Unveiled (Abducted Hearts Duet #2)

Chapter 1

The Monster

F uck, I haven’t seen something so satisfying in months. Not since the last time I saw Ainsley in my bed, taking my cock like the good girl she is.

Laid out in front of me is a man covered in his own blood and vomit, begging me for mercy. He’s missing an arm, and one of his legs is broken, but the best part was castrating him. His screams have brought me joy over the last few days, the first feeling other than anger and despair I’ve felt in three months.

“I was only doing what I was told! I swear, I never touched her,” Alex assures me in his newest attempt to beg me. At this point, I don’t know if he’s begging to be let go or begging for a swift death.

With a humorless laugh, I add another slice to his already unrecognizable face. “Where is he? Tell me, and I’ll kill you and end the torture.”

I won’t, but he doesn’t know that. I need something to take my frustration out on, and carving up his skin has released more tension than I thought it would.

“I don’t know!” he cries. He closes his eyes, bracing himself for the next round of pain, and I don’t disappoint. As I dig the heel of my hand into his broken leg, he howls loud enough to alert anyone in the area that he needs help. Good thing no one is around to hear his cries.

The potent smell of urine suddenly invades my senses, and when I look over, I find Alex crying like a baby as he wets himself.

With a sneer that he can’t even see, I turn my back to him and leave the basement. I left my phone upstairs, and it’s about time to watch my girl. With renewed energy, I take the steps two at a time, not wanting to miss a second of watching her. It’s the only way I can see her these days.

When I pull up the camera feed, I find her laying in bed with her phone pressed to her ear.

“I’m just not in the mood, but I know they won’t let me tell them no.”

Pause.

“Yeah, they still suspect it was more. They know me too well.”

Another pause. Who is on the other end of the phone?

“What do you expect me to say? Should I tell them that your older brother kidnapped me and held me hostage until I fell in love with him? They’d take me to a psych ward, and they wouldn’t even know half of it.”

Ethan. I’m not surprised that it’s him, but it still annoys me. They’re just as close as they’ve ever been, though he’s been careful about the way he acts around her. They haven’t slept in the same bed since the day I found them in his room, and if I text him for an update, he’s always quick to respond and tells me nothing but the truth, even if it hurts to hear.

Minimizing the screen showing me the live feed, I pull up my messages app.

Me: Miss you, little one. Are you ready to come home yet?

I pull the feed back up in time to see her pulling the phone away from her ear and reading my text. I don’t text her every day, but I check in every once in a while. She’s never replied.

With a huff, she puts the phone back to her ear.

“He texted me again.”

Pause.

“That he misses me and asked if I’m ready to go back to his house.”

That’s not what I said. I asked if she’s ready to come home. This isn’t just my place; it’s hers, too. This isn’t a home without her in it.

“Of course I miss him, but that’s not the point. I can’t go back. You know what happened to me after he came into my life.”

Another pause as I wait with my breath held.

“Maybe Cass is right. Maybe it’s time for me to just put myself out there. Find another guy and get him out of my head, you know?”

I laugh, actually finding her thoughts humorous. Another guy? She’s delusional if she thinks I’ll let that happen.

I watch for a few more minutes as she twirls her hair around her finger and finishes her conversation with Ethan. They move onto a lighter conversation, talking about classes and Ethan’s graduation this semester. Since I pulled her out in the middle of her fall semester, she won’t be able to graduate with her friends, which I know makes her sad.

When she hangs up the phone, she lets out a huff as she stares at the ceiling. She doesn’t move, making me think she’s sleeping, but then she speaks. To me.

“I know you’re watching,” she says. “I still haven’t found the stupid camera.”

Not for lack of trying, either. I’ve watched her tear apart her room, rip open picture frames, even block off all of her windows in case the camera was outside. She’s determined, but she’ll never find it. No matter how hard she searches.

“You need to let go of me. Go back to being the monster in my nightmares, and I’ll live the life I was supposed to. Let me be happy with a nice, normal guy. I deserve that.”

She gets off of her bed and disappears from the view of the camera, leaving me without my favorite entertainment. I slam my phone down on the coffee table in front of me, angry at both her and myself.

If she thinks I’ll just let her go, then she clearly doesn’t know me. I shouldn’t have let her go for this long. She needed time to heal from what happened to her, and I gave her that space. But, if she’s talking about meeting other guys, then she doesn’t need that space anymore.

When I went back to her, I wanted to be able to tell her that every person who helped take her from me had been wiped from the Earth. I killed Knox before I found her and Carlos the night I rescued her. Alex escaped me for almost three months, but he finally slipped up and used a credit card. It was a fatal mistake for him, which he realized only hours later.

The last person I wanted gone was the boss. He can hide from me much longer than Alex could, but I’m willing to play the long game. I will win this fight. Either he’ll slip up one day when he thinks he’s safe, or my men will hunt him down.

For now, I’m done waiting. It’s time for me to get my girl.

The smell of sweat and alcohol burns my nose as I pick a small table in the back of the room. It’s dark enough to hide me from the view of the crowd, but I can still see everything going on around me.

My eyes roam over the one person I want to see, watching as her hips swing to the beat in her skinny jeans. There’s a small sliver of skin showing between her crop top and jeans, and all I can think about is licking it to get a taste of her.

She doesn’t know I’m here, and I plan to keep it that way. For now. I’ve watched her for months, and before I took her, I’d watched her for years. She looks her best when she doesn’t know she’s being watched.

One of her friends comes up to her and hands her a drink, and together they dance to the obnoxious music blaring throughout the bar. I watch as she throws an arm up and drops her butt almost the entire way to the floor, and slowly stands back up, looking like a succubus.

She’s having so much fun and letting loose, which is what I wanted for her while I left her alone. I wanted her to get to this point, to finally feel happy and normal.

Too bad I’m going to ruin it.

Not right now, though. Right now, I’ll watch and make sure nothing happens to her.

This is the closest I’ve been to her since I dropped her off at Ethan’s house in December, with the promise of seeing her soon. With each passing day, she assumed I gave up and wasn’t coming back.

I didn’t walk away just to give her space, though. That time was for both of us. I needed to deal with the guilt of losing her. Nightmares haunted me for too long, and in them I always saw her falling to her death on that balcony, with me only inches away from saving her.

I want to be a better man for her. She deserves better, and I couldn’t give her that while I was working through my trauma. Now, though? Now is a different story.

Her friend, Cassie, leans in to say something in her ear. Both of their eyes land on something at the bar, and a slow smile spreads across Ainsley’s lips.

I follow their gaze to the man staring back at them. He lifts a hand in greeting, and Ainsley gives him a wave back as she giggles. If I were closer, I swear I’d see her blushing from embarrassment.

The glass of whiskey in my hand shatters to pieces, slicing my hand and scattering along the tabletop as I watch the man stand up and walk toward the girls.

He shoves his hands in his pockets as he rocks back on his heels. By the way Ainsley’s smile grows, I assume he’s flirting with her, and she’s enjoying the attention.

When another song comes on, they move closer to the center of the dance floor and dance together. They keep a respectable distance from each other, but as the man gets more comfortable, he puts his hands on her.

She seems unsure at first, but after getting a thumbs up from Cassie, she keeps going. All I can think about is pulling the man off of her and breaking every single finger so he never touches her again. In fact, I wouldn’t mind doing that to every man in this room to get my message across.

She’s mine.

Ethan shows up, joining them on the dance floor. He looks tense as he watches Ainsley dancing with another man, knowing this won’t end well for either of them. He needs to let her learn the hard way, though. It’ll be a lesson she’ll never get if he intervenes.

Pulling out my phone, I send him a quick message telling him not to stop her. When he reads it, his eyes dart around the room, looking for me. But he doesn’t see me in this dark corner. He leans down to say something in her ear, and she stiffens before casting her eyes around the room. Her search is just as successful as Ethan’s was.

In an act of defiance aimed at me, she pulls the stranger closer and rubs her body against his. She succeeds in getting a reaction out of me, but she won’t get the satisfaction of seeing it. Not yet, at least.

I watch them for some time, watching as Ainsley gets more frustrated at my lack of reaction to her actions. When she finally takes a break, she pulls her dance partner to the bar and pulls her phone out of her back pocket.

My phone lights up seconds later, her name appearing on the screen for the first time in months.

Ainsley: Leave. I don’t want you here.

Her eyes dart around the room again, hoping to find me this time, but she’s again unsuccessful.

Me: Are you planning to take him home with you, little one?

She laughs at something the man says before reading over the text. I watch a wicked sneer cross her features as her fingers fly across the screen.

Ainsley: Why not? He’s funny, cute, and he’s never kidnapped me. Compared to previous men I’ve been with, he sounds perfect.

Oh, the things I’ll do to punish her for this.

Me: Do it. I dare you.

She shoves her phone back in her pocket without responding and drags him back to the dance floor. Ethan stays away from her, not wanting any part of her acting out, while Cassie cheers her on from the sidelines.

She dances through the night like her life depends on it, getting more bold with the stranger the longer they’re together. As it gets late, she stands up on her tiptoes and whispers something in his ears. He smiles and nods enthusiastically while she smiles back sheepishly. That’s my cue.

I stand up from my table and exit out the back door without being seen. Since she started dancing with that man, I’ve been thinking of ways to punish her. Hours of thinking have made me very creative.