I wriggle around in the ropes as best I can, but they tied them so harshly I can barely move. It’s almost like they’ve done this before, and you know what? It wouldn’t even surprise me.
I know who these boys are just as much as they now know me.
We’re all part of the same crooked life, the same fucked-up story.
Only this time, they’re not the ones who committed the crime. And I am damn fucking proud of it.
Still, the way Felix looked at me chilled me to the bone. I’ve never seen him that upset. Like he wanted to rip my heart out of my chest and stomp on it.
Or like I stomped on his.
Not that it matters. What’s done is done. I can’t and won’t take it back.
That place can burn down for all I care. I did what I had to, to avenge my sister. But I can’t let them take out their rage on me.
“Ignore the firefighters,” Alistair tells Dylan.
Firefighters? So they’re already putting the fire out? That’s quick.
I groan loudly to capture their attention, but they ignore me.
I have to get out of here, but how? I can barely move my body except for rolling around, which is no use. And if they take me back to the society, I’ll never fucking see daylight again.
Maybe I can bite through the tape. At least then, I can call for help.
I start chewing away, trying to ignore the disgusting taste of the glue that sticks the whole thing onto my face, but the material is chewy and tough to get through.
By the time I’ve gotten through a tiny slit, the car stops, and Dylan gets out. Within seconds, the back door opens, and my feet are hoisted out. I mumble against the tape, trying to yell. “Huuu!” Of course, I sound like a cavewoman.
Dylan throws me over his shoulder. “You get the door.”
I can hear Alistair run up the steps.
Fuck.
I can’t let them take me in.
I look around, hoping there’s someone around to witness this, but it’s the middle of the night, and everyone is either sleeping or busy with the fire.
Fuck!
“Nummm!” I groan, pushing my tongue through the tape until I create a tiny hole. “Don’t do this!”
Felix’s bike stops right behind us. “Dylan, wait,” he says, and he gets off, puts his helmet down, and pulls the tape out of the back compartment.
“HELP!” I scream as best I can.
“Oh no, you don’t,” Felix growls, and he slaps an even bigger piece of tape onto my mouth.
Shit. All my effort down the drain.
They bring me up the steps and into the society house, and when the doors close behind us, my heart sinks into my shoes.
Guess escaping is off the list.
At least I got to avenge her. That’s all that matters.
“Where to?” Dylan asks.
“Upstairs. My room,” Felix says.
They all walk up the stairs, with Felix right behind me. Sometimes I catch a glimpse of his stone-cold eyes. And all the greediness that once shone so brightly has now been replaced with pure hatred.
I close my eyes and let out a sigh.
If I’m going to go down like this, at least I’ll do so with my dignity intact.
Dylan breathes heavily as he reaches the top. “God, this isn’t fucking easy when you haven’t slept.”
“Sleep later,” Felix says. “We’ve got work to do.”
“Work?” Alistair mutters.
Felix eyes Alistair as they march into the room. “Punishment.”
Nessie, the snake, hisses at me as the boys carry me inside.
Felix flicks his fingers. “Put her on the cross.”
My eyes widen.
The cross? That wooden thing I saw before?
Oh God, does he intend to use it as some sort of torture device?
I shudder as Dylan brings me to the device and sets me down, only for him to tie my legs to each end of the cross. I almost fall down, but Alistair captures my hand and pins it to the left arm of the cross while Dylan secures both my ankles. By the time they finish, I’m fully strapped in, and the ropes are gone. One trap replaced with another. Fuck.
The moment Felix pulls out a big knife, Dylan and Alistair step back.
I gulp as he approaches and lets his eyes travel over me. He zips down my coat and pushes the fabric aside, revealing my white shirt and blue shorts that I bought at a cheap store after I ran from campus.
“The damage you caused … you thought it would go unpunished?” Felix says through gritted teeth. “Think again.”
SLICE!
The shirt falls to the floor in pieces.
And even though my heart races, I keep my eyes fixated on his.
“I was finally starting to trust you,” he says, “and then you ran off and betrayed us.”
SLICE!
My bra splits in half and falls to the floor. His eyes slowly lower to my nipples, and I can see the muscles in his jaw tense as he swallows like he’s trying to hold himself back from ravaging me.
“Felix …” Alistair mutters.
“What?!” he barks, turning around.
“What are you doing?” Alistair asks.
“Isn’t it obvious?” Felix replies, his top lip inching up into a half smile as the knife slowly creeps underneath the fabric of my shorts. “I’m going to remind her of her place.”
SLICE!
Without looking, he cuts through my jeans, ripping them to shreds on one leg before slicing through the other piece. It slides off me like water, leaving me in nothing but my panties.
“But we were the ones who broke up with Eve. She has a right to be mad,” Alistair says.
“Mad, yes. Burning down our fucking school? No,” Felix says, turning to face me again. “That’s a step too far.” The cold blade against my skin makes the blood rush through my veins. “You touch the school … you touch our fucking families’ money. So now I’ll fucking touch you.”
RIP!
The panties slip off my body and onto the floor, and goose bumps scatter all over my skin. Two fingers immediately fondle me, and I’m having a tough time focusing.
“This was my pussy. Mine,” he seethes, rubbing my clit over and over. “But this little fucking pussy dared to fucking destroy everything in her path. And now it’s going to fucking pay.”
Sweat drops roll down my back as I struggle against the restraints while he continues to rub me until I’m dizzy.
“Shouldn’t we interrogate her?” Dylan asks.
“I’d rather have some fun first,” Felix replies, swiveling his fingers back and forth across my slit. “See her eyes roll into the back of her head while I deny her the very thing she craves so much.”
He leans in to whisper, “We may have broken up with your sister because she wanted it, but I have no intention of ever letting you go. Make no mistake, Pen. You may hate me, but you belong to me until the day you draw your last fucking breath.”
His fingers dive into me, and my lips crack from the tape splayed across, desperately trying to moan.
“You thought orgasms were nice?” he grits, thrusting in and out until I’m wet as can be. “How about being denied?”
He pulls out again, leaving me hot and bothered.
Fuck. I hate it. I hate how much he knows about my body. How to make me yield.
He walks to his cabinet, only to take out what looks like a silicon rose with a nub in the middle. My eyes widen when he approaches again and turns it on right in front of me.
He licks his lips. “Your swollen clit won’t stand a chance, Pen.”
He presses it against my pussy, and oh my God, the pressure is just like a tongue, but it vibrates. I’ve never felt anything like it before, and it quickly makes me pant.
“You can already feel it building, can’t you?” Felix says, narrowing his eyes.
Then he takes the rose away from my clit again, leaving me in a jumbled mess of wantonness.
With a wickedly dangerous grin on his face, he leans in to whisper, “I wanna see what you can handle.”
And he pushes the rose to one of my nipples, vibrating it until it’s taut, after which he covers it with his mouth, sucking then nibbling until it stings.
And I almost, almost want to moan.
Suddenly, he tears away and rips the tape off my mouth. The instant burn makes me hiss.
“Ready to fucking talk now, Pen?”
“Fuck you,” I retort.
He slams his fist against the wall behind the cross, making me flinch. “Why did you do it? We let you go, just like you asked. And then you have to go and burn down the fucking school?”
“I don’t owe you an explanation,” I grit.
He leans in so close I can almost smell the anger seething off his lips. “That school is our legacy, our fucking heritage. And you burned it down.”
A smile forms on my lips. “And it felt so, so good.”
The violence in his eyes reminds me of my own when I found out what happened to my sister.
“You feel better now, huh?” he growls. “After that little tantrum?”
He’s trying to egg me on, but I won’t let him.
“You don’t know what you’ve done.” His fist slams into the wall again, but I’m not scared. “I should kill you.”
“Do it then,” I rasp.
The knife almost instantly touches my neck. “Is that a fucking dare, Pen?”
“You didn’t hesitate when you let my sister die, so why stop now?” I taunt.
His nostrils flare. “You’ve got some nerve, begging for death.”
“Pen,” Alistair says, folding his arms. “This isn’t you.”
I laugh. “Not me? This is all me. All of it. You just didn’t want to see it through your rose-colored glasses.”
Dylan snorts. “Well, I am impressed, that’s for sure.”
“Thanks,” I say with a petty voice. “That means a lot, coming from the resident pyromaniac.”
His smug smile instantly dissipates. “I don’t remember you being this cold.”
“You didn’t pay attention,” I bark back.
“Jesus, put that tape back on, will you?” Dylan growls at Felix.
Felix pinches my cheeks together. “Give me one good reason not to, Pen.”
“Why would I?” I mutter through clenched teeth. “When you never once told me the fucking truth about my sister?”
“Hey, we didn’t intentionally keep anything from you.” Dylan shrugs. “We just neglected to tell.”
“You destroyed her life!” I shriek.
“It was a mutual decision,” Dylan says.
“She didn’t want to. Your father—”
“Enough.” Felix suddenly slaps the tape right back onto my mouth again. “I don’t want to listen to your lies.”
“My father what?” Dylan scoffs.
I muffle out more noises, but they all fall on deaf ears.
“She’s just trying to mess with your head,” Felix says.
He raises his brow. “If you say so.”
“She called you a pyromaniac.”
“It’s true, though,” Alistair chimes in. When we both glare at him, he adds, “What? He likes fire.”
Dylan sighs. “I do, though.” His eyes lock in on mine, and I don’t look away because I want him to know I believe it in my heart. “But pyromaniac makes it sound so … evil.”
He is evil.
All three of them are.
And they deserve hell for what they’ve done to her.
Felix toys with his knife, sliding it down my cheek, following the trail of a single sweat drop. “You’re part of that Ricci family, which means someone put you up to this. And if you won’t tell us willingly … I guess we’ll have to force it out of you, Pen.”
“If we’re gonna do this, might as well do it good,” Dylan growls, and he walks to the cabinet to pull out a candle. “Lemme work my magic.” He pushes Felix aside and lights the candle, and my eyes follow the flickering flame. “Ever been burned, little slut?”
I vigorously shake my head, desperate to avoid the fire as it licks my skin.
“Make it worth my time,” Felix growls at Dylan.
“Oh, don’t fucking worry, I’ll definitely light up the room.” A dangerous fire burns in his eyes. “With her screams.”
The candle’s wax begins to melt, and he tips it over right above my breast. When the hot wax lands on my skin, I swallow the shriek.
God, it’s so fucking hot.
Yet the moment it lands on my skin, it instantly cools and turns to a solid again.
“Fuck … do it again,” Alistair says, biting his lip as he watches Dylan play with me.
Even after everything that’s happened between us, they still want to fuck with me. Still want to possess me.
When I scream, Felix only laughs. “Scream all you want, Penelope. No one will hear.”
I struggle against the restraints and mutter some words against the tape, but of course none of it is audible.
Dylan merely smirks. “Oh, you want more? Well, all you had to do was ask.” He hovers the candle over my other breast, and my pupils dilate. “You wanted fire? Then feel the fucking burn.”
