In The Darkness (Project Artemis #1)(23)

Her stomach roiled, the bile rising in her throat as her mind replayed every moment of those men cheering him on like he was doing something worthy of applause. Hate surged through her for those pigs and him because he was no different from them.

She wanted to hide her shame, but she couldn’t. Instead, she had to sit there in that room alone as the memory of what had been done to her refused to go away. Powerless and terrified, she waited for the moment when the next one would come in and take their turn with her.

Persephone closed her eyes and hung her head. How could he have done that to her? How could he have promised to protect her in one breath and then forced himself into her in the next?

She didn’t want to cry anymore. She had no more tears anyway. They’d all been used up with every time she cried out for him to stop.

For the first time in days, she felt utterly hopeless. Everything she’d built up in her mind—all the possibilities Nick offered, all the chances she believed would come because he was on her side—all of that disintegrated the moment he gave in to the cheers from those animals hours before.

Now the reality of what would happen to her couldn’t be denied. They’d keep her alive as long as her father continued to pay them or until they got as much as they needed, and then they’d kill her. In the meantime, they’d use her as a sex slave, torturing her with rape to punish her for whatever crimes they’d convinced themselves she’d committed because of who she was.

A tiny flame of resistance still existed somewhere deep in her mind telling her to keep working to loosen the ropes around her wrists and keep trying to wriggle out of the rope keeping her in that chair. It quietly whispered that she was stronger than anything any of them—even Nick—could do to her.

She wanted to believe that voice. She wanted to remember how it felt to be truly strong again. But after what he’d done, she didn’t know if she had enough strength inside her to continue fighting.

All she knew now was if she did escape from this hell, it would be because of herself and no one else.

Opening her eyes, she looked around in the darkness and couldn’t help feel despondent. She didn’t know how to do this. She wasn’t strong enough or smart enough or brave enough.

Nothing in her life had prepared her for this. Nothing growing up, not college, not even her job as an ER nurse. She’d seen the ugliest sides of humanity, or at least she thought she had. Bodies shot up by bullets fired in hate between people. Limbs severed by car accidents caused by drunks. Overdoses by children who wanted to playact being adults in a world that didn’t protect them.

And none of it had made her ready to be tied to this chair for days on end and attacked by men who hated her for merely having the name Gilmore and the money that went with it.

The sound of someone twisting the doorknob behind her made her eyes open wide in terror. She sat frozen to the spot as her heartbeat raced in anticipation of who would enter.

Silently, she prayed to God to give her the strength to withstand whatever they forced on her. Please let me get through this. Please stay with me and watch over me as these men do their evil.

The door opened and the person walked in silently, stopping behind her. They bent down next to the side of her head so she could feel their breath on the shell of her ear. It felt hot and forced, like they were panting.

Then the person touched where the rope held her wrists behind her and began moving it around. Were they loosening her restraints? And if they were, why? To rape her again?

She turned her head to look, but the man had disappeared behind her. Was she losing her mind?

“What are you doing? Who are you?” she asked in a muffled voice through the gag still stuffed into her mouth, desperate to hear another voice other than hers to prove she wasn’t going mad.

He tore the gag out and quickly covered her mouth with his hand so she couldn’t speak. In her ear, a familiar voice said, “Don’t talk. When I undo these ropes, I’m going to need you to stand up.”

Nick quickly untied the ropes around her wrists and around her body and ankles holding her to the chair. She tried to stand, but her legs buckled underneath her and she fell to the floor with a thud.

In the darkness, she saw his silhouette standing over her, barely visible because of a tiny glint of light coming from a window at the back of the house. He said nothing but scooped her up into his arms and began walking toward that light.

Persephone didn’t want to have to be carried by him. She didn’t want him to touch her. She wanted nothing from him ever again. But she couldn’t even stand on her own yet, so for the time being, she remained silent, never forgetting how it felt when he betrayed her in favor of those monsters.

He set her on her feet so she could lean against the wall before he slowly lifted the black covering and opened the window to the outside. The first breath of fresh air she inhaled into her lungs nearly made her cry. Freedom smelled every bit as good as she’d always heard it did. She’d just never realized how sweet simple air smelled.

Leaning out the window, she saw a ladder that travelled down the back of the house to the ground. She turned to look at him, worried how she’d get down two floors on her own.

“I don’t know if I can do this,” she admitted, hating what that meant.

He nodded. “I’m going to have to carry you. I need to put you over my shoulder, okay?”

She waited for him to lift her up, but he simply stood there staring at her like now he needed her consent to touch her. Confused, she shook her head at his hypocrisy.