CHAPTER 5: HIGHWAY TOY
The night did not swallow Blackhaven completely. The neon lights glittered like the sharpness of a knife on a chopping board.
Vorak's convoy turned out of the city center at 2:17 AM, taking the exit to the North Highway. No sirens or police escort. Only the roar of the V2 engine, as fierce as a wild beast's roar.
Evelyn sat in the middle of the backseat of the first car. The ropes on her hands were untied, but the metal collar around her neck was still loose.
Viktor drove, Diego in the passenger seat, his long legs stretched out comfortably, as if they were on a night stroll rather than moving to a war target.
"Where are we going?" she asked.
Diego answered in a light voice: "To the place where you were... introduced to the city."
Evelyn turned: "I thought you introduced me at the casino." Viktor signaled, not looking at her:
"That's for insiders." Then he glanced at her in the rearview mirror. "Tonight is for the city."
When they reached the abandoned highway, the cars separated, their headlights shining straight at the concrete strip that was covered in oil and old steel fences. Not a single foreign car pased by.
This place used to be a busy road every day, especially at night. Now there was only wind and memories.
The two Lamborghinis stopped side by side, about a shoulder apart. Viktor stopped and opened the car door, got out first, followed by Diego, who circled around to the back, opening Evelyn's door.
The night wind blew against her skin, salty, smelling of chemical factory smoke from the north. Evelyn stepped out of the car, her bare feet on the cold concrete.
Viktor signaled.
A Vorak man came over and handed her a special sling, not a neck leash, it was threaded between her wrists, pulled back, stretched between the two low hoods.
There was no violence. But the position was enough to arch her back, the cold wind from the road blowing across her chest, her hips and legs held just the right distance between the two bodies of the car.
Diego stood opposite, arms crossed: "You can scream, if you want."
Evelyn curled her lips: "For who to hear? The crows in the junkyard around here?"
"No," Viktor stepped forward, standing behind her, his voice low enough to sound like a blade slipping from its sheath. "For you to hear."
She took a deep breath, to keep herself awake enough not to be afraid of this.
The wind blew through her thin dress, a chill ran down her spine. Each sling pulled her shoulders taut so that her body was suspended in midair just enough… to expose everything.
What she couldn't bear wasn't the position. It was the massed gazes of the men standing in a circle around her that were fixed on her, the silence as if witnessing a blood sacrifice.
It was as if she were being "performed" in front of the public.
Diego took a step forward, just one, but enough for his shadow to fall over her.
"Have you ever wondered," he said, his eyes sliding from her neck to her stomach, "why two empires stopped fighting over a woman?"
"I am not a weapon," Evelyn replied.
"Wrong," Viktor whispered from behind, his breath touching the back of her neck. "You are the battlefield."
The shiver that gripped her spine was not from the cold, but from the brutally accurate words that pierced her heart.
The sound of the car engine was turned on, the sound loud and making the pavement vibrate.
The wind grew stronger, the heat of the car hitting the night sky, the sound of the engine intertwined with the sound of the rope on her wrist.
Her body was caught between two streams of sensation, the heat from Diego's car in front, and Viktor's loud metallic roar behind.
She was in the middle of a collision of pressure and desire.
One of the men turned the car's headlights on full blast. The white light illuminated her entire body like a stages light.
Another played music, industrial drums, the bass so deep that the insides of her stomach vibrated with each beat.
Evelyn opened her eyes and looked straight at Diego: "This is demonstration, not a punishment."
He laughed: "For who?"
"For you," she replied. "Not for me."
Viktor placed both hands on her hips, holding them steady, but not pulling.
"Exactly," he said. "Tonight, you're not hurting for us. You're hurting for Blackhaven to see why it's silent."
She breathed heavily, her chest beating faster.
"Just showing off the spoils?" she asked.
"No," Diego replied, his eyes cold as cracked glass. "It's declaring sovereignty over the city."
The wind blew hard at night, and in a moment, Evelyn understood the real fear:
She could fall without anyone touching her.
Not because of desire. But because of her position and pride.
Between two factions, and two opposing directions. For her existence… bound by them.
A battlefield without bullets but full of invisible knives pointed at her.
The car lights suddenly turned off. The sound of the engine decreased. Only the howling wind blew through the entire city at night.
Diego leaned down, whispering loud enough for Viktor to hear:
"Today's beginning, is for the city."
He lightly touched the rope, not pulling, like tapping on the surface of a piano. "Tomorrow, that beginning will burst." Viktor released his hand from her wai. st, walked around to look straight at her:
"When you can't take it anymore, who will you choose to kneel and submit to?"
Evelyn looked straight into his eyes,
"And the third thing is not to choose."
Diego laughed, this time not mocking, but like someone confessing what he craved:
"A battlefield that knows how to resist… is more valuable than spoil that knows how to obey."
Tonight Blackhaven saw only Evelyn hanging between two wagons. Tomorrow
, it would see the city choose sides with her body.
Or… she would choose herself.