BOOM!
The steel lid slammed closed over my face, trapping me inside. “NO! NOOOOO!” I threw myself forward, slamming my head against the steel barrier until stars collided behind my eyes.
I couldn’t breathe…I couldn’t breathe! I COULDN’T—
THUMP! I sucked in hard gasps as the sound detonated in my ears.
“Stop fighting and you might just make it,” Daniels snarled and gave a chuff, sounding almost amused.
“Stop…stop, please!” I closed my eyes, holding on to the last traces of my sanity. “Let me out…just let me out of here!”
But there was no scrape of steel.
No glimpse of moonlight.
No breath of cold winter air.
Just this suffocating space.
Shallow breaths bounced back from the metal, warming my face.
“Thirty minutes, Vivienne. I think you can manage thirty minutes, after all…you survived worse.”
Survived worse.
Survived…worse.
My mind howled and raged, the screams consuming. I’m going to die in here. I’m going to die—
No.
Carven’s cold, guttural snarl cut through my screaming mind.
No, you won’t.
Because you’re a daughter…
Now start acting like one.
My breaths deepened, enough to slow the unraveling inside my head. I was jerked sideways and slammed against the side with a crack! Stars blazed to life behind my eyes as the steel box shifted and bounced, jostling me as we moved.
“Just until we can cut it out of her,” Ashwood’s sickening voice was muffled, but I heard the words.
My scalp burned from his cruel fist and my cheek had its own savage, throbbing heartbeat, a remnant from his fist when I’d tried to run. But it was Macoy Daniels’s words that gripped me. I could still feel the bastard’s hand around my neck as he drove my face into the seat of his limousine.
I was thrown sideways again, only this time I had enough time to jerk my hands up and push against the walls, cushioning the blow. Still, it hurt. Everything hurt.
“Move,” Daniels’s slimy voice sounded as I was thrown from side to side, then slid upwards before I stopped.
Were they burying me?
Leaving me to suffocate and rot in the ground?
You’re coming home with me…
Those words echoed from earlier, when he’d driven somewhere and forced me into this…this hell.
BANG! A car door closed before an engine started. I cried out as we moved, pressing my hands against the steel enclosure. The heat of my breath blew back at me, caressing the burning outline of Daniels’s hand.
I’m going to enjoy the fuck out of you. His words were all I heard, resounding over and over like my own personal torment. London won’t want you at all…by the time I’m done.
London.
London…
“Where are you when I need you the most?” I whispered out loud.
The vehicle sped up, making me press hard against the metal walls. “Think,” I whispered in answer to myself. “Come on, just think.”
I needed a way out of this. Whatever this was.
Hot, thick tears slid down my cheeks, stinging against the burn. I needed a plan. Just a chance—I swiped the tears away with my thumb and lowered my head, pressing against the cold steel—just one goddamn chance to get out of here, and I’ll run.
To where? London’s voice surfaced. Where are you going to run to, Vivienne?
“To you, asshole,” I whispered, forcing the words through my tight throat. “I’m going to run to you.”
I didn’t know how long we’d driven for when we slowed, then turned sharply. It could’ve been minutes, it could’ve been hours. It felt like an eternity. I squeezed my eyes closed, desperate to pull myself together, as the vehicle skidded to a stop, before I opened them. Car doors opened.
“You need to hurry up and get her out before the signal is triggered,” Daniels muttered.
“Don’t worry,” someone answered. “It won’t even be a blip on the radar.”
“Good,” the piece of shit added as I was jerked forward. “She’s quiet…it’ll make it easier now she’s broken.”
Now she’s broken…
Now…she’s bro—
The metal lid opened and sparks danced in front of my eyes. But then I blinked and they were gone.
“There you go,” Daniels’s ugly fucking face moved into view as he leaned over the box. “Nice and quiet now, aren’t you?”
Fight, Wildcat…Carven’s words pushed in once more.
He wasn’t the son I wanted to hear. Not comforting. Not kind. But he was here.
Snap the fuck out of it!
I flinched as Daniels’s man reached in, grabbed me around the arm, and jerked me upward. My head snapped forward. Cold night air danced across my bare skin. The pajama shorts and thin satin camisole rode high as they yanked me from the steel coffin they’d shoved me into.
“Get her inside. I want that thing cut out of her and her naked in my study in an hour.”
Now that she’s broken…
Are you broken, Wildcat? Carven’s savage growl reverberated in my head as they dragged me from the van.
Those blue eyes burned in my mind. Hateful. Demanding. A monster at any other time.
My own personal monster.
Just not right now.
I snapped my head upwards a second before my feet hit the ground. Instead of falling, I yanked my knees to my chest, then kicked out with all I had. The guard took the full force of the blow right in the center of his chest, knocking him backwards until he hit the ground.
I didn’t stop, didn’t even look around. I just saw darkness and trees and ran.
“Get her!” Daniels’s roar rose from behind me.
I sucked in the cold, night air and tasted freedom. I wanted more…I wanted so much more. Outlines of looming dark trees shifted with every jarring step as I ran. I headed for them, for the road…and London. The crunch of gravel came from behind me. I didn’t dare look, just unleashed a cry and drove my bare feet into the cold winter ground.
My feet stung and my chest was on fire as I pumped my arms and zig-zagged, racing for the road.
“No, the fuck you don’t,” a grunt came behind me.
I was hit and driven forward, headfirst to the ground. Agony unleashed along my face as cruel hands gripped the back of my head before he turned me around. But I wasn’t done fighting. I wasn’t anywhere near done.
I unleashed a scream and swung my fists, clawing anything I could get my hands on. I raked my nails down the bastard’s face as his hot breath drove into my open mouth. My scream seared along the back of my throat as I kicked and thrashed.
“Enough!” he roared, sounding far too much like London.
Only London wasn’t brutal…London wasn’t cruel.
Not like this.
His fist was a blur as it drove into my cheek, snapping my head backwards. Stunned, I tried to hang on, but my world was dimming and growing darker by the second.
“No,” I croaked. “No!”
The fist came again and smashed into my mouth. Crack! Blood bloomed across my tongue. The sting at the corner of my lips was as nothing as those bloody knuckles came once more.
Crack!
My head was thrown back and impacted the cold earth with a thud. A shadow shifted over me as my attacker rose.
“Tried to warn you, you fucking bitch,” he grunted as he reached down, grabbed a fistful of my hair, and yanked.
Pain roared through my head and poured out of my mouth. I reached for his hand, unable to do anything but shove to my feet, even as my world blurred.
Others raced toward me. Two guards, their faces indistinct through my tears.
“Hold her still,” one demanded.
A sting came at my arm, one I’d felt far too many times to count. I looked down at the syringe in my abductor’s hand and tried to hold on to the only thing that mattered…the memory of London and the sons. They were going to take me now. They were going to take me back to The Order.
I waited for darkness. I waited to be numb. Only, whatever they’d given me didn’t knock me out. Instead, my head swam as they hauled me upwards, carrying me by my arms and legs toward that van once more.
“Get her inside, for fuck’s sake!” Daniels roared.
My lips curled. The sting was savage, carving deeper even as laughter spilled from my mouth. I couldn’t stop it, even if I wanted to—and I didn’t want to. “Did I mess up your widdle plan?” I grinned, watching rage settle into his eyes.
He strode closer, grabbed my jaw and stilled the laughter. “I’m going to really enjoy tonight, Vivienne. Pity I can’t say the same for you.”
“Bring it the fuck on, you pathetic excuse for a man,” I muttered.
He clenched tight, pain tearing through my jaw. But I didn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing me wince. No, I held his stare, even if in that moment the bastard had three pairs of eyes.
The world swam as they carried me along a path and through a massive open door. It looked familiar. I tried to think. Tried to remember. Trees…long driveway…towering mansion. Something about a fire? But my head swam, swirling and darkening the moment I came close.
Boots thundered as they carried me along a hallway toward the rear of the house. The damn thing seemed to go forever. “I can’t wait for London to find me,” I croaked. “Or Colt and Carven. You know about them, don’t you?” A giggle rose as images of blood and carnage filled my mind. “They call them sons.”
The asshole who had hold of one leg lifted his gaze and looked at the other. “I don’t give a fuck who they are.”
“Not who they are, motherfucker…what…they…are.” I stared at his face, making sure I burned it into my mind.
“They’re going to come,” I whispered, grinning like a damn fool. “They’re going to tear you apart.”
“Shut the fuck up!” The one who gripped me under the arms snapped as they dragged me into what looked like a massive sitting room.
My vision blurred, but I caught the rows and rows of hardback books stacked in towering bookshelves. “Why is it that all the spineless pricks think they’re so fucking smart?” The question came from out of nowhere…and right now, I had no filter.
With a grunt from the scumbags around me, they threw me toward the high-backed brown leather sofa. I hit the hard seat with a thump. Splitting shards of agony resounded through me like a drum as the assholes stepped away.
“Get the doctor in here, now,” Daniels commanded.
From the corner of my eye, he stepped into view, shifting his gaze over me.
“You look at me with all that disappointment,” I spat. “You think you can just take me and I won’t fight back?” I pushed upwards. “I don’t think you’re used to that, are you, Daniels? Women fighting back?”
Those soulless eyes glinted.
I glanced at his pathetic boy-toy army as they slipped from the room. “You like them meek and mild, don’t you? You like them drugged so they can’t fight while you can do all the filthy, degrading things you want to them, don’t you?” I swung my gaze to him. “Or is it so they don’t really notice how pathetically small your prick is?” I lowered my gaze. “I bet it’s so fucking small they don’t even feel it. I bet it’s so fucking tiny that—”
“Shut. Your. Fucking. Mouth.”
“Hit a nerve, did I?” I whispered, lifting my gaze to his. I could barely see him through the tiny slit of my only open eye.
He stepped closer and I fought a tremor of fear. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing me cower. It’d take bigger and badder sonsofbitches to break me.
“You know, you remind me of something…” I whispered, staring up into his eyes, still talking even though my mouth hurt like a bitch. “A slug,” I added as he loomed over me and leaned down. “A slimy, cold, crawling slug. That’s what—”
SLAP!
I flew sideways and hit the side of the sofa when the blow landed. Layers and layers of pain. Cutting. Torturing. Punishing.
“You will not talk to me like that, do I make myself clear?” he snarled as he stood over me. “I own you, you fucking cunt. Do you get that? I can hit you. I can hurt you. I can do whatever the fuck I want with you. I can fuck you myself, and I can whore you out to whomever I want. What do you think about that? I might like to sit back and watch your body be torn apart over and over again. Stretch your pussy. Split your ass. I bet that mouth of yours will take so much cock. Maybe I’ll make you eat pussy, how about that? I can think of a few women who like to be licked.” He leaned closer. “How about I hold your head down and make you eat cunt while my men take their turns?”
Revulsion clenched my belly. Tight. Twisting. Agony stabbed inside.
“You mean nothing to me, do you understand?” he spat, his eyes soulless. “I got what I wanted when I took you from him.”
Terror filled me, making my arms tremble and my body quake. I tried to stop the tears from coming, but my body had a mind of its own.
“That’s better.”
My gut clenched with the words. I didn’t know what hurt worse, his palm or his satisfaction at my cowering silence. The rage that had driven me a second ago had frozen, leaving me reeling.
“Don’t make me have to break that pretty face.” He gripped my jaw, turning my gaze to his. “Because I will. I’ll beat you until you’re unrecognizable…then I’ll send a photo to the man you seem to have grown quite attached to. Let’s see if he wants you then.”
Unmerciful breaths consumed me. I hated him at that moment, hated his beady fucking eyes and the flabbiness of his drooping jawline. I hated the graying hair on his head and the pudgy fucking hand that gripped me. But I hated his power most of all…and the way he wielded it.
“It’s about time,” he snarled as the door opened and someone entered the room. He straightened as he released my jaw. “The tracker in her. I want it out.”
Wretched waves of pain ripped through my head as I turned to the man who strode into the room. Déjà vu hit me, but instead of the older doctor with his black tuxedo and annoyed expression who strode closer, I saw a kid. A fumbling young idiot who barely knew my nipple from my clit. That kid might have looked at me and seen someone in need of saving. That kid might’ve even interjected himself.
But not this man. Oh, no. He strode in, set his small black leather case on the small table beside the sofa, and unbuttoned his jacket. “You’ll need to hold her down for this.”
Daniels motioned to his men near the doorway. “That won’t be a problem.”
I shoved backwards as fear grew talons and tore me apart from the inside. “No…no…no…no.”
Daniels just looked down at me. “Grab her.”
They came for me, all three of them, and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do. I fought and kicked, scurrying over the arm of the sofa. But they were all around me, closing in around the rear of the seat to grab me. My spine bowed as I kicked and thrashed, the drug making me slow and weak.
“Over here,” the doctor ordered.
He was a blur at the corner of my eye, striding toward a desk pushed against the far wall of the room. I clenched my jaw, kicking and bucking, even though it was useless.
You want to be a victim? Carven’s empty tone blared through my terror. Then keep acting like one. You are a byproduct of what they created. You…are…a…daughter.
I went limp as they jerked and pulled, straining the tendons in my arms until they screamed.
“On the desk. Hold her.”
I hit the top of the wooden desk with a crack. Hands gripped me, slamming my wrists and my ankles to the surface.
“Her top,” the doctor demanded.
My camisole was ripped. The thin strings snapped and tore. I cried out, bucking as they snatched it from me. Not because I was bare for their sick stares. But because London had bought that for me…
“Give it back!” I roared. “Give it back to me!”
They cast aside the torn garment. I jerked my head to the side, watching the pale peach remnant fall to the floor. The outline of the guard’s body blurred as he moved. I just knew he was treading on it, crushing the fabric under his boots.
“That’s mine,” I cried as a hand closed over my breast.
“There’s the previous incision,” the doctor muttered.
Stabbing pain came and it was…relentless. I screamed, unleashing a savage cry. One that ripped along my throat and filled my mouth with blood. Those fingers pinched. Those fingers squeezed. Those fingers bore down until it felt like he was driving through my ribs and into my chest.
“There,” the doctor snarled, and suddenly let me go. Bloody fingers swam in my vision as the room turned dark.
“No, you don’t.” Daniels slapped my cheek, driving away the darkness. “You want to be fucking mouthy, then I want you conscious for this.”
He turned his head and gave a nod…and the sight of that chilled me to the bone.
Hands gripped the waistband of my pajamas and jerked down. I kicked out, screaming and howling.
“I did try to warn you,” Daniels sneered as he stepped backwards and reached for the buckle of his belt. “You wanted this the hard way…then the hard way it is.”
