SACRIFICE | MAFIA ROMANCE | SMUT

CHAPTER TWO

My eyes peeled open to face the darkness. For a short while, I laid motionless on an uncomfortable mattress, the stiff, damaged springs penetrating my thigh. Tracing the illusionary chequered pattern with curious fingertips, I rolled onto my side, ears perked up, listening for any movement or signs of another's watchfulness.

I am in a cage. I did not need to see the locked door for confirmation. I am the product of child abduction. I have lived in these conditions before.

Jace Williams. His accomplice restrained me, smothered my mouth with a chemically infused cloth and rocked me into somniferous unconsciousness. I heard them talking but have no recollection of what they said or why they did this to me. I'm not foolish, though. I mightn't know Jace very much, but it's evident this cruel stunt has Flamur's name stamped all over it. There's no other reasonable explanation for my co-worker's wicked treachery.

Money, I thought.

He made a deal with a monster for money.

Pulling myself into a sitting position, I put my back against the cold wall.

That's why Jace befriended me. Flamur paid him to do so.

Chest rising and falling at an erratic pace, I blinked in my dark surroundings, hands searching the walls blindly. I stepped off the mattress in fear of a huge drop. It's not a bed, though. The mattress is on the floor, just like before when I lived in the basement.

My bare feet tiptoed across the concrete.

"Hello," I called quietly, foot catching something on the floor, the sound of metal scraping and spilt water followed. A bucket, perhaps. "Is anyone there?"

Flattening my palms to the wall, I walked sideways, counting each step until detecting a foreign object. I grasped the pole with trembling fingers, investigating its height and thickness. In fact, there are many poles with meagre space between them. I was right. I am in some kind of cage—a cell.

"Hello." The cell's metal chain and the lock fell into my hands. "Who is there?" Swallowing saliva to quench the dryness in my throat, I tugged the lock frantically, the heavy-duty chains groaning and protesting. "Please, I hate the dark."

My investigatory hand landed on another object. It was cold, almost flesh-like, and laden in what appeared to be gold rings, fingers--I screamed, jerking away from the cage-like partition, and the owner of those hands laughed. "Jace," I said, wishing I could see. "Is that you?"

Blinding lights illuminated the room.

Wincing from the sudden brightness, I covered my eyes.

Jace laughed. "You were getting frisky with my hands, Alexa."

I peered through my fingers.

He is on the other side of the cage, holding onto the poles with knuckle white urgency. His gold rings and bracelets glistened under the fluorescent lights. "How did you sleep?"

Ignoring his question, I inventoried the cracked, moss-covered walls, the strewn debris and pockets of stagnant water on the floor. As suspected, there is a mattress by the wall and an upturned bucket.

It is not the basement, which only heightened confusion and panic. No, it is a new cage. Both places would have been equally tortuous, but with Flamur, I understood how things operated. I don't know what's expected of me here or if I will live to talk about it.

"Are you finished spurning your accommodation?" he asked, his voice laced in amusement. "I had to cover the window for obvious reasons."

Burning bile flooded my throat as I rationalised the distressing situation. "It's hardly accommodating." Summoning inner fierceness, I wiped my begrimed palms on the dishevelled red dress, the straps hanging loosely down my arms. "Quite insulting, actually."