Blinding beams from the oncoming traffic bounced off the heavy downpour, making the headlights a piercing kaleidoscope. I winced and looked away, shaking the rain from my eyes as I stood on the side of the street.
Red, blue, and white sedans were blurs as the traffic flew past. A black sports car splashed through a puddle the downpour had left behind, the deluge instantly soaking my heels. But none were the car I waited for. Not…yet.
Still, he was coming.
The monster my sisters were afraid of.
A cold wash of rage ripped through me. Flickers of torture surfaced. Memories of when London St. James had held The Priest captive, beating him bloody to find the Devil himself, Haelstrom Hale.
But The Priest had given us nothing, nor did his brother, the bastard my sisters called The Teacher, Kane Cruz. It was The Principal we needed. The ruthless sonofabitch who did Hale’s sick bidding. He was the one who’d lead us to Hale.
Tonight, he would know who I was.
Because I’d introduce myself in a way he’d remember.
Thunder snarled overhead, pulling my focus back to the plan. I searched the line of traffic. It hadn’t been meant to rain tonight…yet, here it was. Almost like fate deemed this would happen, whether I was ready or not.
But what if I couldn’t do this?
What if I…failed?
Panic rose. Think of who this is for.
Think of Vivienne and Ryth.
Their faces stayed with me. Wide brown eyes that were quick to show anger; blue-green ones, etched deep with fear. I clung to the memories. Real ones this time, not from photos I’d hoarded over the years. But from days ago when my two sisters stood in front of me and I’d told them the truth. A truth I’d waited my entire life to tell them. A truth they’d both taken hard.
I steeled my spine and lifted my hand to stare at my cell.
Even if they hated me right now, they were worth fighting for.
A tiny red marker flickered along the street where I stood. I watched that marker inch toward me until it grew close. Ending that view was more terrifying than what I was about to do. Still, I pressed the button and turned my focus to the dazzling lights. Sparks danced in my eyes as I searched for the steel gray Audi I was here for. The sleek, dark blur hurtled toward me, almost prowling between the lanes of traffic to merge back into the lane closest to the curb.
There. There he is.
My dress flapped as I took a step, fixing my gaze on the street ahead. I knew what I had to do. Rain fell into my eyes, blurring my view. Only I hadn’t planned for rain. My heels hit the asphalt and my feet slipped in the sodden shoes. There was no terror now, just a numbness that plunged deep as I tried to resurrect my plan and lunged.
It all felt so distant.
The rain.
The traffic.
None of it was real.
Until I fell sideways instead of forward and that hulking blur of steel bore down on me
I turned my head to the dark outline behind the wheel, to the white flash of bared teeth and the wide, unflinching eyes. Tires skidded as the driver hit the brakes, swerving to head straight for me.
But it was too late. Too late to get out of the car’s way, too late to stop what was about to happen. I was in fate’s hands now…and a monster’s.
THUMP!
The impact was brutal.
My feet were snatched out from under me as I was tossed like a feather, my head landing with a crack against steel. But I had no time for pain before I pitched forward once more, coming to a stop against the rain-soaked asphalt. A scream sounded, muffled at first before it turned shrill and deafening. I didn’t know if it was mine or someone else’s. But it never ended, even as the pungent scent of rubber and grease invaded my lungs.
Rain fell into my eyes, forcing me to close them.
Please…
The plea filled me.
The heavy thud of footsteps sounded and a dark shadow descended, blocking the headlights. I blinked and tried to lift my head, until agony split my skull.
“Jesus fucking CHRIST!” The deep male roar came above me. “What the fuck were you thinking?”
“Oh, my God!” a woman howled, ending that godawful scream. “You just hit her! You just hit that poor woman.”
A moan ripped free. That one was mine, deep and choking, until I tasted blood. Shit, that was hard…fucking rain. This was no feigning being hit anymore. This was real.
“You were speeding.” The woman’s voice grew in octaves. “I saw you flying around those cars! Someone call the police!”
“No,” that voice boomed. Then silence. Silence while darkness rose inside my mind to greet me. Silence while the world seemed to slow to a crawl. Silence…until he spoke again. “I’ll take her to the hospital myself.”
What?
Terror rose.
This wasn’t the plan.
This wasn’t…
I tried to open my eyes and agony drilled through my skull.
“Just call an amb—” My breath caught as the pain split my head in two.
Strong arms slid under my back and my hips. My head dropped backwards, sending a stabbing wave through my temple.
“Wait,” I mumbled as that desolate emptiness grew bolder and darker in my head. “I said…wait.”
He said nothing, nor did he wait.
Just lifted me from the street and carried me through the night.
Pieces of my memory were snatched away by that rising tide of darkness inside me. My eyes stopped twitching as the rain suddenly slackened. The muffled thud of a car door followed, before a dark, masculine scent pushed in with every draw of my breath.
And I couldn’t stay awake anymore.
I was falling, slipping into that emptiness, but I fought it.
I shifted in the back seat, pushing against the rich black leather, knowing deep down the car was turning. This wasn’t supposed to happen. I was just supposed to glance off the car with barely more than a scratch. An ambulance would be called. Riven Cruz would demand my details, and just like that, I’d have an in.
But not like this.
This was too close.
This was…terrifying.
That pulsing wave pushed deeper. I moaned, fighting to stay awake.
Tires squealed against concrete. We turned again and again and again.
Until we stopped. I forced my eyes open, wincing as that unbearable wave slammed forward time and time again. The engine died. A car door opened and closed. Cold air washed in, stealing that masculine scent away. There was nothing for a second. He was a dark blur to my squinting eyes, standing in the open car door, staring down at me.
Then he bent forward, slid his hands under me once more, and lifted me from the car.
No.
I wanted to demand he put me down and let me go. But my mouth refused to work and the words wouldn’t come. Warmth pressed against me. A soft thud came from the car door before we moved.
The motion of his body rocked me.
The heavy thud of his steps was the only sound.
He didn’t speak, not that I thought he would.
Riven Cruz was a cold, vile sonofabitch.
Hospital.
The word surfaced.
He was taking me to the hospital.
I kept my eyes closed, my mind fading in and out. I faintly became aware of the rush of steel doors, then we were rising, floor after floor, until a faint jolt brought me back once more. I opened my eyes as the elevator doors opened, to see him staring straight ahead.
He looked straight through, not straight ahead.
Through the hallway.
Through everything.
As though he was a ghost.
He didn’t even adjust my weight as he stepped along. Gray ate at the edges of my world, forcing me to close my eyes again. Only this time I didn’t really surface. That hollowness held me under, holding me captive as only faint sounds registered. Footsteps moved away, then the scrape of a chair.
I breathed in the tang of antiseptic. A sting came in my arm, sharp and cruel. WAIT! Panic moved in, unleashing one…single…deafening beat of my heart for only a second, until everything dropped away completely.
There was no fading, no flickers, no…nothing.
Darkness.
That’s all that existed.
Until that darkness gently brightened.
My head swam. Sounds were dull and blurred. I moaned and tried to open my eyes, but my lids were so heavy…so very…heavy. I blinked and tried again. Colors were fuzzy. White. Gray. Black. The clink of a glass sharpened my attention. I inhaled hard, slowly focusing on the man in front of me.
A man I knew.
His head was canted down, staring at me as he lifted a tumbler half full of some kind of Scotch. I could smell the scent of it from here. The room sharpened and colors stayed where they were supposed to be. Especially the dark gray of those eyes fixed on me.
Terror pushed in, snatching away the washed out blur and plunging me into blinding clarity. Shit…shit. My mind raced a million miles an hour. I wasn’t supposed to be here, not in his apartment. Not with him, on a plush, oversized white leather sofa. Silver and black furnishings drew my gaze as I searched for an escape. Outside the floor to ceiling windows, the city sparkled.
Think.
I swallowed, my mind so slow and foggy as I desperately searched for a backup plan…a plan C, now that Plan B had gone to hell. My knees were bent uncomfortably. I shifted, lifting my hands from my side, until a tether snapped, jerking them to a stop. Something pulled on my ankles, biting hard.
I looked down. The room spun when I did that. The view of my bare thighs turned hazy, swimming harder. Whoa. Easy. Easy.
But as my vision cleared and the room sharpened, I saw just how much trouble I was in. My hands were tethered on each side of me, strapped to my ankles, in such a way, I could neither lift my arms nor straighten my legs. People didn’t do that, not normal people anyway. They don’t do th—
“Your name.”
It wasn’t a question, but a demand.
I lifted my gaze. The room shimmered again, then my squint sharpened on him.
My name…my…name…my stomach rolled as I tried to remember what the hell had just happened. The car…the rain…the goddamn rain. I opened my mouth to speak but my tongue was slow to work.
“Helene,” I slurred. “Helene.” King. “Montgomery.”
“Helene Montgomery.” He rolled the name around on the tip of his tongue and took a swallow, watching me with that stare that looked right through me.
He was waiting.
Waiting for me to panic.
To start screaming and pulling at the tethers around my wrists.
My dress was hitched up around my waist, my knees open and my panties on full display.
He looked at them…no, not looked. He stared. My body recoiled and muscles inside clenched tight.
“You stepped out in front of my car.” He lifted his gaze to mine. “Where were you going?”
Lies blended with reality. I licked my lips. “On a date.”
“A date.” His gaze returned to my panties. “They say if a man takes a woman home and she’s wearing matching underwear, it was he who decided to have sex that night.”
He moved to the side of where I sat and reached out, slid his finger under the strap of my black dress, and dragged it down, revealing my mocha brown lace bra, the one that matched my panties.
I lifted my gaze to his. He was still waiting for me to crack, wasn’t he? Pushing me to find out just how much terror I’d endure. I held that stare defiantly. He tugged harder, exposing the tops of my full breasts and the raised pink slash of a scar.
My scars.
I swallowed hard. My milky white thighs parted, the scars on them still hidden from view. But all it’d take would be one tug of my dress and he’d see.
Please, God.
Don’t let him see.
There was a tiny scowl, a pinching between his brows.
I wasn’t reacting like he expected me to react.
“On a date,” he said carefully. “With whom?”
Whom?
I licked my arid lips. My mind raced, pulling a name from thin air. “Michael DiAngelo.”
A twitch came at the corner of his eye. He fixed that cold stare on mine. “Michael Di Angelo,” he repeated, his voice deepening. “And what does Michael DiAngelo do for a living?”
My breaths raced. “He’s a…he’s an elementary school teacher.”
He looked down at the tops of my breasts. “And was this your first date?”
I swallowed hard. No. No more twenty fucking questions.
“Was this your first date?” he growled, baring his teeth.
Memories of that second before the accident came rushing back. He was a dark blur…a dark blur that curled his lips like an animal.
A monster. That’s how my sisters had described him.
They were right.
Riven Cruz was a predator and right now I was his prey.
My pulse skipped and sped. The tethers jerked tight as I yanked. “Undo my hands.”
He turned and walked away, disappearing behind me. I twisted on the seat, desperately trying to look behind me, until that agony roared back to life. I let out a moan and closed my eyes. Still, panic thundered, blending with the muffled sound of his steps.
I opened them once more, finding him next to me. Only, in his hand was a syringe. He met my gaze as he pressed the tip of the needle to my arm.
“No…NO!” I bucked.
But it was useless.
The sting came.
The plunger pushed all the way to the end.
I stared helplessly as that darkness moved in.
“I’m afraid you won’t be making your date, Helene Montgomery.” The Principal murmured. “Tonight, or any night for that matter.”
