“What are you looking at? You really think you’ll get to see my young leader? Dream on!”
“You lot, take her to the room. Time for the third trial!”
The men around me grinned with excitement, rubbing their hands as they stepped closer.
“No! Please, just let me see him. I beg you!”
But they ignored my desperate pleas. Two of them grabbed me, one on each side and dragged me toward the house.
“Albie! Albie, help me!” I screamed with all my might, hoping he would hear me.
One of the men driving me forward struck me with a brutal elbow to the ribs. Pain exploded in my chest and my vision blurred as strength drained from my body.
I couldn’t even speak anymore.
The two men threw me onto the bed and the cactus spines still embedded in my back dug deeper into my skin. A sharp, searing pain nearly knocked me unconscious.
Through my haze of agony, I suddenly heard a familiar voice.
“Did someone just call my name?”
A spark of hope ignited within me. I whipped my head toward the doorway, my eyes filled with desperation.
There he was, Albie, standing just outside, frowning at his phone.
“You must’ve misheard, Sir. No one would dare call your name so casually,” one of the men beside him said smoothly.
“Oh, by the way, Sir, why didn’t you take the helicopter back this time?”
Albie let out a sigh. “I had a fight with my girlfriend. I went to the train station to apologize, but I couldn’t find her. Her phone’s been off, too.”
Albie went to the train station to find me?
I parted my lips, struggling to make a sound, to tell him I was here. But the brutal elbow strike from earlier had left me barely able to breathe. I could feel the damage deep inside, my body so weak that no words would come out.
"You’re in a relationship, Sit? That girl must be extraordinary," the bald man flattered him. "Next time, you have to bring her back to the tribe so we can meet her."
"Mhmm," Albie responded absentmindedly. "I was planning to introduce her to everyone during the New Year, but I made her angry."
"By the way, Uncle, prepare the helicopter for tomorrow. I don’t want her spending the holidays upset. I’ll go straight to her home and apologize."
He sighed. "Judging by the time, she should have arrived home by now."
Weakly, I reached out, desperate to tell Albie that I wasn’t home. I was here. He couldn’t leave. If he did, I would die in this place.
But no words came. Only silent tears fell, drop by drop.
I couldn’t just sit here and wait for death…
If Albie left, all hope would be lost.
"Al… Albie!”
I mustered every ounce of strength left in me and screamed his name.
He turned his head sharply, but before his gaze could find me, the door slammed shut.
Pain crashed into me again as fists and feet rained down mercilessly.
"You stubborn wench! Even like this, you still won’t behave? Let’s see how much more you can take!"
I collapsed onto the floor, my vision blurring. In the corner of my eye, I caught sight of a brick lying against the wall.
Reaching for it with the last of my strength, I barely grazed its edge before a heavy boot came down hard on my hand, crushing it against the ground.
"Aah!" A scream of pain tore from my throat.
"What was that?" Albie's voice came from outside the door.
The door creaked open.
"Nothing, Young Master," one of the men quickly said. "Just a disobedient wild boar. The helicopter is ready. You should go find your girlfriend."
The room was dark. My battered body was hidden behind two burly figures, blocking Albie’s view entirely.
As he turned away, my heart sank into despair.
