The bell rang. Since I wasn’t expecting anyone, I was hesitant opening the door but was relieved when I saw Seamus. My relief soon turned to confusion and worry when I took in his cold expression.
“Seamus, has anything happened?”
He gave me a tight smile. “Lorcan needs to see you. It’s urgent.”
I glanced back at Finn, who was doing a puzzle.
“Maeve will watch him.”
I nodded, but something wasn’t right. The little hairs on my neck stood on end. Lorcan had been a bit odd last night too. What if they suspected me? But would Lorcan have sent Seamus to pick me up if that were the case?
“I’ll just put on shoes and tell Finn.”
I went inside but Seamus followed me, which only made me more anxious. I told Finn about the change in plans, trying not to let him see or feel my worry. Maybe I was just overreacting. In the first few days after hiding the bugs, I’d constantly been on edge and terrified that Lorcan would find them. While Seamus was busy with Finn, I quickly felt under the kitchen table. The bug was still where I’d left it. If Lorcan had found it, he would have removed it and confronted me right away. Unless he’d only found the bug in his car. I shook my head. I was driving myself insane.
I put on shoes then helped Finn into his before we headed down to Seamus’ car. He kept telling jokes to Finn, which made me feel much better.
I waved at Maeve when she came outside to take Finn from the car, then we headed toward the harbor. Seamus became very quiet now that we were alone. I regarded him closely, trying to find out what was wrong.
When we pulled up in front of the warehouse, I didn’t see Lorcan anywhere. Seamus and I got out. Resisting the urge to run away, I followed Seamus into the warehouse. Lorcan came out of his office and headed our way.
I met his gaze, needing some affirmation that I was being stupid, but the hard look in his eyes only kindled my worry.
He stopped in front of me and leaned close to kiss my throat and ear. “Did you really think I wouldn’t find out that you’re a snitch, Aislinn?”
I froze. “I don’t know what you mean.” The words were rushed and squeaky, not controlled and indignant like they should have been.
He grabbed me by the throat and pulled back to glare at me, his eyes flashing with pure fury. “Don’t lie to me. I know you’re working with the police.”
I swallowed, terrified. I should have never agreed to that deal. So far the police hadn’t helped me find Imogen.
“Undress. I want to make sure we remove every bug on your body.”
My eyes widened. “Lorcan—”
“Seamus, go outside and make sure no one comes in while I search her for bugs.” Seamus nodded without even a glance at me, as if he couldn’t even look at me after what I’d done, and left.
“Lorcan—”
The look on Lorcan’s face had me shutting my mouth. He looked truly scary, like he wanted to kill me. I had a feeling that was the standard punishment for traitors. He wouldn’t care why I’d done it. “I’m not wearing any bugs,” I said quietly, knowing now wasn’t the time for provocation.
“Undress now.”
Lorcan crossed his arms before his chest and waited.
Swallowing hard, I got out of my dress, then removed my underwear.
I stood before him completely naked, like I had done so many times before, but this time I felt dirty and ashamed under his cold scrutiny.
Lorcan circled me like he’d done that first evening. He glared down at me, and I almost buckled under his rage. “Lift your arms.”
I did. He lifted my hair, felt my scalp.
“Bend forward and part your ass cheeks.”
I blinked, remembering a report about how they searched inmates the same way. I bent forward and parted my ass cheeks.
“You can stand.”
I did and turned back to him.
His wary eyes settled on my pussy.
“If I’d hidden a bug there, you would have found it right away,” I said then let out a choked laugh.
For a second, I thought he might laugh too.
“You can get dressed again,” he growled, and I quickly put my clothes back on.
“Lorcan, I don’t know what you think you know but—”
“I found the bugs and I questioned Desmond. Every word out of your mouth is wasted energy and time.
“Seamus!” he called. Desperate, I tried to reach for his arm. He shook me off. “Take her into the back room and chain her to the ceiling.”
My eyes grew wide, but before I could ask him to reconsider, Lorcan disappeared from view.
Seamus grabbed my arm, and I screamed out of reflex.
“Nobody will come to help you,” he said matter-of-factly and dragged me through a side door into a smaller hall with chains hanging from the ceiling. My stomach flipped.
“Please, Seamus. Maeve is my friend. Don’t do this.”
Seamus looked at me with contempt. I wouldn’t receive any pity from him. “I told you not to break Lorcan’s trust.”
“I didn’t mean to.” He scoffed. “I never had his trust to begin with.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” He put the cold cuffs around my wrists despite my struggling. Then he tugged at the rope that was attached to the cuffs and pulled my up over my head until I had to stand on my tiptoes.
“Maybe Lorcan will make it quick. I’ll tell Gulliver to pray for your soul.”
“I don’t want him to pray for me! I want to live.”
Seamus left without another word.
What about Finn? Cold fear spread through me. But I couldn’t imagine Lorcan ever hurting Finn.
The cuffs bit into my skin and my joints ached from the awkward position. I wasn’t sure how long I’d been hanging like that. My tiptoes brushed the cold floor. Unshed tears burned my eyes and goose bumps covered my body as the cold of the room seeped into me.
Steps sounded and a heavy steel door slid open, revealing my husband in all his tall and broad glory.
He dragged a familiar chain behind his body, and in his other hand he carried a black baton, which looked like something that New York police officers might use. He sat down on a chair in front of me, his legs spread and the chain hanging from his hand resting between them. His expression was no longer enraged. It was now cold and calculating, which scared me even more.
“Lorcan—”
“Even on a chain, you look gorgeous, sweet Aislinn. Ahh, that sweet face that hid so many deceitful thoughts from me.”
“I didn’t commit deceit.”
His eyes flashed with anger and he pushed to his feet and stalked toward me. The clanging of the chain on the concrete floor raised the little hairs on my neck. “What would you call it then? You worked with the police. You talked to them about me and my clan behind my back. That’s betrayal in my book.”
“They approached me. I didn’t go to them. They made me believe that you were responsible for Imogen’s disappearance, that you’d had slept with her before we met.”
“Jealous?” he sneered.
I had been a tad jealous but mainly sad and even a bit disgusted. I’d felt as if I was replaceable too. None of this mattered now.
“I never slept with your sister nor had I talked to her before I went looking for her on your behalf.”
I froze. He found her?
“I went to see her in Miami when I was meeting with Sergej. As expected, she was about to set sail with a rich Russian and didn’t give a fuck that you were looking for her.”
I swallowed hard. “You told her I was searching for her.”
“I did and that you were sick from worry, but she just didn’t care. She wanted to enjoy herself with her rich sponsor. I didn’t tell you because I thought it would only hurt you. I guess I was a stupid idiot.”
“I’m sorry. If I’d known, I would never have followed the police’s orders, but Desmond made it sound as if you had killed Imogen and that my family and I needed protection. They promised me protection.”
“I am the only protection you need!” he growled.
Not anymore. Now he was the danger. Could I make him forgive me? I made a mistake, a very stupid, grave mistake. “I didn’t know it back then. I never told them anything of importance.”
“Because you didn’t know anything. That’s why they made you hide those bugs.”
“I wouldn’t have told them even if I did. And I didn’t put the bug in the warehouse or in your office. I could have done it if I’d wanted to.”
Why hadn’t I? It would have been the logical choice. But I never even considered it. Maybe because deep down I’d never wanted Lorcan to go to jail?
Lorcan shook his head, his fingers tightening around the chain. He raised the baton and I flinched, expecting a hit. Instead, he ran the tip of the baton down the valley between my breasts, along my sternum, my belly button and then over my mound, briefly brushing my clit before dropping the baton. My lips had parted in astonishment, and to my utter shock … lust. Even hanging on chain, at my brutal husband’s mercy, my body longed for every drop of pleasure he could offer.
His eyes locked on mine. “I spent the last few hours thinking about what I should do with you, how to punish you for this betrayal. Death would be the logical choice.”
A heavy stone settled in the pit of my stomach. But fear of dying wasn’t the only thing I felt. What really surprised me was the sense of guilt that had overcome me when I saw how disappointed Lorcan was. And then a new worry hit me hard. Finn. “Please don’t hurt Finn. I beg you. He’s an innocent boy. He doesn’t deserve to suffer.”
“He’ll suffer either way. If you die, another one of his closest people will have left him.”
I swallowed hard. Oh God. Sweet Finn. He didn’t deserve any of this. “Please don’t hurt him.”
Lorcan shook his head with a disgusted look. “I know you don’t think much of me as proven by your readiness to believe I’d sleep with your sister and you, but I’m not that kind of monster. Finn is safe. I’ll pay for his flight back to Dublin where he can live with your mother again.”
My eyeballs burned from relief but also fear for myself. I’d never really thought about death, but now that it was so close, I knew I wasn’t ready to consider it.
“But then I realized I don’t want to lose you to death.” He picked up the baton and brought it up between my legs, pressing it firmly against my pussy. “Not yet and maybe not ever.” He ran the baton along my slit, causing my core to tighten and my body to warm from within, elevating some of the coldness I felt.
“I have to punish you. There’s no way around it,” he murmured, talking more to himself than to me as he watched the baton stroke my slit. He put the chain and baton down on the floor then carried a chair even closer but he didn’t sit down. Instead he moved so close his body’s warmth seemed to wrap me in a gentle cocoon.
He gripped the neckline of my dress and ripped it open until the piece of clothing came apart and fluttered to the floor by my naked feet.
“My arms hurt,” I said quietly. “Can you release me?”
Lorcan smiled darkly. “I won’t release you, not yet, and soon you’ll ache not just in your arms, sweet Aislinn.”
His eyes traveled the length of me. Goose bumps covered every inch of my body, and my nipples hardened to pebbles. I wasn’t aroused, not really. Fear was too prominent, and I couldn’t imagine Lorcan could bring me to the brink of an orgasm in a situation like this. He bent down and grazed my nipple with his teeth before his tongue darted out to swirl around my nipple. Then he pulled back and pinched it hard between his fingers. I gasped, shocked. He sucked my nipple into his mouth, the heat of it a stark contrast to the cold in the warehouse.
“Lorcan,” I began, but he suckled even harder, stealing my words. I swallowed and tried again. “I didn’t mean to betray you.”
He bit my nipple in warning, but I kept talking. “I just wanted to find Imogen and it was obvious that you had no intention to help me.”
His fingers hooked in the waistband of my panties, and he got down on his knees until he was at eye level with my pussy. He slid my panties down slowly but stopped when the top of my slit came into view. He reached out and nudged my folds apart with his thumb and pointer finger, revealing my clit. My core clenched, remembering what Lorcan’s touch could do. I was addicted to how he made me feel, the utter freedom I felt during an orgasm.
“Such a small part of you but so powerful,” Lorcan rumbled.
I didn’t understand Lorcan’s plan for me. Did he want to fuck me one more time before he killed me? He didn’t need to give me pleasure for that. Lorcan took the pad of his thumb into his mouth then slid it over my clit slowly. Eyes on my pussy, he stroked up again and again until my clit.
He leaned forward and drew in a deep breath. “I love the scent of your arousal. I’ll miss it.”
“Lorcan.”
Ignoring my attempt to speak up again, he rubbed me with the pad of his thumb, round and round. He raised his head to watch my face when my breathing came faster. My toes curled as the sensation built in my core. Wetness gathered between my folds. I was getting close, but before I could find my release in a firework of pleasure, he sat back, depriving me of his touch. He watched my flushed face without a flicker of emotion. Then his gaze slid lower to my pulsating flesh. I had been so very close. I still felt as if the brush of a feather would make me explode. I wasn’t sure why my body reacted so willingly. Maybe it was better than the alternative, the terror of my impending death. I couldn’t believe Lorcan would let me live after everything.
Lorcan picked up the chain from the ground again, instantly tearing me out of my pleasurable bubble. Would the real torture begin now?
He dragged the steel chain over the floor with a bone-chilling clang and stopped right in front of me. He raised his arm with the chain and held it close to my body. The icy steel touched my heated flesh, sliding along my mound and breast. I gasped as the chill spread through my body. My nipples hardened further, almost painfully, at the cool friction, and I caught myself wishing the chain would glide over my slit and not just my mound. Lorcan’s gaze seared into mine as if he too thought the same thing. He lowered the chain and swung the end between my legs, catching it with his other hand. Like I had wanted, he lifted the chain until it was pressed to my pussy lips.
Torn between icy shock and burning need, I sucked in a sharp breath. Lorcan began to rub the steel chain back and forth along my aching pussy. My lips fell open as I panted. Squirming against my restraints, I whispered, “Lorcan, please release me.”
“No,” he rumbled, increasing the pressure of the chain briefly, making me moan as it slid over my clit. He kept doing this until my breathing picked up again. I was chasing my release, but just as I was almost there, Lorcan dropped the chain unceremoniously. The harsh sound made me flinch.
“Lorcan,” I whispered, half pleading. The chain glistened from my juices. Lorcan pressed himself against the front of my bosy, and all I wanted was to free myself of the restraints and touch him, make him feel the same need for release, make him almost burst only to deprive him of my touch. Lorcan’s angry and hurt dark green eyes locked on mine, and my heart throbbed painfully in my chest. I shouldn’t have trusted the police. They didn’t bring me any closer to finding Imogen either. They only drove a wedge between Lorcan and me. It was strange to think that this mattered to me.
Lorcan kissed me harshly, his tongue conquering my mouth mercilessly. The fabric of his wife-beater rubbed over my nipples deliciously. I was already so fired up that the simple friction made me drip even more.
His fingers began to play with my nipples, twisting and tugging. I could feel every touch between my legs. “How long do you want to keep torturing me like that?” I whispered against his lips.
Lorcan’s eyes flashed. “Until you ask me to actually hurt you just so I allow you to come.”
