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75, Settling debts
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The devil you know 76, Breakdown
Bane looked at the man sitting on the other side of Bane’s desk. Emma’s uncle had nothing in common with his niece. Not his looks, not his personality or his manners. Bane wondered briefly how Emma had turned out the way she had when she had been raised by these people. Had her parents left such a strong imprint that not even these people could ruin it? Bane was battling his urge to kill the both of them. If he did, they wouldn’t take his angel from him. But it was too late. They had already said the words that had shattered his world to pieces. Somehow, this slime of a human being had come up with enough money to pay off his debt. Bane had hoped the transfer wouldn’t go through, that the money was just a bluff. But as he looked on his computer screen, he could clearly see the money the man had deposited. It had killed Bane to ask Emma to pack her things. He needed her out of his office in case he did something. If he lost his cool, she didn’t need to see that. Not now that she would
The devil you know 77, The way home
Emma watched the city move outside the window of the car. Her aunt and uncle were chatting in the front seat about what they would do with the rest of the money. Her uncle must have hit the jackpot. But Emma was lost in her thoughts. She tried to push the pain away. She didn’t want her relatives to see it. Emma could cry when they got home, safely locked in the bathroom. She would let herself have one evening of self-pity and then she would rebuild her life. First step would be to call Simon and see if he still wanted her to live with him. She would take him up on his offer if he did. Then she needed to get a lawyer to evict her relatives and get her own place. She wasn’t as prepared for her new job as she would have liked. But she was sure she and Simon could work something out. But first she needed to get her feet back under her and that work would start as soon as she got back home. At that thought, she realised she didn’t recognise the area they were headed to.“Uncle Jonas, where
The devil you know 78, If I never see you again, it will be too soon
“Where the fuck is he? Move out of the way or I will fucking end you. I don’t care if I love you!” Bane looked up from his work as the shouts boomed in the house. The voice was familiar, and it peaked Bane’s curiosity. He needed something to take his mind off his angel, so he walked out of his office and looked over the rail to the floors below. What he saw had him stunned. Luke was trying to restrain a struggling Simon that did his best to slip out of his boyfriend’s grip.“Calm down, he is not in a good mood,” Luke tried to say.“I don’t fucking care. Do I look like I’m in a good mood? Take your hands off me now, Luke. I am not telling you again. I am going to talk to Bane if I have to walk over your dead body to do it,” Simon told his boyfriend. Bane could see Luke flinch.“What the fuck is going on?” Bane asked. Simon’s eyes shot to Bane and Bane had to use all his willpower not to take a step back from the pure anger that shot from them. Jax came walking to see what was happening
The devil you know 79, Waking up
Emma 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. Emma 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. Emma 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. Emma took one of the blankets and gently wrapped it around herself, and leaned against the wall. She tried to diagnose the aches that she felt. She could move her hands and feet, even though the muscles were sore and her joints were stiff. Her left knee was
The devil you know 80, Passage of time
The next few days were endless stretches of despair for Emma. She had no sense of time in the tiny room without windows. She based her conception of time on how often the door would open and a man came in to empty the bucket in the corner, give her half a glass of water and sometimes a piece of bread. The first time, Emma had tried to just drink a little of the water, hoping to spread it out to last longer. But when the man left the room, he took the glass and the remaining water with him. Emma learned quickly to drain the water and gulf down any food as soon as she could. Still, it wasn’t enough. Her body craved food and water. She had a constant headache and her stomach had stopped rumbling and instead set into a constant cramp. Another sign of the time passing outside the room was the changing of her bruises. They went from irritated red, to blue and yellow and then slowly fading. Emma tried to move around as soon as her legs were strong enough to carry her. The constant sitting or
The devil you know 81, Determination
Emma’s hair was matted and looked lifeless, its usual golden blond was a dull dust beige. There were only faint bruises visible on her face. It didn’t look like any permanent damage had been done. But she looked like a walking dead. Her skin was dull, her eyes sunken in and she had a weary look in her eyes that Emma didn’t recognise. She sighed and wondered if she should strip out of her dirty clothes and lie on top of the bed. The thought of getting naked made her skin crawl. She sighed and went back into the room and slid down to sit next to the bed, resting her back against it. Emma fell asleep like that and was awakened by the klick of the lock. She struggled to her feet as the door opened. In walked the woman Walker had brought to Bane’s office. She looked as surprised to see Emma as Emma did to see her. “Hi,” Emma rasped. “The water has been turned on. It will be shut off in ten minutes,” the woman informed Emma, and held out a towel and small bottles with shampoo and conditio
The devil you know 82, Jasmine
Emma sat, newly showered, in her robe on her bed and waited. The lock clicked, and the door opened. Jacob walked into her room carrying a mug and a box. “This is for you,” he told her and handed her the mug. “Thank you, she said out of pure habit and started blowing on the hot beverage as she enjoyed the smell of coffee. “Do I need to drink it straight away?” she asked. Emma knew she would scold her tongue and probably her throat if she tried to force it down while hot. “No, you are allowed to drink it while you get ready, but don’t do anything stupid,” he told her. She nodded. “I’ll place this here. You have an hour to get ready,” he said. He placed the box on the bed next to her, took one look at her, and smiled. “You look really pretty like that.”“Eh, thank you,” Emma said. “See you later,” he told her before he left. Emma took her mug into the bathroom and placed it on the counter, taking a small sip of it. It tasted better than any other coffee she ever had. She knew it was
The devil you know 83, The escape
Walker yanked on Jasmin’s hair and she bent herself backwards until her body was like an arch, forcing her to look up at Walker.“I will fucking show you what happens when you think you can play me for a fool. Luckily for you, I still got something I wanted out of the deal, or you would have ended up dead,” he told her in a cold voice. “Victor!” he shouted. The door opened, and a man came inside. Emma had a vague memory of him from her first evening as Bane’s pet. “Take her to the guests. Tonight, and only tonight, we have a special discount. The madame is free for all, only restriction is no permanent damage and no killing,” Walker said, and pushed Jasmin towards Victor. Victor grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the room. Emma could hear her objections getting weaker the further away he dragged her. Fear filled her. That could be her if Walker wasn’t happy with her. But to make him happy… She tried to swear in her mind, but as always, it just sounded strange and felt wrong. She h
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- The devil you know 85, One, two, three
