Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 79253 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79253 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
I do so, and Rouge pulls out an old popsicle stick and sticks it down my throat. I gag on it, almost throw up, but I don’t want her to hit me again, so I keep my tongue stuck out as long as I can.
Finally, Rougey removes the popsicle stick. “Your adenoids don’t look too great. We might have to remove them.”
I don’t know what she means by that, but I just nod slowly.
“Next, you’ll have to take your clothes off.”
Warmth rushes to my cheeks. “What?”
“You’ve been to the doctor, Bianca. You have to take your clothes off so the doctor can make sure all your parts are working correctly.”
“But… But…”
Rougey grabs the hammer, stares at me. “Would you rather we test your reflexes again?”
My lip trembles, but I do my best to steady it. “No.”
“Then take your fucking clothes off, Bianca.”
She swore.
Mommy doesn’t like to swear. Daddy does it all the time. But Rougey is too young. If Mommy caught her saying the F word—that’s the worst one—she’d wash her mouth out with soap.
I slowly wiggle out of the T-shirt and shorts I’m wearing.
“Underwear, too.”
“Rougey…”
“Did I stutter, Bianca? The doctor needs to check out your whole body.”
A single tear slips out of my left eye as I slip the undies off.
“Good. Now lie back on the examination table…”
I don’t ever let myself think about it.
I can’t.
We were young. Kids have a natural curiosity about sexuality.
But it’s one thing for two kids around the same age to play a game of “show me yours and I’ll show you mine.”
Rouge was thirteen. I was seven.
She knew what she was doing. She poked and prodded my naked body that day, even explored inside me briefly. And it wasn’t the last time it happened. Every so often she’d drag me down under duress for a game of Doctor.
Eventually she started putting items inside me. Medicine bottles, a roll of quarters, anything that would fit. I learned to bite my tongue to keep from crying out. I knew if we were caught that the games would get even worse.
It did eventually come to an end, around the time I got my period. After that, Rouge seemed to have lost interest in me.
But it was a rough couple of years.
I never told my parents. Rouge would have had my head.
And now I know she would have had it literally.
I know now that my sister is capable of the most depraved, evil acts imaginable. The stuff she did to me as a kid was awful—truly, it was sexual abuse—but it pales in comparison to the destruction she’s left in her wake since she grew up.
And now she’s abducted two elderly folks—a man and a woman—whom I don’t recognize.
But it’s clear from Harrison’s wide eyes that he does.
“You heinous bitch!” he spits out.
Rouge smirks. “Language, Doctor. You really ought to be acting more professional around two of your patients.”
I gasp. These are two of Harrison’s patients?
“They’ve done nothing wrong!” Harrison replies.
“Have they not, Doctor?” Rouge pulls out a diamond-studded knife, slides it over the old man’s throat. “Within the breast of Lou Chambers beats the heart of the Seven of Spades.” She flicks her gaze toward the woman. “And Carol Lutwidge breathes solely thanks to her lungs.”
It hits me. Carol and Lou. The elderly couple Alissa and Harrison were talking about back at the hospital. Rouge has now confirmed their worst fears—that they live today because of the death of an innocent young woman.
“They didn’t know that!” Harrison’s jaw trembles, but he steadies it. “It’s not their fault. It’s you who are guilty, Rouge. You’ve killed countless innocents, all in the name of profit.”
Rouge narrows her eyes. “In the name of keeping people on the brink of death with us. People you love, Doctor. People that Ms. Maravilla, your beloved nurse, loves.”
“But Alissa also cared about May!” I cry out. “She didn’t want her to die, either!”
Rouge shoots me a glare. “Stay out of this, Bianca. You’re in way over your head.”
“No!” I stamp my foot against the ground, making the lighting fixture about Rouge’s bed shake. “I’m sick of being treated like the little sister, Rouge. I’m a fully grown woman with plenty of life experience.” I take a step forward. “Maybe you were Dad’s favorite, maybe you were the one he saw controlling the clubs, but he never envisioned you doing this. Hurting people! People with nothing to lose, who put their trust in you.”
A smarmy grin crawls across Rouge’s face. “Oh, Bianca. Sweet little naïve Bianca. I’ve only been the official head of Aces for five years now. Sure, I was basically in charge for a decade before that, but do you think all of this”—she brandishes her knife over Lou’s heart—“was my idea?”
I drop my jaw. “Dad was doing this too?”
“Dad, and our grandfather as well.” She chuckles. “Aces has been the front for our black-market dealings ever since Prohibition.” She shrugs. “I just added a new coat of paint and brought in a higher-end clientele. Increased our business dealings exponentially.”