LITMIR.BIZ

       Prologue

      He woke up in darkness again.

      His cheeks were wet, his heart battering his chest, and his screams for his mother and father still shredding his throat.

      “Get up, Numbers.”

      The vicious voice had terror expanding in his chest. The first time he’d heard it, he’d been terrified, thinking it was a stranger in his bedroom. But he’d soon realized it had been even worse. He’d no longer been at home, but somewhere narrow and long with no windows and no furniture. He’d been on the freezing ground, hands tied behind his back. That voice speaking heavily accented English, the language he knew so well, had said the same thing then.

      And that had been how this nightmare had started.

      “Seems Numbers wants another beating.”

      That was the other man. He believed he’d never see anyone but these scary men ever again. And they called him Numbers. It was why they’d taken him. Because he was good with numbers.

      He’d been offended when they’d first said that about him. He wasn’t “good with numbers.” He was a mathematical prodigy. That was what his parents and teachers and all the experts who’d sought him had said he was.

      He’d corrected them, and he’d gotten his first ever slap for it. It had almost snapped his neck, sending him crashing into the wall. As the shock and pain had registered, he’d realized that this was real. He was no longer safe and protected. Anything could and would be done to him.

      At first, that had made him angry. He’d said if they returned him to his parents, he wouldn’t tell them they’d dared lay a hand on him. The two men had laughed, just like he’d always imagined devils would. One had told the other that this Numbers kid might take longer to break than they’d thought.

      He’d still insisted his name wasn’t Numbers, and the other man had backhanded him on his other cheek, even more viciously.

      As he’d lain on the ground, shaking with fear and helplessness, the men had told him what to expect from now on.

      “You’ll never see your parents or leave this place again. You now belong to us. If you do everything we tell you, the moment we tell you, then you won’t be punished. Not too bad.”

      But he’d disobeyed their every order ever since, no matter how severely they’d punished him for it. He’d hoped they’d give up on him and send him home. But they’d only grown more brutal, seemed to be enjoying hurting and humiliating him more, and the hope that this nightmare might end had kept dwindling.

      “Shall we give Numbers a choice of punishments today?”

      He heard his tormentors snickering, could barely see their

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