Tired of sitting in the dark. Tired of breathing in dry, musty, dirty air. Tired of being terrified that, at any moment, they would come in here and put a bullet in her like they did Ben.
And that would be it.
No more life.
No chance to do all the things she still wanted to do.
And worst of all…no more Adrian.
Moving much faster than she would’ve expected for a man of his large size and build, the bastard grabbed the chain connected to the handcuffs and jerked her forward.
Reaching behind him, he picked up some of the food that had fallen onto the floor. Releasing the chain, he wrapped that hand around her chin and squeezed.
Jenna cried out, his painful grip making it feel as though her jaw was about to break. His strong hold forced her mouth to remain open while he shoved the rice and meat between her lips.
She attempted to spit it out, but the man used both hands to clamp her mouth shut. With no other choice, Jenna swallowed the food to avoid choking.
Giving her face a rough shove, the man let her go long enough to grab the water bottle and open the plastic lid. Though she tried to avoid it, the man held her jaw like before, forcing the water to fill her mouth and throat.
Unable to drink it all at once, Jenna coughed and sputtered, the excess liquid spilling out over her chin and dripping onto the concrete below.
“There. Was that so hard?” The man threw the bottle to the side and stood.
“Fuck…you,” Jenna spoke between coughing fits.
“Maybe later.” The asshole chuckled as he turned and walked away. “For now, you need to eat so you have energy for what is about to come.”
That didn’t sound good. Not good at all.
“Wait!” Jenna yelled, although in her weakened state it sounded more like a whimper. “What do you want from me? Why am I here?”
He disappeared into the shadows.
A second later, she heard the door slam shut. Leaving her trapped in her own personal hell, alone and frightened.
Tears burned the corners of Jenna’s eyes, but her body was too depleted for them to fall. Fear and frustration had her pulling wildly against her restraints again. She screamed to the point her voice broke, and her throat burned.
Was this their plan? Where they just going to leave her here to starve and go mad because she’d cared enough about a missing girl to ask questions?
Or could this be about something else? Something she wasn’t seeing.
Jenna thought about the club. How she’d been drugged, and if not for Adrian, she would’ve been abducted that night, too.
Maybethat’swhat this was all about. Maybe…maybe she’d been targeted as part of some horrible sex trafficking ring.
Wouldn’t there be other women here if that were the case?
Possibly. Or maybe this was what they did. Their attempt to ‘break’ the women they took before selling them.
That was the whole reason Jenna had talked Adrian into staying in town to begin with. She feared Stella Gallagher was being held somewhere against her will for that exact reason.
Someplace just like this.
Her stomach turned with the fleeting thought that Stella may have been brought here, to thisexactplace.
Oh, god.
A wave of helplessness and exhaustion struck simultaneously, and Jenna no longer had the strength to sit up. Ignoring the stinging in her wrists, she shifted her body in order to position herself onto her side.