A light and airy laugh echoes down the line, causing my hairs to stand on end and my stomach to churn. “Well, hello to you too, baby. You ready to get married yet?” Her voice alone makes me want to throw up. Add in the words sinking in, and I’m ready to pass out.
“I don’t have time for this, Natasha. I’m busy.” I try my hardest to sound bored.
“Oh yes, looking for thatboyfriendof yours. I almost forgot.”
My blood turns to ice.
“What the fuck did you do, Natasha?” My voice barely above a whisper.
Her laugh is so carefree it makes me want to rip out her vocal cords.
“Oh, Declan. Come on, you know the answer to this one. You come alone and take his place, and he lives. You marry me, and we’ll leave your little experiment behind. I’m tired of waiting for you to get over this little phase and be ready. It’s time for me to take my crown. Don’t keep me waiting,Beast.”
She hangs up without another word, and I barely make it to the bathroom in time for my body to retch as I empty the contents of my stomach into the closest trash can. The wayshe called me Beast. How does she even know about that? She fucking has him, and she’ll die before I let her hurt him. I’ll do whatever I have to. Even if that means marrying her.
36
Chapter Thirty-Six
Jakob
Ihate this fucking theater even more than I did when I was fighting inside of it. My head pounds behind my eyes as I lay in nothing but my boxers in the center of where we would typically fight. My hands and feet are still bound by metal shackles. The shackles are bound to the floor by an industrial D-ring bolted to the floor. My body is beat and cut up on every inch and it hurts to even open my eyes. Every few hours they come back and start beating on me again. That’s not the worst part though. The worst part is when they talk in detail about what they did to Declan as they beat me.
I’m going to kill them. They knew there was no way they could do this shit if I wasn’t bound. I haven’t been fed or had anything to drink for as long as I’ve been here. It’s been atthe very least a day. I know that because there’s a crack in the back wall, and I watched the moon through it until the pain got too much and I passed out.
My mind wanders to Declan. Is he okay? Fuck, is he alive? Please, God let him be alive. I’m spiraling for at least the thousandth time in as many minutes when a foot kicks mine. It’s smaller than the men that come here, which means it must behers.I realized she was behind this when I woke up in this fucking place.
“Wake up, Jake. My future husband is coming, and he’s going to be pissed if you’re actually hurt.”
I groan in response, unable to answer her. Yeah, before I’m actually hurt, meanwhile I was pissing blood earlier.
“I’m serious, don’t make me lose my temper Jakob, we both know how messy things will get if that happens.”
When the shackles drop from my wrists, I want more than anything to jump up and fight off these assholes, but I have no strength and everyone in here knows it. So when one of the men who have been fucking me up all day lifts me into a chair, I’m dead weight in his grasp. He gets me sat and chained to the chair without much of a fight, and I hate myself for it. My head hangs forward until my chin touches my chest. It’s too heavy to hold up by myself.
That’s when I hear it, tires screeching from every direction. I use the last of my strength to lift my head and smirk at Natasha while panic and fear seep into her bones. “Oh, yeah. You’ve pissed him off, alright.”
Her wild eyes wheel to the man with her, “We have to get out of here now. Leave him. He’s just going to slow us down. We have the backups for a reason.” Right before she runs out of the theater, she calls out to me, “Keep a close eye on themost precious ones to you,Chaos.” She cackles and then she’s gone.
The doors burst open and my brother and Dec run in. He looks so fucking handsome. That’s my last thought before my eyes flutter closed.
I’m jostled a second later as Declan’s panicked voice filters through my muddy brain.
“Stay awake, baby. I’m here. Dieter and I are right here. Your brothers and sisters are at the estate waiting for you.”
Damn, how badly did they fuck me up? I have more than one brother?
I fight to open my eyes as they break my shackles and I push words past my lips, “She’s gone. Said there’s a backup plan. Most precious to us.”
I watch Declan glance behind him to Rowan, who picks up the phone and starts making calls.
“It’s okay, everyone’s fine. Let’s get you out of here.” That’s Dieter, and when my little brother lifts me and helps Declan drag me out of my prison, I decide Declan and I will burn this place to the ground, with the fucking bitch inside of it.
The ride back to the estate is quiet aside from Declan mumbling to himself about injuries and supplies he’ll need when we get back. Dieter sits in the front seat taking notes of what he’s saying he needs. My entire body aches, but I slowly walk my fingers down my body until they brush the side of his hand, where he’s inspecting a bruise on my side.
His eyes snap to mine as he gently squeezes my hand three times. I squeeze his back to the best of my ability. My eyes drift shut again, and finally I feel safe enough to fall asleep for the first time since I woke up in that theater.
37
