In Death I Live by Lindsay Becs

ZORA

“Stop fucking fighting!”Greyson yells at me as he holds my upper body tightly.

“Let me go then!” I yell, back-kicking my legs as wildly as I can. But then Cruz grabs them in his grip, and I can’t move much at all. Domonic might be the biggest guy of them all, but none of them lack muscle. Cruz and River might be on the leaner side, instead of bench pressers, but they’re still strong. As Cruz holds my legs, I know he’s going to leave bruises.

“Dammit, baby girl. Why did you have to do that?” Cruz says, almost sounding sad as we reach the bottom of the steps.

“I didn’t do anything.” I try to plead my innocence.

Greyson scoffs. “And I’m the Queen of England, sweetheart.”

“W-what’s down here?” I ask, feeling nervous when a strong scent hits my nostrils. I start to gag when the smell of rotten food, shit, sweat and blood all masked in bleach hits me.

“Nothing good,” Greyson says as a light flickers on.

My eyes widen when I see a dark, dank room. The ceiling is low, barely tall enough for Cruz and Greyson to be able to stand up straight. The floor is packed with sandy dirt. The walls look like nothing but huge bricks or stones. It all seems old—almost medieval—and scary as shit.

My eyes then land on chains peeking out of the shadows. “No! No, no, no, no…”

Cruz grabs my face in his hands. He looks at me more seriously than I’ve seen him since I arrived here at the compound with River. “Do as he says, tell the truth, and you’ll be fine.”

“I did—” I start, but he pushes me backward until my back hits a cold, hard wall, cutting off my excuses. “Please. Please don’t do this,” I beg, looking back and forth between him and Greyson. “Please.”

Greyson won’t even meet my eye. He grips my arm while Cruz takes the other. I keep begging and begging as they clamp heavy cuffs around each of my wrists. When they let go, my arms fall heavy at my sides.

“Hope you took a shit before breakfast,” Greyson tells me.

“Wha—” I begin, only to be cut off again when my arms are pulled up. I look above my head to see chains there, connected to the cuffs on my wrists. Grey pulls on the other end of the chains that loudly clang as they thread through the ring hanging above me. My arms are in the air and pulled tight, my feet almost coming off the ground.

I fight back the cry that is stuck in my throat as my breathing picks up erratically with fear. Greyson stops pulling, and I turn my head as much as I can to see him attaching the chains to another ring on the wall.

“Why are you doing this?” I ask in a quiet whisper.

Cruz walks in front of me, tipping my head up to look at him. “Because you’re hiding things, baby girl.” He presses a soft kiss to my lips. “And we don’t keep secrets here,” he adds, his breath skating across my lips before he flicks his tongue on my bottom lip. “Remember?”

My eyes squeeze shut, and I try not to enjoy the feel of him this close to me. This is the closest I’ve gotten to kissing Cruz. But then my eyes pop open and meet his green gaze. His lips turn up into a lopsided, devilish grin as he steps back from me.

I blink, and just that quickly, he’s gone and in his place is Greyson. Grey isn’t as soft as Cruz when he leans in and bites my lip with a snarl. “Be a good girl, Zo-Zo. Good girls get rewards.”

Shakily, I nod my head. He gives me an approving grin before he turns and joins Cruz at the bottom of the steps. I start to settle down, telling myself it’s all a mental game, but then they turn off the light and I’m bathed in cold darkness.

“NO!” I scream. “Don’t leave me down here! Please! I’ll tell the truth! Please, no!” I scream over and over and over until my throat is raw and my voice is gone. Tears have soaked my face and neck. And when I drop my head in defeat, my body silently shakes in sobs of despair as I’m taken back to the last time I was bound by the Devil.

“Time to wake up, glow worm,” I hear in my ear. I moan and try to move before I remember where I am and that I’m tied to Slater’s bed.

I open my mouth to say something but can’t because he shoves his cock in my mouth in the next second. I gag when he pushes to the back of my throat.This is how I’m going to die, suffocated by dick. But then he’s off me, pulling out with a dark chuckle, allowing me to breathe as I cough.

Turning my head to not look at him, I meet Kale’s dark eyes staring at me. Great. They’re both here.

Kale pushes off the wall, flicking his knife open as he takes the few steps to get to me on the bed. “You remember how to use a knife, like I taught you before?”

Nodding, I say, “I think so.”

“It’s important you remember how to defend yourself.”

The fact that it’s Kale telling me that does not make me feel any less scared about where they’re taking me or who I’ll be with. “W-why?”

Straddling my waist, he lifts his fist holding the knife, and hits me across the face. My eyes fill with tears, but I hold them back, licking at the corner of my lip where I taste the tang of blood.

Getting in my face, he tells me, “You, of all people, should know that it’s a myth that there are good people in this world, Zora. No matter how nice someone may seem, underneath that is always a demon ready to play with you and burn you alive.” Then, he licks at the same spot on my mouth that I did. “I like making you bleed. It makes me so fucking hard.”

He sits up and in one movement slices my shirt open with his knife. My naked chest is now on display for him and Slater to look at and abuse more. He drags the flat side of the blade over my nipple, making it traitorously pebble and my eyes close.

“There’s my girl,” I hear Slater say from somewhere in the room.

Summoning my inner strength, I open my eyes and stare up at Kale. “What do you want from me?” I ask through clenched teeth and then gasp when I feel fingers push into my pussy.

Kale’s head tilts as he continues to look down at me. “How wet is she?” he asks, telling me that it’s Slater who’s inside me. He pushes his digits in and out a few times, the sound of my wetness echoing around the room through the silence. “Fucking slut,” Kale snarls at me before he spits in my face, making Slater laugh. Before I can react or say anything in return, he hits me again. “But that’s exactly why we picked you.Worm.”

“Who owns this pussy?” Slater asks as his fingers keep fucking me.

Swallowing over the bile rising in my throat, I seal my fate. “You.”

Kale gets up and then I see Slater, smiling big and proud from where he’s between my legs at the end of the bed. “What happens if you don’t get answers for me?”

“You kill me,” I answer.

He pulls his finger from me. “Wrong,” he growls before he hits me this time.

“Who are you working for?” he asks.

“No one,” I cry.

“Wrong again, Zora,” he says eerily softly before another blow comes. “Because I want those fuckers to know who it is that got past their lines. You tell them Shadows sent you.”

“Shadows? Who’s—” But another punch to the face hits me before I can finish asking who the fuck Shadow is.

“What happens if you don’t get me answers?” he asks again.

“Remi,” I whisper. “You hurt him.”

“It’ll do you good to remember that,” he says before he and Kale leave.

This goes on, on and off for days. They hit, slap and punch me into near unconsciousness until they’re satisfied. I sleep when they allow, only to be woken up for it to start again.

This is how I’m going to die.

Not by whoever they think they’re sending me to, but by their very hands before I even get there.

My shoulders ache.My arms and hands feel numb. My bladder screams, needing to be relieved, but I refuse to piss myself. Not yet anyway.

I don’t know how long it’s been since they brought me down here, but judging by the way my body feels, I’m guessing it’s been all day. Maybe longer.

* * *

My back feelslike it’ll snap at any moment from the pain of being hung straight for so long. I gave up hope that they’d let me use the restroom after I yelled as long as I could manage to no avail. I peed myself. But the relief from letting my bladder go and the warmth from it quickly faded, leaving me colder than before as it dried on my bare skin.

* * *

I feel delirious.I think I’m in and out of consciousness. My mouth and throat are so dry I can hardly swallow. My lips feel chapped; my eyes hurt when I open them. My body won’t stop shaking, and I’m not sure if it’s because of how cold I am or because it’s shutting down.

* * *

A light.It’s bright and hurts my eyes, giving me an instant headache. I wince and moan, but there’s hardly any sound.

“Oh no, baby. Did you piss yourself?” Domonic mocks as he steps in front of me.

“Fuck. You,” I say roughly.

“Yeah… I think I’ll pass this time.” He snickers, bringing a bottle of water to my lips. He tilts it back, and I choke as the cool water hits my dry throat like sand. “Easy, baby,” he coos. Trying again, he tips it back, and this time I drink swallow after swallow. Some of it leaks out of my mouth and runs down my body, but I don’t care; it feels so good. “Good, girl,” he praises when it’s empty.

“Please let me down,” I plead.

Without words, he goes to the wall and loosens the chains a little bit, making me groan from the pain of the relief it gives.

“We’re going to play a little game. I ask you a question, you answer. If you lie, you get pulled tighter. You tell the truth, I let it loose.” I nod, biting my lip. “What’s your last name, Zora?”

“Jacobs,” I answer, gritting my teeth as my arms fall another couple inches.

“Do you know who The Swan is?”

I shake my head. “No.” He starts to pull my arms up again, but I go on. “They told me to find out where he is, but I don’t know who it is.” I wince when I seal my fate with my answer, but he lets my arms fall farther this time.

“Who?”

“They’ll kill me,” I whisper.

He steps in front of me again. Gripping my hair, he pulls my head back to look down at me. “You think I won’t?” He smirks, then asks again. “Who sent you here?”

I tremble, not knowing which evil is the lesser one. Closing my eyes, I put the final nail in my coffin. “Shadows.”

He’s quiet for a moment. Unmoving. Then my arms fall to my sides, heavy and painful, and my body falls to the ground, unable to stand. Domonic comes to my side, unlocking the cuffs and rubbing each of my hands and arms to help get the blood flowing through them again.

“It’s only been a day and a half, Zora. We gotta toughen you up,” he teases, pulling my back against his chest as he keeps rubbing up and down my arms and shoulders. “What do they have on you, baby?” he asks in my ear.

My heart. If it was still beating in my chest, it would break just from the thought. But it stopped beating the day I stopped living. Stopped caring about my life. Because the only life that matters anymore is his.

My head falls back onto his shoulder with a groan as I answer him on a whisper. “My baby brother.”

Everything feels heavy and clouded. I can’t keep my eyes open. I feel like I’m floating...

Gasping, my eyes open wide.

“Shhhh… we’re going to help you shower and then you can sleep,” I hear the words said softly. Arms circle me like a hug and I relax, my eyes closing again. I hum, feeling warmth spread through me. It’s the warmest blanket I’ve ever felt. My lips pull at the corners, wanting to smile, but I’m too tired to even do that.

RIVER

As much asI hated everything that Domonic did, I know it had to be done.

But fuck... Seeing her that way when he carried her upstairs broke me. Giving me a nod, he placed her in my arms, and with a clap on the shoulder, he told me to go take care of her.

Cruz followed me up, and as much as I was annoyed when he did, I was grateful for his help. He kissed her head after we tucked her into bed before he left.

“Cruz,” I call to him when he reaches the doorway. Stopping, he turns to look at me. “Thank you.”

Dipping his head, he says, “Let her sleep, huh?”

“I’ll be down in a few. I’m sure Dom is going to want to talk to all of us.”

He lifts his chin, knocking his knuckles on the wall before leaving me alone with Zora for the first time in days.

Sliding into bed with her, I run my fingers through her wet hair. “I’m so sorry I brought you here,” I quietly apologize to her. “We’re going to take care of you now,” I promise her, dropping my lips to her temple.

Squeezing my eyes shut, I try not to let my own memories surface from when I was first brought here. Nope. Not today. I’m not letting those thoughts in now.

Instead, I drag myself downstairs to meet the boys in the living room.

“She okay?” Grey asks, looking worried.

Nodding, I say, “Yeah. She’s out.” Looking to Dom, I see his eyes on me. “What did she admit to you?”

“Fucking Shadows,” he says through a clenched jaw. “They have her little brother in some way. I didn’t push for details since she was barely keeping her eyes open. But they threatened him in order to get her to gather information from us about where Swan is.” He punches his fist into the couch. “I should have known it was him, that he had something to do with this.” He pauses and shakes his head in frustration.

A chorus of varying degrees of “fuck” rings out through all of us. Elbows to knees, my hands go in my hair. I shouldn’t feel relieved that I’m not the one who fucked up her life, but I am. Her life was fucked the second Shadow had his sights set on her.

Shadows, our biggest rival and thorn in our fucking side as we try to keep The Organization going. He’s a hothead. Unplanned, erratic, and psychotic to the tenth power. If Shadows is trying to find Swan through us, he’s getting desperate.

Swan is the head of The Organization. He’s the one who gives the “go” for anything and everything that goes on in this world. The Organization turns the heads of anyone in any position of power: military, political, business, all the way down to the thugs in the street. Which is just about where Shadows lives.

Except he thinks he’s a whole lot higher on the food chain than that.

“Why her though?” Cruz asks.

“That’s what we have to figure out,” Dom answers. “But at least now we know who we’re playing against. He wanted us to find her on that road. The tip that came in that night had to have been a setup. I still think there’s a whole bunch of shit Zora’s keeping from us. We need to be careful with what we tell her, but we need to trust her. Some.”

“Fair play?” Of course that’s what Greyson asks, making me roll my eyes.

Dom must feel the same level of annoyance by his question as he shakes his head at him. “Yeah, fucker. Fair play.” Then he looks straight at me. “That’s how we learn her secrets.”

Dropping my head in defeat, I know he’s right.

Doesn’t mean I have to like it though.

“Remember, she’s different.” Dom turns to pierce Greyson with a look. “She’s not like the others. Fair play—by the rules—but we’re also earning her trust and learning more about her in the process. Got it?”

Rubbing his hands together like he’s just been given the keys to fucking Disneyland, he wags his brows.

Cruz—who has stayed surprisingly quiet—speaks up, asking, “Should we ease her in?”

Domonic contemplates it a second too long, so I beat him to answer. “She’s pretty feisty and responsive as fuck. I’d say work up slowly, but not Daniella pace.”

That earns a groan from Greyson, who thought he was being tortured by how slowly we had to ease that chick into play.

Chuckling, I say, “Awe, come on, Grey. You’re a great bottom.” I blow him a kiss as I tease him. He flips me off while grabbing his junk, making me laugh harder.

“Zo likes breath play,” Domonic adds, looking at Cruz, making his eye sparkle. “She might like some of your kinky shit.”

“Fuck, this is making me hard,” Grey groans again.

“What doesn’t make you hard?” Cruz asks him, shaking his head with a grin.

Dom claps his hands together. “Alright, boys. Play. Have fun. But remember what we need. Remember that she’s different. Remember that we need answers and that she just brought a fucking war with the enemy to our doorstep.”