Cage

Ella hasn’t looked at me the same since I told the truth.

Something’s changed. I can see it in her eyes.

She fears me now.

I hate the way she glares at me from her bed as if she’s keeping an eye on me. As if I could snap at her at any moment and break the glass confining us.

If I could, I would’ve already done it if it meant being closer to her.

I want her … I’ve wanted her ever since she came here. That longing has only grown the longer we’re separated. Now it’s at its peak. My muscles tense at the thought of touching her with my bare hands, feeling her skin against mine, tasting her on my tongue. My whole body roars with excitement when I think of her. And it’s only gotten worse these past few days.

I gaze at her sweet, succulent-looking skin, those perky tits, and the sweetness that’s between her legs. My cock tents in my pants. I can’t wait to get my hands on her.

However, I know I have to force myself to focus right now because the door across the room just opened, and he steps out. The girls immediately get up, and Ella watches him closely as he walks toward the black door and opens it up, disappearing inside.

Minutes later, the door to my cell opens, and he comes inside.

I close my eyes and take in a long whiff. I can smell the scents from the room beyond, husky wood mixed with leather. Delicious.

“Ready?” he asks me.

I nod.

He holds out a bag containing gauze, tape, and a bottle of energy drink. I take the bottle out and immediately chug the liquid, throwing it away in my cell. Then I take off my shirt and toss that in the corner too.

For a split second, I spot Ella gazing at my chest in amazement before she looks away at Syrena again. Both of them seem on edge … and for the right reasons.

I wrap my hands with the gauze and tape and make sure they’re tight and patted down.

“Now, make sure you give it your all. You know what’s at stake here,” he says.

I nod. “Yes.”

He squeezes my shoulder. “Don’t let me down.”

“I won’t.” I make a fist with both hands and mentally prepare myself.

“Good.” He pats me on the back. Then he pulls the rug away from the floor to reveal the circular pad, and I step on it.

Ella’s jaw hangs open as she approaches us and taps the glass. Nothing comes from her mouth, but I can tell she’s confused. Her eyes move back and forth between me and the black door, which is wide open. With a cocked head, she beckons me to go there.

She still doesn’t see it … still doesn’t understand.

“He won’t run,” Syrena says.

Ella’s hand retracts from the glass as she slowly steps away, her body quivering as she stares at me while shaking her head.

It finally begins to dawn on her.

I look down at the floor, refusing to see the defeat in her eyes. It doesn’t matter what they’re saying right now. All that matters is what’s to come.

He leaves my cell and walks out again, but before he disappears completely, he says, “I’ll see you down there.”

One final nod at him and I wait on my designated spot. He closes the door behind him and leaves me alone with the two girls again. The faster this is over, the better.

“You wanna know why he didn’t flee?” Syrena adds. “Graham is his father.”

Ella’s eyes widen, and the shock and desperation seep in like poison. I don’t know why I expected anything else. Yet it kills me to see her look at me like that. As if I just murdered the Cage that resided in her mind and replaced it with a monster.

Betrayal.

I know that look all too well.

But before I can say what I want to say, the floor underneath me begins to shake, and I know it’s time. The lever was pulled … and I slowly descend to the room below.

* * *

Ella

“What happened? Where’d he go?” Syrena clutches the glass as if she’s trying to hear what’s going on. “What’s that noise?”

I rush to grab my lipstick and immediately begin tapping the letters on the glass as fast as I can.

Hatch.

When I’ve tapped the final letter, she opens her mouth. “Oh, God. Did Graham make him put on something? Gloves?”

I tap once for yes.

“I think I know what it is,” she mutters. “Shit!” She seems in a rush as she yells at me. “Grab the rug.”

I do what she says and pull it away … only to discover a thick, round glass insert. With my jaw dropped and my eyes wide open, I peer through the hole into the deep room below. A gigantic pit lies below with a stage in the middle defined by a ring of ropes. Surrounding them are rows and rows of seats. About fifty men sit behind the ring, all of them wearing expensive suits. Scantily clad women pour drinks for them and give them snacks, some even sitting on their laps.

I can barely breathe as I notice a buff figure walking into the ring. It’s Cage.

I gaze at Syrena who seems clustered to the glass, waiting for me to tell her what it is.

“Well? It’s him, isn’t it?” she asks.

I pick up the lipstick and tap once.

“Fuck, I knew it. I’ve been hearing so much noise coming from beneath that rug that I knew there must be some sort of window. I knew that motherfucker was providing more entertainment for his customers.” She sighs. “Jesus. I’m sure that’s the exact place where they made me dance. A stage of some sort is in the middle and used for whatever they think is fun to see. The ultimate fun pit for rich men who want to throw away their money to see people do their bidding. It’s sick.” She looks away, swallowing as if she has trouble holding the bile down. “I wasn’t the only one. There were more girls, boys. Anyone they could get their hands on. I heard some of them. They begged to be spared. Some of them I never heard from again.”

I bite my lip, clutching myself as I listen to her story and then watch as another man walks into the ring to face Cage.

“I never imagined he’d put Cage there, though. Probably to fight, right?” she says.

I tap again for yes.

“Figured. But why’d he do all this for his father? Why would he let himself get beat up just for other people’s amusement? He doesn’t get cash. He’s not even free. He’s stuck in the same glass prisons we are. Why would he do it?”

I don’t know. I don’t understand any of this.

All I know is that Cage is about to fight this other man … because they’re definitely taunting each other.

In the corner of the large room, Graham enters and greets all the male guests, sitting down with them while smoking a cigar. It’s as if he’s using his own damn son to entertain his guests.

Sickening.

“Can you see Graham?”

I tap again.

“He must be trying to sell them on something, but what? He’d never sell his own son, right?”

At this point, I don’t know anymore. The sick bastard seems willing to do anything to get his hands on more money.

I can’t believe this is happening. One man, running an elaborate underground market … selling people.

Hiding us in the attic makes it very unlikely that anyone will find us here. It’s the perfect way to avoid visits from the police. If they break in, he’ll just pretend he’s paying people for their service instead of locking them up in glass prisons for his personal use. And if they don’t believe him, he can just pay them off.

Just thinking about it makes me wanna puke.

“Are they fighting?” Syrena asks.

I tap out the word no.

They’re still circling each other, and the men on the benches seem riled up about it. One of them stands up and yells.

Suddenly, Cage and the unknown man clash.

I quickly tap once to let Syrena know the fight has started.

Their hits are vicious. Powerful. Like mountains colliding.

It’s rough and coarse and not at all fair. The man hits him in the nuts, but Cage responds with an uppercut to the chin and then another one right in the nose. They’re equally fierce and brutal, but the look in the man’s eyes is murderous.

It scares me to the point where I’m actually hoping Cage might win just because he feels like the lesser of two evils right now.

I don’t know who that man is or why he’s fighting Cage, but it doesn’t look like an ordinary fight. They aren’t just fighting to win.

They’re fighting to the death.

It’s as if I’m watching two animals clawing at each other, and the men in the audience seem to be enjoying it even more. The harder they slam into each other, the bigger the wretched smiles on their faces, and the more they cheer. It’s wrong, so wrong, but when I look at Cage and the violent spark in his eyes, I know he’s enjoying it too.

It’s his footwork and the way he punches his opponent that gives it away.

This is not the first time he’s done this.

I just wonder … how many times has he killed someone?

This is cruelty, yet Cage doesn’t seem to see it that way. It’s almost as if he’s truly come alive down there in the ring. He’s no longer that shy caveman who barely communicates while locked in a cage. He’s a ferocious animal living for the kill.

And right then and there, he smashes his opponent to the ground.

Beating him to a pulp.

He doesn’t stop. Not until Graham whistles.

When he gets off the ground, blood is everywhere. I’m not sure which is his, but he’s covered in it too. Cage doesn’t even seem fazed by it. In fact, he almost looks proud.

My heart is beating in my throat as he breathes in and out so hard I can see his heavy chest muscles move. His eyes turn up toward the sky. Toward me.

I freeze the moment our eyes lock. The fire inside his seems unquenched. But I can’t look away. It’s as if he’s demanding me to see him. To see what’s become of him now that Graham put him down there. As if he wants me to see the real him.

Graham flicks his fingers and severs our connection again just like that.

Cage walks away from the body and jumps out of the ring. What’s left is a testament to a bloody fight where only one man could be victorious.

I lean away and sit down on my ass to process what I’ve just seen.

“Is it done? Is he alive?”

I tap once with the lipstick, but my movement is so damn slow. I still can’t believe what I just witnessed.

“Is he coming back up?”

Why does she want to know that?

He isn’t a prisoner. At least, not like us. That man down there is his father. The same man who took us. They’re family. There’s no way he could be a prisoner in here. Right?

But then why was Cage practically living right beside us in that very glass cage I’m looking at right now? Does Graham keep him there like some kind of animal? Just to make money off fights?

Just thinking about it makes me wanna punch the floor, but I don’t.

It’s no use. If Cage, the most powerful one of us three, didn’t flee … never got out … There’s no hope for us.

The ground begins to rumble again, and I recognize the sound. That makeshift lift is coming back up. I crawl away from the glass pane in the floor and quickly cover it with the rug. Not soon after, I see Cage’s head pop up from the ground. He stands rigid and proud, like a brave warrior returning from war, covered in blood.

“Welcome back …” Syrena says, clearing her throat.

She’s looking for an opening. She’s much more courageous than I am.

If he’s Graham’s son, then whose to say Cage is on our side?

He immediately unwraps his hands, not granting either of us a look. The shower suddenly turns on. I suspect it’s Graham’s doing. He must have a remote switch.

However, my attention is immediately pulled toward Cage who takes off his training shorts like he’s all alone and walks to the shower butt naked. He doesn’t even give a shit that I’m right here, looking at him.

Maybe he’s so used to Syrena not being able to see him that he forgot I could. Or maybe he wants me to see him. Because damn … the way the water forms rivulets as it rolls down his naked body has me enchanted.

I shake my head and put it out of my mind.

But then the door at the end of the room opens, and Graham pops in. Just his head. “I’m proud of you,” he says. “You did well.”

Cage doesn’t respond.

“You,” Graham says, looking at me now, “put on the blue dress and the lipstick.” He snaps his fingers.

I quickly get up and do what he says before I get in trouble. I don’t know why he wants me to do this, though. I don’t understand any of it.

Cage doesn’t seem to react to the man being here either. He just stares at the water on the floor pooling at his feet while his hand rests on the glass prison. Blood mixes with water as it disappears into the drain, and I can’t help but wonder … Did he really fight that man because he wanted to? Or is there some other reason?

It doesn’t take long for me to find out.

“Here’s your reward.”

Graham presses a button, and the shower stops running. While Cage grabs a towel to quickly dry off, Graham presses another button … And the black door from the glass cage to the room beyond opens for him.

And it also opens for me.