Untouchable by Marii Solaria

Chapter 75 – The Trio

“There are wounds that never show on the body that are deeper and more hurtful than anything that bleeds.”— Laurell K. Hamilton

Violetta

“Piece of shit! Let me go! Let me go!!”

The world was a fucked–up place if it allows a seven–foot–tall, muscle man–animal to kidnap me. One minute I was heading to my hotel to meet up with my bandmates to discuss our next gig and the next, I was snatched into an alleyway. I didn’t stand a chance.

I could’ve fought back if only I could access power, but as before, it was like hitting an impenetrable wall. A wall that refused to budge no matter the amount of force I hit it with. Frustration boiled through me like a rumbling geyser threatening to shoot out of its prison. But there was not much I could do. I was a squirrel compared to this behemoth.

Arms bound behind my back in metallic wrist cuffs, my body was thrown into the back of a moving truck. Head hitting the floor, I groaned in pain as the buff man gagged me with a piece of cloth, tightening it on the back of my curly hair. Within seconds, the doors sealed me inside the truck, bathing me in darkness.

Breathing. I hear gentle breathing. There were other people here with me. I couldn’t see them through the pitch–black darkness, but I stay put than to risk a broken ankle. As the truck moved, I crawled to the wall and sat silently, thinking through all that happened.

Never have I thought I’d get kidnapped. I worked too hard to get my life on the path I deserved, and now it was going down the drain. Again. After escaping the underwater hellscape I once called home, to forming my new family with those I love, I ended up in a shitshow once more.

Life must love me. Note the sarcasm.

wasn’t

The ride is far from comfortable. With every bump in the road, it knocked me on my side. Getting up easy with my hands bound behind me. Heat rolled into the dark truck, trapping me and the others in a slow- stoking inferno. Breathing became a task comparable to pushing a boulder. My ears picked up the sudden changes of breathing in the darkness with soft moans, but it all soon fell into silence.

Having a conversation with my fellow kidnapees was off the table, it seemed.

After what seemed like hours, the truck came to a sudden halt. A minute went by and the truck doors open to reveal my abductor. Stone–faced, he yanked me out of the truck and tossed me on my feet, but his strength miscalculated the velocity of the toss. I ended up face planting on the ground.

Fucking hell! Fucking brute!

“Stay.” Was all it demanded, cold and firm. Like he was speaking to a lowly peasant. While I struggled to stand like a newborn fowl, the kidnapper forced two more people out of the truck, gargantuan hands wrapped firmly around their upper arms. One whimpered while the other struggled like a trapped bird.

One woman looked familiar. The strawberry–blond was a beautiful woman, but I’ve never seen her before. The shorter curly–haired one I had seen; I was sure of it.

Chapter 15. Treina

“Move. Try to escape, and I would crush your skulls.” With a hand bigger than my face, the threat became real. He’ll kill us if we tried anything funny. I couldn’t die! I have so much to live for and a partner who must be so worried about me.

the thought of Manny and Marina, frantically calling my bandmates about my whereabouts. They all

Amphitrite, what have I gotten

women and I forcibly marched down an isolated path in the middle of a heavily dense forest with the brute behind us, watching our every move. The sun was setting below the horizon, but the deep orange lights couldn’t penetrate through

leave me with a good

an ideal place for kidnapees. My brain was the

harvesting. Sexual slavery. Human trafficking. All morally depraved scenarios continued swimming in. And my knees buckle with every step I take. Walking toward the entrance, the doors opened

also didn’t want my brain squeezed

people around the facility, some held close to the hip by what I assume were their ‘handlers‘ and others working to maintain the place. The prisoners were pulled by chains attached to what I assume were cuffs tight

the actual fuck

in a clean, blue floral summer dress walked to us, hands up in a silent command for us to stop. She surely was dressed weirdly in a gloomy place like this. Her blue eyes and exhausted and held the weight of sadness. Like she was forced to do this. Blond hair that

around her neck. “T–Take them…” The woman took a deep breath. “Take them downstairs

muffles because of the cloth gag around my mouth, heavy in my mouth by saliva. The mysterious woman led us

we had

burned my eyes. Someone was down here cleaning up, probably to hide evidence of what happened before our arrival. We passed by several steel doors with tiny windows, each several yards

why, but hearing those sounds tugged my heartstrings. Agony

15 The

further.

an empty holding cell, that was

Kiya

No!

I couldn’t go back to

system I have. Fight or flight mode activates, and I was given the choice to stay and fight or flee. I chose to

times? That’s like my memories. Dark memories of my endless days in my cell beneath the packhouse crawled their way into my mind, infesting it with the

One.

Five.

Twenty–Five.

Hundreds.

the sudden intensity of my flashbacks. My heart, normally gentle, palpitated in a beat I was all too familiar with. Bronchial tubes tightened as my lungs burned for the oxygen they couldn’t get. As fast as I was inhaling, nothing gets through. Tremors and quakes rippled through my muscles like mini earthquakes on a mission to disrupt its anatomical processes. Sweat dropped rapidly like bullets from my

from. It taunted me, cackled at my weakness. It laughed at my choice of flight, reminding me repeatedly that I’ll always be

Cerberus yanked me back. I struggled and screamed through my gag, tears rushing down my eyes as a dam had burst. Heartless as he was, he threw me in the cell with my arms still cuffed behind my back. Phoebe and Violetta were forced inside before

We’re trapped.

I wanted to die. For the first time

Artemis yelled in worry. “Focus on me,

like Halima. I felt like the little girl forced to live in prison for years, making a home with the chill

stabbed through my

black, red, and yellow. All the times I was forced to exist with the reminders of my family’s hatred and neglect. Reminders