Page 240 of Safe Word

‘Sure,’ I managed through the pain, blood catching in my teeth as I smiled through it. ‘I was the one dealing with shady arsehole and beating women.’

His laugh scraped the air with all the ugliness it carried. Then his fingers loosened, hair slipping from his grasp strand by strand until he let go completely.

With horrifying realisation, I watched him reaching for his belt. Undoing it.

The sound of the buckle sliding free fractured the silence.

I forgot how to breathe. My eyes stayed open, fixed on his hands, pleading inwardly that he wasn’t about to do what my mind had conjured.

The belt whined through the air before the thought could even end.

Crack!

Fire lanced across my naked stomach, the sound rattling all the way in my skull.

My lungs spasmed, breath coming out wet. I bit my tongue until I tasted iron, pressing the scream into my teeth. I wouldn’t give him that pleasure.

‘Ohh,’ he hummed, voice thick with amusement. ‘Did you finally learn to like this, whore?’

The next strike landed lower, the belt’s edge kissing my hipbone. I jerked against the restraints, chains rattling as they bit into skin. My bra and panties felt suddenly bruising. My entire body flinched but I shut my eyes tight – I wouldn’t give him what he craved.

Another lash. Another lick of flame.

I shifted my thoughts elsewhere – away from this room, this filth, this body. I’d learnt how. Cain had taught me that. How to turn pain into silence. How to breathe through it until it bent to will instead of fear.

When the next blow came, the buckle cutting into me, I barely moved. Blood ran warmly down my ribs, my thighs.

And I prayed that by the time he was finished, my body would surrender to the dark. That I’d pass out before I screamed or cried.

Because crying was for Cain.

And only Cain.

FORTY-TWO

Matt was at the wheel, his face grimmer than mine as he unblinkingly stared at the road lines disappearing beneath the hood.

Dante had called earlier – there had been no feed of Travis arriving at Alessio’s: the cameras had been pointed the other way.

He’d traced a battered car the bastard had stolen, though. The trail ended at the last road cam that cut out at the city’s outskirts, heading towards the same address on that goddamn flier, no doubt.

My gaze shot to the rear-view. Alessio’s black Range rumbled behind us, the same hard set to his face as Matt’s beside me. It extended to Gianna, who was riding shotgun with Alessio. Francesca was in the backseat with them, her face obscured by the night.

I didn’t care how they operated, nor why they carried illegal weapons with the calm of those who did this every day.

I just wanted to get to her. Wrap my hands around Travis’ throat and squeeze until something gave.

I rubbed my face, chewing on images of her alone and terrified. If she’d never met me, no one would’ve come. She’d be a name in the news.

Flicking a gaze towards the rear-view mirror, guilt ate through the soft tissue in my chest.

I didn’t want more trouble in my life. But it seemed that where I went, trouble followed.

A cacophony of ideas and reasons swirled in the back of my mind.

I ran my fingers through my hair – already damp with sweat and moisture from the air.

Glancing up into the clouds, it looked like it was going to rain.