Page 7 of Defending Mateo
Probably just the lack of sleep catching up with him.
Plus, the stress of spending twenty years refusing to let anyone get close to him, then falling for Ally basically on the spot. He’d done his best to stop it from happening, to shove those feelings away because there was no space for a partner in the life he’d chosen for himself. But how was he supposed to resist her soft voice, expressive eyes, and sweet, shy personality?
Starting at one end of the row of cells, he waited outside each one for the woman inside to sink down on her knees, palms on their thighs, gazes fixed firmly on the floor, before opening the cell and setting their breakfast down. They wouldn't touch the food until they were given permission to, and some of the guys got off on making them sit there, in their submissive position for ages before allowing them to eat.
He, on the other hand, did not get off on torturing women.
This was a job. One he was good at because of his ability to shut his emotions down and focus on the details of what needed to be done. It wasn't that he didn't see these women as human beings, it was just that he was able to shut down any emotion he might feel for them because it wasn't productive. How could he do his job if he was constantly outraged over the mistreatment of these poor women?
One by one, he left meals for the women. All the way down one line of cells, then working his way back up the other side. Emma had been the most recent addition to Azure’s stock, so everyone else here was well enough trained that they got down on their knees without complaint, knowing they’d be punished if they didn't.
It wasn't until he reached the third last cell on the second side, that the woman inside it didn't move.
Did they have a new one? He shouldn’t be surprised if they did, they usually had between twelve and twenty women at any one time, and with Emma gone, that stock had to be replenished, but he hadn't heard about a new arrival.
When he looked over at the small figure huddled against the back wall of the cell, his heart stuttered in his chest.
Red hair.
It spilled in waves in a curtain around where the woman had her face pressed into her bent knees. Arms were curled around her legs, and although she was wearing a hoodie, it had moved up enough to expose her wrists, and he saw the delicate torque bracelet with a pearl on one end and a diamond on the other.
Mateo knew that bracelet.
He should.
He was the one who had bought it on his and Ally’s six-month anniversary. At the time, he felt a little silly doing it. Six months was nothing to be celebrating, wasn't even a year yet. And they were only dating, it wasn't like he’d proposed and they’d gotten married. But he’d spotted it in a jewelry store when he was at the mall with Ally, and it had immediately reminded him of her with its delicate beauty.
No.
It couldn’t be her.
Couldn’t behisgirl.
Not here.
Not in this hellhole.
His girl was too special to wind up in a place like this. A place that destroyed anything good, broke people down into nothing before rebuilding them to be the perfect compliant slaves. His girl had already been through so much, lost so much, been hurt by so many people.
Maybe it wasn't her. She wasn't the only woman in the world with red hair, and it wasn't like the store only made one bracelet. It had to be someone else.
Had to be.
But as though sensing she was being watched, the woman lifted her head, and their eyes met. Hers widened in shocked horror as Mateo schooled his features into passive disinterest even as his world shattered into a million pieces.
He’d walked away from Ally to protect her from the monsters he worked with, and yet she’d wound up in their clutches anyway.
Chapter
Three
August 14th
8:22 A.M.
There were no words in the entire English language to describe what she felt right now.
Ally just stared at the man outside her cage, her mouth hanging open, her entire body trembling so violently that she was sure he could see it from where he stood.
