79

Ava woke up with a throbbing head that was spinning. Her mouth was dry, and her body ached all over. She had vague memories of waking up before, of men coming into the room to beat and kick her. She had lost all sense of time as she drifted in and out of consciousness. Ava didn’t know if she had been in the room for hours, days, or weeks. She tried to sit up and felt the room spin even more. Ava had a hard time distinguishing between the pain from laying on the hard floor and the injuries she had sustained from the beatings. She gave up on trying to stand up, her body and head would not allow it. She crawled towards the blankets. They smelled terrible and were full of holes. But they offered some protection from the cold floor. Ava took one of the blankets and gently wrapped it around herself, and leaned against the wall. She tried to diagnose the aches she felt. She could move her hands and feet, even though the muscles were sore and her joints were stiff. Her left knee was swollen, but she didn’t think anything was broken. The dryness in her throat made her cough, and she changed her mind. She probably had a broken rib or two. Her clothes were filthy and caked with blood. Ava wanted to break down and cry. She wanted to curl up into a little ball and just cry her eyes out. But that would be to show weakness. If she had learned anything from her time with Zane, it was if you showed you were weak, they would attack you. She remained seated and waited, for what she didn’t know.

Ava didn’t know how long she had been sitting there when the door opened, Johnson’s son came into the room and Ava could hear laughter from outside. As he closed the door, he became a different person. Gone was the cocky man and in his stead stood an uncertain one who didn’t seem to want to be there. Ava realised he had just dropped his mask in front of her. She saw the man he really was, and she felt sorry for him. He didn’t want to be here any more than she did. Sure, she got beaten, but there was more than one kind of abuse and she didn’t think a man like Johnson would go easy on someone just because it was their son.

“Are you here to beat me?” she asked. Her voice sounded raspy and weak. He looked at her and sighed.

“Yes,” he said. Ava nodded and regretted it when her head started pounding.

“Okay.” He studied her, waiting for something.

“Aren’t you going to beg me not to?” he asked after a moment.

“No, what’s the point? You obviously don’t want to be here, yet you are. That means someone is forcing you. My guess is it’s your father. And let’s be honest, he is way scarier than I could ever be,” she told him.

“Yeah, he is.” Ava waited. He stood by the door, not moving. She found it almost worse than if he just had hit her.

“You have never been awake before,” he told her.

“You have been here before?” she asked. He nodded, and Ava felt a surge of anger run through her.

“Dad makes me do it at least twice a day. He says it will be good for me.”

“Do what?” Ava asked. She didn’t know if she wanted to know, but her memory was fuzzy and she needed to face reality.

“Oh, only hitting and kicking. We aren’t allowed to do anything else. I think he wants that for himself,” the man said.

“And how long have I been here?”

“You don’t know? It’s been almost three days.” Ava was stunned. Three days, that meant someone was looking for her. She knew with every fibre of her being that when she didn’t call Gabriel as she had told him, he would move heaven and earth to find her. Maybe he would turn to Ryder. If he did, would Zane help him? Even if he didn’t have the same feeling towards her as she had for him, they had become friends, hadn’t they? Johnson’s son had stood quietly for a long while, watching her.

“I really don’t want to,” he finally said.

“I won’t tell,” she said.

“But he will know. He always knows.” It was almost a whine and mixed with Ava’s compassion, she also felt disdain towards him. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but something felt off about him. She braced herself for what seemed to be unavoidable. The door opened again and Johnson entered the room. Ava flinched, and she saw how his son struggled to get his mask into place.

“So, Ava, have you learned your lesson about acting like an animal?” Johnson asked. He ran his fingers unconsciously over a wound on his finger. Ava realised it was her bite mark. He no longer had a dressing over it, but it was still a wound. A part of her took strength from that. She didn’t answer him. “Still being disobedient? Well, we can work on that. We have time on our side,” he told her as he walked closer. Ava pulled her legs to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, curling into a ball.

“B-boss, do you n-need me?” his son asked.

“Fucking hell, Jacob. Just stay there and be quiet,” Johnson sneered.

“Y-yes, boss.”

“I sent a message to your former owner, hoping to play a little with him. But he doesn’t seem to care. My men report he is continuing to live his life, going on with his business. No ramp up of his men or busting down my door. Does it make you feel like your devotion and loyalty maybe a little misplaced, my dear?” he asked Ava. Ava’s stomach clenched at his words. She tried to school her face, to not let him see the disappointment she felt. Zane had told her never to play poker, as her face was an open book. She needed to control it now. She didn’t need Zane. Gabriel would find her. If Zane didn’t help him, he would find another way. Ava hoped he wouldn’t do anything stupid, but she trusted Ryder to keep him safe. Ava now had one mission; she needed to survive until he could find her.

“I told you, it was just a business agreement. Whoever told you it was more than that was lying, probably to get money or a favour from you. I hope you didn’t pay for the information,” she told him. A gleam of anger passed over Johnson’s eyes. He had paid, either in money or in a service, Ava thought. Well, even if Zane wasn’t loyal to her, she still had a bond with him and the people he surrounded himself with. That now included Gabriel, she reminded herself. If she could find out who this informant was, she would. And she would make sure Zane got that information. In Ava’s mind, that person had almost as much fault in this situation as Johnson. Zane would make sure Ava got her revenge, even if he didn’t do it for her but for his organisation. There was a little voice in her head which told her to have faith in Zane. He had shown her he cared about her. He might not have said the words, but his actions had let her believe he wasn’t indifferent towards her.

“What the fuck do you know? You are just a pet,” Johnson growled. “Since you still seem unwilling to submit to my will, we will just have to teach you what happens when you are a disobedient pet, won’t we?” Ava tried to draw herself into a smaller ball. She hated to cover in fear, but she had no strength in her mangled body. There was no way for her to fight back. But if he thought he could break her, he was wrong. Her body may be weak, but she was not. “You see, pet, this isn’t the first time I have a stubborn pet on my hands. I have let my son and my men beat you. But that won’t do. I want to be able to show off your beauty, and I can’t do that when you look like this. Let’s see how you feel after a couple of days down here with restricted water and food access. Few things correct behaviour as well as being deprived of your basic needs,” he said with a chuckle. Ava hated him with a fiery passion. If she ever got out of here, she would make sure he died in torment. For the first time in her life, Ava had met a person she saw no redeeming qualities in. She hadn’t believed they existed. But Johnson was a living proof they did.

“What should I do, boss?” Johnson’s son asked.

“Not now, Jacob! Fucking useless. You don’t ask that in front of the pet. What the fuck is wrong with you?” Johnson yelled, making both Ava and his son flinch. “Take some pictures of her. Make sure she looks pathetic. Maybe we can rile Velky up a bit. He is too fucking focused for my liking.”

“Yes, da.. boss,” Jacob said. He took out his phone and walked up to Ava, taking a couple of snapshots of her. “Can you smile for me?” he asked. For a moment, Ava almost felt sorry for Johnson. His son must drive him mad, she thought.

“Fuck it, come with me,” Johnson said in an exasperated voice. Both men left the room. Ava was alone with her thoughts. She didn’t know if she believed Johnson wouldn’t send someone to abuser her again. Ava felt utterly naked despite being fully clothed. Being locked in that small room, she had no say in what happened to her. Even her next breath was depending on the wishes of that cruel man. But it wasn’t the nice kind of helplessness Zane had made her crave. When he took away all her options and made her surrender completely, it was always consensual. She always felt safe. Here, there were no safe words, no out. And Ava would fight against it every step of the way.