Chapter Nineteen
Chloe
What the hell was happening?
I froze in place when I felt Zane’s fingers playing with the moisture that had been accumulating between my legs, using it to circle his thumb skillfully along my most sensitive spots.
Shock and curiosity took over me, pushing rationality out of the room, because the feeling wasn’t anything like I remembered. It felt… good.
Part of me wanted to fight, to push him away, to say no. But another part… couldn’t resist the feeling building up and cracking me open.
I hadn’t been with many men, but the ones I had, never cared about my pleasure. Their touch always scratched, hurt, and left me sore. Zane touched me tenderly, so slowly, as if he was studying me, wanting to feel me the same way I was feeling his fingers, and it ignited something primal in me.
But then he took the heat, and I felt betrayed.
My body betrayed me, giving in to a man I had been ready to kill only minutes ago.
“Even if you manage to escape this house, I will always find you, Chloe.”
He said more as a promise than a threat.
I jerked his hand away from my wrist, not moving from my spot. He let go because he wanted to, then walked to grab his jacket, shrugging it back on with an infuriating casual grace that made me boil.
“Learn when to shut up and follow the damn rules,” he warned from behind me. “It’ll make your life a lot easier.”
I snapped my head at him, looking right into his eyes. “You’ll never turn me into one of your puppets.”
“Chloe, get the fuck out of my office now, or I’ll bend you over my desk and fuck you until you cum all over my dick. Because I really want to do that right now.”
His voice was vicious, his eyes burning with a fiery intensity.
Again, I should have been terrified, but I wasn’t… because maybe I wanted the same thing.
I stared at him, trying to stand my ground, fighting against my thirsty hormones and the memory of the amazing orgasm he’d just denied me. But it wasn’t a battle I could win.
I stormed out of the office, completely forgetting the leggings behind, and ran like a scared kitten up to my room. Closing the door behind me, I threw myself onto the bed, pressing a pillow against my face and screaming like a teenager having a meltdown.
I couldn’t believe I had just kissed Zane Santino.
Worse, he kissed me.
Hungrily, as if he had been waiting for that moment for a lifetime.
He’d kissed me so hard I could only let his breaths fill my lungs and let it electrify me whole. I’d never been kissed with such intensity before and the things he’d done to me after… I couldn’t believe how easily I had melted into his arms, willing to let him do anything he wanted.
I was embarrassed by how easily my body gave me away, how it betrayed me in that moment of weakness. I wished I could dig a hole and disappear into the center of the Earth because I didn’t think I could ever look Zane in the eyes again after what had just happened.
Lesson learned. There was no way I could leave this place by force.
I turned around on the bed, replaying our conversation to distract myself from the embarrassment I was feeling.
Even if I managed to hurt Zane, then what? I’d still never make it past his army guarding this place. Even if by some miracle I found my way out, where would I go? Cutting myself free from Bruce’s leash also meant losing my previous apartment and all my belongings.
Reality was, I had nowhere to go, no money to survive, and no way to pay Zane back. Not even if I lived another hundred years.
I was a pawn in a game where I wasn’t allowed to know the rules, nothing but a toy grown men fought over.
I was trapped again.
But at least inside these walls, I was protected from the rest…
Someone out there had tried to hurt me for reasons I didn’t understand. I had no idea who those men were or what consequences their deaths would bring to me. The last thing I wanted was to put myself in a position where I had to find out.
Zane was right about being my only option.
He had the resources; without him, I’d simply be vulnerable. The smartest thing to do now was to stay off radar and cut all contact with Malia until we figured this out, so nobody could trace her back to me. I couldn’t risk her safety.
I sighed.
It wasn’t ideal, and I hated that he’d taken away all my choices right when I’d started to trust him… But Zane wasn’t as bad as he was trying to sell.
He had his own limits that I’d begun to understand. He could’ve killed me, beaten me up, turned me into his sex slave, or simply let me freeze in that prison cell and leave me at the mercy of his goons, but he didn’t.
The pillow beneath my cheek felt like a cloud, too soft compared to those nights I slept on concrete. My eyelids felt heavy, and my mind started to drift away.
Yeah, I’d been through worse…
The basement smelled like piss and mold, though after a while, I barely noticed it anymore.
The mattress on which I’d been sleeping on was more brown than white, its stuffing spilling out through several tears in the outer fabric.
I didn’t know how long it had been. For days, the only thing I did was stare blankly at the stained walls, flinching every time footsteps or shattering glass echoed from upstairs, hoping that if I stayed quiet long enough, I’d disappear into myself eventually.
I didn’t know why I was here. Why this man had taken me. Why they kept me locked in the basement of a strip club.
I figured Dad must have screwed someone over again. But that man, Bruce, hadn’t said a word to me yet.
Then, my latest nightmares turned into reality when the door snapped open so violently the walls seemed to shake. Two men stormed in. I jumped, throwing myself at the door and taking my chance, but one of them grabbed me by the hair, yanking me down, slamming his knee into my chest.
I clawed at the floor. At the man’s pant leg. At anything. But I was kicked away like a stray dog, as the door slammed shut again. I lay there frozen; eyes fixed on the steel door as if staring hard enough could force it open. Then I noticed the other man’s hands, unfolding a thick rubber hose.
“Strip,” the man who had pinned me down said, while his friend was busy adjusting the nozzle. “Now.”
“Fuck you,” I spat at him, aiming straight for one of his polished shoes.
He didn’t flinch, just hauled his foot back and kicked me in the stomach, so hard I almost vomited. Air ripped from my lungs, and I tried to curl into the pain. But he grabbed a fistful of my hair, yanking me back to my feet so violently that my neck cracked.
I was so glad Malia wasn’t here.
“Strip—” He snarled, his mouth so close I could smell the rot between his teeth.
I wanted to die. I really did. I wanted to scream in his face that I’d rather burn in hell than let him see or touch me. But the thing more terrifying than this was the thought of Malia in my place. Alone, scared, and crying out for me, and me not being there.
Because if I died, I couldn’t protect her anymore. If I died, they’d bring her here to replace me and knew right there that I’d do anything to make sure she never had to.
So, I did what I had to.
With hands that barely worked, I reached down and began peeling off my clothes. First, the pinky pajamas I’d been wearing for days. Then, the underwear.
My fingers trembled as I pulled the last piece of fabric from my body, shame tightening around my throat. And he was watching every small move, delighting in it, a personal striptease for him.
They both watched.
Staring at me as if they’d never seen a woman naked before, though I was barely a woman.
I tried hiding my intimate parts from them, but it was useless. Those strange eyes never left.
One of them pulled out a phone, snapping a photo, and I wondered if it was part of the procedure or if he just wanted a memory for later.
Then he walked closer. “Open your mouth.”
I blinked at him, confused, but before I could react, he forced two fingers between my lips and shoved them deep into my throat, making me gag.
“If you bite, I’ll bite you twice harder.” His voice was coarse, rough.
His fingers moved around my gums and teeth, checking if any moved as if he was looking for something I could have hidden in them.
Then he shoved deeper, probing down my throat until I gagged again. I gasped for air when he finally pulled out, giving me a little slap on the cheek as if it was getting him off.
“Open your legs.”
I didn’t.
But he didn’t wait either. He kicked them open with his feet and didn’t wait before sliding the fingers he’d used on my mouth deep inside me.
The intrusion burned. I winced as every muscle in my body tightened.
The stretch was dry, painful and all I could feel were his nails scratching me, clawing me raw from the inside.
My body recoiled from every inch of him but that only seemed to excite him more.
It made him dig deeper, as if he was desperate to force a reaction out of me.
I forced my jaw tight so hard not to make a sound that my teeth cracked and my eyes started to burn. I’d never been touched like that, and didn’t have to, to know it was wrong. To know my body didn’t want it.
Then he stopped to turn me around, a hand pressing my face into the wall, while the other repeated the abuse on my ass.
But this time, it was worse. This time, his body pressed against me too, the tip of his nose touching my earlobe as his breathing grew heavier.
This time, I bit my lip so hard I tasted blood just to keep from crying out, as he worked his fingers in and out, faster and deeper with each passing second.
This time, he wasn’t just checking or searching me, he was enjoying it.
He was using me.
Breaking me.
I wanted to throw up, I wanted to scream, and to tear myself out of this body that didn’t feel like mine anymore. And just when I thought I’d pass out, a voice boomed from the doorway.
“Enough.”
The man stopped immediately and stepped aside. Bruce, their boss, had entered the room.
“She’s clean, boss,” the man reported back, still breathless. “And tight. If we confirm she’s a virgin, she may be worth a million more than we anticipated.”
A million. A number. That was what my life was.
They weren’t going to just lock me up.
They were preparing me to be sold.
Bruce simply nodded, and I didn’t have time to process it before the freezing water exploded against my chest, knocking me back. I gasped and choked on it. Its pressure was brutal, but no amount of water could clean the damage they’d already done.
I let it hit me. Let it drown me. Let it erase me.
I didn’t care if it stopped my heart.
But then, as suddenly as it had started, it stopped.
“Stand up,” Bruce said after a moment.
I couldn’t think. I was shivering, soaked, my skin on fire. But I stood somehow.
He tossed something at me. It hit my chest before it fell into my hands. Thin straps with lacy cups and a tag with the number 18.
“Put it on,” he said.
I hesitated. My fingers shook as I dressed. Every part of me screamed not to, but I did it.
For her. So my sister would never had to.
When I was done, the man who’d violated me walked by again. His hand wrapped around my arm, yanking me forward like a rag doll, forcing me to my knees in front of Bruce, like a product being presented for inspection.
And when he looked over me, he did it slowly, but not the same way the others did. He didn’t look hungry.
He looked... curious.
Like he suddenly saw something special in me. Almost like a proud father, but in a twisting way. He looked at me as if he suddenly he had other plans.
Then, he turned to one of his men. “Give me a knife.”
My heart stopped. The man behind me hauled me to my feet, and before I could even flinch, Bruce sliced the number tag off with a swift flick of the blade.
“I think we need more time to get to know each other, after all.” Bruce muttered, his hand brushing my hair lightly, almost tenderly, in a cruel imitation of affection.
I sobbed.
“You’ll show your worth to, and if you behave, we’ll keep you and your sister off the shelf... for now.”