Shackled (The Lord Series) by Amy T

Shackled (The Lord Series)

Olivia

Hands, strong hands pin me down, my clothes being ripped, and then…pain…so much pain, and I feel like I am ripped in two. I try to speak, but it feels like I have ashes in my mouth, and the blinding pain makes it impossible to think.

My eyes open, and I am faced with that turquoise gaze that once made me feel safe, except he is not the same as seven years ago, as he looks at me with loathing, the promise of torture and slow death shining in his eyes. Some forgotten survival instinct ignites inside me, and I try to escape him. I scream and thrash as my fingernails claw at his face, three long parallel scratches appearing on his cheek.

Something vicious flashes in his eyes, and he hits me with the back of his hand, my right ear ringing and my head turning to the left, my eyes landing on the Lord who stopped Rueben from killing me, and I realize my mistake-the pain I felt moments ago was coming from my ribs and other parts of my body and not from someone who was trying

to rape me.

My gaze returns to the one who slapped me.

What is worse is that I was trying to defend myself from Rueben.

How many times did I get beaten into submission because I refused to do as told or I tried to prevent someone from hurting me? No matter how many times Jason used his fists on me or had his friends f**k me until my pus sy and a ss felt like they were on fire from use, I don’t seem capable of learning my lesson.

Knowing what is to come, my body and mind prepare for a beating, only this time, it won’t be Jason who will punish

me, but Rueben and the African-American Lord. No doubt it will be much worse. Much, much worse.

Rueben’s angry tone as he curses me makes me freeze, and when he flips me on my stomach, despite the pain radiating from my ribs, I don’t dare move, especially when Rueben’s blood-brother puts his heavy hand on my back and pushes me down into the mattress, putting more pressure on my chest and breathing becomes hard.

“What are you going to do?” Rueben is asked by his blood-brother.

“Teach her a lesson.”

fall on me when I hear the swish of a belt in the air before it connects with my thighs. It hurts worse than I expected,

in love for the first

will yank out your fingernails and have you eat

he never hit me the way Rueben does it, with so much rage and hate. It hurts so bad it feels like my flesh is being ripped from my bones. Tears stream down my face,

because each time I did it, when Jason asked me something, the beating became worse. The belt lands on my a ss, and a

Olivia

hard as I wait for Rueben to hit me again. The hand pining me into the mattress disappears, and then I hear, “If you don’t stop, you will

a ‘kill me,’ but all I manage is to moan

to snap her neck in two

like her,” Rueben sneers.

if I take

for a few seconds before saying, “I will go check

she will walk anytime soon. Look at the welts forming on her

deserved it for trying to claw my eye out. And her tied to the bed is to prevent her from doing something st*pid,” Rueben says before I hear

not wrong. Given the occasion, I would try

how sore I am

last time I took drugs was more than a day ago, and I desperately need some heroin, especially now when my body. craves it, and the anxiety

in his direction, I try to ask him to give me something, but my throat is so dry that no words

says, and I nod before attempting to stand, but my body refuses to obey me. “I got you,” he says, rolling me onto my

carries me to the bathroom attached to the room. I rest my forehead against his shoulder and I whimper silently against his skin. Rueben belted