Sacrificed To The Triplet Alpha Kings novel Chapter 37

Chapter 37: The Doctors Said Vitals Are Improving

The shower was hot, and it helped, it loosened some of the tightness in her throat, helped her feel human again instead of like a thing that had been used. But the water couldn’t wash away the marks. Couldn’t erase what had happened.

She looked at herself in the mirror.

The marks from the past week were still visible. Bite marks on her neck from the first night. Handprints on her hips that had lightened to yellowish-green. Bruises on her inner thighs. New marks blooming on her breasts from Lucian’s hands. Her throat was raw and red, already swelling slightly.

Tomorrow her mother would see these.

Or maybe her mother would still be unconscious and wouldn’t see anything at all. Maybe she’d just lie there in that hospital bed, unaware that her daughter was bruised and broken and bought with sexual servitude.

Maybe that would be better.

Lilith dressed in clean clothes. Found the salve that had been left for her, she suspected on purpose, knowing she would need it, and applied it carefully to her raw throat. It stung but it helped. Everything about this estate was designed to hurt her and then soothe the hurt, keeping her in a cycle of pain and relief that made her dependent on the very people causing the damage.

Then she went to the wall where her marks were.

The first week had been seven marks. She’d been counting the days until this hell ended.

She picked up the metal letter opener she’d been using, left on her desk, also, she suspected, on purpose.

And drew the eighth line.

Seven marks counted down from the first week.

Now she was counting what came next.

Twenty-two more days until she left this estate.

Twenty-two more days of being payment.

But tomorrow....tomorrow she’d see her mother.

She could feel her mother’s hand in hers. Could imagine her mother’s worried eyes opening, searching her face for truth. Could see the way her mother’s expression would change if she saw the marks covering her daughter’s body.

And Lilith would lie.

Would pull her sweater up to cover her neck. Would keep her arms crossed to hide her bruises. Would tell her mother everything was fine, that the Blackwoods were treating her well, that this was just temporary and soon they’d be reunited for good.

Would carry the weight of that lie back to this estate where three men were slowly becoming more than just her captors. Where the line between use and affection was starting to blur in dangerous ways.

She closed her eyes and held onto the thought of her mother’s face.

Because it was the only thing keeping her from completely falling apart.

And because part of her, a part she refused to examine too closely, was already counting down the minutes until she saw Nicholas again. Until Sebastian’s hands were on her. Until Lucian’s rough voice whispered that she was doing so good.

Twenty-two more days.

She could endure twenty-two more days.

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