I hate the gleam in Duke’s eye as he wets his lips, glancing from his brothers on stage, then over to a pissed-off female who I hadn’t noticed earlier. She’s somehow escaped this entire mess of an auction. I don’t have a clue what her attitude is about, but I feel like telling her she’s a lucky bitch to not be forced to participate tonight. Her angry eyes are pinned on Duke, but he doesn’t seem to realize it as his focus has reverted to Kingston. “This isn’t your playground, Hawthorne.” He chuckles. “Forty-one hundred.”
And the end of auction buzzer goes off.
Cannon lunges toward the stage, but Archer and Kingston make a grab for him, both with one hand to his shoulder and the other hand to his chest. They’re in his ears, talking in low voices to him as his chest pitches wildly.
I bite my lip, but I’m suddenly no longer nervous. Not at all. These men. Whatever is about to go down. They will come for me. Protect me. Do anything they have to so I come out of this whole and unharmed in any way. I’m surer of this than anything else right now.
Duke chuckles, like he’s enjoying the hell out of the display in front of him. “Shoot, wait. We never gave the young lady a chance to introduce herself. Who might you be, sweetheart?”
Unsure what they want me to do, my gaze travels from Duke’s amused expression to Kingston, Cannon, and Archer. Kingston doesn’t even have to nod. I see the go-ahead burning bright in his eyes. I stare at the three beasts on stage with me. I wet my lips, my eyes blazing with contempt for these irredeemable assholes.
“I’m Elliot Ashford of Hawthorne Hall. I’mnotyour sweetheart. And you’resofucked.”
TWENTY-ONE
CANNON
I clawat my chest where my heart beats erratically behind my rib cage, but I know there’s no way to soothe the thundering inside until we’ve gotten Elliot free of this mess.
At her crowd-stunning words, that slick fucker, Mason, laughs. “Why wouldwebe fucked?”
Bear nods his head, continuing his buddy’s vein of thought. “The only one who’s getting fucked, sweet thing, isyou.”He snatches her up and tosses her over his shoulder.
He’s about to bound off the back of the stage when from beside me, Kingston thunders, “You’re not fuckin’ taking her anywhere!”
“Put me the fuck down!” Elliot gasps at nearly the same time, squirming in Bear’s grasp as she hammers on his ridiculously broad back with her fists. The dude is fucking huge, though, and doesn’t seem affected in the slightest.
Duke eyes Bear and gives a brief shake of his head before turning to face us and talking to us like he’s explaining the concept to a toddler. “No? I won her. You understand how this works, right? Hell, everyone in the room does, including your own brothers. I bid a larger sum of money than you did,” he says, a shit-eating grin on his face. “Therefore… Iwin.Now, I’ll bid everyone adieu so I can enjoy this prime piece of pussy.”
Elliot turns her head toward him and glares, gritting out her question from between clenched teeth. “What happened to consensual, you asshole?”
He dares to wink at her. “Like I told your keeper earlier—this isourplayground. We make the rules.”
My heart clenches viciously in my chest as Bear eyes me, a knowing smile on his lips. It’s obvious that his intent is to rile me as he twists his head toward hers because his gruff whisper is loud enough for us to hear him. “We don't really give a fuck about your consent, kitten.”
Duke jerks his thumb behind him, setting Bear into motion. He spins around and leaps from the back of the stage.
Fuck!
So much happens at once. Muttered, distraught curses from Kingston and Archer. A few shouts, but also laughter from the crowd. Elliot’s terrified scream, followed by a gut-wrenching cry when Bear hits the floor and starts running with her. In the few seconds it takes all that to happen, a choke hold develops around my heart. I can’t fucking breathe. And I can only think of one thing.Get to Elliot before they hurt her.
I take off, bolting to the door the trio from Bainbridge had escaped through with her. Kingston’s and Archer’s feet hammer the floor right behind me. With my jaw clenched, I twist the knob, hoping I’m not too late, that we can catch them. Find her.
Wrenching the mask from my face, a frustrated groan tears from me. The goddamn door won’t open. I slam my fist on it, but it doesn’t give. It’s a huge, heavy door, and I could try to go through it, but it might take a while—too much time wasted.
“It’s locked?” Kingston’s breathing is unsteady, wild with the same fury that’s flowing through me.
I exhale hard, giving him a short nod, noticing that he and Archer have also ditched their masks.
“Split up?” Archer huffs, both hands in his hair, yanking at the ends. His lip is a mess and there’s a bruise blooming on his cheek.
For only a second, I allow myself to wonder what the hell happened to him and where he was when those fuckers nabbed Elliot, but we don’t have time to spare with questions right now. Allowing myself to be angry with him is a waste of precious energy I can’t afford. Instead, I give a sharp nod, and we race across the ballroom to one of the open doors.
As we burst from the room, Kingston takes charge. “Archer, you and I will check the rest of this floor. Cannon, head upstairs. Check every fucking bedroom, bathroom, and closet.”
My stomach pitches violently at the thought of anyone’s hands on Elliot but ours. The red haze of anger coating my vision isn’t helping matters—I need to stay sane, not go off the deep end. With our plan of action decided, a second later, we lurch into motion.
Archer and Kingston head in opposite directions to cover the main floor of this fucking gargantuan house, while I dart to the stairs curving up both sides of the foyer to the second-floor landing. I start up one side, my shoes making noisy clapping sounds against the marble steps as I run. At the top of the stairs, I pause, unsure whether I should go right or left. There are two long hallways extending from the center.Fuck.
