BROKEN HOPE (Broken Redemption Book 2)

Chapter 29

Lucas

"Yeah. Until I got captured." I pause, feeling a surge of emotion, and then clear my throat. As hard as this is, I feel compelled to tell her as much of my story as she wants to hear. "Embree. I'm okay sharing this with you, but if at any point it becomes overwhelming..."

"It won't, I promise. Whatever you went through, I want to know. It will help me understand how to best support you." She assures me, her voice brimming with such certainty and concern it sends a wave of moisture prickling behind my eyes.

With my arms wrapped around her, I pull her back against my chest. "We were following up on a lead and got caught in an ambush. Even before the shooting started, I knew something was off." I pause, remembering how everything around us suddenly went quiet.

"I can't explain it. There was just something in the air, something I could sense. By the time I stopped to issue my men orders to retreat, it was too late. Before I knew it, there were five of us face down in the dirt, with our hands tied behind our backs, and our bodies beat to shit.

"At some point, I lost consciousness, and when I came to, I found myself in the darkest dark I'd ever seen. I didn't know it at the time, but they were keeping us in an underground bunker. I remember I was lying on my stomach, with my hands and feet bound, and when I attempted to roll over, I nearly passed out from the pain." Shaking my head, I attempt to push the memory away and take a deep breath.

"I remember how relieved I was when I called out to see if my brothers were with me, and sure enough, they responded. It was then we realized the bindings on our legs were connected to the wall by a chain that was no more than two feet long. It was barely enough space for us to move, which beat to shit as we were, wasn't so bad at first. Except they left us there for two days. No food or water. Freezing our asses off, having to go to the bathroom literally in the same space we slept. It was miserable.

"The worst part wasn't the hunger. It was the thirst. A calculated move on the part of our captors to not only weaken us, but to use it as leverage in exchange for information. When that didn't work, they resorted to torturing us. They would take us one at a time, forcing the others to watch as they did unspeakable things to us. Things the Navy warns you about during training, but which you pray will never come to pass.

"After a few hours, they called a young girl down. As I watched her, I remember feeling sorry for her. She couldn't have been more than a year or two older than Alyssa, and those bastards stood around laughing as she struggled to carry a large bucket of water down those steep steps.

"When she finally made it down, she stopped in front of one of my brothers, but the asshole in charge stopped her and sent her to me. That's when I realized they knew I outranked the rest of the guys. It made me more valuable. Something I should have considered before I took that first sip, but I was so damn desperate for water that I eagerly drank, assuming she was there to offer the same to all of us."

Fuck! The memory of what that decision cost us is too much to bear. As panic claws up my throat, Embree turns to face me.

"Hey..." Coming up on her knees in front of me, she takes my face in her hands. "It's okay. We don't need to talk about this."

"Yes, we do," the words catch in my throat, and I swallow hard. "We should. I want you to know."

"Okay," she whispers, her eyes searching my face for a beat before she closes the distance and brings those soft, warm lips over mine. "But if it gets too hard, we can stop. You said we have the rest of our lives, which means we don't have to go over all of this tonight."

Taking her hands in mine, I nod before continuing. "After I had my fill, the little girl went to the next three guys and let them drink. When she got up to do the same for Marx, the head asshole called her back. Then, to our horror, they climbed the steps out of that hole, plunged us back into darkness, and left without giving Marx a single drop. It would be another three days before they returned. By that time, Marx was gone. The four of us were forced to watch as our friend, our brother..."