"... with their legs tied up in knots."
SONG: Hayloft - Mother Mother
*****
Vera's P.O.V:
I had woken up in this dark room, and my head was pounding. My wrists and ankles were tied to the arms and legs of a black wooden chair, a rope was secured around my torso. I had noticed that my jumper was taken off and I just had my tank top and sweatpants on.
"You're finally awake princess, only took you a few hours."
My head snapped up to the voice, seeing a large man who I assumed was around 6'4. He had a balaclava on to protect his identity, and was wearing long black pants and a short black t-shirt. His large muscles looked like they would rip his shirt and on his right upper arm, a tattoo would peek out at times if he moved his arms a certain way. He probably should have worn longer sleeves, that could expose his identity if someone saw his tattoo.
"...He asked you a question, Yuki." I could hear the smirk in his voice and it instantly made me feel sick.
The fact that he knew my actual name made my blood boil. I obviously knew that they would know every little detail about me, but it's still terrifying.
"What was the question?" My voice in my head sounded strong and fearless, but as soon as the first word left my lips my voice became shaky.
"Why didn't you show up to the meeting? The other girls were there." The 6'4 man walked in front of me and I looked up at him, looking into his eyes that looked nearly black in this dark and dim room.
I didn't answer, I couldn't. Leo would get hurt.
I felt my head being turned to my left, my face instantly began tingling and stinging. Warm fingers aggressively turned my head straight again and forced my face up to look at him. The man crouched down right in front of me, he kept his gaze locked on mine.
"You aren't gonna talk?"
I swallowed, unsure of what to say. I had a feeling I wouldn't talk, so if I lied it would be worse. I maintained my silence and breathed heavily instead of replying.
"Fine, we can play it your way princess. Don't say I didn't warn you."
He stood up and walked behind me, I couldn't see what he was doing but I could hear faint whispering. I tried to listen in but only heard certain words here and there, not enough to comprehend a full sentence.
I heard a rattle and my heart stopped.
His thudding footsteps emerged from behind me and soon enough he was in front of me with a knife. The other man joined next to him with no weapon.
"We'll be nice and give you one last chance. Since you're so hot, we'll be a tad more lenient. This is your last chance cupcake, why didn't you show up?" The man without a weapon had talked this time.
Cupcake? These pet names were so degrading and sickening.
"I was- I didn't know we had a meeting." I finally whispered, loud enough that they could both hear, but quiet enough that my voice wouldn't betray me by breaking.
"You have a phone don't you?"
"It had no charge."
I knew I said I wasn't going to speak and that I shouldn't lie, but I didn't really have a choice.
"You know it has to be on charge at all times."
"I know, I didn't realise."
The man without a weapon left the room quickly.
"You better not be lying, princess."
"I have no reason to lie."
Another lie. Lie after lie. 'I'm doing it to save my friends.' I repeated in my head like a mantra.
The other man walked back in the room, and I could feel my heart rate pick up again.
"Boss said he doesn't like liars."
I looked into his eyes and could see the anger behind them. What would I say to that?
The man with the knife walked up to me and dragged the knife along my cheek, cutting into my skin. I winced at the pain of him cutting into my cheek. The blood started to pool into little balls before he took the knife and pressed below the cut, squeezing it and making more blood, some of it trickling down my cheek.
"Where were you?" The man without the weapon shouted, bending down to my eye level and spitting on me.
I cringed at the fact that I had his spit on me, I turned my head and wiped most of it off on my shoulder before he reached behind me and grabbed a fistful of my hair and yanked my head the opposite way.
There was a heavy knock at the door, followed by what looked like a woman walking in.
She walked over but didn't speak, she was standing against the wall staring at me.
"Who were you with?" My head was bent down and I couldn't see which man it was.
"I wasn't with anyone." Lies.
"You were at home?"
"Yes." Liar.
I felt a hand grab my chin and force me to look up, it was the girl. She punched me across my right cheek, I was stunned and when I looked up my vision was blurry.
"So the name Leo Carter doesn't ring a bell?"
Fuck, shit, fuck.
"Am I supposed to know who that is?"
I screamed, loudly. The pain was unbearable. I looked down at where the pain was coming from and there were tweezers lodged directly in my arm, a feminine hand took them out and put them back in, and finally took them out. One of the men latched his hand around my mouth.
"Shut it, bitch. We told you not to lie. We'll go after everyone you fucking love."
I was sobbing at this point. The tears mixed with blood were landing on my legs, soaking my sweatpants.
"Your family is dead though, aren't they? Your parents are dead. Your brother died from-"
"Don't say it, don't you dare." I was shaking, I could handle the physical pain but this was too much.
"Oh so you DO have a voice?"
"Such a shame you caused your family's death. You caused your parents to die, and your brother... Was it the drugs that got him killed? Or did he get murdered by another gang? I always forget. Remind me would you?" I could hear how much he was enjoying this. He was enjoying bringing this all up, hurting me like this.
"Fuck you." I muttered under my breath.
"What did you say sweetheart?"
"I said fuck you. I'm not your sweetheart."
Another slap. I brought my head back up, despite it feeling like it weighed a ton, I was exhausted.
"Oh! I remember. You got your parents killed. You didn't help save your brother from the drugs and you knew the other gang was coming. You knew he pissed them off but you didn't warn anyone. You caused your whole family to die. You came all the way from Japan, isn't that right Yuki? You illegally immigrated with your parents and your brother, for a 'better life'."
The next man started speaking, "then your parents got killed, then your brother shortly after. Now it's just you. Your parents would be so fucking dissapointed, you're pathetic."
I couldn't breathe, they were bringing this all up again. After years of trying to deal with it, they were making it worse.
"I was 14, I couldn- I didn't kill them." My weak voice betrayed me and one of the men laughed at it.
"Now princess, we both know that's not true. You know you killed them, we know you killed them, your friends know you killed them, half the fucking country knows what you did Yuki. Is that why you changed your name to Vera? Did Yuki remind you too much of your past?"
"Vera is my middle name, I just go by it instead."
They were half right but I couldn't give them the satisfaction of knowing that they were right.
"So where were you last night Yuki?"
"My name is Vera."
I felt a punch across my jaw, I moved it around, opening and shutting my mouth to ease the pain somehow. I breathed through my nose, and felt the pulsating of my jaw, I could hear it in my ears. It was a smaller hand, the woman.
"You didn't answer my question."
"I told you I was home."
My head was slammed back against the chair, and my head fell forward. I knew this wasn't the worst of it yet, they were only getting started.
My head was brought back up again and the man with the knife used the knife to put my hair behind my ears, making sure to press harder near the top of my cheekbone.
"Who were you with?"
"I was on my own."
Another slap to my face followed directly after by a punch. It was the woman every single time, she never asked the questions but she was the only one who fully hit me. I leant over the right side of the chair and spat blood out of my mouth. I wasn't sure if it was from my nose going into my mouth, from my mouth or a mixture of both.
"Would your mother be proud of the lying bitch she raised?"
I felt my eyes prick with tears, I tried to blink them away quickly.
"Oh look, she's crying. How pathetic. Your father sure would be ashamed of how weak you've grown up to be."
A few tears slid down my cheek, and I heard the laughing of both men. It was humiliating.
"Leo thought you were a badass, he'd be so disappointed you're actually just a whiny bitch."
Leo... fuck, Leo. They know about Leo. How do they know about Leo? I didn't react externally, instead I put my head down again, looking at my arm that previously had the tweezers stabbed into them.
"Get the matches."
The what?
One of the men was holding my face, the other man had pulled my tank top up and moved my bra down. The area below my armpit and on the side of my boobs was exposed.
I felt sick, they shouldn't touch me like this.
"Quite hot isn't she?"
"If she wasn't such a bitch, I reckon I'd have fucked her."
These men are disgusting.
I heard the head of the matchstick drag along the side of the box, followed by the sound of the match lighting.
"This won't hurt a bit. Oh I'm only joking, this quite literally burns."
I felt the head of the matchstick touch the skin and I screamed and wriggled in the chair. My legs and arms were restricted as well as my torso but I was moving as much as I could.
The matchstick dragged along my skin, it felt as though she purposefully let it linger longer than she should have. I could smell the skin burning and it was the worst thing I've ever smelled. She blew the match out and walked behind me, I let out a sigh of relief and stopped screaming, it was finally over.
I heard the sound again. She lit another match. The same process repeated until my shirt was brought down and my face was free again. My throat burnt from screaming so loud and for such a long time.
"Are you going to be honest now princess?"
I was catching my breath and didn't reply, instead I just stared at him.
The woman had walked back around and was holding a baseball bat.
"You can't use that, she still needs to be able to walk for missions and shit. Boss will get pissed if you use it."
I was thanking the Gods above that I wouldn't get treated that badly because I still had to be of use. But I was so confused as to why they never called him Armani, it was always 'boss'.
"You're lucky you know? If you weren't important to us, then you'd be a goner. You should really thank us and the boss, we've taken it easy on you. Obviously, unless we're disposing of a body we could really do things. But we can't put too much damage on you since you're going to be alive after this. Unfair really, I was wanting to do some damage."
Yeah, wow, lucky.
I got slapped again.
"You need to start answering questions around here, it'll be easier for you."
"When can I go?"
"When you answer questions. Why were you with Leo yesterday"
Fuck.
"I- we just met up."
"Where?"
"In a park."
I shouldn't have said that.
"Why were you there?"
"What kind of question is that? I was just there taking a walk."
I got punched again.
"Don't be a bitch. Where did you go with him?"
"Just back to mine to talk. I was getting close to him for the mission."
Okay that was a good excuse.
"I'll be back."
Both of the men left, I assumed it was to talk to someone else.
My face was aching and everywhere else was as well. My head was pounding and I was exhausted. If I moved my body and my shirt rubbed against my burn then it would sting and itch and I had to control myself to not scream in agony.
The woman, who I had forgotten was even in here, walked in front of me and dragged a knife across my arm. She started at the top near my shoulder and applied more pressure until she got to my hand, I was writhing in pain.
"Stop, stop... Please just stop."
The two men walked back inside and stared down at the woman, she stared for a little but then took the blade off my hand and walked off.
"Boss says we all have to be somewhere so you have to go as soon as possible, but if you fuck up again it will be so much worse and you'll be killed like your family."
The woman walked over and got rid of the ropes around my ankles, wrists, and body. Once I stood up, I was weak and fell to the ground.
"Stand up." one of the men yelled.
I couldn't even if I wanted to. I was tired and in pain and just wanted to go home.
The woman was on top of me throwing punches everywhere she could, she stood up and started kicking me. She kicked near where my burn was and I cried out in pain.
A blindfold was placed around my eyes and I was being lifted up. They probably knew that I would fall asleep soon out of exhaustion.
"Oh little Yuki, you better pray for your little friend Leo. Who knows what boss will do with that one."
Two days later
I woke up in my bed and there was a duffle bag which I identified as Blair's. I moved to sit up and groaned in pain, my whole body was aching.
"Oh you're awake." I heard Blair walk into the room and sit down on the bed beside me, careful not to accidentally hurt me.
"How long?"
"It's been two days. How are you feeling baby?"
"Like shit."
I looked down and saw that my arm with the stab wound was covered, from my elbow to my wrist was covered, and my burn mark had been covered too.
"I know. I've been taking care of your wounds and stuff."
"Thank you, I appreciate it."
"Want to talk about what happened?"
"I'm not really ready, I don't think. I wasn't beaten up as bad as they usually would, they took it easy and ran out of time."
"This is taking it easy? You have a burn mark, a stab wound, scratches, a black eye, split lip, bruises all over. Not even mentioning the internal wounds. How is that easy?"
"I wish I knew."
Not long after that I had some water and was waiting for the girls to show up.
My phone was spammed with messages from Leo.
"Hey are you okay? Got your message."
"I'm feeling better now, must have only been a one day sickness kinda thing. You feeling okay?"
"Whatcha dooooinnnn?"
"U ignoring me?"
"How do monsters like their eggs? Terri-fried. How do you like yours?"
I was scrolling through them all and shook my head at some of the stupid jokes he was saying.
"Hi, sorry. Wasn't ignoring you. Been feeling really sick and mostly have been sleeping the past few days, feel better now. You?" I replied back.
I know I can't keep this up, I can't entertain what's happening. This needs to end, I'm just being courteous by replying but I'll distance myself after this.
The girls had all arrived while I was texting Leo back. They had this sorry and pained look on their face, like they thought I'd fall apart if they touched me.
"How did it go?" Arabella asked, sipping on her lemonade.
"Um, I don't really wanna... you know? Just want to stop thinking about it for a bit. It just sucks and it hurts. They made me think what happened with my family was my fault and yeah. I'm glad they took it easy though."
"Vera, you have to know none of that shit was your fault okay?" Luna replied, smiling softly at me, scanning her eyes across mine to try and read how I was feeling.
"I know, I know. But it kind of was. I mean it was my fault for-"
"Stop right there." Blair cut me off.
"Wait fuck. Blair what mark is here?" I pointed to the burn mark hoping it wasn't what I thought it was.
Blair looked around to the other girls, like they already knew.
"It- um... x." Neve muttered out, trying to say it in the kindest way possible.
I swear I stopped breathing. This was on me for the rest of my life?
"Do you have a photo?" I breathed out.
Blair took out her phone and showed me the disgusting burn mark that was recovering. It looked revolting, it was all blistered and bloody. I would have struggled to make out what it was supposed to be if I didn't already know.
I almost threw up. I didn't know what to say, I just sat back and breathed shakily, trying not to cry. I would have this scar on my body for the rest of my life.
"What happened with Leo anyway?" Arabella raised her eyebrows suggestively, trying to change the topic.
"Went to the club, drank, fucked him."
"YOU WHAT?" Blair yelled standing up out of excitement.
"Oh jesus." I definitely shouldn't have told them that.
"WELL? What happened?" Jade screamed impatiently.
"There's not much to it. He just, you know. We fucked."
"OH MY GOD." Neve stood up joining Blair.
"Vera fucked Leo." Neve and Blair jumped around singing.
Authors' Note // Sorry for the late update, again! We are so sorry it's just been a lot to keep up with but we promise you we have very exciting things coming soon, we can't wait for you guys to see this book develop, as always we love you so much and thank you for your support! - A,L,C.