Love Roulette

45

Forty-Five
DELILAH

I've tried to speak to every single girl in this place. It's been difficult because some don't speak English and others are simply too scared to open their mouths. I've counted thirteen cameras and I feel like they're all pointing directly at me. It's as if I can feel Damiens's threatening gaze burning lasers into my skin. There is only one door which you can enter and exit and that is guarded by a new man every hour.

At one point Jerry the dickhead was guarding and not one second did he take his sleazy eyeballs off of me, mouthing promises that he was going to 'rip me apart'.

And then came feeding. Everyone in here got fed one slice of bread and given a bottle of water — well apart from me. Aurora and Belle offered to share but I declined, knowing they needed it more than me. I've still got enough energy to keep me going for a little longer.

After a few hours, one poor girl was dragged away kicking and screaming and it made me want to be sick. When she returned she was barely a shell of herself, tears streaming down her face and her hair a mess.

Now I've been walking around the basement trying to see anything that can lead to some sort of escape, but seeing all these girls, I know I can't get them all out on my own and that finally has me shedding tears.

I face the concrete wall and silently cry, biting down on my lip which starts to tremble.

"Fuck." I whisper with a shaky voice, bracing my hands against the wall as I try to catch the breath that I find myself choking on. I whimper and clench my eyes shut.

I don't think I've ever felt so defeated in my life. The strength I once had is slipping through my fingers and I can see the virtual sand timer counting down until something tragic happens.

Most likely my death.

The minute my breathing is back to normal I slide down the concrete wall feeling it scrape my skin but I feel too numb to actually feel any pain and I close my eyes.

When I wake up, I feel two bodies pressed up on either side of me and I smile at the sight of Aurora and Belle trying to keep me warm.

"You're awake," Belle speaks for the first time, a relieved smile on her face.

"She thought you were dead." Aurora rolls her eyes and I raise my eyebrows. "You look dead when you sleep."

That comment reminds me of how Mason told me that one time. I woke up to a finger up my nose and that makes me want to cry again.

"Was I asleep for long?" I croak, stretching my stiff limbs.

"Yes. It's the next day now because you missed breakfast but I saved you some." Belle unravels one-half of the sliced toast and hands it to me with some of her water.

"Thank you." I smile and she shrugs, returning the gesture with another warm smile on her freckled face.

The metal door smashes open and all the girls jump looking at who has decided to make a dramatic entrance and I'm not surprised when I see Damien. He scopes the room out until he spots me huddled in the damp corner and his lips turn up.

He walks over with confident strides and looks down at me like I'm a piece of dog shit on the floor. "Get up." He snarls and I stand, squaring him up.

"I've decided I don't want to keep you down here. You're a burden I don't fucking need right now. I'm auctioning you off tonight." My heart drops and Aurora and Belle both gasp.

"What?!" Even I'm shocked because this completely throws things off. I need to get these girls out and I can't do that if I'm about to be fucking auctioned.

"Are you deaf... Oh right." He smirks and I grit my teeth. I can barely hear shit and he knows that. I've been lip-reading most of the time. "That's gonna knock some dollar signs off." He sighs with a sarcastic smile on his face.

"Then why bother?" I tilt my head.

"Don't ask stupid questions, Mi Amor. Now let's go." He grabs me by the arm harshly and starts to drag me out. I cast Aurora and Belle a reassuring smile but their faces morph into fear because they know I might not be returning.

...

"You look beautiful as always," Damien smirks at me through the reflection of the vanity mirror and I glare at him. He's put me in a blood-red satin dress which is about a size too small because I feel like I'm suffocating.  "It's a shame it had to be this way, Delilah. If you had just been obedient and not stolen from me I wouldn't hold such a vendetta against you. But all you've done is prove that you're a sly sneaky bitch who thinks she's better than me." I scoff, rolling my eyes.

"I am better than you." Damien has a face of thunder when I utter those words and my eyes shift down to a gun that is hidden in the waistband of his trousers. "So how much am I worth, Damien?" I tilt my head, leaning my elbows on the table and perching my cheek on the palm of my hand, fluttering my eyelashes at him.

"In my eyes, not a fucking dime." He snarls and I smile with a curt nod. "I've got news for you, Delilah." He takes slow agonising steps toward me until I feel the heat of his body penetrating through my back.

"And what is that?"

"Your men are dead." My eye twitches at his 'news'.

"How dumb do you think I am?" I turn in the chair and stand up until I'm looking him square in the eyes and jab him in the chest. "Don't you think you've mind-fucked me enough, Damien?"

From the look on his face, he's getting agitated. Pissed off because he can't get under my skin. I don't believe for one second that he was able to kill Mason and Gunner. It's not that easy.

"Damien?"

"What?" He hisses down at me.

"When did you become so weak?" I tilt my head, sorting out his crooked collar and give him a patronising pat on the shoulder. "It seems you are pulling at straws here, this whole,—" I wave my hands around him. "Tough man act seems... fake."

"Fuck you, Delilah." He growls out, his nostrils flaring and his eyes darkening.
"I think you're a little scared that you haven't tracked Mason and Gunner down and that they could be anywhere ready to kill you. Am I right?" Damiens's brows furrow and I just about dodge the punch he was about to throw my way.

"You really want to sign your life away like this, Delilah?" He yanks me by my hair and I grit my teeth as the sharp sting resonates through my scalp. "You wanna see how weak I am, do you? I told you I'd break you little by little and I stick by what I said." I feel him grab hold of the gun that was in his waistband and he shoves the barrel into the flesh of my stomach. I wince as he presses against the previous gunshot wound.

"You must think I'm stupid too, Delilah." He chuckles darkly and I swallow hard. "I know you didn't swallow that pill." My blood runs as cold as fucking ice that a shiver racks through my body.

And then I watch multiple men, including that fucker Jerry walk into the room with gut-churning smiles on their ugly faces.

A/N
Poor Delilah's🥺