Shit.
The room was pitch black, so I had darkness as my cover until he got over himself. In the meantime, I needed to maneuver my way across the room. He was too close. The moment I lifted a foot, it bumped into one of the drawers that had gone airborne when Silas flipped it. Tumbling forward on my hands, one knee crashed into a dull wooden corner. I drew in a sharp breath as pain ripped through my leg, trying to remain motionless and focused as tears pushed against my eyelids.
Silas had also gone silent, and I had no fucking clue how close he was. My heart thumped in my chest. It was like he was everywhere and nowhere.
“I’m getting pretty fucking tired of you making me bleed.” I felt his breath on my neck before hearing the harsh whisper and the implicit threat lacing his tone.
“You deserved all of it.”
He gripped my arm and used his left hand to pull my face closer, clamping my chin. My knee throbbed, and I was in too much pain to fight him.
Traitorous tears rolled down my cheeks.
“Crying, Helena? Really?”
“I hurt myself, asshole. Don’t flatter yourself. You’re not as scary as you think.”
His laugh was cynical against my ear. “I can be.”
The gravel in his voice shot through me, scorching a trail straight to my pussy, and adding to the need he’d left there back when we were on the train.
“Get off.”
Silas opened his mouth in response, but before he could say anything, the lock on the door clicked and swung open. Two armed men stood silhouetted under the threshold. I couldn’t make out their shadowed faces, but a prickly feeling against my skin warned me they’d come for me specifically.
Silas righted himself into a standing position, tugging me with him. I narrowed my eyes in disbelief when he placed a hand against my elbow and pushed me back, positioning himself between me and the men.
I wouldn’t look too deep into the meaning behind his gesture. Despite having tried to kill me on multiple occasions, I still remembered the man from when we’d first met, the one who thought he was saving the damsel from unwanted advances. He either had a hero complex or a ridiculous ego.
“You,” one of the men said in a low, even tone, gun pointed at us. “Come with me.”
Silas’s body went rigid, shoulders fraught with tension, as he lazily shook his head.
“We’re not exactly asking. Come willingly or by force. And I assure you, you won’t enjoy the second option.”
Seconds ticked by before either of us moved. Silas finally huffed a breath and took a step forward.
“Not you.Her.”
Shit. I’d been right.
But maybe this was the opportunity I needed. Being trapped inside this dark room would get me nowhere except killed or turned into somebody’s pet. And neither one of those was an option I’d accept. I rounded my mark’s large frame, but he caught my forearm, harsh fingers digging into my skin.
“Stop,” he growled.
I wasn’t sure of his motives, but he wasn’t about to ruin my escape plans. Ripping my arm from his grasp, I moved toward the men, trying to hide my slight limp as much as possible. Silas didn’t try to stop me a second time, and there was a part of me, deep down, somewhere I didn’t care to explore, that deflated just an ounce at his ultimate indifference.
Ten
LENI
“Strip.”
His command was low and drawn out, popping the ‘p’ as he leered behind thick glasses. The two men had brought me to a bathroom. The space was barren and cold, the surfaces covered by a thin layer of dust. I rolled my eyes to the far corner, where a bathtub had been filled halfway with murky water. Knowing where this was headed, I shook my head, aware my defiance would get me nowhere.
“I said strip.”
“Either you do it, or we do it, sweetheart,” the other fucker stated. “But either way, you will get naked and in that tub.”
