Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 138683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
It was standing room only for the patrons who seemed to boil and froth around it, the mass of them held back by a chain-link fence about three feet tall that encircled the entire thing.
It gave about four feet of space between them and the ring.
These men who stood in expensive suits, accepting tumblers of amber liquid from the near-naked women who slithered through the crowd, amping the greed that only served to increase Stefan’s profits.
My stomach twisted.
An aisle was carved down the middle by the same fencing, hugged by the same bastards who vied to get a closer look.
It could have reminded me of the crowd at Absolution except for the fact it was void of any decency. Void of any goodness.
It had been the reason I’d walked that club’s floors for years. Hunting out the degenerates and protecting the innocent.
Like I could make up for what happened here, within these walls.
But I should have known there would be no escaping it. No absolution for who I was.
There was no forgiveness for men like me, and the only thing I could do now was make this one thing right.
Off to my left, near the wall, was an exposed metal stairway that led to a pathway that hung from the ceiling above. Wrapped completely in the same chain-link as the fencing below, it was a walkway where Stefan’s men guarded over the mayhem.
At its end was a large cage, hanging high above the ring where Stefan sat on his throne like some kind of twisted king who watched over the perverted.
The reigning demon.
He was standing then, his hand pressed to the chain-link, his eyes glinting as he met my glare from where I stood just outside the end of the hall.
A challenge.
A warning.
One of his guards poked the barrel of his gun into my back. “It’s time,”
he said.
Vengeance thundered in my chest, as loud as the shouts that suddenly erupted when I stepped into the tumult.
My eyes scanned, taking it in—I counted at least four guards that were stationed at each corner of the basement, and the three above who walked the elevated path.
More would be outside.
It seemed Stefan had upped his game since the last time I’d been here.
Nerves scattered when I caught sight of Logan with his chest pressed to the fence on the opposite side, standing there with an arrogant smirk on his face like he was just another of the fiends, though I felt the weight of his passing glance.
Blood thundering through my veins, I strode up the aisle, trying to ignore the shouts, the inhumanity, the greed that banged and ricocheted from their vile mouths.
Another round of roars went up when my opponent was pushed out from the hall on the far side of the basement, the man cutting a path up the opposite side where we both came to stare across at each other from our side of the ropes.
He looked to be close to seven feet tall and was pure muscle.
His eyes wild and untamed.
Bouncing on his toes and ready for the fight.
But the only thing that mattered was Tessa.
My guts fisted in rage, and I could barely keep it together when the crowd suddenly split apart, and Tessa was led by a fuckin’ leash through them, her hands tied behind her back, paraded in front of these monsters like she was meat.
At the sight of her, a furor of lust ripped through the throng, her pain their pleasure, and I fought the welling of vomit that pooled in my mouth.
They had her all dressed up like she was a prize, wearing a shimmery white dress, though she was barefoot, her fiery red locks matted to her gorgeous face. There was a stream of blood running down her right cheek that had dried from a gash on her temple.
Fury flashed.
Overwhelming.
They hauled her up to the side of the ring, and I nearly buckled when she found me standing there.
The way those fathomless eyes wept.
Churned with grief and fear and a plea.
It took everything in me not to go barreling that way.
Not to say fuck the plan and get my girl in my arms and off to safety.
The guard who hauled her along forced her into the ring. Tears streamed down her face as she stumbled forward, and she turned in a traumatized circle, her eyes wide with grief and fear.
My fingers twitched.
Needing to go to her.
To stop this madness.
Take her away from the place she never should have been exposed to.
This torture that should not be her own.
Wickedness pierced me like a brand, and I looked up to find Stefan staring down at me.
He wasn’t parading her for these sick fuckers.
He was parading her for me.
A warning.
A threat that I was prisoner to his twisted game.
The guard yanked at Tessa with the leash, and she jolted forward, her gaze coming to me for a beat of desperation, and I prayed she saw that I’d meant what I told her.