Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 52178 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 261(@200wpm)___ 209(@250wpm)___ 174(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 52178 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 261(@200wpm)___ 209(@250wpm)___ 174(@300wpm)
Alexis gapes at me.
“What about you?” she asks.
“I’m a dancer. A good one, too. He happened to stumble across me dancing and decided he wanted me for his fucking act. Not to mention he was drawn to the way I look. The man is trying to break me, but he’s not going to win. I will not be broken, and I will not dance for him. I’m tough, so he can try his best.”
“Has he hurt you?”
I hold up my hand, because so far, this is the worst of it. “He tries. I know he won’t kill me, though. He’s determined to use me, and that only gives me the strength I need to endure his torture. He won’t mark my body, or ruin my face, not when he thinks I’ll be the star of his pathetic little show.”
“Have you tried to escape?”
I shake my head. “No, but I will. He’s not keeping me here; he just doesn’t know it yet. I have a career, people who will be looking for me. There is no way he’ll ever get away with making me perform.”
“Does he think he can break you enough for them to believe you went with him willingly?”
I shrug. “I think that’s the plan. He’ll get a rude awakening. I’ve dealt with bigger monsters than him.”
She looks concerned. “You really don’t think he’ll hurt you?”
“Oh,” I laugh, bitterly, “he’ll hurt me, he just won’t do it badly enough to ruin what he thinks I can bring to his little show.”
“I can’t believe people come to watch this,” she murmurs, rubbing her arms.
“They don’t know what he’s doing behind closed doors. Have you seen one of his shows? They’re breathtaking. Utterly awe inspiring. He is charming and attractive; he captures the audience in a way that is impressive. Marek is smart, and he’s powerful. He has some big fish behind him to ensure he doesn’t get busted.”
“I’ve heard of his shows,” she admits. “But I’ve never seen one. I certainly didn’t know this was going on. Do you think he’s going to let me go now that I’ve seen it?”
“Even if you told someone—” I shrug “—nobody would ever get close enough to do anything. He would have you killed long before that happened.”
She shudders.
I offer her a small smile and the bitter truth.
“Welcome to hell.”
HE GAVE US FOOD AND water then he disappeared for days. It was strange for him to not return, and when the girls in the tent came out of their drug-induced state and started crying all night for their freedom, I knew something was wrong. He keeps them drugged so they don’t cry out, and the fact that he didn’t return to calm them made me anxious.
Alexis and I spent those few days talking, bonding. She told me about a biker club that is helping her, the Prisoners of Purgatory MC, and how one of their members, Fury, is how she got involved. She tells me all about it, and I’m fascinated at the life she describes, with all the bikers, the dangers and the girls she has made friends with.
It helped pass the time.
When Marek returned and took Alexis from her cage, I could see the rage in his eyes. Whatever had occurred was enough to send him into a state where he was willing to do whatever he could to make someone pay. I’m guessing that someone is the club, because he made it very clear that he was going to take her life.
That’s when I was forced to make a deal.
I couldn’t let him hurt her.
I could see the pain in her eyes when she thought the club wasn’t coming for her. She told me all about it, and my heart grew soft for her, especially when she told me she was pregnant, and I could see her bleeding.
It broke my heart.
The moment I realized what Marek was going to do to her, I knew I had to stop it. I begged him to let her go, and in exchange, I would dance for him. He agreed, and he let her go.
She promised she would get me out, but I won’t hold her to that promise.
Not when I’m in the clutches of the devil himself.
He knows where she is, and if I don’t dance, he’ll go after her. Of that, I’m sure.
I guess I’m going to have to come up with a new plan, because it doesn’t look like I can avoid dancing any longer.
So, here I stand, my feet on the stage, bare and cool against the polished timber. Marek is below, his eyes still shadowed with an anger I can’t seem to read and he isn’t letting me stop. Over and over, he has me dancing, doing the moves that make him happy, launching up with ribbons tied around my body, twisting and turning, trying to be graceful when I feel anything but.