Cold plunged deep inside, unleashing a trail of goosebumps that raced down my spine.
“Don’t fight it,” a command followed. “You don’t want to tear this beautiful cunt apart now, do you?”
That icy sensation pushed wider and wider and wider until a ratcheting sound came.
“So…fucking ruined.” His voice sharpened in my ear. “Unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.”
A voice I knew.
A voice I feared.
My lids fluttered open.
“I can’t stop thinking about you, Helene Montgomery. Can’t seem to get you out of my head,” he murmured. “And that is a very dangerous place to be.”
Pressure came between my legs. Cold pushed in…cold where there shouldn’t be any.
“You shouldn’t have stepped out in front of my car. Shouldn’t have…let me see you.”
Wake up now, Helene…wake all the fuck up! That faint voice in my head grew louder.
I sucked in a breath, fighting that blanket of emptiness that weighed me down.
Thick strands of russet brown hair were all I saw. His head was bent. Warmth licked my nipple, drawing it in sharply. A pinch followed, tearing a moan from the back of my throat. It wasn’t until he moved that I understood.
He was fucking me.
No…he was…
He froze, released my peak from his mouth, and slowly lifted his head. “No one knows you’re here, only me.”
Terror roared to the surface. I bucked, yanking the binding around my ankles, desperately driving my hips into the air. But my thighs were splayed wide and something was wedged inside me. Something he pushed in deep, gaping me open even more. I inhaled a breath and parted my lips to scream.
He moved fast, smothering the sound with his hand. “You want to scream?” Those cruel eyes bored into mine. “Go ahead. I like the sound muffled against my hand.”
I tried to fight. Tried to think.
Had he raped me?
It was the only thing that surfaced.
Had he?
I pushed the question away, trying to slow my out-of-control breaths. The last thing I needed was to faint. I fixed on him instead as he turned his head and looked down. My dress was gone, my bra and panties along with it. My knees were splayed wide, and I was completely bare. He saw it all—a hitch came in my breath—he saw everything.
“Your scars.” He shifted his hand, turning it to grip both sides of my mouth. “Tell me about them.”
“Let me go,” I roared, but my words were brittle and broken.
Please.
That’s what I really wanted to say.
Please, let me go. Please, don’t do this.
It took all my strength not to beg.
“You don’t want to tell me?” He trailed his fingers over my breast, then down my body. “That’s fine. I’ll trace them with my tongue, let them tell me themselves. How about that?”
My body clenched with the words. I looked down at my thighs splayed wide. “Get that thing out of me.”
His hand moved lower, to the top of my pussy and slid down.
I closed my eyes as a shiver tore through my core. Reflex made me fight, desperately yanking the tethers around my wrists as his thumb found my clit.
My pussy clenched. That cold inside me was so raw.
“That man…Michael DiAngelo. Were you planning on having sex with him?”
Who?
My mind struggled to catch up, taking far too long to resurrect the lie. What else had I said? I tried to remember, but I was dragged back to how that voice, so devoid of emotion, made my pulse quicken.
Desire rose. Sick, corrupt desire. I tried to yank my knees together and dislodge his sickening touch. “Get the fuck off me!” I screamed, wrenching my head away.
His cruel grip smashed my lips against my teeth, forcing my gaze back to his. Those dark gray eyes twinkled, incensed with madness. “Were YOU planning on having sex with him?”
“YES!” I screamed, tasting blood. “YES, I WAS GOING TO HAVE SEX WITH HIM!”
His jaw flexed, his lips curled. His breaths were far too fast for him to be in control. He was violent at that moment. Violent, terrifying…and mesmerizing all at the same time.
For some terrifying reason, I couldn’t look away.
“Then let it be me instead.”
What?
He lowered his hand, grasped my throat, and clenched as he rubbed my clit, pinching the nub until I bucked and twisted, unleashing a scream. One that set the back of my throat on fire.
“Scream all you want.” His grip slammed me against the back of the sofa. “No one can hear you.”
Heat and power radiated from his touch. He circled gently now, slowly sliding both fingers to either side. The more I fought…the more I felt him. The way he pressed his body against me. The way his hand never squeezed too hard.
Just enough.
Enough for him to thrust his hips against me, still fully clothed.
Enough for him to slide his fingers lower until they slipped over that thing inside me.
“Need to get you out of my head, Helene Montgomery.” He plunged his fingers inside. “And back in the game.”
White stars ignited behind my eyes. “No!” I howled. But it was more than a moan. A moan that came once more. “No….”
“You’re trouble,” he groaned against my ear, thrusting his hips against me. His hold around my neck was more of a caress. “Trouble I need out of my system.”
I bucked harder, driving his fingers deep.
My body betrayed me, sending an ache deep.
“Fight all you want, but you’re fucking wet. You want to be owned. You want to be used. You’re just a thing for me. A tight cunt I splay wide. I could force the toe of my shoe inside and you’d fucking come. Wouldn’t you?”
He pushed two fingers over that thing. His thumb flicked my clit.
I closed my eyes, shaking my head and unleashed a tortured sound.
“Go on. Beg.”
Tilted hips made him rub.
I squeezed my eyes closed and the grinding of my hips slowed.
“Eyes on me,” he commanded.
That voice.
That fucking voice.
“Now.”
I forced my eyes open, meeting his.
His lips curled, the smile bitter.
“Good girl.”
My body clenched with the words, and he felt it. That callous smile grew wider. He looked away, slid his fingers out, and that ratcheting sound released, letting my body tighten.
“Now come for me, Helene Montgomery,” he demanded, thrusting his fingers back in.
I shook my head, my body clenching around his fingers.
“Obedient fucking slut.” He pulled away, leaving his grip around my throat until the last possible moment as he rose.
Then he released me, letting a rush of air plunge deep. I shook my head as he stepped in front of me, then sank to his knees.
He lowered his gaze to between my legs. “Elementary school teacher.” He spat the words as though he was offended. “Fuck that.”
I slammed my heels down, driving my body back against the sofa arm to get away. But he grabbed my thighs, dragging me back down.
“No…NO!”
He forced my knees apart and lowered his head, licking my scars before he closed his mouth over my pussy.
The fight was snatched away from me.
His tongue pushed in.
He was so gentle.
And so fucking good.
He lifted those eyes to mine and opened his mouth wider, eating me out.
Elementary school teacher.
Tears blurred his face as my knees dropped wider. But it wasn’t under his control anymore. It was mine.
That ache rose, making me tug on those bonds. He circled my clit with his thumb and sucked, drawing that terrifying hunger closer. Throat muscles worked as he swallowed.
His lips glistened as he lifted his head, that relentless thumb making me moan and meet his thrust. “That’s a good fucking girl,” he said, splaying my pussy wide before thrusting two fingers in deep. “You want to be wined and dined, or you want to be grabbed around the throat and fucked within an inch of your life?”
My core clenched as he thrust harder.
Using me brutally.
I arched my spine.
Hating him.
Hating him…
“Just a nobody,” he grunted. “A nobody who likes to come all over my fucking sofa. Go on, nobody. Make a mess all over me.”
“Pl-” I whimpered, my head twisting frantically under those merciless thrusts. “Please!”
“Come for ME!” he bellowed.
White sparks exploded behind my eyes as my hips slammed upwards. He met those thrusts with his mouth, his tongue pushing in, making me clamp my thighs around his head.
My clit pulsed and my core clenched. I grasped the tethers, driving my breasts upwards.
A lick came along my slit before he lifted his head.
I sucked in panting breaths, coming back to reality.
Monster.
My sisters’ words rose.
He’s a monster.
He gave his mouth a swipe of his hand and rose, looking down at me with a possessive stare, before he reached down and gently pulled the speculum from inside me. “Michael DiAngelo wouldn’t have a clue what to do with a thing like you.”
I winced as my body clamped down. “Fuck you.”
He scowled, sucking in a hard breath. My gaze lowered to the tented, thick bulge in his pants. The sight of that slammed into me, making my body tighten once more. I forced my gaze away, clinging to that hate.
Thump!
The blow came from the door.
I wrenched my gaze toward the sound a second before he did.
Beep.
Came from a phone somewhere behind me.
He moved fast, striding around the sofa.
Thump. Thump.
The insistent blows came at the door. Terror plunged into me. I yanked the bindings as soon as his head turned away from me. As he strode around the sofa arm, the screen of his cell was still alight. I caught the message as he headed toward the door.
Unknown: Answer it. H.
H.
H?
It had to be Hale.
It had to be.
I shook my head. “No.”
But it was too late as he reached for the handle and opened the door.
It was pushed inward. Two men dressed in white plastic coveralls moved in without saying a word. They didn’t notice me, not at first. One placed a bag down onto the floor, then straightened.
He froze when he saw me. Then Riven turned his head, following that stare to me.
“What the fuck?” the cleaner muttered, glancing back at the man called The Principal. But it wasn’t terror or confusion in his gaze. It was anger.
There was a curl of his lips and a flare of satisfaction in his eyes. He grabbed his cell and lifted it, his fingers moving across the screen.
“What are you doing?” Riven demanded.
The cleaner never answered.
Seconds slowed. The thud of my heartbeat was suspended as everything moved in slow motion. Riven turned, finding me still naked and tied up. There was a flicker of rage in his eyes, an explosion that seemed to gather momentum as he turned back to the cleaner that was typing on his cell.
A roar came.
Savage and terrifying.
Riven dropped his cell and lunged, slamming into the man sent to wipe any trace of him from this place. The cell was knocked from the cleaner’s hand and sent flying, clattered to the floor, and hit against the sofa I was tethered on.
Thud.
Thud.
Screams followed, But not Riven’s as he pushed his thumbs into the cleaner’s eyes.
The other man with him stood frozen.
“Untie me!” I screamed. “NOW!”
But he didn’t. He just stumbled backwards, then turned for the open door.
Thump.
Thump.
CRACK!
I slowly turned my head, aware of the thunder of footsteps out in the hallway. Riven straightened. His fingers, that seconds ago had been coated with my come, were now covered with blood. A scream of desperation came from outside the door.
Riven just turned and strode toward the door, stopping to reach behind a cabinet and pull a gun free before striding out of the apartment. The booming of my pulse smothered the sounds…
Until. “No…No! NO!”
Crack!
A shot sounded, leaving nothing but emptiness behind. Terrifying emptiness.
Slowly, Riven walked back inside. He never looked at me as he walked to where I lay, just bent in front of me and grabbed the cell from the floor. Flecks of blood covered his face, macabre and breathtaking. He pressed the button on the phone, scowled, then lifted the gun.
No!
I waited for the muzzle to aim at my head. But it didn’t. He just turned and hurled the phone across the room.
“Shit!” he roared. “SHIT!”
I jumped at the sound. He retrieved his own cell, his frantic fingers moving over the screen until he lifted it to his ear. “It’s me. We have a problem. I received a message. Yes…yes and no.”
Only then did he lower his gaze, those cruel eyes meeting mine. “Cleaners were sent here. No, because I killed them. Yes…yes, that’s right. I don’t know. I’ll make some calls, find out what I can. You need to get ready to move. Yes, now.”
He lowered the cell and ended the call.
His silence was more terrifying than his screams.
“I said you were trouble,” he said finally as he stepped back around the sofa, disappearing from view.
Only when he stepped back around, he carried a syringe and a vial.
One I’d felt the sting of too many times.
“No!” I bucked as he lifted the vial, piercing it with the tip of the needle. “NO!”
He gripped my arm, holding me as he leaned down.
I reacted on instinct, drew my head backwards, and with a scream, threw my head forward, slamming into his.
He stumbled backwards, his eyes widening as his knees buckled. I flung myself sideways to fall from the sofa onto the floor.
A low moan came from him as I jerked my gaze to the bag sitting on the floor, then inched toward it. My ass skidded against the tiles before I yanked the bag, toppling it on its side. A knife spilled free, clattering to rest near my hand.
“Get the fuck back here,” Riven warned.
I didn’t stop, just grabbed the knife and yanked it against the tether on my right side, slicing it in two. My left side was next. I scanned the contents of the bag as I yanked the tethers loose. But there was no gun. Just the knife, tape, and some tools. I gripped the knife and shoved against the floor, lunging for the open door.
“No!” Riven roared.
Panic filled me as I stumbled, my feet slow to move.
Blood splattered the closed elevator doors. The dead cleaner lay on his back, arms out wide. I jerked my gaze to the keypad outside the elevator, a keypad that needed a code for me to access.
Fuck!
I spun, scanning the rest of the empty hall that ended on the other side of the building, then narrowed in on the fire exit…one that had a lock. SHIT! I lunged, my mind racing.
Red.
Red against white.
I jerked my gaze to the fire extinguisher hanging on the wall as a low, deafening roar came.
Move! I lunged forward, slowing just enough to grasp the heavy metal canister and yanked it from the wall.
An ache tore through my side. The wounds from the bomb blast were still healing. But I didn’t care about that now, just lifted the heavy steel canister over my head as I raced for the door.
I could hear his steps and his jagged breathing bearing down on me.
A mewl ripped free, my elbows trembling, still weak with the drugs as I smashed the extinguisher down with all my weight…snapping the lock.
Boom!
The canister hit the floor as I yanked the now busted lock, tearing it free, and the door swung open. Darkness waited, darkness and an empty stairwell.
I didn’t look back, just plunged inside.
And prayed.
