They want me to submit to a virginity test? I’d heard rumors of these. I hadn’t given them much credence though. It’s archaic. Will they check the bedsheets too?
But if there’s one thing I believe it’s that Abel will lock me in my room and not allow me to see our father. He won’t care even if Dad were to die. And he could somehow punish Evangeline to punish me. These are the only things that matter. The only things I need to know.
I have no choice. I never did. I will submit to this just as I will submit to a wedding.
6
Ivy
The men stop their conversation once I’m within earshot. The older ones shift their gazes to me first. My brother, who has his back to me, turns slowly to face me. The smile on his face is a victorious one.
“Ivy.”
I look anxiously from him to the others. Their gazes appear almost lecherous. And they’re old enough to be my grandfather. Will they really stand by and allow something like this to happen? Will they bear witness?
“Gentlemen, this is my sister Ivy.”
I’m surprised he doesn’t distinguish himself from me. We’re half siblings and not full blood. Something he usually takes comfort in, if not pride.
The men nod. One of them sweeps his gaze over me, and I wish I’d eaten something so I could throw it up on his thousand-dollar shoes.
“We’re behind schedule,” the one without the ring says.
My brother nods and, without introducing the men to me—not that I care—we walk inside, the men in front of me, Abel behind, me in the middle. A prisoner marched to her execution.
I barely notice the surroundings as I’m led through the large living space. An older woman sits reading a magazine. She only spares me a momentary glance. Across from her is a younger woman. She looks familiar, but half her face is hidden behind her magazine so I can only see her eyes. She tracks me as we cross the room, and a housekeeper enters, carrying coffee on a silver tray.
Do these women know what’s about to happen?
“It’s rude to stare,” the older woman says to the younger one, her voice low.
I guess the younger one is her daughter because her face is now fully hidden behind the magazine.
I’m led from the main room to a corridor lined with doors. When we reach the last door, the man without the ring opens it, and the scent of antiseptic assaults my senses. This must be his office. Is he a real doctor? Or some freak employed by The Society to run these “tests”?
He gestures for us to enter.
When I hesitate, Abel places a hand at my back and urges me inside.
The man closes the door. There’s no lock, I notice. I guess I’m free to go. But if I do, will they bring Evangeline here in my place? The thought is sickening, but looking at these men, the fat one with the ring who takes a seat on the couch across from the examining table looks far too eager, and I’m pretty sure he’d have no problem with the idea.
The room is average size and more brightly lit than the living space which was cozier. This has more functional lighting. A large desk is centered against the far wall. A sitting area against another and an examining table opposite it. There’s a privacy screen in the corner of the sitting area.
“Ivy,” the man without the ring says. He gestures to the single, simple wooden chair facing his desk. “Have a seat.”
I do, and Abel stands behind me, hands on my shoulders as if he’d keep me down if I tried to run.
“I’m Dr. Chambers.”
Chambers?
As in Maria Chambers’ father? I think back to the girl who used to torment me. And I realize why the one in the living room seemed familiar. It was the gleam in her otherwise unremarkable eyes. The wickedness inside them.
She was staring because she knew exactly what would happen here. What they would do to me.
I swallow, feeling hot. I’m glad I’m sitting down because I think I’d fall otherwise.
“Your brother has explained the requirement, I’m sure, but I’d like to go through it to be sure you are here of your own choice.”
“My choice?”
Abel squeezes my shoulders.
Dr. Chambers clears his throat, ignoring me. This is a sham, and everyone in this room knows it. And they’re all taking pleasure in my torment. Am I surprised? Maria Chambers was a bully at thirteen. She must have learned it somewhere.
“Mr. De La Rosa is a member of one of our founding families. As such, we, of course, hold him in the highest regard, as I’m sure you do.”
The man on the couch snorts in the middle of that sentence.
I glance over but only momentarily.
“I’m sure she does,” Abel answers the doctor.
“You’re a very lucky girl,” Dr. Chambers continues.
I doubt that, I think, but don’t say.
“But as The Society does not force anyone to submit to anything they don’t want to, I want to be certain you’ve asked your brother, as a good and upstanding member, to bring you here so that your purity will be certified, and you will be declared fit for marriage to a man of such stature.”
“Are you serious?”
“Ivy,” Abel says. He’d have more to say, but the doctor holds up his hand.
“This is difficult for our younger ladies. I have a daughter your sister’s age, Abel. I understand, believe me.” He turns his attention to me. “But we should get on with it and not waste anyone’s time. Will you submit to my examination, Ivy?”
“I don’t have a choice.”
Abel fingers dig into my shoulders. “Sister.” There’s a long, weighted pause. “If you prefer, I can take you home now. We have alternatives,” he threatens.
“No,” I say, standing up. “I submit. Let’s get it over with.”
“Very good. There is to be one witness, and Mr. Holton has generously given up his morning to be here in that capacity.”
“How selfless of him.”
The doctor stands. “You can undress behind the privacy curtain, then make yourself comfortable on the examining table. Everything off.”
My legs wobble as I walk toward the privacy screen, and I knock into the coffee table, spilling coffee out of the cup there.
“Please excuse my sister. She’s quite nervous,” Abel says. I get the feeling he’s kept my disorder a secret.
“It’s natural,” the doctor says.
Once I’m behind the privacy screen, I slump against the wall and exhale a deep breath. I feel dizzy, and my skin is clammy. I close my eyes and force myself to breathe, counting to five on an inhale, holding, exhaling to five. Repeating.
I imagine myself at the swimming pool on campus swimming my laps. I do it every morning. It’s one of the things that helps, that keeps me level and steady. It’ll be over quickly, then I can get out of here. Then I can see Dad and maybe go for a swim in the afternoon before Eva gets home.
I undress and put on the robe, grateful there is one. Beyond the curtain, I hear the men speak in low murmurs while stirring sugar and cream into their coffee. I hear Santiago’s name and strain to listen, but they seem to quiet even more when mentioning him. From their tone, I get the feeling they don’t like him.
I know I’m taking too long when one of the men clears his throat, and my brother calls my name.
“Are you ready, Ivy? I’m sure these gentlemen have better things to do than wait on you.”
Those gentlemen can go to hell.
I tie the robe tighter around myself and walk around the privacy curtain, not looking at them as I make my way to the examining table, which has been adjusted. The stirrups have been pulled out, and I realize to my horror that they’ll have a perfect view right between my legs.
I hesitate, and Dr. Chambers, who has donned a white robe, moves to the table and smiles at me. It’s not a warm smile. In fact, I wonder if he’s got an erection under that robe just thinking about what he’s about to do. At how he’s about to humiliate me.
“Up on the table, Ivy. You’ve done
this before, I’m sure. You should have been having these checks annually. It is a father’s duty.”
“My father could be quite soft on his daughters,” Abel says.
“That’s too bad. I keep a tight leash on Maria. That girl has a wild streak, but I believe I keep her in check.”
Wow. I actually feel sorry for Maria suddenly. I don’t want to think about her having to submit to anything like this. I don’t want to think about anyone having to.
My face burns as I tug the knot at my waist tighter and make my way to the table. I climb on, sit facing the door as I take a deep breath in, then lie back.
Get this done.
Get it over with.
That’s all I have to do.
I set my feet in the stirrups and make the mistake of looking across the room at where Abel and the other asshole are sitting back, watching as if I were a show on a stage. Which I guess in a way I am.
“Very good,” Dr. Chambers says, coming over to me.
I shift my gaze up to the ceiling as he moves my hands from the knot of my belt and sets them on either side of the table. I clutch the padded edges as he undoes the knot and opens the robe, exposing me wholly as he widens the stirrups.
Dr. Chambers clears his throat, and I feel his fingers low on my belly. “Not a promising sign,” he says. “When they shave all the hair, you have to wonder for whom.”
“I swim,” I say. Not that it’s any of their business if I want to shave every hair off my body.
“Quiet,” Abel snaps.
Dr. Chambers touches two of the bruises on my belly but doesn’t comment. I wonder if he thinks Abel beat me and that it’s perfectly fine.
He moves to stand between my legs and pulls the table on wheels closer.
Holton gets to his feet and comes to stand just to my side, eyes glued between my legs. I make the mistake of letting my gaze drop to his crotch, and from under his protruding belly, I see the pressing of his small dick against his slacks.
Pervert.
“I need to bear witness,” he tells me, patting my hand, which I pull away instantly. “I can’t very well see from there, can I?”
I barely breathe as I listen to them talk about the weather, about Dr. Chambers’ daughter, then about my vagina as the doctor lubricates his finger.
“You’ll feel pressure, but it won’t be painful, Ivy.”
I grit my teeth to prepare for the intrusion, but there’s no preparing for it as his cold finger slides inside me. It takes all I have not to scream. Not to fight. Because when I do try to bring my knees together, Holton pulls them apart.
“I must witness,” he says. “You’re not the first woman I’ve seen naked, I assure you.”
Is he bragging? I dig my nails into the sides of the table as the doctor prods, turning his finger this way and that.
“She’s very tight.”
I feel a tear slide down the side of my face.
“Almost done,” he says. “Just a moment longer.”
I’m pretty sure he’s felt my hymen, if that’s even a thing, and this is simply for my humiliation and a visual aid for when they jerk off later.
“There.” The doctor pulls his finger away and wipes it off on a paper towel.
I let my knees drop closed and exhale.
My brother is on his feet, anxious.
“Virgin,” Dr. Chambers says.
I could have told them that.
“Well, not that I had any doubt,” Abel says.
I start to get up.
“Not yet,” Holton says, holding me down, pulling my robe wide to expose my breasts again when I try to close it.
I look at him, and his eyes are nowhere near my face.
“She is spectacular,” he says. “Too bad she’ll go to that bastard.”
“Can I go?” I ask, my voice sounding strange.
“Just one more thing,” Dr. Chambers says. He looks at my brother who simply nods. He picks up the needle lying beside the open tube of lubricant.
“What is that?”
“Vitamins,” my brother answers before the doctor can.
I don’t even argue as the needle comes to my arm. I want to get off this table. Out of here. I want to get away from these men, and I’m not sure how much longer I can keep from crying.
“There.” Dr. Chambers closes my robe. “You’re finished. I’ll certify the document, and your brother can take you home.”
I slip off the table as fast as I can, the floor chilly on my bare feet, but before I can get behind the privacy screen, Able catches my arm and stops me.
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” he asks.
“What?” I ask, just barely holding back my tears.
“Thank the doctor and Mr. Holton.”
“Thank them?” I wipe at my face, the first of the tears spilling, and I swear I can still feel that man’s touch on me, the other’s eyes.
“Yes, Ivy. Thank them for taking time out of their day for us.”
I turn around, and I look at them. I make myself do it. I want to remember their faces. I want to know who they are, and one day, I swear to myself, I will make them pay.
“Thank you,” I say through gritted teeth.
Abel releases me, and I disappear behind the privacy curtain and wonder if my husband-to-be has demanded this humiliation of me without even being present, what will he demand of me when I am his?
7
Ivy
Neither Abel nor I speak as he pulls off the driveway. I feel humiliated. Mortified. What just happened in that house is only now fully dawning on me, and all I can do is sit here in the passenger seat with my knees drawn up under my chin and my face turned out the window so he won’t see my tears.
“Take your boots off the seat.”
“Fuck you.”
He drops it. I’m surprised when he doesn’t retort or reach over and make me take my boots off his precious seat, but he doesn’t. Maybe on some level, he’s been impacted too?
I wipe my face with the sleeve of my oversized sweater, glad I wore it, glad to have the protection of it. It’s when we’re pulling into the parking lot of the hospital that I turn to study his face in profile, mouth tight, forehead creased.
His hate has aged him. Made him ugly.
“Why did you make me do that?”
“It was his request.”
“You could have said no.”
He pulls into the circular drive and stops before the sliding glass front doors, then turns to face me.
“It needed to happen. If you weren’t a virgin, or even if De La Rosa claimed you weren’t after the wedding night, we’d have no recourse. The entire family would be punished.”
“Do you have any human emotion in there, Abel? Anything at all resembling empathy?”
“Empathy is for the weak, Ivy.” He checks his watch like I’m holding him up. “If you want to see Dad, you’d better head in.”
I narrow my eyes. “You’re not coming to guard me? Make sure I don’t run away?”
Shaking his head, he shifts his gaze to the street, absently watching traffic.
“What is it? Are you upset by what you did?”
“Don’t be stupid,” he says, looking at me again. Eyes dead again.
“No, you’re right. That was stupid. I’m going to warn you now, though, if you ever raise a hand to our sister or try anything like that with her, I will kill you. I will murder you with my own hands. Do you understand me, Abel?”
He laughs. Well, sort of. It’s more of a snort. “Once Dad dies, I’ll take over guardianship of her. And do you know what I will do with her? I’ll sell her to the highest bidder.”
“You ca—”
“Don’t worry, I’ll wait until she’s of age. And when I do, there won’t be a damn thing you can do about it. So, go visit Dad. Hurry. Maybe your words will bring him back.”
“I’m going to kill you.”
“Only if your husband doesn’t kill you first.”
His words ta
ke me by surprise, and I waver.
Someone knocks on the window, startling me. I turn to look and find a tall man in a dark long coat and blond hair standing outside. He nods to Abel.
“That’s James. He’ll take you home when you’re finished. You have one hour.”’
“One hour?”
“I would have given you all day, but you’re not being very nice, are you?”
I open my mouth, but he puts up a hand.
“Don’t, Ivy. Just don’t. Go before I change my mind altogether.”
Is he going to steal this from me too? “Please, Abel.” I feel my eyes fill up again.
“Please, Abel,” he mimics, making his voice higher than it is.
I give him the finger and push my door open. I have one foot out the door when he calls my name.
“Ivy.”
I turn.
“It’s tomorrow tonight.”
“What’s tomorrow tonight?”
“The big day.”
“What?”
“At midnight.”
“Tomorrow?” Cold washes over me.
He checks his watch. “Fifty-seven minutes.”
“I hate you,” I tell him and step out of the car, then pass James, who follows me through the sliding glass doors into the hospital.
8
Santiago
“Dominus et Deuce.” Abel utters the forced show of respect for my rank as he bows before me in greeting.
My study at De La Rosa Manor is dark, all the monitors on the wall turned off for the day. But even so, I can tell as I glance down at Abel Moreno, he is not a man who likes to bow to anyone. He feels he deserves better, and I’m certain his ego insists on it. I’ve always detected a hint of his resentment, even as he offers his respect.
For all intents and purposes, Abel may as well be a bastard. His connection to IVI is weak at best. He was Eli’s first and only son, but he was not born to the woman The Society chose for him. Therefore, he will never truly be of importance in our world. It’s a simple concept to grasp, even for someone like him, but accepting it is another matter.
Requiem of the Soul: A Sovereign Sons Novel Page 5
