Page 16 of Caging Liberty

4

Liberty

Islowly move my eyes toward the cellar door when it clangs open. I glare and prepare to fire venom at whoever walks through, but I won’t lie and say I’m not relieved when I realize Julio isn’t alone.

My glare falls and lips part as Naomi stumbles down the steps with Julio at her back. When they reach the cellar, he shoves her forward, and our eyes lock when she lifts her head. The fear that had flared in her eyes earlier has morphed into fiery hatred. Good. I’m glad I’m not the only one.

“Hurry up,” Julio snaps, pushing her again. “By the other one.”

She shuffles over to where I sit on the floor, and she plops down next to me without a fight. By the bruise forming on her jaw, I’d say they’ve beaten it out of her. For now.

I’m secured to the wall by a rusty iron clamp around my neck, and there are a whole row of similar contraptions jutting out along the wall. Julio secures Naomi’s clamp, then he stands up straight and steps back.

“In case you haven’t figured it out by now, fighting is useless. Neither one of you is leaving this basement until you agree to behave.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Naomi scoffs. “I’d rather die down here than be raped up there.”

Julio chuckles, and I try not to shiver at the glint in his eyes. I keep my glare pinned on him, waiting for what I already know is about to come.

“If you say so.” Julio shrugs and walks over to the water hose he tossed carelessly on the floor the last time I saw him. He swipes up the nozzle, then drags the hose to stand in front of us.

“Hold your breath,” I warn Naomi, closing my eyes.

Water sprays from the hose and splatters me, but the stream isn’t aimed at me this time. Naomi screams and I open my eyes and try to look her way. I can’t move my head much because my skin is already rubbed raw from the restraint.

She’s trying to move her head to get away from the spray, and I cringe, knowing from experience that she’s tearing the skin of her neck in the process.

“Hold still,” I yell over the spray. I’m rewarded with Julio sending a gust of water to my face, so I close my eyes, hold my breath, and wait for it to stop.

This goes on for another few minutes, his cruel game aimed mostly at Naomi until the water finally shuts off. He snickers as he drags the hose back where it was and tosses it down.

Icy water drips from my hair and down my body, and my shoulders convulse while I try to catch my breath. My teeth chatter, and I point my stare forward, refusing to look at Julio as he leaves. As soon as the door slams shut, I try to turn to Naomi again but give up when my neck practically screams in pain.

I reach out to her instead, my hand finding hers and squeezing while I wait for her sobs to cease.

“Fuck those guys,” she says, her voice cracking.

I move my eyes to the door. “Especially Julio.”

Naomi huffs. “Julio is just a tool.Sawyerdid this.”

Sawyer’s image enters my mind again, and anger tears through my core. After I spit in his face, he wasn’t so calm anymore. He dragged me back to the manor by my hair, then had Julio bring me to the cellar. I haven’t seen him since.

I clamp my teeth down to stop the shaking, and after a minute, I speak again. “You met him on a chat site, didn’t you?”

Naomi sighs. “Yes. I’m guessing you did too?”

“He never told me his name, but yeah, I did. He pretended to be some lonely guy acting as a caretaker for his paralyzed wife.”

Naomi laughs dryly. “He put more effort into lying to you.”

“What makes you say that?”

Her legs move as she shifts to find a more comfortable position. She’s going to be disappointed. I’ve been searching for some sort of comfort since I got here. There isn’t any.

“It took him a little while to tell me his name, but he actually did mention the island. Obviously, not everything that it entailed, but he had said he lived on one and that the people here were into kink. He offered to pay me to come here, and I nearly did, but I told him I couldn’t leave my son. The site I met him on… It was um... It was through an ad I put up during a really shitty time in my life. I’d just lost custody of my son, and I was desperate for money. It’s the same story with Anna. He told her he wanted her here so he could spoil herPretty Womanstyle, that he loved her, and a whole bunch of other bullshit that he’s still somehow getting her to believe. Most of the rest of them are just as delusional.”

“The rest of them?” I ask, my stomach turning.