The Highest Bidder

❊ Cʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ Fɪғᴛʏ﹣Tᴡᴏ ❊

I shut the door behind me and looked directly at Maverick. His eyes were closed and his face was tilted up to the ceiling, as if he was trying to fall asleep. He didn't open them until I was seated across from him.

A smirk formed slowly on his lips as he opened his eyes and took me in. He didn't seem surprised whatsoever to see me. It almost looked like he expected me to show up in the small, cold chamber.

"Fancy seeing you here, little vixen." He linked his fingers together on the table and tilted his head. "How are you feeling?"

I remained silent. I didn't know what I was supposed to say. If I told him that I felt fine, what would he do? Smirk, probably. If I told him that I wasn't, then Enzo wouldn't hesitate to drag me out.

I dropped my gaze.

"You did learn something, didn't you," he murmured. "Never look at your master. Speaking of which, have you found my present yet? I think it suits you well."

My jaw tightened and I clenched my eyes shut. Carmen had cut the piercing off, but the hole was still healing itself.

"I had to return it." I raised my gaze back to his. "I didn't think it fit me well at all."

That would have earned me a beating in the cellar. But Tami's words repeated over and over in my head. He wouldn't hurt me. No, he couldn't hurt me. He was chained down. I had the upper hand for once.

His lip curved up and he hummed. "You know, that ring was made especially for you. All of my other slaves had silver. Yours was gold."

I wet my lips and glanced over at the two-way mirror. On the other side, Enzo was watching. He was hearing every single thing Maverick was saying to me. I wasn't alone. Not like I was in the cellar.

"How many other slaves have you had," I asked.

"I lost count at thirty." He shrugged. "Nothing they don't already know. Let me guess...where are they now?"

I remained silent, letting that be my answer.

"I'll tell you what." Maverick leaned forward and grinned. "I'll tell you where they are if you tell me something."

When I still stayed silent, he bit his lip. "Does Enzo get disgusted whenever he looks at you? Knowing that you've been with other men. That you've been raped repeatedly. Pierced. Enslaved. I doubt the man will ever look at you again the way you want him to, especially with those scars."

I let out a shaky breath. I hadn't thought about how Enzo saw me since I got back. I knew he was always there, but that could have been just because he felt bad.

I shook the thought from my head. It didn't matter. "I don't care how Enzo sees me. I have a couple more months with him. If he wants me gone, I'll be gone. Your turn."

"Such a bad little girl," Maverick cooed. "Lying is a no-no. You do care how he sees you. You don't want to leave him. You cried for him in that cellar. You love the sorry excuse for a killer...don't you, Eva?"

I found myself beginning to deny it. I didn't want Enzo to hear me acknowledge it while in the room with Maverick. I figured that I could tell him in person, or not tell him at all. But never like this, facing the man who almost killed me. Trying to get information out of him.

My entire body went numb and I glanced back at the mirror. I only saw myself in it, but I was hoping that I was looking at him. I didn't want him to hear me answer any more questions. Hell, I didn't even want to be in the room with Maverick anymore. But I didn't want the trip to be a waste of time. They needed answers. And as much as I hated him, I didn't want Enzo to torture the answers out of him.

I blew out a breath and looked back at Maverick. "I do. Your turn."

He began drawing circles on the table with his finger. "They're all dead. Mostly suicide."

"The others," I asked.

His liquid green eyes glimmered in amusement. "What will you do if he rejects you, Eva?"

"Move on, like a normal human being," I growled.

"Oh, but it will hurt." Maverick stood, making me cringe back in fear. He jingled the chains around his wrists that hooked onto the table, as if that would calm me down. When he leaned forward, I found myself leaning back. "Like a bitch, to be exact. No one will want you with those scars, vixen. You're not as beautiful as you once were."

I stood too, anger beginning to take over my fear. He was chained to the table. I wasn't. I wanted to push the table to the other side of the room and pin him to the wall. I wanted to bash his skull up against the white brick of the interrogation room until it broke. But the table, as well as the chairs, were bolted to the floor.

"The others," I hissed the question through clenched teeth.

"I allowed them to die," he answered smoothly.

"You killed them, you mean." I wanted to kill him.

He shook his head slowly, tisking at my incompetence. "No, sweet vixen. Allowing someone to die and killing them are two separate things. If someone was dying in front of you and you didn't know how to stop it, would that make you a killer?"

A tear slid down my cheek. I was going to be another one of those dead girls that Maverick enslaved and attempted to break. I would have died in that cellar if not for Enzo coming to save me. Maverick wouldn't have batted an eye at my death. It was normal for him to see a woman die. Maybe that's why the cellar was so cold. So many spirits.

"You're psychotic," I whispered, taking a step back.

He chuckled. "Possibly. But, Eva...you're the one who doesn't want to kill me. You want me to suffer. What does that make you, sweet thing?"

He deserved to suffer for all those deaths. He had so much blood on his hands, he didn't deserve an easy end. Death would be too good for him.

I looked him directly in the eye. "If that makes me a bad person, then I'll take the title."

The door to the interrogation room opened and Tami stepped through, flanked by two officers. She smiled at me and moved aside so that Enzo could walk in. He wrapped me in a hug as the officers walked over to Maverick and unhooked his chains, only to handcuff his hands behind his back.

I didn't look at him when they passed by, but I could feel the air as he passed. It was cold and I wondered if the ghosts of the dead girls were happy about his punishment. Maybe they would want him to die instead of suffer. But a part of me knew that they would want him to suffer before death, because that was what I'd want if I were one of them.

"Nice work, Eva." Tami's soft voice made me jump and turn to face her, pulling out of Enzo's grasp. "Now, I can't promise that the judge will accept your request, but I'll try."

I nodded once before she turned and left the room, leaving Enzo and I alone. I looked over at the chair that Maverick had been sitting in only moments before and allowed myself the breath that I needed. I wouldn't have to worry about Maverick coming after me, or anyone else, anymore.

All I really had to worry about was Enzo and what he'd do with the new information that I gave him regarding my feelings towards him.