𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐘 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐄

ᴏɴᴇ ʜᴜɴᴅʀᴇᴅ ᴛᴡᴇɴᴛʏ-ᴛᴡᴏ

"It's not the truth though? Rueben and your friends—my brother—have all been searching for you since the day you were taken. If they knew you were alive and in relatively good health, they would be over the moon. They would be so happy. They wouldn't want you dead."

Rayne didn't know if it was because of the mention of her brother's name or her former lover's but instead of the reaction she was expecting, Lilliana's frown deepened, and she looked away. Her fingers traced slow, absentminded circles around her inner thigh.

"Lilly?"

Before Rayne had the chance to investigate further, before she was given a moment to blink away the sadness that lingered between them, Lilliana sat up.

She grabbed Rayne by the cheeks and drew her in. Chocolate brown strands floated across her pale skin and heightened the rounded jade peering through. Rayne felt locked in the moment—as if she were staring into the eyes of another. Lilliana's dry and cracked lip trembled, but she stopped the moment by catching her lip between her teeth and shaking her head.

Perfect, forest green spheres were drowned in the hurricane of captivation.

Lilliana pressed their foreheads together, slicing through their eye contact, but for some reason, Rayne felt as if this way was more emotional. Because it had been so long since she'd enjoyed the warmth of another hand. Since she sat still in the arms of another rather than recoiling.

"I feel like I've been here so long now, that I'm already dead."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't feel ..." her voice trembled; her body shook, "—human anymore."

She let go of her stomach to catch Lilliana's tears, to coax her in the hug she knew she needed, but just as she began to wrap around her, the slamming of a nearby door had the girls jumping apart. They weren't allowed to be close to one another, even though they shared the same room.

Rayne leaped from her spot and soundlessly ran over to her spot, scrambling to lay down. Just as she curled up and closed her eyes, the door to their room flew open and crashed into the wall. Two pairs of heavy worker-man boots thudded against the dull compartment of this amusement park back room. A routine she'd memorized.

She and Lilly had learned early on that they were being held at a place like this—and it took Rayne all of two minutes to know that it had to be the same address from which Rigo's head was sent. They had already known, but it became crystal clear then that this was always the plan. They were always going to be isolated as traps for the people who mattered.

Rueben. Kai. Mason.

Kaedyn. Jase. Matteo.

This was the boss level, after all.

Some part of her wished she'd just be able to succumb to her injuries. To not be like a video game. To not be healed, or regenerated, or brought back for the amusement of the men who liked to abuse women. Each time she was awakened for their sick enjoyment, more pieces of her shed like the dead skin on her body. The more she lost herself, the more they replaced themselves in her.

As if they were vines entangling in flowers like weeds.

As if she was becoming the weed, and they the flowers.

"Get up," one of them barked.

Rayne was given less than a millisecond to collect herself before he grabbed a handful of her hair and forcefully pulled her from the ground. She suffocated a whimper as she fought to place her feet back on solid ground.

"I knew you weren't sleeping," Niccolió purred in her ear, "Were you waiting for me, baby?"

She didn't answer him but focused on keeping herself steady as he released the tightness of his grip. He dragged her in and dipped his nose into the tangled waves of her auburn hair, breathing in her scent, stealing more from her, stripping her of anything she could possibly love.