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I knew that what I had to say was only going to ive it away She only asked et it back"

His silver brows furrowed "What do you mean?"

Noas my turn to close my eyes in pain "The day after I arrived at the compound, Mendoza i with hiirls ere brought in Since I could speak English, I had to infor they had on theedly used to pay for their food until they were sold"

Bile rose in irls I had been forced to talk to I understood their fear even though I hadn’t received the saht from Mendoza Of course, irls, since I was selected to stay at the couess it was just two days ago when Iand keep it for her Since none of the other girls had been so attached to what they had, I felt I had to do as she asked So I took it And when Mendoza noticed it on my hand, I lied and told him I had wanted to pretend it was a present fro to play those survival gaeway cursed under his breath "I’m sorry you endured that just to er Tears of anguish Tears of desperation While I should have been touched by Dr Edgeway apologizing for the physical pain I had endured, the blackened part of my soul wanted to lash out at him How could he possibly think his sorrow could ever take away the degrading and deplorable things that I had experienced? Words only h But just as fast as the rage had risen up inside me, the more rational side of rief-stricken father trying his best to wade through the quicksand he now found hiot the chance to return it to her" My voice hitched as I in turnwith h, he slipped the ring in his pocket "I suppose we better get to the task at hand before Rev wonders what is going on in here"

"Okay," I replied as I wiped the tears from my cheeks with the back of my hand

He eyed the"While I should be grateful there was a hospital to bring you to in this godforsaken place, I’m not impressed with their level of care compared to back in the States," he reripped the edges tighter Closing ize It’s to be expected after what you’ve been through, especially with a eway pulled the sheet down and then eased own up overwell, no signs of infection" When he lightly tappedthat you’re sore Besides the surgery, you had been worked over quite extensively"

"What exactly did you have to do?"

Dr Edgeway didn’t iown back in place and pulled the sheet up Finally, after what felt like an eternity had passed, he cleared his throat "The blunt force trauma you sustained caused your spleen to rupture If Rev hadn’t found you when he did, you would have died fro in another hour"

Bile rose in my throat as I painfully recalled my last hours in the compound "I’m not too surprised that Mendoza left me to dieHe wanted me dead"

"It was pretty evident from your injuries that’s what he intended"

"So you just had to take out eway shook his head "The blunt force trauaze to nant?"

"Yes You were"

I could barely wrapbeen denied my birth control pills while in captivity, and since I ned by Mendoza, he didn’t bother with condoht of carrying that monster’s child made my stomach roil in revulsion At least there were some small mercies, and I had lost the baby As much as I loved children and wanted the a child of Mendoza’s

"But I’m afraid that’s not the worst of it"

"I’e caused a tear in your uterine lining that couldn’t be repaired The only way to stop the bleeding was to perforeway appeared to continue speaking, I couldn’telse he said Absently, my hand came to rest on my abdomen My now-barren abdomen "I can’t have children," I whispered in disbelief I suddenly hoped and prayed that at any htmare, even if it found me back at Mendoza’s compound

"You can’t carry a child, but you can still have a child of your own"

"What?" I questioned absently