Ink's Second Chance - Carol Dawn Page 0,45
as I stare at him on the other side of the bars, I feel anger flood me like never before.
“I will ask you only one time per day if you’ve changed your mind. If I don’t like your answer, I will have you whipped. Do you understand?”
I don’t move a muscle.
“This is going to hurt me more than it will you,” he says. “Mike, please come here.”
A man comes to stand next to Carlos. Where Carlos is an attractive older male, with gray hair, laugh lines on his face, and life in his eyes, this new man is the complete opposite.
He’s large. Towering over Carlos type of large. His face is full of scars, he’s completely bald and his eyes look dead.
This man has been through a lot of life and none of it looks good. I sort of feel sorry for him.
“Mike, I would like you to use the whip and punish her with ten lashes to her back. Don’t be gentle.”
Carlos leaves and Mike smiles.
Never mind. Any sympathy I felt for him moments ago vanish as he opens my cell door.
He rushes forward and pulls me up. The next thing I know, I’m flat down on the bed and the back of my shirt is ripped open.
“Don’t struggle,” Mike warns. “Or this will be far less pleasant.”
A high-pitched whistle grabs my attention and I try to turn but stop when a burning sensation races across my back.
“I always go easy on the first strike,” Mike chuckles. “Just to give you a small taste of what’s to come.”
That was easy? Tears fill my eyes, but I refuse to let them fall.
Mike strikes my back again and the tears fall as I hold in my scream. He can have my tears, but I refuse to give him my voice.
Strikes three, four, and five land. My back is burning so bad that it feels like it’s on fire.
“Boss has himself a strong one,” Mike says.
By the time strike six lands on my back, I can no longer hold back my screams.
The strikes eventually stop, and I hear the cell door open and close.
“Every day, mi Reina,” I hear Carlos say. “Until you submit.”
“I… am… not… your… queen,” I pant.
“Every day,” he repeats.
The lights turn off and I’m left in my prison completely alone. I use my arms to push my body up only to fall back down with the pain that shoots around my back.
It would be so easy to just give in and give him what he wants. It would be so easy to find something in this cell and end my life.
But, at this very moment, I have decided that I will do neither. I will fight Carlos every step of the way. It will eventually lead me to freedom, or it will lead me to death.
But I will NEVER be his queen.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Ink
It’s been two weeks since Rachel went missing. Two weeks of restless nights, and busy days. If I could, I would spend every single moment on lookout duty next to the Hernández compound, but my family won’t leave me the fuck alone.
They demand that I eat, sleep and bathe. It pisses me off, but I’m beyond grateful for it. I need to be at full strength if there comes a day when we’re ready to get her out of there.
“Carlos has only left those damn gates twice in the two weeks we’ve been watching,” Wolf says.
“What kind of traffic do they have?” Hawk asks.
“Not much,” I answer. “They have a shipment of women coming in once a week using an ice-cream truck. Apart from that, there are your basic vehicles going in and out, but it doesn’t happen but a few times a day.”
I’m sitting in Hawk’s kitchen with all of my brothers except Chains. He’s on watch until I get back to the compound later today.
I would never have left if Slim hadn’t called an emergency meeting.
“Are you ever going to tell us why we’re here?” Bear asks. “I was in the middle of a nap.”
“You live next door, old man,” Slim chuckles. “It’s not like you had to drive to get here.”
Despite the constant fear for Rachel that lives inside me, I laugh. Our prez isn’t much older than I am, but his role as President to the Infernal Sons tends to wear him down.
“Sweet boy,” Hawk says. “Be nice to my twin. He can’t help it if he’s grumpy. You ruined his nappy time.”
Everyone laughs. Including Bear.
“Okay,” Slim says. “I called you all