Blake sat behind his monstrosity of a desk, allegedly carved from a thousand-year-old tree. “Everything okay?” I asked, trying not to puff too loudly. I really needed to start jogging or some shit because my cardio was woeful.
Dark, angry eyes met mine, and I gulped down my next words, going very still.
“Melody McCane phoned me,” he said softly, fingers pressed together in front of him, his broad shoulders filling out the dark leather chair that he sat in. “Apparently she saw you out yesterday. In the mall.”
I couldn’t speak. Every part of me was frozen in place as my mind raced desperately for what to say to defuse the fuckload of trouble I was in. Blake leaned further onto his desk, and I realized he was dressed in a suit, like he’d been about to head into his offices in the downtown area. Clearly the call had held him up, and he hated that more than anything.
“Uh,” I cleared my throat, “I needed some supplies for school. I told Mary.”
Mary had been my nanny growing up, and now she worked as our housekeeper slash head chef. She was the only person in this house I loved, and the only one who tried to make my life happier. I had to be very careful not to get her into trouble, but I knew Blake would never fire her. She was one of the very few people he could use to make me complicit. If I rebelled, he’d hurt her, and I would never take the risk.
“Mary does not get final say in where you go,” he said as he stood, shrugging off his jacket and draping it over the desk. He ran a hand through his ice-blond hair, the exact same shade as mine. Blake, though, unlike me, kept his cropped close to his head to stop the waves from showing. Our hair was the only obvious similarity between us, since otherwise I was short and curvy with hazel eyes... and Blake was a monster. Tall, strong, and scary. His eyes were very dark brown, and they inspired the sort of terror that kept me up at night.
He rolled his sleeves as he walked around the desk, and I trembled, wanting desperately to leave but knowing that would only make it worse later.
He closed the door, the soft snick of the lock ominous but expected.
He walked toward me. “What’s our number one rule, Brooklyn?”
To anyone else, that quiet, calm voice would not have instilled terror, but to me, it was the beginning of the end…
The first hit slammed into my ribs, and I bit my lip, forcing myself not to cry out. This was our new game, one where I didn’t make a sound and he tried to invent new ways to make me scream.
“What is our fucking rule?” he growled.
Part of me, a defiant part that he’d been trying to beat out of me for five years, rose up, and I wanted to ignore his question. But then I remembered the text from Dylan and the escape that would be mine if I didn’t force Blake to beat me unconscious, so I played the game.
“Blake decides everything,” I said dully.
Satisfaction stretched his lips into a grisly smile, the smile I saw in my nightmares.
“That’s right, little sister,” he whispered, brushing his fingers across my cheeks and down to my lips. “This pretty face belongs to me. You don’t go anywhere without my permission. You don’t talk to anyone without my say-so. You don’t go to the mall, a place filled with horny teenage fucks who are just looking for an innocent blonde to screw. No one touches you but me.”
At this point, his creepy attitude toward me was old news, and I was eternally grateful that he’d never tried to sexually assault me. If he ever found out I wasn’t a virgin anymore, I was pretty sure he would beat me until I couldn’t move.
Rough hands gripped both of my arms hard as he yanked me closer, his hot breath fanning over my face, making me gag. “I’m heading out of town for business,” he said, “but we will revisit this when I return. Until then, you’re not to leave these grounds at all. Security and Mary have been informed.”
I wiggled, arms aching under his grip. “What about school?” It was my one allowed escape from this house.
Blake shook his head. “No. You’re done for the year. I need you to keep an eye on the house.”
Done for the year? It was only the middle of freaking October.
“When can I leave the house again?”
He looked pleased. “Actually, glad you asked. There’s a boot camp in about six weeks that you’ll be attending. I have another extended trip away in early December, and I want to know someone else will be keeping you in line when I’m out of town.”
“Boot camp?” I choked out.
Blake smirked. “It’s a camp to teach you discipline and respect. I expect you to be a different person when you return, one that’s not quite so”—he played with my hair, twirling it around his fingers—“willful.”
Willful.Stupid asshole. I was about as docile as a human could be that was still in possession of all their wits. I’d had to be to survive.
“I’ll also be sending Jonnie along to keep an eye on you. I’d hate for you to get any ideas about escaping.”
Jonnie.Motherfucker. He was the worst of Blake’s guys, with more muscle than brains, but there was nothing I could do to fight this. Blake decided everything. “Okay, I’ll do my best,” I said quietly.
His eyes narrowed. “More than your best, Brooklyn. I’ve seen your best, and it’s just not the level that this family requires.”
