“Yes, twenty minutes ago.”
“Dammit.”
“I’ll see what I can find,” she says, cutting the call. I don’t take offense. Ghost is one of the best trackers in the world, but her social skills can be interpreted as rude. She’s not—she’s just focused.
My eyes scan the road as I accelerate. What if Gideon gets his hands on her? What if he… My knuckles tighten on the steering wheel. I can’t let that happen. After checking my rearview mirror, I call Hunter.
“What’s wrong?” he asks, answering after three rings.
“I lost her.”
“She ran?”
“No, she was taken at a gas station.”
“What do you need?”
“To get our hands bloody.”
“Fucking finally,” he growls.
Hang on, firecracker, I’m coming for you.
CHAPTER 46
HONOR
Facing your demons is terrifying, but cathartic.
Voices filter through the haze of my mind, and I fight against it, clawing my way to consciousness. My head feels heavy, like it’s laden with lead. Did I fall asleep in the car? A soft, silky caress glides across my cheek, and I groan and turn my face into it. Alarm bells ring in the distant reaches of my mind, and my body stiffens. Fox’s fingers are full of calluses. These are the hands of someone who has never done a day of hard labor in their life.
I drag my eyes open, and as my vision clears, I find Gideon staring down at me. My head rests on his lap, my body swaying with the car moving beneath us. “Hello, baby.”
I jerk, but my limbs don’t respond. There’s a tight sensation in my shoulder blades and around my legs. With every second, the chemical fog lifts, and the horror of my situation crystallizes into perfect clarity. My arms are locked behind my back. Not just bound at the wrists, but wrapped up tight from my handsto the tops of my arms. My knees and ankles are also strapped together.
My eyes narrow at Gideon as he strokes the hair from my forehead. Each touch taints me with his evil, and I want nothing more than to recoil from it.
I lick my dry lips, and his gaze falls to them, tracking the movement. He grabs a bottle with a straw poking out of the top, and I raise a brow at him as he lifts it to my lips.
He shakes his head. “It’s just water, Honor. I have a million ways to control and punish you, but you will be conscious for each and every one of them. The lesson won’t stick if you aren’t awake to experience the pain.”
I wrap my lips around the straw and suck in the cool water, gulping down two mouthfuls. The third I hold in my mouth before tearing my head away and spraying the liquid into Gideon’s face.
He blinks like he can’t quite believe what happened. Rage drowns out the fear Gideon expects from me. Fox has given me a glimpse of a future filled with joy and freedom. He has shown me what love could be, and I am livid that Gideon is trying to steal it from me.
He grabs a handkerchief from his pocket and wipes his face with it as his blue gaze hardens, sharp enough to cut glass. My breath rushes through my nose at the promise of violence.
“I am not the same woman you married, Gideon. I will fight, punch, scratch, and make you bleed every second of every day.”
“Oh, Honor, I am counting on it. Breaking you is only fun if you fight.”
My teeth grind as adrenaline floods my veins. “You failed before, and you will again.” I will not return to who I was before I met Fox.
“Make no mistake, wife. I will enjoy breaking your body asmuch as I will revel in the shattered pieces of your mind. You think what you faced before was bad? That was merely correction; my way of helping you to become the best you could be. Now you will breathe, bathe, eat, sleep, see, touch, and hear only what I allow.”
“Game on, Gideon. Do your worst. You have to sleep sometime.”
He quirks a brow as his hand cups my jaw. “True, but it will be with you strapped down and at my fucking mercy.” His grip turns punishing, and my lips pop open. He spits inside my mouth and slams my jaw closed. I retch, my stomach turning at the thought of any part of him being inside me. His fingers cover my nose. “Swallow, and you can breathe.”
