Chapter 6 Willow
WILLOW
Light suddenly floods the small space I’m trapped in, and I have to blink back tears as it burns my eyes.
When I glance up, Troy is standing there, the smug smile I’ve come to loathe playing over his lips as he looks down at me.
“Are you ready to be a good girl this time?” he asks, all mocking condescension, as if he’s talking to a child or a pet. “Are you starting to learn your lesson, little wife?”
I swallow hard and nod.
I’ve been locked down here in this little crawl space several times now. Enough that I’ve started to lose count, lose the tether of time as the days bled together. I don’t even know how long I’ve been here anymore.
He’s let me out to eat sometimes, and he’s forced himself on me again too.
Through it all, I’ve somehow managed to keep some small thread of my sanity intact, not letting this break me.
I keep the sound of Malice’s voice in my head, telling me I’m strong, and that’s helped in my darkest moments.
In my time alone, I’ve been putting together a plan for how I might get free of this, building it in my mind while I try to numb myself to what’s been happening to my body.
I’ve been giving Troy what he wants ever since my outburst that first night, since disengaging makes it seem like he’s breaking me the way he wants to. Not fighting back makes him smirk that awful smirk, but I’m hoping it’s also making him more complacent.
It’s a risky plan, especially since Troy has proven himself to be more cunning and vicious than I first thought. But it’s the only possible escape route I can see, so I have to try. No matter how dangerous and soul-crushing it is.
The worst part is that sometimes I can’t tell if it’s an act anymore. The lines between the lie and the truth are just as blurred as the amount of time I’ve been here, leaving me feeling disoriented and numb, like a stranger in my own body.
Fuck. Maybe he really is breaking me.
Troy reaches down to take my arm and help me out of the cramped space, and I want to flinch back away from him, but I force myself not to.
He notices the way I keep myself pliant and loose in his arms, and he smiles approvingly.
“There you go,” he croons, and the fake kindness in his tone makes nausea roil my stomach.
“You’re learning so well. You’ll be fit to appear on my arm in public in no time.
I’ll get you cleaned up, dress you in something other than the shit you used to wear, and no one will ever guess that you’re the daughter of a whore, will they?
They’ll never know that you’re just polished up trash. My pretty little wife.”
As if he can’t help himself, he drops his head and bites my neck, and I press my lips together, my toes curling against the hardwood as I struggle to keep myself from reacting to the pain.
When he drags his tongue over the bite mark, I squeeze my eyes shut, making sure not to let a single tear fall.
He won’t win.
I won’t let him win.
Troy draws back, studying my face for a second before nodding in satisfaction.
“Come with me,” he says, his tone returning to that falsely gentle lilt that I despise. “I’ll help you get cleaned up.”
He says it so magnanimously, as if it’s not his fault I’m streaked with grime and dust and dirt in the first place.
Jerking his chin and gripping my arm, he leads me down the hall up a set of stairs to the second floor.
When we get to the bathroom attached to his bedroom, he starts taking my clothes off.
I just stand there, lifting my arms when he urges me to and stepping out of my pants.
His hands grope at my body, and I fight the urge to shudder with revulsion as my skin crawls from his touch.
I bite the tip of my tongue, focusing on the self-inflicted pain over every other sensation in my body.
“In you go,” Troy says, helping me into the shower and turning it on.
You can do this, I remind myself. You have to be strong. If you let him break you, then you’re never getting out of here. You just have to endure it. You just have to get through it.
Luckily, Troy doesn’t climb into the shower with me, and I’m allowed at least a few minutes of privacy behind the glass shower door. I clean up quickly, scrubbing the dirt away, knowing that the phantom feeling of Troy’s touch is just going to be replaced as soon as I get out of the shower.
I don’t have any delusions that he pulled me out of that hole just to chat.
I also don’t dare take too long, so as soon as I’m clean, I turn off the water and step out.
Troy is waiting for me, holding a towel.
But instead of offering it to me, he holds it in his hands, just out of my reach.
His gaze burn as he looks me over, those cruel eyes following the path of drops of water as they slide down my skin.
I can feel it when his gaze lingers on my scars, and something in his face twists a bit.
“You really are lucky.” He snorts a laugh.
“I married you even though you’re deformed like this.
No one else would have. But unlike some, I can see past that.
I can see the potential underneath the mess.
I always knew an ugly girl would be a better fuck, and I was right.
One day you’ll thank me for choosing you. ”
His words remind me suddenly of what Olivia said to me the last time I saw her. That someday I would be grateful for this. It just makes me hate Troy—hate both of them—even more.
They both buy into this delusion that somehow they’re doing me a favor. That me being a poor nobody forever wouldn’t have been so much better than this hell.
Dropping the towel, Troy reaches out and skims his palm up my side, dancing it over the curve of my hip. Unlike when the Voronin brothers—especially Vic—used to touch me, he avoids my scars, as if he can’t stand to touch them.
His hand moves up my arm and into my wet hair, and when he threads his fingers through the damp strands, I brace myself to be yanked toward him.
For once, he’s more gentle than I expect, and he pulls me closer and kisses me.
Instead of jerking away or going stiff the way I want to, I force myself to kiss him back.
I have to close my eyes, screwing them shut tight so that I can’t see his face, and even then, his scent invades my senses, his tongue slipping into my mouth like a probing slug.
My stomach twists, and I wonder if he can taste the bile that’s rising up in my throat.
But I guess he can’t, because he makes a hungry noise in his throat. And that little bit of participation on my part is enough to make him pull back after a moment, looking pleased.
“You’re learning,” he says with a nod. “Aren’t you?”
I nod back stiffly, my arms limp at my sides.
“That’s good.” His all-American good looks are at odds with the salacious hunger in his eyes. “You’re being very good for me, little wife. Maybe I’ll give you extra dinner tonight if you keep behaving.”
My stomach cramps in response, but I’m glad it doesn’t growl out loud. Troy has been restricting my food, only giving me scraps when he feels like it, after he’s finished eating, and hunger is right there with exhaustion at the forefront of my brain.
I nod again, doing my best not to let the hope show on my face.
“Good girl.” Troy gives my cheek a little pat, and then a sharp slap. “Now go lie down on the bed and get ready for me.”
My cheek stings, but I do what he says, my feet shuffling into the bedroom.
I hate the sight of this bed by now, but I make myself lie down anyway, still naked and damp from the shower.
I know what comes next, and my body is already tensing in anticipation.
Troy comes into the room a moment later, and his eyes are all over me.
“You know,” he muses, palming his cock through his pants. “I do sometimes miss the way you used to fight back with everything you had. That was hot. But I’m pleased with your progress. You’ll be a good little wife in no time.”
Revulsion creeps through me, but I push it down, watching as he comes closer.
“Spread your legs,” he tells me, and I do it.
My heart rate picks up as my adrenaline kicks in, but I try to hide it, keeping my breathing even the way I’ve been practicing during the many long hours in the hatch.
And then Troy is right there, crawling up over me. He touches me as he moves up, grabbing my breasts roughly, tweaking the nipples. His eyes are dark as he looms above me, and he drops his head, ready to steal another kiss.
That’s when I move.
There’s an ugly lamp on the nightstand next to the bed, one I’ve been forced to stare at before, while Troy has been forcing himself on me. I grope for it now, grabbing it around the middle. It’s heavier than I expected, but I manage to swing it and smash it right into the side of Troy’s head.
He jerks sideways and then reels back with a startled grunt. “What the fuck?”
“Get the fuck off me,” I rasp, swinging for him again.
“You little bitch.” He throws his hands up, partially blocking the blow this time, his face blotchy with rage. “You must really like it down in that hole. If that’s the case, I’ll leave you down there until you can’t remember what light is.”
He lunges for my throat, his hands out, but I’m ready for him. I bring my legs up between us, using them to keep him from getting too close, and he grunts when my knee hits him in the stomach. I drop the lamp and try to roll out from under him, crawling away down the bed.
A hand closes around my ankle, tight as a vise, and I kick hard, but it won’t let go.
“No you don’t,” Troy spits. He starts trying to drag me back, hauling me in, and everything in me screams in protest.
No. No!
I have to get away now. This is my one chance. If I don’t escape on this attempt, he’ll never let his guard down again. He’ll keep me bound day and night, and he’ll make sure I pay for what I’ve done.
If he manages to get the upper hand, I’m done for.
My other foot is still free, and I lash out with it, catching Troy right between the legs. He grunts in pain, and I kick him again, hitting his bad arm this time.
That’s enough to get him to let me go, and I gasp for air, throwing myself off the bed and taking off running.
I’m still completely naked, but I don’t have time to throw anything on.
Every precious second counts, and I’ll need each one of them to try to find a way out of this house.
I’ve only been in a few rooms, almost always accompanied by guards, so despite my best efforts to piece together the layout of the large space, I only have a vague idea of where the exits might be.
There are also at least four guards here somewhere, but Troy didn’t bring them with him when he came for me today. Still, I’m sure he’s already alerting them to my escape attempt. I need to get out before he can send them after me.
My heart is pounding in my chest, and I take the stairs so fast that I almost go tumbling down them, barely catching myself on the banister. I know the downstairs part of the house a little better than the upstairs, since this is where the dining room and the room with the hatch are.
When I reach the hallway at the bottom, I debate for a half second, torn between turning left or right.
My hands shake with the overflow of adrenaline as I force myself to make a snap decision and turn left, racing down the corridor toward what I hope like hell is the front of the house—or even the back, as long as there’s a door that will let me out.
I turn at the end of the hallway, and a desperate sob tears from my lips as I see what looks like the front door.
Please, please, please.
The door looms ahead, and I put on a burst of speed, my entire body aching as I reach for the knob. It’s locked, and I scrabble at the deadbolt—
But before I can turn it, a furious roar sounds from behind me.
Troy.
He tackles me sideways, knocking me away from the door and bringing me down to the floor in a heap.
“Going somewhere?” he pants, his artfully styled hair disheveled from our struggle. “You fucking wish. You’re mine now. I fucking own you, and I’ll keep you here for as long as I have to. There’s no way out, you little bitch.”
He’s clearly furious, his brown eyes snapping, his nails digging into my skin.
He spits on my face and then punches me, making pain flare in my cheekbone.
My vision goes blurry around the edges as he rises to his feet, looming over me.
He grabs my legs and starts dragging me away from the door, my bare skin sliding painfully over the hardwood floor.
I can see my window for freedom closing, and it makes me frantic.
No. Dammit, not like this.
I’m not going to be thrown back into that hole. I’m not going to be dragged back into his bed. I won’t let it happen. I’d truly rather die than let Troy keep me here.
That thought lights something inside me, and I let out a feral scream, twisting and kicking with everything I have.
I manage to yank one of my ankles out of Troy’s grasp and kick the back of his knee, and he goes down with a grunt, catching himself with one hand.
I try again to scrabble away, but he lunges for me, wrapping his arms around my waist and sending us both crashing to the floor again.
We roll and scrabble, elbows and knees and fists flying.
He’s bigger than me, and surprisingly strong for someone raised in the lap of luxury, and manages to shove my arms over my head, using his weight advantage to keep me pinned down.
He’s breathing hard, and I can see a sheen of sweat on his forehead, gleaming above the bruise and the trail of blood from where I hit him with the lamp.
But still, despite his obvious pain and the fury burning in his eyes… he’s hard.
“Gonna teach you a real lesson,” he grunts, wrapping one hand around my throat. “Gonna make sure you don’t forget it this time.”
He starts to squeeze, and I buck my hips beneath him, trying to throw him off me. I can hear the sound of shouts, and I know his guards are coming. Once they get here, I’ll be too outnumbered. All that will be left is for them to watch as Troy fucks me. Possibly even kills me.
“Fuck… you,” I choke out, because if I really am about to die, I want those to be the last words he ever hears me say.
He bares his teeth, something halfway between a snarl and a sneer. “You won’t be so mouthy when I’m—”
Bang!
The sound of a gunshot in the distance cuts him off.
Both of us jerk in surprise, and my heart stutters as several more shots ring out, followed by loud voices yelling indistinguishable words.
The noises get louder, coming from the back of the house, and alarm flares in Troy’s brown eyes as he stares down at me.
Then footsteps thunder down the hall toward us, and his head snaps up.
My gaze follows his just in time to see Malice, Ransom, and Vic burst into the entryway from the back of the house.