The Rise (The Kings and Gods #3)

Chapter 4

Lana

I’ve cleaned and cleaned, and it never comes clean. I sniffle as I scrub the fucking floor in the holding rooms. My stomach lurches as I try to think about anything aside from the poor kids being held in here. They don’t deserve this.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I hear Ray yell and get back to what I’m doing before I answer him.

“What’s it look like?”

“Like you’re cleaning the floors, but why?” he asks this time.

“Why? Have you looked at this floor? It’s fucking disgusting. I wouldn’t want my damn dog on this floor.”

“It’s not meant to be clean. It’s a fucking holding cell,” he reminds me.

“Don’t remind me,” I tell him. He walks closer and yanks me off the floor and up onto my feet. I think about shoving this scrub brush down his no good throat, but it’ll only end in me being beaten.

“You’re not to clean the fucking floors, Lana! Besides, I have a job for you.”

“What job?” I don’t want anything that has to do with them taking those kids. I won’t do it. I’d rather die.

“You’re going with the next shipment.” I step back out of his grasp and look at him as if he’s insane.

“What do you mean?” My dad did this to me once. He sent me away, sending me to live with the highest bidder, but after a certain age, he didn’t want me anymore and sent me back. I’ve been in this hell since then.

“Not what you think. There are these guys on some vigilante shit we need to handle. They’re taking out traffickers, but we have no fucking clue where they are. They’re off the radar,” he explains.

“What’s that have to do with me?”

“When they take the kids, they have to have a holding facility, right? You’re going to find out where it is and everything you can about them.” I shake my head. Fuck that. They aren’t killing me for that shit.

“I don’t think so.”

“It wasn’t a question, Lana. You’re going. I’ve already talked to Dad about it, and he thinks it’s a great idea.” Yeah, he probably would, considering he sold me when I was younger.

“How do you expect me to get back here?”

“That’s on you. You decide how long it’s going to take to find out what we need. You stay there as long as that takes, and then you find a way out.”

“They keep kids, Ray. What makes you think they’re going to keep me?” Just as I say that, I hear a tiny whimper, and my head whips to the side. There stands Gabe with the little girl I’ve been keeping an eye on. She’s probably about four, but she won’t speak, and I don’t blame her.

“You’re going with her.”

“That doesn’t mean they’ll keep me,” I argue, pulling my eyes away from her and back to him.

“If they think you won’t leave her, they will. Think about it. If you’re attached to that kid, they’ll have no choice but to take you too.”

“This doesn’t sound like a very good plan.”

“No one fucking asked you!” he roars this time. I step toward him, ready for a fight.

“I don’t want to do it,” I tell him. His fist flies through the air colliding with my face and sending me falling to my ass. Gabe growls but makes no move to help me. Ray turns to walk off, grabbing the girl as he goes and leaving Gabe to me.

I push myself up into a sitting position, holding my face when he walks over. He kneels next to me and reaches for me, but I slap him away.

“Let me see it,” he demands.

“Fuck you, Gabe. This is done. We’re done.”

“We’re never done!” He roars. I shake my head and shove off the floor as he does the same. “You think you can leave me?” he asks, his tone low and dark. Not like anything I’ve ever heard from him before.

“Yeah, I do. They are sending me away anyway,” I tell him.

“Not forever, Lana.”

“Long enough,” I sneer at him. His hand snaps out, and he grips my upper arm roughly, pulling me toward him.

“You’re never leaving me for good, Lana. Get that through your fucking head, and if you think you are, I’ll just have to make you stay.”

“How are you going to do that?”

“I’ll be more like Ray if that’s what needs to be done. There’s no way you’re leaving me. Not now. Not ever.”

“And if I do?” Now, he leans in really close so our faces are nearly touching.

“I’ll hunt you to the end of the fucking earth and will make you pay for leaving me.” I can sense the darkness in him. He’s been around these men for so long that he’s starting to act like them. It wouldn’t surprise me if he made good on his word but for now, I give him what he wants. I nod my head before he presses his lips to mine. I don’t kiss him back, but he doesn’t care. He pulls away and releases his grip before walking out of the room.

I turn on my heel and go out the same way until I get to the next holding room. Then I step inside to see most of the kids are asleep. I already fed them dinner and made sure none of them were thirsty. Not that many of them say anything to me because they don’t. They mostly cry and keep to themselves. It’s probably smart on their part, though.

I walk over to the little girl as she sits in the corner where she always is and kneel next to her. I reach out and brush her hair behind her ear and smile at her.

“You have the prettiest hair,” I tell her. She doesn’t smile, doesn’t move. “I’m sorry you’re here, little one.” Before the tears can fall, I stand and hurry out of the room. Once I’m outside, I let it all out. I cry. I scream. I punch the fucking walls because this isn’t fair. It shouldn’t be like this.

When I calm myself down, I walk down the hall and back to my room, closing the door behind me. I walk over to the bed and drop down on it, curling into a ball. I know how they feel, and it kills me inside. I was there once. I was her. I was that little girl, and it breaks my heart to know what she’s going to endure if this plan goes wrong. What if those guys don’t get this shipment? What if Ray’s wrong?

I don’t know how long I lay in bed before Gabe came in. I watch him walk across the room and drop his gear before stripping out of his clothes.

“Does it even bother you?” I ask.

“What?”

“What you’re helping them do. Do you even care that little girl was me once?” I ask him, needing to hear it from his lips.

“It’ll never be you again,” he replies, not answering my question.

“You kidnap children! Innocent children and sell them to monsters, and you have no fucking remorse! You don’t care. You go on each day as if nothing is happening, and then you do it all over again! How? How can you do that and then be mad that we don’t have kids, Gabe?” I scream at him. He pulls his shirt over his head and tosses it in the basket before doing the same with his jeans and walking toward the bed.

“Because it’s my job, Lana.” I huff a laugh.

“Your job? To hurt children?”

“I don’t hurt them! I don’t fucking lay a hand on them, and you know it!”

“You steal them from their homes, their parents, and don’t think that hurts them?”

“I’m sick of your mouth,” he snaps, pointing at me.

“And I’m sick of all this!” In seconds, he has his hand around the back of my neck, his boxers down his legs, and his cock in my mouth.

“You need something to shut you up, Lana? Is that what you need?” he asks as he thrusts in and out of my mouth. Tears roll down my cheeks, but that doesn’t seem to bother him either. I try to pull back and away from him, but he holds my head tightly as he fucks my mouth. I want to gag. I want to bite him, but I know better.

He keeps going until he’s done. Then he comes down the back of my throat. When he pulls out of me, I stand and rush to the bathroom right before throwing up. He follows me and stands in the doorway.

“Since when do you fucking throw up?”

“Since you make me sick,” I tell him in between gasps.

“Get it all out, honey, because tomorrow is your big day. You need to sleep.” He turns and goes back to the bed but I don’t plan on going in there and sleeping with him. Instead, I finish throwing up, clean myself up, and curl up on the bathroom floor, wishing this was all a bad dream.