Chapter 2

The East House is hours from the compound. Before the sun even comes up, I have to be back to make Chloe breakfast.

I barely make it through the front gate before Damon's boys grab me. Tie my wrists. Throw me in the back of an SUV.

When the bag comes off my head, they dump me on the gym floor.

Damon stands over me, arms crossed. He nods at the training cage in the middle of the room.

"Get in. Chloe wants to practice."

My head snaps up.

"She's never thrown a punch in her life, Damon. She'll kill me."

Chloe's face falls in half a second. She presses both hands to her chest.

"Damon, baby, what if she's right? I'm so clumsy. What if I really hurt her?"

"Don't be silly, baby."

He pulls her against him and slides a pair of pink training gloves onto her tiny hands himself.

"You're a natural. You're gonna be the best."

His eyes flick to me. The patience is gone.

"Get in the cage, Selene. Don't make me say it twice."

I look at the gloves. Every old break in my body starts throbbing at once.

He sees me shaking. He grabs my jaw and squeezes until my teeth grind.

"You don't wanna get in? Fine. I'll bring Nina down here instead. She owes me a life too, doesn't she?"

Damon doesn't bluff. One more word out of me, and my ten-year-old sister gets dragged out of her hospital bed and tied to that post.

I close my eyes. I force a smile.

"She's a kid. I'll do it."

"I'm bigger anyway. More fun for her."

He lets go, satisfied. Turns around and starts adjusting Chloe's stance from behind, his hands wrapped around hers.

The boys haul me into the cage. Tie my wrists to the chain-link above my head. My toes barely touch the mat.

"Damon, what if I miss? What if I hit her somewhere bad?"

He laughs and kisses her temple.

"Baby, she's been eating punches for me for seven years. She's a punching bag. Hit her wherever you want."

The first hook lands on my ribs.

I hear something crack before I feel it. My knees give. The chain catches me by the wrists.

Out of the corner of my eye, Chloe is bouncing on her heels, giggling.

The man who used to put my hands in ice the second I bled, he just says one word.

"Again."

She winds up. Throws another. Right hook. Left shoulder.

I feel the joint pop. My head drops. Hot blood fills my mouth.

The boys around the cage shift on their feet. Nobody knows what to do.

Damon doesn't even look at them. He just nods at her.

"Good, baby. Now the body."

Two more. Left side. Right side. I'm coughing red onto the mat. My white shirt isn't white anymore.

Chloe winds up for one more. Damon catches her wrist mid-swing.

"Okay, that's enough. Get her stitched up."

Chloe stamps her foot. Pouts.

"Damon! I was just getting good!"

He folds in half a second. He turns to one of his boys.

"Bring Nina down."

"No."

The word rips out of me before I can stop it.

"No, Damon, please, she's ten, she's still sick, she can't—"

He doesn't even look at me. He boops Chloe on the nose like I'm not screaming six feet away.

The last thing I see before everything goes black is two of his boys dragging Nina across the gym floor. Bare feet. Hospital gown.

She's twisting against them. Choking on her own crying.

"Selene! Selene, help me!"