Twenty
M y entire body was trembling, because it was him; Dom . He’d found me. Despite all of my hiding, and aliases, and constant moving, he’d fucking found me.
He removed the blindfold once he realised I’d figured it out. He just stood there, staring down at me as I panicked, and fought against the restraints at my wrists and ankles.
“It’s so good to have you back where you belong, Victoria. I’ve waited a long time for this, for us .”
He still looked handsome, if you could ignore the cruel grin on his face. I’d managed to hide from him for more than ten years, although some of that was spent in hospitals, and other facilities, while I tried to recover from what he’d done to me.
He leaned down, so that his face was close enough that I could see every bristle in his lightly stubbled face, the dark look in his blue eyes as he glared down at me, and the blonde hair, which looked like it was now dusted with grey. At nearly forty, he could be attractive, if he didn’t have such hate and cruelty in him.
His fingers approached my face, and I flinched, waiting for pain, but instead he merely chuckled, and stroked through my hair.
“I like it. Still enough hair to grip, but short enough that you could hide it under all those wigs, and other disguises.”
He smoothed his fingers along the scar he’d given me a decade ago; it ran from just below my left eye to my chin. He’d smiled as he’d carved into my skin, declaring that no man would ever want me after him. He’d been right, and I hated him for that, almost as much as I hated him for what he’d done to me before. What I knew he was planning to do again.
He grabbed my chin in a tight grip, smiling at my panicked gasp.
“We have so much catching up to do, Victoria. I dare say you’ll need to spend a lot of time making it up to me. And I think a matching scar is in order. Let’s make sure you can never hide from me again.”
I trembled, as he revealed a knife in his right hand, tracing the cold blade over the scar he’d left last time.
“I do so enjoy symmetry,” he reminded me. Instead of taking the blade to my face, he trailed it down my neck, and over my collarbone. A sting of pain told me he’d just cut me. Then there was another. And another. He was doing what he did before; small cuts, minimal blood loss, but plenty of stinging and pain.
I tried to calm my panicked breaths that were coming so fast, I was feeling light headed already. Tears burned my eyes, before they dripped from the corners onto the pillow beneath my head. I’d promised myself I’d never be in this situation ever again and I’d failed. If I’d only gone to Ryder when he demanded it, I’d be there instead. Safe, or maybe at the mercy of another man, but if it was Ryder, maybe that would have been okay.
He kept trailing the knife over my chest, and my breasts, making tiny cuts, over and over, until my entire chest and stomach were on fire. Every cut burned, as if he’d rubbed salt in them.
He set the knife aside, sliding his fingers over the cuts, smearing blood over me, and then he lifted his fingers to his lips, and licked them. Ugh. I forgot that he does that.
“Hmmm… you still taste delicious, Victoria.”
“Go to hell.”
He threw his head back as he laughed, his hand closing over my throat, squeezing firmly.
“Only if I take you with me, cunt.”
I felt myself starting to lose consciousness as he kept squeezing, his face lowering to mine so he could enjoy my terror. Just as the room started to darken around me, he released my throat, my first painful breaths making me cough and gasp.
“Perfect. You know… I’ve had time to think since you ran from me. I’ve had time to plan, and prepare. Perfecting my skills, and my processes.” He held up a syringe.
“ This stuff … now this stuff will knock you out… well, it’ll paralyse your limbs, but you’ll be awake. Aware. You won’t keep fading out on me. You’ll feel every cut, every blow, every thrust of my cock. You’ll be able to scream, and beg, and cry, and I can’t wait to hear you, Victoria. Don’t hold back. I’ve waited a long time to enjoy this.”
He slid the needle into my neck, and I winced, as I felt a strange lethargy flowing through me, more rapidly than I’d imagined possible.
“Yes… it’s good, isn’t it? I have a whole lab full of people willing to work on serums like this. You know, if they want to remain alive and unharmed, and with their loved ones intact.”
A gasping sob tore from my lungs, as I realised that my body wasn’t responding anymore. I tried struggling against the ropes, but my body wouldn’t obey. Tears poured from my eyes at the intensified feeling of helplessness, and despair. I wouldn’t be able to fight him, or escape. I’d have to suffer through every moment of his intended torture on me.
“Please don’t,” I begged, as he began to unbutton his shirt, taking it slow, making sure to draw out the terror. I couldn’t turn my head away, couldn’t escape what he wanted me to see. He had complete control of my body, just like before, only this time I wouldn’t even have the mercy of unconsciousness to protect me.
Ryder
T he compound, because that’s exactly what it was, had been fairly well protected. Several of my brothers though, they’re sneaky bastards, ex special forces, great at the stealth attack thing. While those of us as useless as I am sat back and watched, from the shadows of the high walls and tall trees, they took down several of the men, with swift, soundless attacks. Dragging their bodies out of sight. Were they dead? I really couldn’t find it in me to give a flying fuck.
They took my woman, and I was here to take her back, even if she didn’t want me. Even if it turned out that I didn’t want her. I just couldn’t leave her to suffer this again.
Once they’d cleared the side we’d sneaked in through, and we had a clear path to the structure, which clearly wasn’t a house, but more of a damn fortress, we edged our way across the ornate gardens, and to the side entrance of the building.
Again, our stealth team made their way in first, and I thanked Reacher in my head for having the smarts to patch these guys into our club. There were four of them, and they’d met us here, rather than travelling with us, since they had an off-compound base of their own. It added to our numbers, and gave us a sneak attack bonus, that I hoped would get us as far in as possible, before we had to rely on our own, less stealthy methods.
Finding the bastard, and where he held Tori, would be a challenge, since the place looked huge, but there were twelve of us, with two prospects waiting in the van. Other brothers were nearby to join us if it turned into a battle. I hoped it wouldn’t come to that.
The place was expensively decorated inside. All dark wood, and masculine colours. I ached to destroy it on my way through, to mar its beauty with destruction, but drawing attention would be a mistake right now.
Once inside, with the first few guards silently disposed of, we had a dilemma; follow the wide hallway throughout the first floor, or choose another floor. The second one of us made a sound, or was discovered, it’d be a bloodbath. I really hoped we’d be the ones spilling the blood, but there was no way to know for sure.
The most important thing, at least in my mind, was to find Tori, and stop him before he could hurt her any further. He’d clearly almost destroyed her before, and I wouldn’t let him get that chance again.
We decided to follow that hallway first, because our suspicion was that there would be a basement, like ours, where things like that might take place. We’d almost reached the end when a woman screamed, like she was in agony . Our heads all turned, looking back the way we’d come, and hands grabbed me, as I tried to run in the direction of the screams.
“Patience, brother. We do this smart, or nobody gets rescued today. We’ll all be dead,” Reacher growled in my ear, immediately directing the team to go back the way we’d come. We discovered two new bastards on our way back, and I took great pleasure in taking one of them down myself. It was clumsy, compared to the way our stealth team operated, but effective. A throat punch, followed by my gun slamming into the guy’s head, put him out cold.
The screams were coming from upstairs, and as we moved closer, we picked up various words in her pained cries. Begging . Stop. Don’t. Please. No. Every one of them crushed a little more of my soul, and with it, my sanity. By the time we’d made it to the hallway the screams were coming from, I was raging like a bull, ready to try tearing people apart with my bare hands.
Two guys saw us coming, and charged at us. My gun touched the forehead of one a second before I squeezed the trigger, and blasted his brains out through the back of his skull. Even with a suppressor, it had been painfully louder than I’d remembered. The other guy was dead too, taken down by a brother. The screaming was louder now so, we were close. Finally.
We reached the final door in the long wooden hallway, and I kicked it open with a crash.