appears. Because she’s going to need every ounce of that strength.

I leave the room and let the door shut behind me. Now, we travel south, and the real training begins.





5





Riley





After Logan leaves, the bald man comes back into the room and throws another change of clothes at me. This time, it’s a pair of sweats that are comfortable but too big. Once I’m dressed, he puts a hood over my head.

My world plunges into blackness.

I’m led from the room, stumbling in the darkness. I walk for what feels like a long time until I’m put into a van. I can hear other girls nearby, feel them bumping against me, but we don’t talk to each other. We’re all too afraid.

Lacey is dead. I can hardly believe it. I knew something bad happened to her . . . but this? I sob in the back of that van, trying to be quiet, but unable to stop myself. I don’t understand why she’s dead and I’m still alive. I don’t deserve it.

She was so good. She was alive and vibrant and exciting. The only reason we were out that night was because I needed it. We both knew it. She took me out because I desperately needed some time to have fun

And now she’s dead because of it. She’s dead because of me. I feel a deep hole in my heart and it’s filled with sand, sadness, dread.

The van drives for a while and eventually stops. We’re unloaded from the van and our hoods are removed. I’m numb to everything. I can’t feel right now. I can’t think. Otherwise I’ll break down again.

I blink at my surroundings. We’re standing on the tarmac of an airport, or at least that looks like it used to be an airport. Maybe just a small regional one. Either way, it’s empty except for a single plane. Men with guns stand around and I’m in a pack of maybe fifteen other girls. I recognize some from earlier, but most of them are strangers.

The men with guns shepherd us onto the plane. We’re shoved into the back cargo area and made to lie down. We have no seatbelts or cushions and the hard steel is rough against my body.

The plane takes off. It’s the most horrible ride of my life.

Things only get worse when we land.

It’s still night when we’re unloaded. The men all have guns, but it’s hot as hell and it looks like we landed somewhere in a desert. We’re herded into a few trucks and I realize that everyone is speaking Spanish.

Another long car ride. I watch the countryside flash by outside, and I know we must be in Mexico somewhere based on the language and the buildings. After an hour of driving, I can see the ocean, and we pull into a large, walled compound.