SWNOVELS Brutal Savage: Chapter 30
Three girls and I stand beside one another, all of us trembling, knowing what’s coming next. It’s not the first time, yet every time they make us do this, it feels like it’ll be the last.
A girl named Carly stands inches away, her fingers close to mine, grabbing my hand with her shaky one as she tries hard not to cry. Her eyes overflow with tears, but she keeps quiet. They don’t like it when we cry.
“I can’t do this again,” she whispers.
“Shh. They’ll hear us,” I warn her, not wanting her to end up like the girl last week who was shot for talking back.
“Shut up!” Ludwig, one of Jerry’s guys, hollers, a canister of anesthesia in his hand.
Another man with gloves on rolls a metal cart toward him, and Ludwig brings it the rest of the way toward us.
“Open your mouth,” he tells me.
The tightness in my glare only makes him angrier. But I don’t want to do this anymore.
His palm whips out, and he strikes me hard across the face. “If I tell Jerry you’re not doing your job, he’s gonna do far worse to you.” He grabs my jaw and squeezes. “Open your fucking mouth!”
I shut my eyes and open wide, knowing I don’t have a choice. The cool liquid coats my throat as he sprays all the way down.
I know what comes next before he even shoves the first condom filled with cocaine into my throat.
“Swallow.”
And I do.
I barely feel it go down. I barely feel any of the seventy he makes me take inside my body, each one with about ten grams of pure coke.
That’s what they do to us. Spray our throats with anesthesia and force drugs into our bodies before hoarding us off on planes.
The other girls have it worse, though. Jerry also sells their bodies for profit, and they don’t get a dime.
Me? He keeps for himself. So nice of him.
Ludwig forces the rest of the girls to swallow the drugs, then hands us each two laxatives for the trip.
We’re then shoved into a van and taken to a private airstrip in Colombia.
Once we arrive, I see Jerry, and my stomach fills with disgust.
“Hey, Ev.” His cunning smirk has me wishing I could shoot him.
The closer he gets, the more the nausea crawls up my throat.
His arm around my hips makes my body feel as though tiny spiders are crawling all around it.
“You better not cry on that fucking plane like last time,” he whispers into my ear. “I swear to God, I will kill you.”
“Ready?” Ludwig asks.
“Yeah, let’s go.” He thrusts me up the steps of the small plane and pushes me into the first seat, lowering beside me.
My head spins, knowing there are drugs inside my body. Drugs that could seep out of a ruptured balloon at any given moment.
I’d die within minutes.
That’s what happened to a few girls who used to be here. We watched them go from dropping to the floor and foaming at the mouth to dead in a flash.
Maybe that’d be a better outcome than this life. I don’t know how much more I can take.
But Jerry has me hostage. He has proof that I killed my father, and he plans to use it against me if I don’t do what he says. And worse, he swore he’d kill my grandparents. I already lost my mom and Kennedy. I can’t lose them too.
The plane takes off, and I force my eyes closed for the rest of the flight, hoping Jerry doesn’t talk to me or look at me. It’s enough that he’s sitting right beside me.
The plane starts to dip, and when I look down, I realize we’re landing. We still have to go through customs, but it’s private and takes less time than commercial flights. Nothing I haven’t done before. Jerry’s men curl an arm around each one of the girls, pretending they’re together so the customs officers don’t get suspicious.
As always, the officers check our passports, check the plane, and we’re on our merry way. Once we get to the drop-off, that’s when the real fun begins.
We arrive in the middle of nowhere at one of the huge homes belonging to Jerry’s father. One that they don’t use, except for their drug business.
“Come on, keep it moving.” Ludwig shoves Carly past the door, us following them.
“Let’s go, Evelyn. You know what to do.” Jerry pushes me into the bathroom.
Swallowing down the anxiety, I force myself to get the drugs out. It takes half an hour, and after I’m done, someone goes in there and counts all the balloons.
I start toward Carly, but a voice stops me.
“We’re two short.”
Nonono!
My heart beats louder.
I didn’t count them.
I should’ve counted!
How could I be so stupid, especially after what happened to Kennedy!
“I—I can take more meds.”
“Fuck! It’s probably stuck.” Jerry runs a frustrated hand through his hair. “We need it out now. They’re coming to pick it up in less than an hour.”
I shake my head, tears filling my eyes because I know what he’ll do. “Please, let me try more meds!”
I can’t let him do this!
“Cut it out of her.” Jerry’s eyes lock with mine, his snarl sending terror running down my spine.
“Please, no! I beg you!”
Kennedy flashes before my eyes. Bleeding in the back of the car.
Dying.
I can’t let that happen to me.
“Jerry, let’s get the doctor,” Brevin says, the one who notified him of the missing balloons. “Remember what happened last time to that other one? We can’t keep losing girls.”
“We’ll find new ones. I said get it out of her!”
Carly lets out a sob behind me while fat tears trickle down my face.
Whenever this happened in the past, they had their doctor come in and get the drugs out. Except with Kennedy.
And now me.
I want to run. Yet there’s nowhere to go.
“I can’t do it.” Brevin looks as though he’s gonna be sick.
Jerry growls. “Get me a fucking knife and I’ll do it.”
“P-p-please,” I beg him through my sobs.
I beg the devil for an ounce of compassion, and he doesn’t give it to me. Grabbing my arm, he shoves me onto a gurney while I fight and scream and claw for him to stop.
“I’m begging you, please don’t do this. Jerry, please!”
“Shut. Up.”
When I stare up, I realize there’s no humanity within him. None at all. He calls over two of his men.
“You hold her legs, and you get her arms. Brevin, get a rag for her mouth. Bitch is about to scream, and I’m not in the mood to hear it.”
“No, no! Please!”
The girls cry in the background, and when I turn my face to the side, my gaze connects with Carly’s broken one.
Jerry moves to the metal cart and picks up a thin scalpel a surgeon would use.
Placing it against my lower abdomen, he slices into me, and I scream with the most horrifying pain.
Until my world turns black.
Until everything vanishes.
And I pray I’m already dead.
When I stare back at Tynan, I don’t find repulsion. Instead, his eyes have grown with fury. His expression softens for a moment as he brushes my cheek with the back of his hand.
“I’m gonna tear him apart. And I’m gonna do it for you.”
Tears blanket my vision, and he’s there, wiping them away, kissing the side of my face, my lips, my eyes. His arms circle me before he tucks my body tightly against his, letting me cry while he holds me.
“I’m here, Elara. You never have to run anymore. From anyone.”
“You don’t hate me?” I peer up at him through my murky vision.
“Why would I hate you, baby? You did nothing wrong.”
I shake my head. “I feel responsible for the lives I probably ruined by helping them bring the drugs here.”
“My God, Elara. That’s not your fault.” He holds my face in both palms, staring intently at me. “You’re a good person who was made to do bad things. That’s all.”
My eyes pinch shut, memories of my mother storming in. “I’m not a good person.” I shake my head. “I killed my father.”
I look at him then, but he doesn’t even flinch.
“Why? What did he do?” His thumb rolls over my tear, brushing it away.
“He murdered my mother.”
A muscle in his jaw pulses. “Then he deserved it.”
I shake my head with a scoff. “I know it’s probably nothing to you, but I killed him. I killed my father. Me!”
“You did what had to be done. You hear me? He killed your mother, and you took him out. Be proud of that.”
I try to believe him. Though one bad act doesn’t excuse another.
“Did he tell you why he did it? Why he killed her?”
“No…” I release a sigh. “But he was always smacking her around. Always belittling her. I begged her to leave him, and she wouldn’t. When I saw her like that, all bloody, him crouching down and apologizing as he sobbed, all I felt was anger. Once he dropped the knife, I just grabbed it.” I pin my eyes shut, my stomach churning, remembering all that blood. “Before I knew what was happening, I was stabbing him in the chest over and over until I was almost paralyzed with rage.”
He kisses my forehead reassuringly. “It’s okay, mo ghrá. It’s okay.”
“I sat there for a while, with my clothes soaked, numb from what had just happened. Then it hit me. My mother was truly gone and I was a murderer.”
“When my mother was killed…” he says. “All I wanted was blood. It’s okay to want to avenge those we love. It doesn’t make you a bad person.”
“I’m sorry you lost your mom too.” The back of my hand strokes his jaw, and his eyes grow heavy.
I want to ask how she was killed, but I don’t think my heart can take any more pain.
With a sigh, I finish my story, so he knows everything.
“After what I did, I had no one to call for help. So I called Jerry. Of course, he offered to help me bury the bodies. Little did I know, he collected proof of my father’s death and all the evidence of me smuggling drugs and used it to blackmail me into staying.”
“Motherfucker,” he snaps. “I’ll help you get it all back and destroy it.”
“Really?” My eyes widen. “You’d do that for me?”
He clasps my nape and brings his face close to mine. “You’re my wife, Elara. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you.”
Emotions punch through my chest until I’m crying again, throwing my arms around him and holding on to him tight.
“Where does he keep it?” Fingertips trace up and down my spine. “Do you know?”
I look back at him. “Last time I checked, it was on his laptop. He had two, but one is where he keeps all the personal stuff. If he has it anywhere else, I don’t know.”
“I’ll find it.” He stares at me with absolute sincerity, and my body rocks with a sob.
Because for the first time, I’m not fighting this alone.
“You don’t have to put yourself at risk for me, Tynan.” I grip his heavy bicep, and it jerks under my touch. “You have Brody to live for, and if anything happens to you, I won’t forgive myself.”
He quirks a brow and gives me one of his tiny crooked smirks. “Is my wife starting to care about me?”
A finger reaches up to tuck a piece of my hair behind my ear, and my heart literally beats right out of my chest.
“Eh.” I can’t help my own smile. “Maybe a little.”
He chuckles. “I’ll take it.”
We talk a little more, and I tell him about my life back home. How I found out that my father was knee-deep in criminal activities and that I had no idea, nor if my mom knew either. I thought about opening up to my grandma about it, but what’s the use? How will her knowing the truth help?
“I’m sorry,” he whispers with a pained tone.
“Not your fault.”
With his knuckles, he traces the outline of my face. “Yet I still am.”
Grabbing his hand, I kiss the top of it, and he holds me in his arms, both of us content in the stillness.
“I want to see Brody,” I tell him. “He needs to know that everything will be okay.”
“Yeah, let’s go talk to him.”
With a rough exhale, I get to my feet, stretching out my hand for his. “Coming?”
His eyes shine brightly. “Always, mo chuisle.”
Tears brim my eyes, and together, we make it downstairs to find Brody in the kitchen with Ruby, eating spaghetti.
As soon as she sees us, she’s rushing over. “You okay, honey?”
“I am now.” I glance up at Tynan, who’s staring down at me sweetly.
“I made dinner.” Ruby squeezes my forearm. “If you need me, I’ll be in the den.”
She somehow knows exactly why we came down.
“Hey, buddy…” My gaze lands on Brody’s teary eyes.
He lets out a small snivel, and as soon as he does, he hops off the chair and rushes toward both of us.
One of his arms holds on to my hip, while the other holds on to Tynan.
And with my overwhelming emotions, I look at him. The man who changed my life for better or worse—I don’t yet know—but I’m happy he found me. Happy Brody has him.
Because underneath everything, there’s a man with a heart of gold.
A smile slopes up the corner of his mouth, and my belly flips.
Because that’s what his smiles always seem to do to me: ignite my world and set it on fire.
Yet with him, the flames no longer burn.