He dropped to the floor in front of me with a brutal thud, his head hitting the floor hard. I sucked in a breath as my own knees wobbled.
“Fuck.” I collapsed onto the bed, staring at the man on the rug.
My mind was spinning. I tried to think. What the fuck…what the fuck? I clenched the bedding, trying to still the shakes. But it was useless, my teeth gnashed as they chattered.
What are you waiting for?
Run.
Call someone.
Who?
My father?
My team?
Hell, London, for that matter.
And say what?
I swallowed, my throat closed and dry. The remnants of the drug were still in my system, making my belly clench, driving the urge to retch into the back of my throat. Still, I stared at him, at the way his head was turned toward me, his lips parted, His eyes closed. Not such a big man now, are you? my mind snarled.
Michael DiAngelo wouldn’t have a clue what to do with a thing like you.
Those words resounded in my head, and my pussy clenched.
I hated that, how I’d come against his mouth, those sparks so goddamn blinding.
I’d never felt like that before. Never been used…wanted, the sole object of someone’s hunger, even if it was fucking sick. He’d put a goddamn speculum inside me, for Christ’s sake! Still, I wondered if he fucked like that? Like he was in complete control over my body, commanding every tremor and orgasm with those cruel fucking hands.
Michael DiAngelo wouldn’t know what to do…
But would he?
“Fuck you.” My words were a choked hiss.
I shoved upwards, my knees trembling with the effort. I needed water…and to think. Still, it didn’t stop me from kicking him in the stomach with my bare foot as I stepped over him.
I headed out of the bedroom and along the hall back to the kitchen. The place was staged for an open house, three neat tumblers filling an otherwise empty open shelf. I grabbed one, praying to God the water was still switched on.
One turn of the handle and I whispered thank fucking God, watching the water fill the glass. I drank, letting dribbles trickle down my chin as I drained the glass, then refilled it once more. Only I didn’t lift the glass to my lips. Not yet.
Instead, I stared out into the night. He was out cold. Now was my chance to run.
So why wasn’t I running?
You know why.
I clenched my grip around the edge of the sink. My sisters’ faces came rushing back.
No! Ryth’s voice was first. You’re not him…you’re NOT KING!
I flinched now, just as I’d flinched then. To hear that your own father didn’t just have two other daughters was tough, but to know he’d started all of this, all the Daughters…and the Sons before it was corrupted by Haelstrom Hale. It was too much. Especially in her condition.
She was almost due to have the baby…and Vivienne.
I winced.
Vivienne hated me.
An ache tore through my chest, making me bow my head. No, she fucking loathes me. I didn’t blame her. It wasn’t as though I’d been there when she needed me. Not when I was old enough to know the truth. She was in The Order by then, locked in those fucking cells…trained by the monster now lying on the floor in that bedroom.
I needed to remember that. He had hurt her. He had hurt them all.
Vivienne.
Ryth.
All the Daughters.
I closed my eyes as the images of that cellar slammed into me. My knees trembled, forcing me to buckle to the floor. I dropped, curling my feet underneath me. He had them killed. Even if he didn’t, he’d known it was happening.
He’s a monster.
Vivienne’s words rose.
He was a monster.
A sick, disgusting monster.
Why did you kill him? My scream rushed back…
I shook my head, desperate to rid myself of the memory of his answer. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t…and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to stop it. I closed my eyes and leaned my head back against the cupboard.
Because…because he looked at you.
Because he’d looked at me.
It wasn’t just his words, though, was it?
No. It was that possessive gleam in his eyes, the one that matched the curl of his lips as he bared his teeth.
Because he looked at you.
He’d fucked all this up over some guy staring at me naked, my legs spread, my pussy exposed for him?
The Principal didn’t act like that…not one bit.
Not the one I knew, at least.
I shook my head. No, don’t start this. Don’t let him get under your skin.
But he was already…under my skin and inside my head. I needed to get him out, or at least in the box where I could control him, use him even. I narrowed my gaze on the wall, picturing him still lying on the floor. If I ran now, I’d lose him and the only way to find Hale.
I shoved against the floor, grabbing onto the sink to help me up. My knees still trembled, but I held on and drained the glass, then washed it under the water, wiping my prints from the glass with a staged kitchen towel and carefully returning it to the shelf.
My steps were slow returning to that bedroom, fighting every instinct I had to run. I was giving up everything. My sanity. My freedom, even my life. All for my blood. They’d never know about this. They’d never know what I did to keep them safe.
Maybe this was how it was meant to be? Maybe this was…the balance? A kind of sick justice. They suffered then and this was me suffering now…like a deep, fresh cut. Maybe then that gaping, festering wound inside me might finally heal.
A moan tore from him, croaking and rough, but loud enough to send a shiver down my back.
Now or never.
Make the call.
Now…or never.
Standing at his back, I watched his eyelids flutter open.
Beep.
The screen of his cell lit up inside his pocket, making him snap his eyes open. I backed away quietly. My bare feet made no sound as I headed for the doorway. My pulse was booming as he slowly shoved upwards and looked around, leaving the last moment for me to turn.
I was headed for the living room when he unleashed a grunt and pushed to stand. That water sloshed in my belly as I frantically searched for something to occupy my focus…just long enough for him to find me.
It was like waiting for my death.
Seconds…seconds while I opened the cupboards in the living room, searching the empty cupboards while I tracked the heavy thud of his steps. I made my legs wobble a little as I clutched the edge of the cupboard. Making myself…weak.
“There you are,” he growled as his hand descended, covering my mouth.
I bucked, trying to control the instinct to fight.
“You fucking choked me?” He sounded surprised.
I’d done worse…a lot worse.
His hand muffled my roar as he dragged me backwards, slamming me against his body, leaving him to tower over me. I hadn’t realized how tall he was…and how strong. He grabbed my hands and wrenched them behind me.
“I’ll just make sure you don’t get to do it again,” he grunted, wrapping the same cord I’d choked him with around my wrists.
“Get the fuck off me!” I howled as he let my mouth go.
“I don’t fucking think so.”
He jerked the cord hard, securing the knot, then bent, grabbed me around my knees, and hauled me over his shoulder.
“No!” I bucked and kicked, driving my head toward his.
He snapped his gaze to mine. Those dangerous eyes held a warning.
Still, I defied him, thrashing as he carried me from that house and out into the night once more. I didn’t stop, even as he growled, swinging me left and right, searching for a way back to the car he’d crashed.
He swore under his breath, then I caught his mumbled words. “What the fuck am I doing?”
I smiled. “Fucking up your entire life,” I answered.
Slap!
I bucked as the blow landed on my ass and the searing sting followed, tearing through the soft flesh.
“One more word,” he warned, turning right on the street in the dead of the night, carrying a barely clothed woman over his shoulder. “One more fucking word and I’m going to use that mouth for more than giving lip, got it?”
I swallowed, falling silent.
“That’s what I fucking thought.”
A twitch came at the corner of my eye. If any other man had spoken to me like that, I would’ve laid him clean out. So why the fuck wasn’t I fighting? I knew why.
Hale…right?
I stared at the road under his feet as I bounced. Yeah, Hale.
He carried me down some tiny lane, coming out on the street where we’d crashed. I stared at the darkened houses, bouncing with every step. Cold moved in, the night air reaching under the bottom of his shirt.
My damn teeth wouldn’t stay still, chattering together. He adjusted his hold, wrapping his arm further around me to give me more of his warmth.
I clenched my fists, not liking the way he responded. Maybe he just wanted a better hold? Yeah, that was it. Because the reality was far more disturbing. I’d rather he hurt me. At least that I understood.
But this?
This…kindness.
I didn’t like it.
Not. One. Bit.
He walked for what felt like ages until the crunch of glass sounded under his feet. I turned my head, glimpsing the front of his Audi against the streetlight pole and thrashed, desperate to be out of his hold. “Let me the fuck down.”
“No.”
I jerked my gaze to his. That icy stare was fixed straight ahead as he reached into his pocket and rounded the car.
Click.
I froze at the sound.
“No.” I jerked against his shoulders, fighting him as he grabbed my thighs, yanking me down. “No!”
My hair flew into my face with the fall. But I didn’t land, he caught me under my arms at the last moment and eased me down against soft carpet.
“Can’t trust you, trouble.” He pushed me down and straightened, reaching up to grab the lid of the trunk. “And yet, I can’t seem to let you go.”
“No!” I shoved upwards. “Wait!”
But the trunk lid slammed down with a thud.
Blackness swallowed my world once more, only this time I was conscious.
“No!” I drove my heel against the side of his trunk. “Fuck YOU! Fuck you, you goddamn hateful MOTHERFUCKER!”
Thud!
The sound of the door followed.
I could hear him muttering and snarling before the growl of the engine covered the sound. Crunch. Metal groaned, shrieking as we reversed. That sound shouldn’t have brought me so much joy…but it did.
“Good,” I said. “There’s a lot more where that came from…a whole lot more.”
Just enough, though, right?
Just enough fight to make it real.
I jolted as the car came to a stop, then surged forward.
But that smile didn’t last, slowly fading under the roar of the engine.
I didn’t know where he was taking me…more than that, I didn’t know why he cared.
But he did.
Enough not to kill me.
And to kill another just because he looked at me.
The Principal was not the man I’d thought he was…
Which was terrifying.
