Page 4 of Gemini
Good thing they barely gave me any water and food, because the five times I had to relieve myself in the past two days had been humiliating. The men hadstared. Not that there was anything sexual about peeing in bushes, but these people obviously had issues. The asshole who had talked to me the first night when I woke up had to yell that “they weren’t allowed to touch the goods” a few times for them to back off and leave me alone.
I didn’t want to think about what they would have done if a “buyer” wasn’t on his way to get me.
The more time passed, the less optimistic I was. I’d spent my first night dreaming about my husband charging to my rescue, picturing only a faceless man as I had no idea what to expect him to look like. But now? It was unlikely he’d ever find me.
Maybe he didn’twantto find me. Maybe, while I was excited about this whole project and eager to meethim, he had been somehow forced into it. The man who had told me about the Zodiac Project had said that some of the twelves species were more reluctant than others…With my luck, mine probably was one of those, and was happy I’d gone missing.
“I just received communication,” the leader of this disgusting group said to his men as they sat close to a fire a few feet away. “Her buyer should be here before the sun rises.”
Great.Here goes all my remaining hope.
“Boss…Are we sure it’s a good idea? I mean, the girl’s worth a lot, maybe we should have reached out to more people. You know, try to get more money or something.”
The silence that followed was charged and I didn’t dare breathe too loud.
“You think anyone could have outbid him?” the leader asked, his tone suddenly ice-cold. “She’s from Galleat. And she’sAsian.” My blood froze in my veins. “The girl is everything Alessio keeps searching for.”
Alessio…I’ve heard that name before. Not in a good way, but as a warning. All the girls in my colony had, but mostly my sister and me.
The man who had taken control of a whole system and made an empire of draining planets of their resources. The man who had built some sort of kingdom on a small moon, where most of the Galaxy’s wicked bastards all met.
Someone who was on my planet’s blacklist and who’s scarred face was printed and tapped everywhere for us to recognize so we could flee if he ever managed to set foot on our colony.
“But what if—”
“What ifnothing,” the asshole snapped. “He’s paying us enough money to live like fucking kings, I won’t risk trying to sell her to someone else and pissing him off.”
The rest of the crew kept quiet. Me? I tried to get free from my damn restraint for the hundredth time since I woke up here. I was being sold toAlessio. It was not the peaceful, sexually satisfying life I had signed for when I left my colony. Not that I absolutely knew if my husband would have been able to keep up with my sexual needs, but the guy from the program had guaranteed that at least I would have been safe. According to him, Gemins were known to be a protective, territorial and caring species, even though cold-looking at first. Alessio? Not so much. The bastard was famous for being violent, disrespectful, and abusive.
In his mansion, he had a room filled with asian women in cages. And not just a regular-sized room, no; it was big enough to keep a hundred of them with enough space for Alessio to hold receptions within it.
Like the creepy bastard that we knew him as on my home planet.
And now, in just a few hours, he wasgoing to add me to his collection, or worse.
“Boss!” someone said and I jumped at his closeness. “The girl is trying to break free from the ropes.Again.”
Shit. The leader stood and mumbled as he dragged his feet toward us. “She cantry, but she’ll only end up with burned wrists. And then Alessio will piss me off because of the damned damaged merchandise.”
“I’m not some fuckingmerchandise.”
“Oh, but you are.” He grinned, stopping right in front of me as the other dude crouched behind, checking the abrasive rope tying my hands behind my back against the trunk of the tree. “I’m getting paid for delivering you, which makes you exactly that.And, Alessio—”
“Boss!” someone else yelled from the campfire. “I-I think something is roaming around.”
My heart missed a few beats. After two days, could some Gemins finally have found us? Or maybe some sort of predator? At this point, I’d rather be eaten than end up with Alessio.
The leader’s shoulders tensed, eyes scanning the forest surrounding us. “Check the perimeter. Shoot on sight.”
Shoot? No…No, no, no. “You can’t go around shooting species from a planet you don’t belong in, it’s—”
My head snapped to the side from the impact of his knuckles against my cheekbone, and my words died in my throat. “I didn’t ask for yourdamn opinion.”
The whole side of my face and neck hurt from the blow. I’ve never been one of the tough girls—never had a reason to. Tears rose to my eyes from the pain. The humiliation. The frustration of this whole situation I had found myself in. He crouched in front of me as the other vanished, following his orders and checking the surroundings for potential threats, and roughly grabbed my face in his hand to inspect it.
“See what you made me do? That bruise is gonna cost me thousands.”
It's not like I forced you to strike me, I thought but didn’t say anything. I wished I had the nerve to speak up. I didn’t have anything to lose, after all. If he killed me, it might free me from the hell that awaited me once Alessio got his hands on me.
