Venomous King (Venom #2)

26. Issy

Chapter twenty-six

Issy

“You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.”

Marcus Aurelius (Meditations)

I compel my exhausted eyes to open and attempt to blink the room into focus. There’s still a ringing in one of my ears, from the last punch I took to the side of the head before blacking out. How long ago was that? Minutes, hours, days? Time feels like it is moving at a snail’s pace. How long have I been trapped in this hell?

I stretch my aching arms and am immediately shocked that they are not strapped down. Cautiously, I peer around the small room that has become my prison, before moving the rest of my limbs, and forcing my aching body to attempt to sit up. The pain in my ribs is excruciating, and robs me of breath, as I stifle down the scream that tries to leave me. Fuck, they have to be broken, thanks to that lunatic who’s using me as a punching bag. My head spins, and a wave of dizziness renders me motionless, as my stomach protests and threatens to spew its empty contents. The skin on my back stretches as I round my shoulders, and silent tears instantly slide down my face from the various lashes covering my skin. Fuck!

Be strong, don’t fucking cry, don’t give in, we have to get out of here. We have to find Julia and escape this nightmare. My poor little baby, she must be so terrified. Where are Diego and Kai? Do they not realize that we are missing yet? How can that possibly be? It has to have been more than a day since we were abducted from the park. How long can I and my little girl survive in this hell, at the hands of these monsters that wish to hurt Diego?

Think, Issy, what would Mia do? How would Stella get out of this mess? I shift uncomfortably on the hard surface I was previously strapped to, my mind finally registering what I am lying on. A dirty and blood-streaked wooden table; this motherfucker had me strapped to a table like an animal that he planned to carve up. My core tightens painfully, a throbbing and burning sensation reminding me of the horrors I endured, just a few hours ago.

“That’s it, whore, look at how your pussy takes all of me. I’m going to break you, and you will scream for me.” His hand wraps around my throat, stopping all the air from entering my lungs. I try desperately to loosen my limbs, so I can fight back against his assault, but it’s useless; he has me face down and strapped too tightly. I can’t even buck my body away from his.

I haven’t been able to stop any of the horrors he’s putting me through. The smell of his sweat in my nostrils, the way his sticky skin feels, pressed up against mine, and the oppressive heat in the room, cause me to gag. My mouth fills with saliva that slips down the corner of my lips, until I can feel it coating my cheeks and chin. His short nails dig into my flesh, as his fingers squeeze tighter and tighter. The coarse hair on his chest is scratchy and itchy against the middle of my back, and his weight stretched across my limbs feels jarring and unendurable. My body and heart want to die, piece by piece, until there is nothing left of me, but my will and mind refuse to give up, keeping me chained by my soul to this body, experiencing the unimaginable.

“I bet I fuck you better than that weak piece of shit, Cabano. My cock is bigger than his, isn’t it, dirty cunt?” He thrusts harshly into my pussy from behind, causing my pelvis to crash over and over again against the hard surface he has me on.

“I must say both your ass and pussy are nice and tight. I thought for sure, since you were a whore allowing herself to be used by two men, that you would be loose and stretched out. I’m very pleased that I was wrong, slut. Don’t worry, though; I’ll be sure to stretch you out,” he grunts.

He releases his grip on my throat, only to fist my short hair, and yank my head back towards his evil face, his rank breath penetrating the blood that’s caking my nostrils. “Scream for me, whore. I want to hear the pretty sounds you make as my cock tears you apart.” I clench my jaw, refusing to give him what he wants. The only small mercy that fucking bitch fate has seen to grant me in this horror, is this pathetic psychotic fool is the size of a cocktail wiener, instead of how large he dreams he is.

This is the third or fourth time he has raped me in a few hours, and my body is spent, my throat is raw from all my screams. My mind is becoming too numb, and small fissures are beginning to show themselves, as I try desperately to cope with what is happening to me. I allow myself to drift, my thoughts escaping what my body is enduring, and going to a place when I was once happy. A place far from all this turmoil and pain, where I was once free.

I picture the first time I took Julia to the beach, and how excited she was to feel her toes in the sand. She gurgled and cooed at the seagulls along the shore, and she shrieked with happiness as the waves lapped at us, as we sat in the cool, white sand. Her round baby cheeks were rosy, and her bright green eyes lit with joy, as she watched Kai fly a rainbow kite before us. Her chubby, little fingers tightened with strength as they clutched onto mine, and she tried to scoot her little bottom across the sand towards Kai. Content. Happy. Loved.

I will not allow this villain to take that away from me. Joaquín can destroy my body, but my mind will always be my own. A sharp tug on my hair yanks me back, and away from my memories of the shore, just as he bites down on my shoulder from behind, and I can no longer swallow my screams. “That’s it, dirty whore; I won’t allow you to escape me, not even into your own mind. Scream for me, bitch.”

I force myself away from the nightmare, my breathing ramping up until I feel like I will hyperventilate, just from the thoughts of him inside of me. I will see him fucking dead, his heart ripped out, and his ashes scattered to the four corners of the earth, for what he has done to me. I am a fucking Stratford, and he laid his filthy hands on me. Death is what he will get for that.

A part of me wants to curl up into a ball and die. The memories of the assault keep trying to rise within my mind, and they threaten to make me insane, by reliving every second of my own destruction, but I refuse to give in. I have to survive for my daughter, and get us out of here. Once she is safe, only then can I mourn the part of myself that has died in this room, at the hands of that monster.

“Get up, Isabella, now,” my grandmother’s voice screams in my mind.

I push myself off the table, falling to my side as the impact of my body hitting the hard stone floor vibrates through all of my limbs, and causes me to close my eyes to stop the world from spinning. I force myself to take a few deep breaths through my nose, and out my mouth, until I am sure I won’t scream, then I pull myself back into a sitting position. I try to force my exhausted body to stand, but my legs refuse to obey, and my ribs scream in protest. Fuck it, if I can’t walk, I will crawl out of here. Either way, I am done being a victim, and being used by a monster.

“Keep going, sister. You will survive, you have to, “ Mia’s determined voice implores me.

I force myself onto my hands and knees, but at first, it doesn’t seem like my wrists will hold me up, and I smack my chin onto the ground. Once again, I push my limbs to obey me, even as the lashes on my back seem to open, and I can feel fresh blood trickling from the wounds. I grit my teeth, urging my body to take a step forward, and then another, until I slowly make my way across the room, to where the only door resides.

Keep going, Issy. We are almost there, there are just a few more steps. I pray for strength and mercy with each painful shuffle. I rage inside of my head, about the death I will cause to these people who have taken us, and in the same breath, I urge the universe to send Kai and Diego to me. I want to watch as they both tear our enemies limb from limb, until Joaquín and that bitch Sonja scream for mercy. Mercy, neither Diego nor I will grant them. Death will be too sweet for them; no, I will demand he keep them alive, until they plead for their miserable lives, and even then, it won’t be granted.

Just a few more steps. We are so close now. I force my head to rise and, despite the dizziness, look around for anything I can use as a weapon. There, just off to the side on the only chair in the room, is the whip he must have been using on me. A shudder runs through my body at the memory of the sound it makes, as it bites into my flesh. A groan escapes me, as I realize the distance between where I am, and how far the whip is.

Fuck , I almost have to go back to where I started from. I push myself in that direction, and determination and stubbornness fill me. I refuse to die here like an animal. I refuse to allow my little girl to be alone, frightened, and thinking I abandoned her. No, I will fight my way out of this place if it’s the last thing I do. I make it to the whip, wrapping my fingers around it and pulling it to the ground. The feel of the leather through my digits repulses me, and I gag, bile rising in my throat, and expelling from my lips onto the ground.

I force my fingers to tighten around it, as I turn around again and head back to the door. Julia, Kai, Diego, Mia, Grandmother, and my nephews. With each painful shuffle forward, I keep the mantra of their names going in my head. I will see them all again, I will allow nothing to stop me.

Once I reach the door, I push my body flush against the frame and reach up, grabbing onto the knob and using it to pull myself into a standing position. I press my head against the wooden door, as whimpers leave my lips and more tears coat my face. Fuck, everything hurts so badly.

Noises from the other side have me pressing my ear into the surface, and trying to discern the sounds. Men , multiple, are out there. Fuck, I am going to die before I ever get to Julia. I slide my body back down to the ground, my back pressed against the door. I have to come up with another way out of here. I can’t give up now. Julia, Kai, Diego, Mia, Grandmother, and my nephews.

“Momma, I am so scared, save me!” My daughter’s voice screams through my head, and sobs finally crest that I can’t hold back.

Julia, Mommy is coming, baby; hang on a little longer, my sweet girl.