was still in front of me.
And the worst is now unknown.
Ruby. I need to speak to Ruby.
I scramble up from the floor and throw on the nearest robe. It was the one I was supposed to give her as part of our bargain, but with everything else that happened I forgot all about it.
I’ll need to be quick. Denim will be waiting for me. But Denim is far more patient than Maxim.
Ducking out from the curtain, I nod to the man who guards my door, wondering where the hell he was last night when I needed him.
Maybe Baron paid him off.
It wouldn’t be the first time a guard took a bribe. Or maybe the man took one look at that face and stood obediently to the side.
Either would be plausible.
Maxim doesn’t bother with electricity in our tunnels. It cuts out so frequently that he prefers just to use the torches, rather than pay twice. I take the familiar route to the place where Ruby dwells, stopping for nothing and no one while my guard follows a few steps behind me. No doubt he will report to Denim about this little detour, but I’ll deal with those consequences later.
When I arrive at Ruby’s cave, I don’t bother shouting for her. Her guard, Conrim, is posted outside, showing me she’s here, and she never bothers to warn me of her presence before she barges in on me.
It’s even darker in here than it was in the tunnels, and my eyes take some time to adjust. The main bulb is switched off, but her tea-light burns on the dresser.
I’m about to call out for her when the sound of snoring stops me.
Loud and deep.
I get the feeling she’s not alone, and when my eyes locate the sound I confirm my initial suspicions. “Ruby?”
“Shh,” she whispers, her tone soft. “Don’t wake him. I’m still sore.”
I swallow and nod, hoping she can see me better than I can see her. The sound of rustling tells me she’s getting up, and a moment later I hear her move around the bed.
“Are you all right?” she asks. “I heard what was happening, but I couldn’t get away.”
“Fine,” I say. Lies, but that’s what you say, isn’t it? “Can we talk?”
“Of course. Come on, not in here.”
She walks around the bed and hooks her arm around mine, taking me with her as she heads toward the door.
The second we get outside, I begin telling her everything that happened last night. Our two guards are deep in conversation, but she drags me farther away while the words spill out of me. Slow at first while I try to make sense of it myself, and then it all comes out in a huge jumble, ending with Baron and our encounter in my bedroom.
“I remember you telling me about men like him,” I say. “The crazies. What do they want? I don’t know if he wants to fuck me or hurt me. Or both.”
“I don’t think he’s one of the crazies,” she says, shaking her head. “Well, I mean, he is crazy. But he’s not one of them.”
“What do you mean?”
She shakes her head. “I don’t… you know what this place is like, kid. It’s all rumors. There’s a chance none of it’s true.”
“I would rather know than not know,” I say. “Tell me.”
Even in the semidarkness, I can see her scrunch her face up. Ruby is my friend, and she knows it’s not like me to want to know anything. “Are you sure?”
“I need to know what I’m up against,” I say with a shrug, trying to act like it’s no big deal while inside I want nothing more than to get back inside my box.
It was safe in there.
But I need to remember that box isn’t safe anymore.
Ruby sighs. “All right. They say he is like Maxim, but the place he runs is far worse than this. He’s a sadist. Utterly mad. Where Maxim does this for money, he runs his place for enjoyment. A place that makes here look like a children’s day out.”
“What kind of place?”
“No one knows. No one knows because when a girl goes there, she is never seen or heard from again.”
I blink at her, speechless.
“Sapphire, I’m sorry,” she says. “This is just rumors.”
Swallowing down the lump in my throat, I turn away before she can notice the wetness in my eyes. “We thought it was just rumors yesterday, too, and look what happened.”
Ruby sighs and pulls me in for a hug. I let