Chapter 46
Damien
W hen I finally blink my eyes open, I'm hanging by my arms in a dark room l don't recognize. I glance around to see if there is anything useful within reach, but nothing stands out. There's a small cart toward the far end of the room, but I can't get a good look at the contents from here. Based on the plastic covering the floor below me, I can only assume what is in my future.
I’m pretty sure I’m in some kind of basement. The last thing I remember is being at Rogue. Callie made a fucking mess of the trial, and it was complete chaos. I have no idea how she got access to Gabriel's notebook, considering that fucker always had it under lock and key, but the fact that she did proves I underestimated her.
They must have used some kind of drug to knock me out and bring me here because there's no way she would have been able to drag me away from Rogue on her own. When I get out of here and back to Rogue, I'll make sure she dies for real this time.
My stupid fucking wife is at fault for all of this, the useless bitch. If I just killed her and her father immediately after we got married like I wanted to. I wouldn't be in this situation. I would have the society all to myself instead of being here. I have so many plans for Rogue, and I will make them happen. Gabriel had a small mindset.
I shake around in the chains a bit to see if there is any sort of give, but it's useless. The only way I'm getting out of these bindings is if they want me to. I'm not sure how long I've been hanging here, but my limbs have started to go numb.
I can't believe I let Callie, of all people, get the best of me. I should have done a better job at keeping her in line. She ruined everything. I spent over ten years being Gabriel's lackey so I could have my opportunity to control Rogue, and she has the gall to try to take it all from me. They aren't going to follow her. What does she think will happen when the council finds out I'm missing?
She just went on trial for her father’s murder, and now she’ll end up on trial for mine. They won't stop searching for her until they get the justice Rogue deserves. Whether I live or die, Callie will be hunted until she takes her last breath because as long as Rogue exists, she won’t be granted peace.
If she thinks she's won this little game we have going, she's sorely mistaken. I hear what sounds like a door pushing open and lock eyes with the bitch. Immediately, I scowl at her.
"Damien," she says as she crosses her arms in front of her chest.
I'm surprised her new boy toys let her in here without supervision. What the hell is she going to do to me anyway? Callie has never been the type to be able to follow through with anything. She prefers to run away from her problems. If I can distract her long enough to have a conversation with one of the men, maybe I could convince them to work with me.
"Wife" is all I say because that's exactly what she is.
"Don't call me that." The side of her lip tilts up in a snarl, and she looks pissed.
"Why not? That's what you are. Did you get everything you wanted? Are you going to torture me a little and then tell me to never bother you again?"
"No, I'm going to kill you," she says with full confidence.
I must admit that's one of the funniest things I've heard in a long time. I shake at the chains again to see if there is any give, even though I've already tried and failed. There's no fucking way this woman is going to be my end. I won't allow it.
"You're too weak." I smile.
"Maybe the girl you knew before was weak, but I'm not that person anymore." Her eyes narrow on mine.
"Where are your keepers, Callie? You seem lost. Go get the men so we can have a real conversation."
"You seem confused, so let me clear things up for you." She walks toward me, leaving only about a foot between us. If my arms were free, I could reach out and grab her by her throat. "I don't have keepers. The men I have in my life are there BY CHOICE, and nobody is going to tell me what I can and can't do anymore."
"It's cute that you let yourself believe that." I laugh in her face.
"You've got a lot to say for a man who's about to die at the hands of a woman. You should also be wary about wanting my men to come in here. They have been very vocal about wanting to pay you back for all the things you did to hurt me."
"They can't do shit," I spit. I'm not going to let her get to me. Words are just words at the end of the day, and she hasn't done anything to back them up yet. I don't have anything to worry about. Rogue will find me. She will try to drag this out long enough for them to find me, and then I'll end all of this for good.
"I can see the gears turning in your mind." She walks over to the cart to grab something I'm not able to see before stepping in front of me.
I look down at the piece of metal in her hand, along with something else, but I immediately recognize the metal. When she sees me looking down, she holds it up to reveal the brand with Rogue's symbol on it. I'm not sure how she got a hold of one of these or what she would even need it for.
"This brand was forced on me by my father when I was just a kid. You're so proud of Rogue and everything it stands for." She drops the metal to the floor and reveals the other item she was holding. A knife. "I think maybe I should cut it off of you."
I start laughing hysterically because there's no way fucking Callie is ever going to cut me. She narrows her eyes slightly and tilts her head to the side like she knows what I'm thinking before she closes the distance between us.
She eyes the small brand on my left wrist and lowers the knife before turning on her heels to walk out of the room. I knew she wasn't going to follow through with it. Women always like to throw empty threats at men for no fucking reason.
A few minutes go by, and the door swings open again. This time, Callie isn't alone. There's a blonde guy with her. I have no clue which one of the brothers this is, but his presence can’t be good for me. The blonde guy moves behind me, and I get a little bit nervous. My eyes meet Callie's again, and she stands there looking full of herself.
Out of nowhere, I fall to the floor, my bound arms landing above my head. I try to pull myself up, but my body has been hanging for so long that I have no control over it. The door opens again, and another one of the brothers brings in a chair that he sets next to me.
Before I know what's happening, I'm hoisted up and thrown into the chair. I try to bring my arms up to push them away from me, but my useless fucking muscles won’t cooperate, and it pisses me off. A rope is wrapped around my chest and upper arms, and my top half is secured to the chair. I try to kick and make contact with one of the brothers, who only smiles at me.
"Do it again, you piece of shit. I like pain. It'll get me nice and turned on before I fuck my girl." He says that like it's supposed to make me feel something.
"Barrett," she warns, and he takes a step away from me.
The blonde man zip-ties one of my legs to the chair before walking to the other side and grabbing the other to do the same, and then he disappears behind me again. Here I am at their whim once again.
The power she has over these men is pathetic. They claim to be hardened criminals, but they let one woman control them all. It doesn't make any sense because she's really not that special.
"Come on, princess. Just let me have a little go at him," the one that I kicked says, and she rolls her eyes.
"You can have time with him after me. Wait your damn turn, and remember you're not allowed to kill him." She walks over to kiss him, and he grabs the back of her neck to deepen it.
It's like they don't give a shit about anyone else watching them. It makes me sick that she would willingly slut herself out like that. "Your husband is sitting right here, and yet you still slut yourself out," I seethe. I can't help the words from slipping from my mouth even though I know it likely won't help the position I'm currently in. I don’t care about her, but I’ll never resist the chance to make her feel like a useless slut.
I feel someone slap the back of my head and look up to see the blonde one glaring down at me. "Don't talk about my fucking girl like that."
The other one leans down to whisper something in her ear, and I see her body shiver before she nods, and he leaves the room. She takes a step toward me, and I try to shake my way out of the binds with no success.
"Now, where were we?" She smiles, holding the knife in front of my face for me to see.
There's no fucking way she's going to go through with this. I won't let a fucking woman be the end of me. "You're too weak," I grit.
"That's where you're wrong. I wasn't strong enough to end my father, but with you, I won't make that same mistake. This will be long and drawn out, and you will feel every ounce of pain I felt when I had to suffer at the compound every day."
“You useless fucking bitch,” I grit out.
"Ky," she says, and he comes over to hold my hands down on my lap. The ropes were secured above my elbows, so I was still able to move the bottom halves of my arms a bit until now.
"Stay still. My girl has something she needs to do." He smiles down at me like a psychopath.
"What the fuck?!" I scream as I feel the knife dragging across the skin on my forearm.
"Hold still," she says while she cuts at the skin. "You should also know that Rogue is gone. We blew up the entire compound. The group of men that you're hoping will come rescue you won’t. You and Seb are the last two left." She laughs, but I can't believe her words.
"No," I breathe out.
"Yes, and that little team you had in town here is also gone, so don’t count on them either."
The knife pushes into my skin again, making me shake. Pain courses through my entire arm, and the stinging sensation only gets worse every time she brings the blade down. I try to pull my hands up, but the blonde guy she calls Ky holds them firmly in place.
A few moments later, she pulls the knife away from my skin and holds something up. My face goes pale while I try to process what I’m staring at. It's the flap of skin with Rogue’s brand from my arm. She cut off my fucking brand.
"There, now that we've taken care of that, let's get down to business."
She walks over to the cart to grab some more things and then comes back to me. She's lost her mind.
"Remember when you called me weak? Let's see how weak you are."
"You crazy bitch!" I yell as I feel the blood from the cut on my wrist dripping onto my legs.
A hand slaps the back of my head hard. "I told you not to talk to my girl like that. Now, apologize."
"Fuck you," I grind out through the pain.
"That's not very nice." He grins. "What do you think, wanderer? Should we make him apologize?"
"I don't know, Ky, he's kind of full of himself. An apology from him won't mean much anyway."
She clicks the blowtorch on, and my eyes instantly go wide. "What are you doing?" I yell, but she ignores me.
She holds a metal bar in front of the flame of the blowtorch. "Remember when you told me that my father took it easy on me? Let's see if you feel the same way."
She doesn't give me a moment to react before she brings the flaming metal down over the bloody, skinless patch on my arm. I cry out, shaking in the chair, feeling the way the heat sears the lack of flesh on my body.
My vision blurs, and black spots spread across my eyes as the darkness threatens to pull me under. The pain is too much for me to handle. Every single nerve feels like it’s sending shooting pain through my entire arm, and it's not long before I lose consciousness.
I don’t know how long I was out, but when I blink my eyes open, all I can focus on is the pain on my wrist. It's throbbing with every single beat of my heart like it has a heartbeat of its own. I try my best to focus on not letting her get to me, but I can't stop focusing on the pain. Her fingers dig into the wound, and I lose all sense of everything.
"Stop!" I scream, letting her win. "I'm sorry!" I say, immediately regretting the words. I hate that she got them out of me, but this is pure torture.
She laughs. "Not so tough now, are you? You made me feel weak and took advantage of me. This is just a warm-up. I hope you enjoy your stay here because nobody is coming for you and you won't be leaving alive. I'll be back to put your body through hell, over and over, and when I finally decide that I've gotten enough revenge on you for being a massive piece of shit, I'll cut your dick off and shove it down your throat so I can watch as you bleed out."
She digs into the wound on my arm again, and my entire body betrays me. My head sags to my chest as I feel something warm running down my legs. I've never felt more humiliated in my entire life.
"The coward pissed himself," I hear the man say, and I lift up my head to see the way Callie looks down at me with disgust.
I open my mouth to curse her out, but she brings the hot metal down to my skin again, and everything goes dark. The last thing I see before I pass out is the way she smiles as she pulls off another chunk of my flesh.