Michael’s eyes flash as he crouches down and clutches my face painfully. “Don’t speak unkindly of the dead. Now go clean yourself up.” He says it like he loathes me. “We have a plane to catch.”
“We?”
“Yes, Ellie. You’re mine now.”
I look at him dismayed. “What else could you possibly want from me?”
“My cock in your mouth next time.” He lifts me off the floor. “Once a whore always a whore.”
Tears threaten once more. I can’t live as someone’s slave again. Especially Michael’s. I’d rather kill myself.
“What about Kayne? You going to kill him?”
“Yes, eventually. A very long time from now. My father taught me if you really want to destroy a man, destroy what’s most important to him. First, I’m going to destroy his organization, then I’m going to destroy you. And when I’m finished, I’ll return you to your owner a shell of a human being.”
I nearly throw up from his words. I now explicitly understand. I understand why Kayne did what he did—why he went to such extreme measures to protect me. To save from heinous creatures like this.
“You really are a monster.” I seethe.
Michael’s lips curl cruelly. “We’re all monsters in our own way. You have ten minutes.” He turns and then stops.
“One more thing,” he snaps, spinning to face me again. “You won’t need this anymore.” He lifts my hand and pulls off my engagement ring, tossing it over his head. I gasp as I hear it ding on the wooden floor, and then watch as it rolls and bounces into a corner. “While you two were off picking out china patterns, I was assembling my army and appointing new captains. My father ruled a kingdom, I’m going to rule an empire.” He glances at the ring. “Pick it up and I’ll cut off your hand. Understand?”
I look at him with tear-soaked eyes. I despise this man.
“Ellie?” he grabs my chin.
I nod.
“If you want to be mad at someone, be mad at Kayne.”
With that, he leaves, and all I can think about is how wrong he is. The person I should be mad at is myself.
My concentration is hazy as I clean the blood from between my legs. It literally feels like I have been hacked wide open with a meat cleaver. I cry silently, not wanting anyone to hear. What are the odds a person is kidnapped twice in their lifetime to be used as a sex slave? I must be one fucking lucky woman, I think bitterly as I throw away the white towel stained with red.
I have ten minutes to figure a way out of this. I pace the bedroom. I have a feeling this is going to be the last bit of luxury I see if Michael forces me to leave with him.
I hurry and pull on the French doors that lead to the lani. Locked. Shit. I try some windows, but they’re built right into the wall, like an all-natural picture frame. I search them all, hoping beyond hope that just one has a latch. The last ones I try are at the back of the room on either side of the bed. It opens! I look down to see a slanted roof below me and a trellis just adjacent to it. There’s nothing but green land all around the house, and the ocean and mountains in the distance. I remember telling Kayne that I’d rather be lost in the wilderness than be his slave. Those words were never truer. Just as I’m about to push open the window, I hear the door unlock and see Michael walk in.
“Let’s go.” He orders.
I just stand there.
“Didn’t hear me the first time? It’s time to go,” he says annoyed.
I say something quietly in response.
“What?”
I say it again, no louder.
“What are you saying?” He stomps over to me enraged and grabs my arm.
“I said,” I look him dead in the eye, “I’d rather die than live as someone’s slave again.” With that, I swiftly knee him in the balls as hard as I can. As he falls to the floor, I escape out the window with my heart battering the inside of my chest.
“Bitch!” I hear him yell as I shuffle sideways across the slanted roof until I reach the trellis and swing down. Then I run like hell, past the pool and soft lit gazebo, toward the setting sun and lush green mountains.
JUST FOR THE RECORD, Idid not enjoy using Pilipo’s daughter as a bargaining chip. I just did what had to be done. I did what I had to do to protect my own.
