I let my eyes wander around briefly, but the images are too much, even for me.
Men in their late fifties are getting their dicks sucked by teenage boys. Some have shunned all morality and are actively fucking children. But then probably the worst box is the one that has a few people watching children fucking each other.
I'd known I'd see sick people in here, I just hadn't realized how sick.
"Do you think we'll find her?" Vanya speaks again, her voice hopeful.
I try to put the things I'd seen out of my mind as I turn my attention to her.
"I don't know," I answer honestly.
It's been months since Katya's disappearance and I'd used all the resources at my disposal to dig into human trafficking rings in the area, thinking she'd show up on auction.
She is, after all, the virgin daughter of a Pakhan. That's bound to get a pretty penny anywhere. So I'd listened to the chatter in the underground world, knowing I'd find something, eventually. And I had. I'd found out about this.
The Block, aptly named after its famous auctions, is one of the most exclusive human trafficking rings on the East Coast. Run by an elusive drug lord, it caters to the elite, and the most debauched of the bunch.
It had proven a little harder to get myself an invitation, and I'd had to put all my experience with computers into making an entirely new persona for myself on the Dark Web.
A bait here and there, and I'd somehow managed to snag myself an invitation. A VIP invite.
But tackling the Block had not proven that easy. They had regular auctions, and with time, the chances of me finding Katya slimmed considerably.
I've been coming here for a while now, and still no trace of her.
"We're not giving up, though," I quickly assure her.
After the mass orgy ends, the second event of the evening involves cooking a live man. Well, I can stomach this better than that.
A few times here and I'd learned that I can excuse myself from certain events that don't... tickle my fancy.
I'd certainly excused myself from the sexfest. Even now I shudder to think about being close to so many bodily fluids... so not appealing.
It's enough that I bathe in human entrails when I lose my mind, often waking up in pools of blood, with organs hanging off my clothes. I'm not about to engage in that while I am lucid too.
A man needs to maintain some dignity.
But my first trip here I'd won myself a taste of human flesh. Not too bad, but I'd overcooked it. I blame Vanya for that since she'd kept distracting me until the meat had burned.
After that, as a regular member, I'd been able to make my preferences known.
Vanya is yawning by the time the auction opens, and I borrow the binoculars from the table to carefully study every girl that fits Katya's age and coloring.
Hours later, though, we're back to where we started.
"What if..." Vanya starts as we make our way out of the club.
I look down at her, but a man in a black suit comes crashing down into me. I frown as I watch him fumble with some sheets of paper fallen to the ground, helping him pick them up.
"Thank you." He says, looking intently at me, his eyes oddly familiar. Yet I can't say I've seen him before.
His hand lingers a little too much of my own until I shake him off, moving forward and ignoring the way my temples throb with pain.
Odd.
"Hm?" I turn to my sister, briefly distracted.
"What if that man didn't sell her? What if... he kept her?" Vanya asks and I still, my eyes widening at the realization.
Shit!
I'd focused all my resources to find hotspots of human trafficking, thinking she might end up on sale. But this... Vanya is completely right.
What if he kept her?
"Then we need to double our efforts and find just who Misha's partner was."
Partners... He'd mentioned plural.
"We can do this," Vanya nods at me confidently.
"Indeed," I reply.
We'll find everyone involved. And when Katya's safe and back home, I'll refocus on getting Vanya's killer.
Who would have known, though, that the clock was ticking.
And not in my favor...
Chapter Eight
PRESENT
AGE TWENTY,
"Where exactly does it hurt?" Sister Magdalene asks me and I lower my head slightly, feigning pain in my stomach.
She makes me stretch on the infirmary bed while she pats around my abdomen.
"Here?" she asks, and I give a low moan of pain. Her brows knit together in concentration. "What about here?" She moves her hand lower and I react to the motion by squeezing my eyes shut.
Stepping away from me, she shakes her head, pursing her lips and regarding me pensively.
"I think we got a new shipment of painkillers in the back. Let me go look for them." She eventually says, propping me against the pillows and leaving the room.
I almost feel sorry for what I'm about to do, since Sister Magdalene is a sweet lady. She can be a little grumpy, but she's never been anything but nice to me.
How I wish she would have been in charge of the infirmary when I was younger.
All the injuries I'd collected over the years have created a mosaic of scars on my body. Maybe things would not have been so dire if she'd been...
I shake myself from my musings. I came here with a purpose so I can't linger.
Swinging my legs off the bed, I move towards the medicine cabinet, opening it and browsing the labels.
I'd borrowed Catalina's phone and I'd researched on the internet exactly what I needed to do. After my last confrontation with Mother Superior, I'd decided to give them a taste of their own medicine.
Besides a few warranted jokes here and there, I'd mostly kept out of trouble. Keeping to myself and doing my chores, I'd tried to avoid a conflict with another Cressida. But somehow I'd still come under Mother Superior's scrutiny and out of nowhere she'd decided to double my workload.
I'd never been one to scoff at my chores, since I know that everyone does their part to benefit the entire community. Be it kitchen or cleaning duty, I'd always done my best to do my job properly.
This time, however, the amount of chores that Mother Superior had assigned to me had been too much. Her reasoning? I'm done with my education, so now I can dedicate my entire time to the community.
For a week, daily, I'd been assigned to help prepare the food for breakfast and lunch, and then clean the classrooms in the afternoon when the lessons were over. It had worked fine, in the beginning.
But as more work accumulated, I started operating on automatic pilot like a robot. I didn't even realize how one day slowly turned into another, my focus dimming, my strength fading.
Until the moment of the reckoning, when Mother Superior had sent me to clean her office. Slightly sleep deprived and with my muscles strained from all the effort, I'd been a little absentminded as I'd tried to clean everything thoroughly. When I was cleaning her desk, though, I must have bumped into one of her vases because one moment I was focused on dusting the surface, the next I'd been scared out of my mind by the sound of something falling on the floor.
When Mother Superior had come to check on my progress, she'd taken one look at me cleaning the pieces off the floor and she'd gone off in a tirade.
I'd taken it all since it had been my fault the vase had broken. But she'd had to hit below the belt.
"I don't know why we took you in when not even your parents wanted you," she'd said smugly, and I'd tried my best to not show how much those words affected me.
She'd continued to spew more insults, and the entire time I could only think about how this is supposed to be a place to worship God and do good deeds. The entire mission of Sacre Coeur is to help others, yet Mother Superior and her army of nuns have only shown me that if you don't fit a specific mold of helpless then you're not worth anything to them.
They are always invoking a higher moral standing, critici
zing me and Lina for the circumstances that had brought us to Sacre Coeur, often forgetting to look at themselves and how their own behavior towards us doesn't make them any better.
Well, let's see how high and mighty they are in a less ethical situation.
My eyes roam around the rows full of medicine until I find what I'm looking for.
Pocketing the entire thing, I quickly scribble down a note for Sister Magdalene implying I'm all better, and then I dash out of the infirmary.
It's already dark outside, so I try to blend in the shadows, going straight for the church and entering it without anyone seeing me.
It takes me a while as I ransack the altar area, but I eventually find the container with wine. Unscrewing the lid of the bottle of pills, I read the instructions, measuring what dosage I should add for the intended effect. I calculate the grams against the perceived volume of the container and then I get to work.
Taking a knife from the altar table, I start crushing the pills into as fine a powder as I can. When I've done that to the recommended dose, I add the powder to the container and I stir it well.
Putting the wine back in its place, I leave for the dorm.
The following day, we all go to mass. The priest starts his sermon, and I can't help the giddiness inside my chest at the thought that those women are finally going to get what they deserve.
I barely pay attention to the prayers around me, my thoughts focused on the result of my plan. Too bad though, that it will not be immediate.
"Sisi, what's wrong?" Lina asks me when we return to our room.
"Nothing." I give her a smile, even though inside I'm a little too impatient. I take a book and I sit down on my bed, attempting to distract myself for a while.
It's only a few hours later when we go pick up some fruit that we hear of the wondrous thing that's come to pass.
All the senior nuns, including Mother Superior, had developed a rather nasty stomach ache, after which they'd promptly closed themselves in the bathroom.
There was one problem, however, in that there were not enough bathrooms available as nuns, and some of them had had to relieve themselves in nature.
"Good God, are they alright?" Lina asks the sister who'd relayed the news.
"Not all," she shakes her head, her lips pursed with worry.
"But... how could this have happened?" Lina stammers, looking concerned.
"Indeed," I feign surprise. "How could this have happened? And all at once?" I shake my head, trying to emulate their expressions of consternation.
"We don't know. The few that didn't make it to the bathroom were mortified. Poor souls," she says before glancing around suspiciously, "they used the bushes in the graph," she whispers conspiratorially.
Both Lina and I gasp at this piece of news.
"How terrible," Lina adds sincerely. Of course she'd feel bad for those nuns, even though they are the same ones who'd terrorized her before.
It's not a surprise, however, when Mother Superior, once she'd gotten her bowels under control, asks everyone for an emergency meeting.
I'm still chuckling on the inside, especially when I see all the victims in one corner, looking rather worse for wear.
My upper lip is constantly twitching as Mother Superior proceeds to talk about the incident as if it had been a sacrilege.
"Whoever did this will be punished." Her voice booms in the room. Everyone is quiet as she stares us down. But then, in the silence of the room, the growly sounds of a stomach reverberate in the air.
One of the senior nuns looks up guiltily, before dashing out of the room and presumably in search of a toilet.
I can't hold my laughter anymore, and a tiny giggle escapes me. Lina's elbow makes contact with my side as she gives me a look.
Luckily, it's promptly masked by Mother Superior's voice as she continues her speech.
"We've investigated the infirmary, the only place someone could have gotten the laxatives from," Mother Superior continues, removing the bottle of laxatives from her habit and holding it up. "It's missing half its contents. We know someone among you did this. If no one admits to it, then we will have to make Sister Margaret bear the punishment, since the pills were under her care," Mother Superior says smugly and Sister Magdalene pales.
"But," Sister Magdalene starts, but Mother Superior is not having it.
Placing a hand up to stop her, she addresses the room once more.
"You have five minutes to reveal yourself. If not," she nods at Sister Margaret, who is immediately resigned to her fate.
Damn! I didn't think it would get this far. Certainly, I didn't think Mother Superior would put the blame on Sister Magdalene.
Sister Magdalene's eyes meet mine from across the room, and I know I can't let her take the blame for something that's entirely my doing. Besides, I can add a little something extra to my revenge.
Taking a step forward, I exit the formation and I address Mother Superior directly.
"I did it," I admit. "I put the laxatives in the wine."
Mother Superior's eyes sharpen on me.
"I should have known it could have only been you," she spits the words, but I'm not deterred.
"But," I start, dragging my gaze around the room, "why is everyone else fine, then? Everyone partook in the communion wine. How come only a select few developed issues?"
At my words, she looks like she's been struck.
People start whispering, asking the same question I did. Why were they fine when the senior nuns were not?
"If you look on the box, you'll find the instructions as to how to consume the pills for them to be effective. Yes, they were in the wine. But only if you drank a certain amount of wine would the laxatives have worked," I point out, almost proud of myself for not faltering.
"How much wine did you drink, Mother Superior?" I ask, a little cheekily.
"How... What... You," she sputters, her eyes bulging in her head.
"What, it's true. You must have imbibed quite a lot... I wonder, isn't that a sin too? Succumbing to vice... tsk, tsk."
Her face becomes a mottled mass of red as my words sink in, and everyone gasps when they realize that I might be right.
"Assisi! You're grounded!" She yells, stalking towards me.
I move back, but I'm already one step in the grave, might as well jump all in.
"What about you? Or the other nuns? Shouldn't someone punish you for getting drunk on communion wine?" I know I'm overstepping a lot of boundaries and breaking a lot of rules in this moment, but as everyone stares at me, stupefied, I can only smile.
"Shut up, Assisi!" Mother Superior catches up with me, her hand circling my wrist as she tries to drag me out of the room. Lina looks at me with worry in her eyes, but I shake my head at her. This is my mess.
"Why? You're not so high and mighty now, are you?" I speak louder, addressing the other nuns, too. Mother Superior is dragging me by the hand until we're out the door.
"You've really done it this time, Assisi," Mother Superior continues to chastise me, but I can't find it in myself to care.
Not when she throws me into the dark, barren room I'd come to associate with all my punishments, not even when she tells me I'm going to spend all my time here until I repent.
When she locks the door behind her and I'm left in the chilly chamber, I take a seat on the floor, bringing my knees to my chest for some heat.
"Ah, but how can I regret it." I mutter to myself, a smile playing on my lips. Just the sight of the senior nuns looking embarrassed in front of everyone had been enough. Because I'd proven my point.
Not even they are above reproach.
Closing my eyes, I let the warm water pour over me, hoping to remove the cold that had seeped deep into my bones. I should have known Mother Superior would not let me out without a good reason. She'd let me stew in that dark room for close to three days until she'd come to get me, ordering me to get dressed and make myself presentable.
I'd been confused about her behavior, bu
t when I'd found out my brother, Marcello, had come to visit it had all made sense. She didn't want Sacre Coeur to get in trouble for abuse.
Tired and chilled to my core, I'd tried to put on my best performance, even though I'm sure I must have stressed my happiness a little too much, my smile strained as I'd tried to convince him my life was perfect.
I hadn't seen Marcello in almost a decade, Valentino being the only one visiting every couple of years or so. But this time, Marcello had a good reason for dropping by.
Valentino's dead.
I'd been shocked when I heard that he'd taken his own life. But I couldn't muster any other feeling aside from pity, since we'd never been close.
He would come by every few years to make sure I was doing fine, but it had always seemed more like a duty than his own desire to see his sister.
Marcello, though, had managed to surprise me this time. He'd implied he might bring my younger sister, Venezia, to visit.
I sigh deeply at the thought.
I've never even met Venezia. All I know about her is from Valentino, but even that isn't much.
It's funny how most girls brought up here are orphans, with no one to turn to. And while my own parents are dead, I do have family out there. They just don't want me...
When I finish washing, I go back to the room, once more putting on a mask and pretending everything is fine. Lina's curiosity about my brother is not helping either, since she can't seem to stop herself from asking questions.
A smile plastered on my face, I recount everything we'd talked about. I try to ignore the way my heart contracts when I think about the family I have behind the walls of Sacre Coeur. Because in the end, do I really have them if I can't count on them?
Time passes, and a new priest arrives at Sacre Coeur. Father Guerra's entire persona is shrouded in mystery, the rumors about his affiliation with the mob proving to be the most interesting thing Sacre Coeur has seen since Cressida's disappearance years ago.
Regardless of his potentially dangerous reputation, everyone is taken with the guy, including Lina. She'd had her reservation in the beginning, but seeing how he'd been kind to her and Claudia, she'd decided to put aside her prejudice against him.
Morally Ambiguous: A Dark Mafia Romance (Morally Questionable Book 4) Page 10
