Chapter 67

Vanessa

I grit my teeth as Celeste presses another lit cigar against my skin. Despite blacking out from the pain in our earlier torture session, she merely splashed water on my face and resumed her merciless work.

I'm starving and naked except for my collar, only because Celeste and Nathan couldn't get it off. I'm grateful for that, it's as if Diego is with me right now. My body is beaten, with cuts and burns everywhere. Let's just say my will to live has dramatically decreased in the last twenty-four hours.

But I made a promise to Diego—that I wouldn't give up, that I'd do whatever it takes to get back to him.

That's if they don't end up killing us both.

Celeste casually places the cigar back between her lips, igniting it with a flick of her lighter. Clad in a cozy sweater and cardigan that somehow doesn't have a single drop of blood on them, she looks like a gentle, old woman, but she is anything but. Diego tried to warn me about her cruelty, but I had no idea she was this