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“Yes, we will, Carly, and I, for one, can’t fucking wait.”

Without another word, he picks up his knife and walks over to the far wall before light floods into the room. There’s a staircase just past the door but other than that, I can’t see anything. As soon as the door shuts and the lock clinks into place, my shoulders sag and a sob rips through my throat as pain radiates through my body and my stomach rolls.

I’m in Hell.

* * * *

Time doesn’t exist down here in the musty darkness, except to torture me with the awful possibilities of my immediate future. Seconds bleed into hours and it could be minutes or days since Julian left me all alone. Each sound that manages to pierce the black nothingness of my surroundings sends me out of my skin and the pain is so intense I’m not entirely sure I’ve remained conscious the entire time I’ve been locked away. My t-shirt is drenched with sweat and blood and my legs are growing weak from standing on my toes, waiting for the devil to return. I can only hope Ivy’s smart enough to stay away.

Before today, before I woke up in this… dungeon, for lack of a better word, I thought I had experienced the worst thing humanity had to offer. I was so consumed with my own pain and I thought no one could ever hurt me the way they had but it only took ten minutes with Julian to make me realize how wrong I’d been. I would go back and relive that night a hundred times if it got me out of here now.

The door opens and I jerk, my head flying up and my eyes widen as a figure blocks out the light. It’s not Julian. This man is taller and wider in the shoulders than Julian. My body trembles as I watch him. He closes the door and remains in the shadows as he makes his way around the room to me. My hammering heart makes it difficult to judge how far away he is from the sound of his footsteps. I suck in air and try to back up, despite the fact that I’m stuck in place.

“Hello, Carly,” the man says as he steps into the light and I gasp, jerking on the rope harder, desperate to flee as ice cold fear fills my belly.

“Damian.”

He smiles, taking a step toward me and I see the same evil glint in his eyes that I recognized in Julian’s earlier. My chest tightens and my thoughts screech to a halt. What is he doing here? All the puzzle pieces rattle around in my brain and I can’t make them fit together. What does Damian have to do with Julian?

“It’s lovely to see you again,” Damian purrs, his gaze dropping to my chest and he frowns as he runs a finger along the first cut. “I see Julian decided to get started without me.”

“What are you doing here?” I ask, flinching as he traces around the wound again. He licks his lips and meets my eyes.

“I’m afraid you’ll have to wait for that answer.”

I jerk on the rope again despite the tearing pain in my shoulder. “No. You’ll fucking tell me now.”

“Will I?” he asks, his eyes lighting up and a slow smile stretching across his face. “I don’t think you’re in a position to argue. I do love your fire, though.”

I remain quiet, staring him down as I wait for answers and finally, he sighs.

“All right. I suppose I could give you some answers while we wait.”

I blink. “Wait for what?”

“Ah, that’s not one of the questions you’ll get an answer to. It would ruin all the fun,” he says, laughing, and I turn away from him. “I suppose I should start at the beginning, huh?”

Silence stretches between us and as I look back at him, he nods. He peels his suit jacket off and tosses it over the chair next to me before slowly rolling the sleeves of his dress shirt up.

“I was born here in Baton Rouge and my daddy, he was a mean old bastard. He loved to smack me around just to hear me cry and he did it often. When I started school, I was different than the other kids. I never fit in with anyone and kids can be so mean, but you already know that, don’t you?” He smirks and I wonder just how much he knows. “Even back then, I had… certain tastes and it got me expelled on a few occasions, which only made my daddy beat me more.”

“I’m sorry,” I whisper, hoping I can appeal to his emotions somehow but the wry smile he flashes me makes my heart sink.

“Oh, don’t worry about me, sweetheart. See, it all got better when I met Julian. He was different, too, and we became friends merely out of necessity. It wasn’t until we were in high school that we realized we both were into the same thing.” His gaze drops down my body and he runs his tongue over his teeth.

“Which is what?” I ask, despite the fact that I’m sure I don’t want to know. He grins.

“Aren’t we impatient? Hold on, I’m getting to that part.” He steps up and places his hand on my ribs. “See, we realized we were both really intrigued by the idea of sharing a woman but more than that, we both fantasized about hurting them.”

I suck in a breath and he grins, shaking his head.

“I mean, what are the odds, right? It would have been rare to find someone who wanted to share a woman but to also find someone who liked the sound of her screaming in pain? It was fate. Our imaginations were endless and we finally had someone to share our darkest thoughts with. Things just grew from there. Alone, we were vulnerable but together, we realized we could rule this fucking city and get everything we’ve always wanted.”

“Meaning?” I already think I know the answer, but I need to hear it.

“You… and your sister. You belong to us now and we’ll do whatever we damn well please with you.” He runs his fingers down my neck to my breast and I shudder.

“We don’t belong to you.”