Deceitful Lies by Brook Wilder
Chapter 3
Paige
I’m given cold, plain oatmeal and consume it only out of necessity to keep my baby and me alive. I track the days by the number of meals I’m given. It must be my third day here, and I have plenty of time to regret leaving the mansion without a guard. I was afraid Andrei would say no if I told him I was going to the hospital.
Now, I spend my time regretting not giving him the chance.
Talia’s heels click slowly down the steps and across the tiles. She dresses up to torture whoever is strapped in the chair. Some are thrown in cells. And others are carried out lifeless. But she has yet to lay a hand on me. The expression on her face is almost orgasmic whenever she cuts into her latest victims. And each time, she demands that I watch, reveling in the pleasure of taking the choice away from me.
Every time she inflicts pain, she narrates it for me, and lectures me on being a good Bratva wife.
If I dare look away, Talia blames me for each life taken, as if I’m the one wielding the blade.
No sooner do I eat that disgusting mush than I feel sick again. The sour smell hangs in the stagnant air, making me wretch. One of her men dared to complain about the smell, and I almost thought she would strap him to the chair.
A screaming woman is dragged into the cellar by her goons. She’s dressed in thin pajamas covered with hearts. They must have snatched her out of her bed. She doesn’t look much older than me, and our hair is the same shade of light brown. I shrink back toward the cinder block wall, fully understanding why she is here.
“Please don’t do this!” she shouts as she’s tied to the chair. “My father will pay you.”
Talia ignores the woman’s pleas and is unmoved by the terror in her eyes. The goons circle her, and she struggles with her bindings as she begs. I want to close my eyes, but Talia turns and silently dares me.
The woman looks to see what Talia is staring at. She sees me, dirty and gross, and starts to tremble.
“Please,” she begs me. “Tell her not to do this.”
The woman is only here because she’s a stand-in for me. Talia won’t dare hurt me physically, but she’ll do all she can to make me suffer emotionally. It’s working as I hold myself and rock. Or maybe Talia will hurt me. Maybe she’s proving that no one is off-limits to her crazy hate.
“Talia.” I inch closer to the bars. “Please don’t hurt her. Her father will pay.”
Talia cocks her head to the side. “Pay? Do you take me for a cheap whore?”
It takes every ounce of strength to say nothing and keep myself from reaching for my belly. But I manage it all the same.
“Do you ever think,” Talia asks as she faces me, “that one day you might have to watch this if your husband wills it? Would you tell him to spare an enemy so that you might spare your conscience? Do you imagine that he would listen?”
“Andrei would never do this,” I protest. I know he would never have allowed this to happen. He took me away by force, and we were made to wed, but nothing else was ever forced on me.
Talia throws her head back and laughs madly. “Then clearly you know nothing of our dear Andrushka.”
With desperate eyes, the woman looks at me and then at Talia. Talia turns slowly, and the woman’s expression turns to fear as she beholds Talia’s dark smirk.
“Boys.” Talia lifts her hand and snaps her fingers. “Playtime.”
The goons set upon the woman, tearing at her pajamas as she screams. She stares at me, imploring me with her eyes to help her, but I’m powerless to do anything.
Guilt rushes through me as I hear her shriek. My hands tighten around the bars of my cage, but I don’t dare look away.
Talia shakes her head at me as if this is all my fault.
She heads toward the stairs and leaves her monsters with their new plaything. Nausea grips me.
I’m forced to watch but this poor woman is forced to live it.
But instead of being sick, I faint on the filthy floor as shrieks fill the air amidst the sound of buttons being ripped open.
