Page 46 of Dollhouse

“If he’s gone, then why are we even here?” I ask.

“Well,” he starts, ashing his cigar before pinning me again with his calculating gaze. “Having you here does quite a few things for me. Mercy has become a rather annoying thorn in my side lately. Now that they’ve become infatuated with you, I’m hoping they’re smart enough to realize that your well-being hinges entirely on their ability to stay the fuck out of my business.”

His voice cuts by the end but he turns a cold smile at me as if we’re just friends having a little chat. As if I’m not essentiallynaked with a man at my back who’s just waiting for permission to hit me again.

“Two, I always find the weak spot of any new associate of mine.It’s a great test of loyalty to see how they react when I have something in my grasp that they care for. You see,” he starts, earnestly leaning toward me as if he really is teaching me something of importance. “If a man lets me keep something of his and is able to turn off his discomfort over how I treat it, I find that they almost never are able to flip that switch back. It’s a very effective form of conditioning.”

“Now, Eric did try to keep you hidden from me for a while. Despite his otherpredilections, he did fixate rather heavily on you.” Again, his eyes lock back on mine, an intensity there that was missing before. “Normally, I do not use a spouse as my collateral, however…his obsession with your purity and goodness was hard for me to overlook.”

The curl of my lips makes him laugh. “I’ve found that men who indulge in debauchery sometimes use their more innocent spouses to make them feel whole again. As if being close to someone who is still good at heart absolves them of their sins. It won’t, and he was a terrible liar. The night we had dinner at your house was hard for him, you know that? He could feel how I wanted to drag you out to the yard and take you in the dirt. Mess up that clean, prim-looking dress you had on.”

If he hopes to ruffle my icy glare, I disappoint him and he smiles further. “Who could have guessed that gang of Finch’s would ruin it all, hmm? Take that innocence and smear it. Eric didn’t take that well, seeing his wife ruined. I, however, see it as something of a challenge, Emma. Though it would have been nice to get the more docile version of you, I rather like the idea of getting to rip this shield of indifference away. To take whatever bravery Noah Finch gave you and crush it a little at a time.”

Hearing Noah’s name on his lips is too much and I feel the snap as it happens. I’m lunging for his throat, this disgusting man who dares to threaten someone as good as Noah. As Noah’sfamily.

Thick, rough hands latch around my neck, stopping me in my tracks. I can hear Bo struggling harder but I can’t turn my head to see if he’s okay.

A clammy hand grips my jaw, yanking my head up so that his merciless eyes meet mine. “Don’t worry,” he says, smiling as I tremble. “I don’t plan on fucking you while you’re here, my dear.”

His smile touches something awful deep inside me, setting off a fear that feels instinctive. “But I do plan on letting everyone else. As we discussed, men,” he says, and I go numb, mouth dropping open in shock. A shattering blow explodes on the side of my face, knocking me to the ground. Head ringing and vision splintering, terror sets in with a terrible quickness, when a second kick splinters my ribs.

Another to my back.

It finally occurs to me that he’s ordered them to assault me.

Us. I catch sight of Bo, whose blood-crusted body is also being attacked, beaten. The sight sets me off, a fresh sob tearing from my throat because I’m powerless to help him. To even get to him. “He’s not even moving,” I scream.

A boot flies in from the side, connecting once with my face, and everything goes black.

TWENTY-FOUR

The heat radiatingfrom my injuries registers long before consciousness does. My sleeping mind must not know what to do with it, because it starts emerging in my dream. The dollhouse, ever present, slams shut on me, and the pain is so intense that I can’t find the desire to try and escape. I just lie there defeated as I’m plunged into the dark.

Eventually I become aware that I’m lying on something cold and metallic. I shiver, the pain rolling through my muscles, except now it feels different. Stronger, less vague and more peaked in my ribs and temple.

I’m awake.

There’s a splitting ache in my head and my breath catches as I try to take inventory of my body and injuries. There’s dried blood on my wrists, though the ties have been cut while I was out. Deep bruising covers my rib cage, explaining the sting when I breathe, and my face feels swollen. I’ll have to wait to find out the damage caused by the boot.

My eyes flutter open when I remember Bo and the first thing I see is the man from before standing a foot away. A weird metalgrid mars his face and he watches me with pleasure as it dawns on me that I’m in a cage.

Jaw clenching, I try like hell to remain stoic as I grapple with this nightmare. He trapped us. How can we even fight if we’re locked up?

The man's eyes crawl across my body as he crouches down and reaches through the bars. Every part of me tightens, fearing another punch, but he simply flicks something around my neck. There’s a smalltink,and with horror I see the Christmas ribbon Bo had fixed around my neck has been replaced by a dog’s collar.

“I’m assigned to watch you..” His eyes eat up my horror. “Lucky me.”

“B-Bo,” I croak, trying to look around my guard to see the rest of the room. It’s dark, with concrete walls and a rough, black tiled floor. It’s either harder to see in here or the blow to my head has messed with my vision. I struggle to focus on the cage across the room. “Are you okay?”

He nods his head and my eyes well up when I see the same collar around his neck. His normally wild curls are matted with blood and his face is a mess. Dried red stains cover his body.

I can see from here that his beating was worse than mine and hot tears of regret burn little trails down to my jaw. “Your head?”

He licks his lips, flinching, then shakes it slowly. Something’s verywrong. I can see it in his behavior.

Had it only been yesterday we’d woken up at the cabin? Eons of pain have crammed themselves into this time and they’ve done a perfect job of making us feel isolated. Unsavable. Jesse would rip the world to pieces to save Bo, but right now that feels so impossible.

Knowing him, and knowing Noah, I understand that planning is the only way to try and save us. Things have spiraled so quickly, it occurs to me that time might not be something we have much of. The men here seem determined to either beatus into submission or are just doing it for fun. Either way, Bo’s definitely hurt much worse than I can see and I’m locked in a cage where I can’t get to him.