Chapter Twenty-Three
Captive
Amy
Panic was going off in her brain like a set of screeching and relentless fire alarms. It froze the logical aspects of her brain, which might have looked for ways to disable him for long enough to get away and sent her every sense into disarray.
“Sir!” Amy could scarcely catch her breath as her feet scrambled along the smooth, dark hallway leading to his vast hall, although that wasn’t quite true. She could breathe—the air was reaching her nose and lungs just fine despite her discomfort—but the sinister sense that he could cut off her supply hung over her like Armageddon. “Sir, please!”
“It’s too late!”
Wait, what? How was he the one telling her it was too late? Hadn’t she been the one who’d found his secret files and discovered he was lying?
Her gaze flew to the hand that had grasped the evidence of his deceit, but she realized, in her frenzy to protect herself, she must have dropped the paper. It didn’t change anything, though. She was the one with the right to be bloody angry, not him! Yet somehow, he’d managed to take his wrongdoing and twist it into her current nightmare, so she was the one being manhandled. He didn’t even glance her way as he dragged her across the shiny tiles of the hall.
“Please!” She clawed his arm, wishing she could make an impact through his expensive suit. “Whatever you’re going to do, don’t!”
“I’m going to have to insist on your respect, I’m afraid.” Reaching the base of the stairway, he glowered down at her, though the pressure around her neck never diminished. “No more chances, Amy.”
“Ch-chances?” She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “I’m in shock. I’m angry! With good reason!”
“That’s as may be, but it doesn’t give you a pass to shout, scream, and swear at me.” He looked genuinely aggrieved, as though she’d done something to hurt him.
“Just let me go.” She hated having to plead.
It was worse than any of the prior begging she’d endured, which had almost inevitably been interpreted by her brain as arousal. By contrast, there was nothing sexy about any of this. He might not technically have harmed her, but the way he was lugging her around the house spoke of a violent man she didn’t recognize. Kyle had always been quiet, calm, and in control. She feared the dark glint in his eyes.
“No.” He was resolute. “You’re staying with me. We’re going to the bedroom.”
“Fine!” Based on the thunder in his gaze, the bedroom was the last place she wanted to go with him, but if there was no choice, she could manage the short trek alone. “Then let me walk, please, sir. You’ll only hurt me if you drag me up those.” She gestured to the steps, praying he’d see reason. Kyle was many things, but a bully wasn’t one. Perhaps he wanted to frighten her as some alleged payback, but surely, he wouldn’t actually cause her harm?
“You’re right.” His arm relaxed slightly at her throat. “We need another solution.”
Hope sprung from the corners of her mind. “I’ll walk.” She twisted to find his eyes. “I can be good, I promise.”
If she could persuade him to soften the brutish act, she might even start to enjoy proceedings. No one had awoken her to the joys of rough sex before Kyle, but now the floodgates had been opened, she couldn’t conceive a way to close them.
“I know you can be.” His brow furrowed. “And you know I love you, don’t you?”
The question hung in the air as she stared into his eyes. There was something new in them, something dangerous that tangled the unease in her belly, something she’d never noticed before.
“Yes, sir.”
She sensed it was true, despite his behavior, although the pendulum of her emotions wasn’t able to decide if she still reciprocated the sentiment. Of course, she wanted him. She nearly always did. But could she truly love a man who’d lied to her so flagrantly for so long? Especially if he wouldn’t even talk to her about it.
“Good.” He inhaled, leaning close to skim his lips over her temple. “Because I do love you, little girl. I have done for a long time, and I always will.”
“So, you’ll let me walk, sir?”
“Turn around.” His arms lowered, trapping her in the prison of his open embrace and the bottom of the wooden banister.
“Sir?” Finding her feet properly for the first time since the study, she straightened, enjoying the simplicity of a deep breath as she spun to face him. That was more like it. Face-to-face, she could speak to him and help him understand. “I’m sorry I was rude, but—”
She never got to finish her sentence. In a split second, he lowered, clasping her around her thighs and lifting her from her feet. She cried out when he hiked her over his shoulder, her feet kicking against his middle while her hands tore at his back.
“Stop!” She screamed, the noise throaty and born of tangible fear. “William, just stop!”
“Wrong answer.” His arm wrapped around her, holding her steady as the other hand rose to wallop her prone backside. “We covered this already.”
“Sir!” Disorientated and frantic, she burst into fresh tears as he ascended the stairs. “Please, no!”
“Wrong answer.” Another blow landed on her upturned ass, branding her with another reason to call out.
“Please!” She couldn’t seem to stop sobbing and crying. “Leonard… anyone! Please help me!”
“No one will help you, little girl.” There was a chilling surety to his tone that sent a shiver racing along her spine. “You know that.”
“Oh God.” Clinging to the back of his jacket as they reached the top of the stairs, she realized he was correct.
Whether it was because the other staff had heard their antics before and were too embarrassed to intervene or because there was really no one else in the house, she couldn’t say, but as he turned toward his bedroom, no one came running to her rescue.
The fight seeped from her as that premise reverberated.
No one was coming.
“There haven’t been many rules since I invited you to my home, Amy.” His voice was solemn, as though he had the right to be disappointed in her ! “But I have asked you for respect.”
“I know, sir. I’m sorry.”
Why was she placating him? She should be thrashing over him and demanding he release her, but instead, she was weeping like a child and apologizing.
“Are you?” He sounded unconvinced. “I’m afraid I’m going to need a little more persuasion that you’re truly sorry, little girl. Sorry for going through my files, sorry for losing your temper, and sorry for threatening to leave.”
Upturned over his shoulder, her brows knitted. She wasn’t sorry for any of those things, but the risk of pissing him off at that juncture seemed too perilous to tell the truth.
“Okay, sir.”
The hand that had crashed onto her ass gripped the curve of her backside. “You’re wonderful.” Pain echoed from his tone. “Why did you have to ruin something so good, little girl?”
Her ruin things? She might have snorted had the blood rushing to her brain not fogged her thoughts so badly.
“I can’t trust you now.” He patted her rump in an almost tender way. “So, I’m going to leave you in here to cool off.”
That’s ironic. Her head throbbed as she gripped the flash fabric of his jacket. That’s what I was thinking. I can’t trust you !
She didn’t have to guess at their location as the noise of a door opened behind her. The direction he’d chosen at the head of the stairs and the plush carpet under his feet had already told her where they were.
He strode inside his bedroom, lifting one foot to kick the door closed after him, and a moment later, she was sent crashing onto the bed covers. Landing with a gasp, she glanced around, considering her options, but by the time her pulsing head had rationalized her new, righted position, Kyle had already locked the bedroom door.
Her gaze darted to his as, slipping the key into his trouser pocket, he shrugged out of his jacket and stalked toward the bed. At any other moment, he’d have been the definition of temptation in his smart suit and loosened tie, but under duress, the point was moot.
“Don’t even think about running.” He pointed his finger in her direction. “I’ll chase you, I’ll find you, and I’ll make you fucking sorry.”
“Sir…” She couldn’t help but edge along the covers at his approach. He’d never been so foreboding before. “You’re frightening me.”
“Good.” The bastard’s lips twitched, as though there was anything even vaguely amusing about the predicament. “Maybe that will make you think twice, little girl.”
“I won’t run,” she told him, though even as she spoke, her eyes flitted around his enormous room, looking for potential exits.
“Too fucking right, you won’t.” Without breaking eye contact with her, he slid his tie from around his neck. “This needs resolution.”
She held her breath as he climbed onto the bed, her rational instincts commanding her to flee, although somehow, the dark gleam in his eyes glued her to the spot. Menacing, he most certainly was, but as he advanced, she couldn’t recall him ever looking more alluring. The way the man had carried her up the stairs was practically assault, but looking at him now, she saw only lust burning in his expression.
“What am I going to do with you?” Taking her head in his hands, he pressed his lips to hers. “Tell me, Amy.”
Let me go.
The answer was right there, on the tip of her tongue, but held in his grip, she could only think about how much she wanted him to kiss her again.
It made no fucking sense.
She’d just screamed the house down, trying to get away from the fiend, yet now, she sought the heat of his mouth on hers.
“Love me, sir?”
Ultimately, it was all she could think to say, the best common ground between her two desires. If he truly loved her, then he wouldn’t hurt her. She had to hold on to that.
“Ah, yes.” He collapsed over her, forcing her to her back as his weight pinned her down. “ That I can do, little girl.”
His lips neared, brushing her mouth until she moaned for more.
“Please.” Her head was swimming with competing emotions.
“ So needy.” He sighed, rising to survey her the way a lion might peruse the Serengeti. “But you’re right… I do need to love you.”
His mouth lowered again, claiming her properly that time, and acting on instinct, her lips yielded to his command. She sensed her body soften at the brutal caress, knowing that, for all his fucked-up behavior, he was still the only man who could ignite her.
As the intensity of the kiss waned, she was vaguely aware of his arm shifting and the sound of something moving at the bedside—a drawer opening, perhaps—but the demand of his lips was sufficient to hold her in place until the noise melted into the background.
It wasn’t important. Not like the taste of him, the passion flickering in his gaze, or the silent, imploring way her hips rose to taunt him. Those were the things that mattered—the reasons why he was right and why walking away was simply not going to be an option.
“I’m going to take care of you.” His gaze slid to her right wrist as he continued. “I want you to know that.”
It seemed a strange thing for him to say, except everything that had happened since she’d found the files could be interpreted as peculiar.
“I want you to remember that.” His voice was soft and as he pressed a chaste kiss to her lips, she sensed a cold band of metal tighten around her wrist.
“What was that?” She strained to see, but his face blocked her view, and his body kept her immobilized to the bed.
“Me.” He smiled. “ Taking care of you.”
A sharp tug at her wrist yanked her right arm higher along the bed, and by the time she’d twisted to try to understand the abrupt pain, she realized it was too late. A metal cuff had been locked around her wrist, and, heart hammering at her fate, she acknowledged he’d wrapped the attached cuff to the head of his bedstead.
“No!” She tried to rise from the bed, but his hard body insisted she stay, his hand holding her down with infuriating ease. She kicked out, regardless, attempting to throw him off balance, but the man seemed to be made of muscle, and every kick proved futile. “Don’t do this! Let me go!”
He rose, dodging her flailing legs and stretching his neck as though he was the one being held under duress.
“Please, sir!” She yanked at the cuff, flinching at its unyielding form around her delicate skin. “You don’t have to do this.”
“I need to keep you here until we can work things out.” He shrugged, as though her dilemma was unavoidable, and it was normal for men to behave that way.
An icy rush of energy through her body reminded her that, for him, perhaps it might be.
What did she know about Kyle after all?
Only what he’d told her, and that had been frustratingly limited. She’d thought it was erotic at first—that he was enigmatic because he shared very little when he stepped in to play her savior—but fettered to the bed, the panic made her wonder.
“Not like this!” Hysterical, she panted, tugging harder at the cuff and instantly regretting the deed. She winced as the metal cut into her flesh. “Don’t keep me like this!”
“Stop that.” He scowled. “Stop hurting yourself, or I’ll cuff both of your hands and gag you.”
She eyed him for any sign that his threat was insincere, but his gaze was hard, conveying everything she needed to know.
He would do it.
He’d keep his word, bind her and leave her there… maybe to rot.
“And we both know how much you’d love that, don’t we, little girl?” He straightened, his eyebrow arching. “If I cuffed and gagged you.”
“Fuck you.” She was crying again, desperation meeting the waves of fury exploding through her system. How could she have been stupid enough to fall for his bullshit? How could she have believed that anything like that was really love? “You can’t do this!”
“Oh dear.” He shook his head. “I’d hoped for so much better, Amy, but really… you’ve left me no choice.”
Time suspended into strange pockets, her terror heightening with every protracted second.
“We have got to work on that pretty mouth.” He was standing just out of her reach, but if she leapt from the bed, perhaps she could take a swipe at him. It would be with her left hand, though, which wasn’t strong, and even if, by some miracle, she was able to strike him—what then? She couldn’t free herself without the key to the handcuffs, and she didn’t even know where he kept it. Her gaze scanned the bedside unit but couldn’t see any evidence of the key.
“Okay.” His voice continued. “You have one last opportunity to impress me, little girl. Stay quiet and be good while I grab us some refreshments.” He inhaled. “You’ll be dining in here for the time being.”
“I don’t want this.” Her eyes flitted briefly closed.
“ If you can behave, then I won’t use the gag when I leave you next time.” Ignoring her plea, he paused, letting the so-called deal hang in the air between them. “Think you can do that, beautiful?”
She frowned, trying to get a hold of her spiraling thoughts. What difference did it make what she said? He’d do whatever he wanted, anyway. Frustrated emotion caught in her throat, making it hard to breathe.
“Yes, sir.”
She had no intention of being good, but she would promise to be quiet if he left, and it allowed her a moment to think.
“Good.” He sighed, reaching into his pocket for the key to the door. “Behave and be quiet. I’ll be back soon.”
Clasping the key, he turned to slide it into the lock and swung the door open, but before he passed the threshold into the hallway, he glanced back in her direction.
“ One noise , Amy.” His gaze speared her. “If I hear anything from you, you won’t know what has hit you.”
Right. I’ve got the message.
Striding out of sight, the door slammed closed behind him, leaving Amy to the desolation of her thoughts. She was trapped—his prisoner—but as her jaw tightened, she was not beaten.
Kyle was in charge, but his luck wouldn’t last forever. Restrained but not defeated, she had already resolved that the tears drying in her eyes would be the last she spilled for him.
She’d been a fool to believe the yarn he’d spun her all that time. Clearly, he didn’t love her. Love didn’t push, shove, and bind. It was generous, open, and caring. His lies and hustle had taken her by surprise.
He had her cuffed to the bed, but it would take more than Kyle’s cunning to keep her.
The End
The Desperate Binds series continues with
His Dark Purpose
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