I pretend to be asleep, pretending that I've passed out waiting for him, artfully arranging myself sexily on the bed in the hopes that he'll come in, see me, and be torn with the desire to wake me or let me sleep.
My breathing hitches as the doorknob turns, and I clench my jaw as I try to sit entirely still, the urge to peek an eye open and see him almost overwhelming. But I can wait. He's the same man who left me a few hours ago to eat with his members, who he hasn't seen in years in person.
"Oh, this is rich."
My blood runs cold, and instantly, I realize I'm in grave danger.
Theo.
I could let him know I'm awake, make a run for it, but I'm not wearing anything. I can't run out of the house and expect to outrun him, either. He's fast. I also can't reach for my phone, because by the time I get to it, he'll be on top of me, and I'll be fucked.
The time for lengthy decision-making isn't now. It's long gone, and I'm running out of options.
I decide on option three, and pray that Theo didn't do anything to Anton. That I can get to him in time.
I open my eyes and scramble backward off the bed, but I miscalculated how close he'd gotten, because his hand snaps out and grabs me around the wrist, and all of a sudden I'm back on the bed, back on the other side, and being thrown to the ground with a snarl.
I scream, hoping Anton can hear me, but Theo's foot lands square in my ribcage, silencing my cries with a sharp pain that I can't ignore. The best I can manage is lying on the floor whimpering.
His face comes into my view, and that hand that grabbed my wrist grips my hair, yanking my face up so I have to look into those murderous eyes.
"Keep your mouth shut or I'll shut it for you."
Theo's griphurts,he always hurt me when he was mad, but something about the way he drags me away says so much more is about to go down if I don't get away from him. But he stops, just on the edge of the room, and waits.
He yanks me back into the room, hand over my mouth still. Those eyes, so expressive on the big screen, so beautiful in the sunlight, so photogenic, are filled with malice and rage, and it shakes me to my core. "You sure do have a lot of nerve, sleeping your way to the top with a man like that when you wouldn't let me dip into the well. Oh, how the morally just have fallen, huh, Denali?"
I try one more time to jerk my arm away, but he's too strong, though, and the only thing my squirming does is make it hurt worse. "Theo, let mego!"
Instead of releasing me, his lips descend on mine, their presence like a vomit-inducing nightmare. His hand snakes around my waist, pulling me closer, and the other grabs my wrist and pins me to the wall, his hips doing the other half of the work.
"If you can put out for him, you can put out for me, too."
I can't escape him, not unless I want to die here in this room. Maybe my best choice is to give him what he wants so he'll let me go. It's no guarantee, but if I don't make myself seem like a threat, it'll buy me time. Maybe time for Anton or someone else to get to me.
But I know that if Anton isn't coming now, there's a reason. I don't want to imagine Theo is capable of murder, but if he is, then he's capable of doing it to me, too. And that scares me almost as much as the idea of Kai coming home and getting caught in the crossfire.
Kai. Shit. If I'm right, he's heading here now. And likely closer than I want him to be. And it's all my fault.
"Go to hell, Theo," I spit, shoving at him as I make a run for the stairs. If I can get him to chase me there, I can push him down to the bottom, and with any luck, he'll break his neck on the way down. But he's too strong, and he easily overpowers me, delivering a death blow to my hope of survival.
His laugh of victory is filled with irony and smugness when he pulls away, licking those lips that women everywhere long to kiss. That people swoon over. That newspapers write articles about.
"I told you to remember your place, Dee. I promised you that I'd always find you, that you'd never outrun me, escape me. Did you really think that anything had changed?"
He leans in, and his hot, stale breath reeks of alcohol. I want to vomit from his closeness.
With a snarl that sounds more fitting for a wild animal, he releases me, tossing me back into the bedroom we just left. "I'm not done with you, Dee," he growls, his eyes dark, wild. Unhinged. "I promised when you least expected it, I'd find you. And you don't have that fancy fuck on your arm to save you now that destiny has come calling."
And then he slams the door closed behind him.
I watch in horror from three feet away as Theo pulls Anton's purple pistol out of his waistband, and aims it at my head. There's no emotion in his eyes but rage now, and though I wish I could say I still saw a human in their depths, it's impossible. No, this is a monster now, and he's got me dead to rights. I'm stuck, and if I'm lucky, he'll make it quick.
"On your knees," he snarls, spittle flying from his lips, confirming my crazy diagnosis.
My prospects shrivel with every second that passes.
I drop to my knees, whimpering in fear. He's the only man who has ever managed to do this to me, and I hate him for it. The things I would do to him if I had the ability, the chance?—
