I bite back tears, but not fast enough. I look away, not wanting to be weak in front of him.
“You can cry, but that doesn’t change anything. You’re mine. Play along and you might survive this.”
I glare at him. “Fuck you.”
He smiles. “Soon enough.” He stands up and leaves the cell. I hear the door lock behind him.
I collapse back onto my bed, feeling like a child as the tears stream down my face. I want to be strong, I want to survive, but I’m torn in half. I don’t know if I can trust Logan. I don’t know if he has my best interests at heart, or if he just wants to use and abuse me.
There’s no way of knowing. Part of me is attracted to him, and there’s no denying that. But I can’t just throw myself at him. I can’t just let him train me.
I have to be strong and I have to be smart. There’s a way out of this, I just have to be patient. It’ll come to me.
I get myself under control and burrow under the single scratchy blanket, dreaming of what I’ll do next.
6
Logan
Waves crash over the rocks as I lean against the compound’s outer wall, taking a short break. I could probably climb to the top of the wall, or find some way to slip out, but I don’t want to risk getting caught.
Mostly, I just need a break. It drains me more than I thought it would, treating Riley like that. I want to pull her out of here, but I can’t do it. I’m trained to follow through with my mission no matter what happens, and that’s what I’m going to do. Even if it means going against my own feelings or emotions and doing things that I don’t want to do.
I haven’t pushed her yet, but I know I’m going to. She knows it too. She can see it in my gaze. I keep telling her that it’ll be best if she listens and obeys, but the way she lashed out earlier surprised me. She seemed like she was actually going to come at me, and for a moment I braced myself. But then she broke down into tears, and I had to get out of there.
I push off the wall, trying to shove my conflict down deep inside of me. On the one hand, I do want the girl, and will take her when the time comes. But on the other, I don’t hurt innocent people, and I know Riley is an innocent.
It just means I have to make her want it. And by the way she reacted when I talked dirty to her, I don’t think that’s going to be too hard.
I walk along the outer wall, following it all the way around the compound. So far, from what I can tell, the place is made up of a large wall surrounding what seems to be four big buildings in total with several smaller ones scattered around. The main buildings house the girls and the guards. The other buildings serve a few different purposes, but I’m not entirely sure what yet.
Guards are posted at every corner of the wall and at the entrance. They’re well-armed, but they don’t look like military regulars. I don’t know how many guards are in the place yet, but it looks to be about thirty, maybe fifty at most.
I finish my circuit of the wall and head back toward the main building. There’s a lot that I don’t know about this place, and I have a lot of work to do. There are likely some secret passages underneath the place that I need to find before I can call the strike in. I guess I have about two weeks’ worth of reconnaissance to do, assuming I don’t get caught first.
I head up the main stairs of the compound, intending to walk the big building again, when I stop short just as I enter the door. Standing across the entrance hall with three other men is Anton.
I didn’t expect to see him here. I want to turn and leave, but he’s already looking at me with a big smile on his face. He says something in Spanish to the guards and then steps toward me.
“Logan,” he says. “I was wondering when I’d see you.”
“Anton,” I say, forcing a smile onto my face. We shake hands and he stands next to me, gesturing at the room.
“What do you think so far?” he asks.
“It’s an interesting place,” I say.
He laughs. “Interesting? It’s the biggest fucking operation in the northern hemisphere!”
“I’m impressed,” I say, nodding at him. Anton is the kind of man that will respond to this sort of flattery. I can already tell that his ego is enormous and needs constant feeding. He’s the worst kind of person.
“We move thousands of girls through here every year,” he says. “I’m keeping the fucking Russian mafia in business singlehandedly.”
“I’ve heard good things,” I say. “So far, I can see why you’ve been so successful.”
“We run a tight ship,” he says, laughing. “No bitch gets out of line and survives.” He leans toward me, a grin on his lips. “Speaking of bitches, how’s yours coming along?”