hia
ng cell was a tomb of
n the concrete floor,
med on my arms from where the guards
open, spilling a harsh rectbed my arms without a word, a
ete stairs and shoved me in
ged me through the back entranc
the walls as they pushed me through a set o
ldiers, and their women, the air thick with
r sofa, Dominic and
his lap, her arms wr
up as I stumble
ed as he took i
kin stretched taut over my b
wned d
operty?" he demanded, his voice cu
coffed
play the victim and guilt-trip you,
of concern morphed i
inst the leather s
to Lila," h
t up st
or of my bloodline,"
wn at me with
red. "A pathetic orphan nobody ever wan
ad, the fight d
rry," I
d, a sharp,
e cheap,"
a bottle on t
that raw moonshine as p
fire the Soldiers used to cle
nic, searching his
lume of cigar smoke and gav
lear liquid into a heavy glas
o my lips and swallo
of fire seized my empty stomach. A wave of acid reflux
ward, dropping
iled wi
ow of high-proof bottle
em all," s
at the
f-destructive defiance, a
o grasp the heavy crystal decanter filled with amber l
the liquid burning l
hands lost
m my numb, zip-tied fingers and fell t
pasm seized
t red blood onto the broken glass, the sounds o
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