My chest ached. I should’ve stopped him—I knew I should’ve—but for a handful of stolenseconds, I sank. His hand anchored me, his breath poured into me, and all the weight I carried slipped away. It was terrifying, how easy it was to want the quiet he offered, even if it was only a kiss.
Guilt hit like a flood the instant I realized I was kissing him back. I shoved at his chest, breaking the contact, my breath ragged as the dark swallowed us both again. On instinct, I snatched his hand and brought his fingers to my mouth. “Don’t do that again,” I breathed. “I’m with Thorne.”
His hand lingered there, a shake moving through his fingers at my words. It was like he’d forgotten I was with Thorne, or—I closed my eyes, feeling sick. He didn’t know. Thorne and I weren’t intimate around anyone besides ourselves and especially not in front of Halden. Rafe had been so absent from the cell that he’d never witnessed us being together when we could be. Otherwise, it probably seemed like Thorne and I were no longer seeing each other.
I ran my hand over my mouth, my lips feeling seared from Rafe’s kiss. Was it my fault? Did I lead him on somehow? Show interest? I’d let him touch me, but only because I thought that was the only way to havea conversation. “Fuck,” I muttered, realizing how naive my thoughts were.
Rafe shifted away then, and I let him. He put enough distance between us that I couldn’t feel his heat anymore. It made the chamber worse, but it eased the suffocating feeling growing in my chest. It was impossible for Thorne and I to be monogamous in a typical way. It was unspoken, but we both knew that when we weren’t with each other, we were likely being taken advantage of by a Buyer. That was how life went, so we never talked about what it would mean if we were to actually feel something toward someone else. It was a conversation I didn’t want to have, but it was one I knew we needed to have.
Because that kiss…I kissed Rafe back, and I felt like shit that I had, but I couldn’t ignore that. Thorne deserved better. He deserved the world. I refused to hurt him. Not after the lives we’d led.
Suddenly, light flooded the chamber.
A scream peeled from my throat, the sudden onslaught causing me to curl into myself. Rafe ducked his head against his knees before the guards stormed in.
Gloved hands wrenched me upright. Metal cuffs snapped tight around my raw wrists, the sting sharp enough to blur my vision. Across the room, Rafe was dragged to his feet, his chains clattering as two guards forced his arms behind his back.
The guards moved with precision, steering us deeper into the compound until they stopped at a black iron door. One keyed in a code. A bolt disengaged with a mechanical groan, and the door swung open.
The room inside was stark. Smaller than the cell I shared with Creed. Just concrete walls and, in the center, a single narrow bed bolted to the floor. One thin mattress stretched tight across it. That’s all it took to make my heart drop. That place had a familiarity, and the restraints anchored across the mattress were even more familiar.
The guards shoved me inside, their next movements making my blood run cold. In some ways, it was like going through the motions. I shut down, let them tug off my uniform. Maybe I should’ve protested, but I’d honestly known the time would come when Halden finally decided he wanted to use the Doll in the way she was raised.
Soldiers pressed me down to the mattress, leather bindings cinching tight at my wrists and ankles, spreading me vulnerable. I closed my eyes and counted to ten, wondering if Halden would be as quick as Viktor had grown to be. They were the same age, and it seemed as Viktor had gotten older, he had less patience for playing.
The door clanged shut with finality. Then, static crackled, and my eyes flew open.
“Your prize for a month well earned. Take it,” Halden’s voice ordered through an intercom, my pulse rocketing.
“No,” I whispered.
Rafe stood there, his back flat against the door and his chest heaving like he’d tried to stay out in the hall but they’d forced him in after me. He wouldn’t look at me directly, his hands curled into tight fists. He glared up at where a camera sat.
“You’ll do this,” Halden’s voice came again, harsher. “You’ll fuck your Doll. I paid enough to make sure you boys had a reward system, so I want to see it used.”
Rafe couldn’t hear him. He just kept glaring at the camera while bile crept up my throat.Halden bought me forthem? What was the last month, then? Just trying to kill me for the hell of it?
My eyes burned. I thought I actually had a chance to be seen as Creed, as an equal to Rafe, Kane, and Thorne. Now…now the closest people I had were meant to…to…rapeme? I choked, vomit cresting. I was barely able to swallow it back down, the jerk of my limbs drawing Rafe’s attention away from the camera. I gasped on it, my airway clogging. Shame lit my cheeks, tears falling down as I tried to spit it out, but the way I was lying just made me choke harder.
Rafe rushed to my side. He cupped the back of my head, helping me lift up enough that I could finally get a firm swallow. Then he moved to my restraints. He yanked on them, grunting when he realized the leather was too think to rip, latched with iron locks. Halden’s voice had disappeared, but it was replaced by the load of a gun. Confused, I threw my head to the side, my eyes widening at the sight of a rifle lined up through a hole in the door.
Pointed at Rafe.
“Rafe,” I said and gritted my teeth as he tried to tug at my wrist restraint again. “Rafe!” I flexed my fingersdrawing his attention to my face. His eyes dipped to my mouth. “They’re going to shoot you, maybe both of us.”
He whirled around and spotted the gun.
In all the years I’ve known Rafe Creed, I didn’t know until that moment that I’d never actually scene himwork. The courtyard was practice drills. There were kills, but no one ever exhausted him or matched him. Kane came close. It was why he earned the Creed name, but Rafe…I’d never actually seen him fight.
I blinked and he moved. It seemed impossible that anyone could’ve crossed the space and done what he’d done so quickly but he did. One second he was yanking on my restraints. The next, he had the gun in his hands, swiveling it with precision, the bullet caving in the face of the guard shouting on the other side. The deadbolt slid unlocked, a barricade of soldiers stormed inside, and Rafe Creed shot them all. Through their visors. Rapid succession.
Exactly between the brows.
It was almost elegant. Such clean shots that left my lips parted in awe. He turned toward me and I flinched as he shot off four more. My restraints fell loose, and I tugged upright. Rafe grabbed me by the wrist, hisjaw tight and eyes the darkest I’d ever seen them. He marched us down the hall, dodging us around open fire, and shot three more soldiers without so much as breaking a sweat. Then he knelt by the final corpse, tore off the bastard’s key card, and walked us to our cell. He opened the door, pushed me in, and closed it without glancing at me or the shocked Kane and Thorne inside.
“What the fuck?” Kane asked, him and his brother climbing down from their bunks.
Thorne ripped the blanket from my bed, lunging to me with a worried look and wrapping the fabric over my shoulders. I hadn’t realized I was shaking or how much blood covered me, not until it started soaking through the thin sheet.
