Marcus

Chapter Forty Six

Caroline ~

Caroline's eyelids were heavy and fought against her as she tried to stay awake. The familiar metallic taste of her own blood was starting to make her feel nauseous, so she took deep hard breaths through her nose, trying to fight through the pain in her body and her churning stomach.

Suddenly the metal door of her cell flung open and clanged loudly against the wall, causing all her muscles to tense and ready themselves for whatever hellish punishment awaited her.

"Time to get Cinderella ready for the ball." One of the men sneered as he unlatched her restraints and let her fall into a heap on the floor. Her knees took the brunt of the impact, hitting hard against the cold concrete as the rest of her body crumpled around her.

The man grabbed her hair harshly by the scalp, jerking her head up to look at him. Deep red blood trickled out of her mouth, making a trail down her chin and neck as he tilted her head up to face him.

"Hashim's done with you, so you're going on a little trip. Gotta get you looking nice for whatever sad asshole has to deal with you next."

They're moving me? No wait, selling me.

"Good cause I'm done with him too." Caroline said in a groggy voice.

"Don't be a smartass." The man growled tightening his hold on her hair. "After the shit you pulled, you're lucky to be alive."

"I warned him if he got anywhere near my mouth that I'd bite his shit off...what can I say I'm a woman of my word." Caroline sneered giving him a smile that was surely coated in blood from her busted lip. She was fairly certain that smiling up at him with her blood coated mouth made her look like some kind of deranged demon and she liked that idea. She made it clear that she was not a whipped puppy and that she had no intention of being submissive to Hashim no matter what kind of hell he unleashed on her.

They had beat the living hell out of her, tortured her for fun, but she had fought so hard, Hashim and the rest of his men hadn't been able to abuse her sexually which she was going to take as a major victory. She was deemed "too much trouble" and she intended to stay that way until she couldn't fight any longer.

The angry man lifted her up to a standing position and started to drag her to a room down the hall where a woman was waiting for her next to a bathtub and randomly assorted cosmetics.

"Just leave her on the floor." The woman said coldly.

"This one won't cooperate." The man growled.

"Oh she will for me," said confidently as she turned to face Caroline with a syringe in hand.

No, no, no, no!

Caroline thrashed in the man's arms, straining and throwing her body weight with so much force that a second man had to come help him. She fought with all of her night until she felt a pinch and a burn in the side of her neck.

Seconds later her movements became slow and uncoordinated until darkness finally consumed her and the wild became quiet and still.

*****

Caroline's entire body jolted into consciousness as she was suddenly and harshly dropped on the ground. Her body slammed against metal bars of some sort and she quickly realized that she was no longer in her cell.

Am I in a cage?

Everything sounded muffled and far away as she slowly regained consciousness, trying desperately to blink away her drug induced haze.

Where the hell am I?

There were soft whimpers and sobs in the dark hallway as Caroline realized she wasn't alone. Her blurred vision focused on the beaten, shaking women that surrounded her, close enough to touch and hear.