God, at this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if Charlie’s mother did too.
“She is finally awake,” someone shouted from across the room, which was large enough to be a ballroom.
The crowd parted and quieted like we were in some sort of sick movie, and Derek Easton walked toward me with a smirk stretched across his face.
No. No. No. No. No. No. No.
I scrambled to the back of the cage to keep my distance as he approached.
No. He’s going to … he’s planning to …
Derek pulled off the key around his neck and pushed it into the lock on the cage, opening it up enough to step inside it with me. He closed it behind him, the bright lights bouncing off his dark, sinister features.
He grabbed my ankle and pulled me toward him. I kicked at him, but it was no use. He easily flipped me around and dropped me on my stomach.
“Charlie!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. “Charlie, please help me!”
“Charlie isn’t going to save you this time,” Derek murmured into my ear from behind. “Why? Because you’re mine. Every woman he’s ever been with has become mine, one way or another. You just had to be difficult.”
“Get off me,” I cried, slamming my shoulder into his chin.
“A difficult bitch,” he spit, taking a fistful of my hair and shoving my head down against the bottom of the cage. With his other hand, he grabbed at my hip and pulled them up into the air. “One who will learn how to behave.”
Tears pricked the corners of my eyes, but that was exactly what Derek wanted. So, I made sure that none of them fell. I made sure that he didn’t have the satisfaction of seeing me cry because of what he planned to do to me.
Instead, I closed my eyes and prepared myself to deal with all the emotional damage that this would bring. I pretended that it was Charlie behind me and not Derek, that the people watching were those from Radiant.
It was the only way that I was going to get through this. I had to believe that Charlie had figured out what had happened to me, that he was doing everything in his power to save me, even if he didn’t make it in time.
“Don’t have nothing to say now?” Derek growled into my ear from behind, his hand moving across my ass. He smacked it hard enough to definitely leave a bright red handprint. “Hmm?”
I bit back a whimper. “Anything,” I corrected.
“What?”
“It’s, Don’t have anything to say now? Not nothing to say.”
Derek smacked me hard across the cheek—hard enough that I saw stars in my vision. Then he grabbed my hips and lined up right behind me. “I’m going to fuck the bitch right out of you, Athie. If you’re not going to cry, I want to see the tears fall from my brother’s eyes.”
CHAPTER
FORTY-FIVE
CHARLIE
When I reached my parents’ property, the gates were closed.
“We can’t let you through,” the guard said. “You’re not on the guest list.”
After throwing the car into park, I leaped out and socked him so hard in the jaw that he collapsed onto the ground. With one arm protecting his face, he grunted and tried to stand, using his other. I grabbed him by the collar, lifted him a few inches into the air, and punched him until his body went limp.
Once he dropped to the ground, I jogged to the security booth, pushed the button to open the gates, and hopped back into my car. I swore to fucking God that I’d torture them—no, kill them—if they’d touched Athena.
If one fucking hair on her head was yanked out, I’d lose it.
I pressed my foot all the way down and sped up the driveway. Cars were lined up almost toward the bottom. I sped past everyone and peered into the rearview mirror to see Heather and the other girls behind me, almost as pissed as I was.
When I reached the front entrance, where there was even more security, I hopped out of my car and shoved past them as best as I could. Heather hollered behind me, and a few women screamed, which could only mean that Heather probably had a weapon.
