Being naked was nothing to me. Being gawked at, stared at, ogled, and scrutinized, it all meant nothing…to me. Yes, I hated them all staring, of course I did, but I’d found it more infuriating than embarrassing. Yet to Leisel, to someone whose own body had been repeatedly used as a tool to both shame and embarrass her, it was everything. And after everything that bastard Lawrence had put her through, her body was finally her own, and I hated that these men had made her feel anything differently. Alex walked ahead of us, with Leisel and me following closely behind, and like a small triangle we trailed after the guard. I hadn’t even met this supposed boss man, yet I hated him already, hated him for the uncomfortable welcome his men had given us. But as I looked around, taking in our new surroundings, I couldn’t deny that I respected him as well. He’d accomplished a lot with this place, especially safety, and that was worth my admiration. Life literally teemed from every corner of this place, as if Purgatory were a busy New York City sidewalk, not an old factory complex stuck in the middle of nowhere.
