THIRTY
T his is all just a terrible nightmare.
It has to be a nightmare.
There’s no way that I was betrayed, kidnapped, and chained to a wall by the man who just tonight pushed our wedding date forward. It’s the same man who held me in his arms when I had a mental breakdown. The same man who rarely went a day without buying me chocolate or flowers.
When did it all go wrong? When did all of those little changes start to happen?
Did it start when I killed Franco De Santis? Or did it start way before, and I just never realized it?
My chest hurts.
The betrayal feels like someone is using pins and needles to repeatedly stab my heart until it’s filled with the small, metal objects. Cutting my chest open and carving my heart out wouldn’t hurt as much as this does.
When the door in the building closed and the mask fell off, the first thing that came from my lips was a gasp. My eyes widened, and the shock hasn’t left me since. The sinister smile, the evil gaze that bores into my face makes my stomach twist and turn in agony.
I fainted before he got the chance to even hurt me.
And now I’m chained to the wall in what looks to be a basement. It’s not stinky or smelly; it’s a perfectly usable basement. But the chains around my wrists, stomach, and ankles are heavy, pulling me to the ground.
I woke up not too long ago.
And Dylan is nowhere in sight.
I want to scream at him, yell and hit him until I have no strength left. Why did he do all of this? Why did he go to such lengths? If it’s to avenge his father, even Dylan must be aware that his father was nothing but a monstrous freak who deserved the ending he got.
Why?
I don’t know what time it is or how long I’ve been here. Dylan stripped me of all the weapons I originally had, leaving me to feel bare. He knows that I’m never without even the slightest, smallest weapon on me because it makes me feel safe.
Dylan took away the only thing that made me feel safe.
I suspected him when I saw the obviously self-inflicted whip marks on his body. But I never thought that he’d end up being the man I was chasing. I thought he was just pissed that I was spending time with Hudson and that he did it out of jealousy. How I wish my mind had connected the dots quicker.
At worst, my thoughts were that he might’ve been working for The Silencer—not that he is The Silencer himself.
Regret starts to sink in, and realization hits me like a ton of bricks.
The women that were murdered in cold blood and the women that he was selling all looked terrifyingly like me. Long, dark-brown hair, with a deep shade of brown eyes. It’s not a unique look, but they are all my height, around my weight, and around my age. Some of them even have more similarities, and it’s too disturbing to think that he was out and about, looking for women similar to me.
My throat is dry.
My wrists and ankles hurt. The chains are embedded into my flesh, the skin around them a deep shade of red. I can’t escape even without the chains, so securing them that tightly was done out of spite.
I can’t help but think how all of this is my fault.
Those women might’ve been alive if I had just not been acting like a selfish brat. If I’d given him the attention he was craving, he probably wouldn’t have taken his anger out on those poor people.
I’m too ashamed of myself, and it hurts.
My mind is my biggest enemy and my greatest weakness.
Despite the utter and complete shame that fills me, I’m still angry. I’m just too exhausted to let it surface. The fact that this has been going on right under my nose is terrifyingly alarming. He knew how much I despised people like him, yet I didn’t see it. As furious as I am with him, I’m the one to blame here. If I had been smart enough to figure it out, this could’ve been prevented.
However, the fact remains.
Dylan is The Silencer. The man who I’m set to marry is a fucking monster. And I hand-picked him. What does that make me? A bigger monster? The devil himself? The guilt is starting to eat me alive and the longer I’m alone in this basement, the worse and darker my thoughts get.
I have no doubt that in his sick mind, he thinks he’s doing all of this for me, somehow. He’ll try to pin the blame on me, and there’s nothing I can do but accept it. Because he will be right; I am the one to blame.
My eyes close, and it’s the biggest mistake.
My mind plays images of those terrified girls inside of that cage on replay. I can see every bruise, every tear, and every time their teeth clatter together in anxiety. They’re petrified, and they’ve been abused to the point of no return. Their lives are fucking ruined just because they resemble me in one way or the other.
The door swings open, and I force myself to open my eyes. A tear slides down my cheek, and I’m met with Dylan.
He’s calm—too calm. He looks just like he always does. He’s dressed in casual clothes with his hair messy and a lazy smile on his face. The insanity that I saw in that building is no longer there, as if it never existed in the first place.
“I know the chains must be uncomfortable, Noelle.” He sighs. He picks up a water bottle, opens the lid, and approaches me. “But it’s for your own good. I can’t have you throwing a fit, you know?”
He brings the bottle to my lips, but I clamp them shut. He raises an amused brow, shaking his head slightly. Unexpectedly, he grabs a fistful of my hair and pulls it back. My mouth opens in pain, and he uses the opportunity to force water down my throat.
“I can’t have you dehydrated,” he says with a small chuckle. He takes a sip from the water, then looks back at me. “See? It’s not contaminated. There’s no point in drugging you when you’re already restrained.”
“Why?” That pathetic question is all I can muster. “Why, Dylan?”
He sits on the floor, though there’s not enough distance between us. He closes the water bottle and tosses it aside, eyes locked on mine. “Why, what? Why did I take you here? Why did I start a human trafficking business? Or why is it all your fault?”
My blood runs cold.
He grins.
“I’m assuming you want to know all of it, huh? Well…” He pauses, glances at his wristwatch, then brings his eyes back to me. “You see, it did all start with revenge in mind. It’s your family’s fault that I was raised by someone who wasn’t my family. But then I met you. And you managed to enchant me, Noelle. You were just so… dazzling. I didn’t quite forget about revenge, but I could have the revenge I needed and you.”
“Your father was a fucking monster,” I utter out, still in shock. The pain in my chest only intensifies as time goes on.
“As opposed to you and your family? Because from where I’m standing, you’re not saints, either.”
“We don’t kill innocent people, and we sure as hell don’t sell them.”
“Hmm,” he hums, cocking his head to the side. “You don’t kill innocent people? I know you, Noelle. So I know that you don’t do detailed research on your targets unless you’re bored. I highly doubt there wasn’t an innocent person or two in that long list of yours.”
There’s nothing I can say because he’s right.
He smirks. “I know I’m right, Noelle. It’s okay. We can be monsters together.”
“I will rather slit my own throat and bleed out than ever be with you, Dylan. It’s not happening.”
“Cute. You think you have a choice here.”
I grit my teeth, fisting my hands. “Listen to me, Dylan. No matter what you think will happen, someone will find me. And you’ll be fucking dead when they do.”
I don’t see him move. In fact, I’m blinded momentarily by his speed. He grabs my hair again and pulls it until it hurts. His face is an inch away from mine, eyes wide and pupils dilated. The man in front of me is a stranger; I’ve never seen him like this.
It sends a brusque bolt of shock right through me, and a bullet of panic rises in my throat. I can’t look away because if I do, the monster in front of me will swallow me whole.
“You listen to me, Noelle.” His dark voice sends chills down my spine, and I’m frozen in place. “I didn’t go through all of this just for you to leave me. You will never leave me, do you understand? You are going to be my wife, and you’ll play the role of a good housewife. You’ll have my kids, and we’ll live together until we die. Do I make myself clear?”
“I. Would. Rather. Die.”
I don’t see it coming.
In fact, I only feel it after my head forcefully turns to the side, and the taste of metal fills my mouth.
Dylan slaps me with so much force that he knocks a tooth out of my mouth.
The stinging sensation doesn’t leave. It stays, and, somehow, it calms me down. Dylan is terrifying, but I’m no longer feeling the deep ache in my chest. With a single slap, he managed to erase all the good things I used to cherish about him, all the things that make this situation as painful as it is.
Roughly, he grabs my chin and forces me to look at him.
“You will not reject me, Noelle. I didn’t wait years for you to act so entitled. Do you see what you did? You forced me to act like this. I don’t want to hurt you again, so behave.”
“Fuck you.”
A loud, sadistic laugh fills my ears. He shakes his head and immediately bends down. “I love when you’re all feisty with me.”
Dylan kisses me.
He’s holding the back of my head with one hand, and my chained hands can’t push him away. The other hand wraps around my throat until he forces me to open my mouth, then slides his tongue in.
Tears start rolling down my cheeks, and I’ve never felt so much disgust in my life. I stay there, motionless, praying that he finishes soon. His kiss feels like I’m being skinned alive, like someone is peeling my flesh, layer by layer, until I can feel the coldness in my bones.
It’s disgusting.
And I don’t return it.
It pisses him off more.
He pulls away and licks his lips, some of my blood transferring onto him. He has a satisfied grin on his face.
“You allowed your sworn enemy to fuck you raw in a fucking restroom, but you can’t return my kiss? It hurts, Noelle.”
When I think it’s finally over, it actually starts.
For each rejected kiss or touch, he hits me. He doesn’t say anything while he’s hitting me, but he is careful not to hit my face unless it’s a slap. But he is punching me directly in the gut, twisting my hands until I scream in pain, and then he kisses me again.
And all I can do is pray that this will all be over soon.
But it’s not.
Dylan visibly gets upset, then snaps his fingers. In no time, two men emerge from the stairs, one of them carrying a piece of paper. Dylan inspects it, his eyes darting between the paper and me a few times, all while keeping a mocking grin on his face.
“Sign this.” He shoves the paper in front of me, and the blood drains from my face.
“No,” I state loudly. “You can break both of my wrists before I even think about signing it.”
It’s a marriage certificate. Dylan does have a lot of connections, so I’m not surprised that he managed to get it. It does bother me how quickly he is able to grab something that important. It either means he’s been holding onto this for quite some time, or he did it earlier in the day.
I’m not sure which one is more terrifying.
“I don’t want to hurt you, Noelle,” he whispers. He bends down to my level and strokes the cheeks he had so much fun hitting a while ago. “Sign it and all of this will be over.”
“Will it?” I laugh bitterly. “It can’t be over until you’re dead, Dylan. I am not signing it.”
His jaw clenches as he digs his nails into my skin. I don’t move a muscle, don’t flinch, and don’t give him any sort of reaction. It pisses him off more that it’s not as painful as he hoped it would be.
“Fine,” he spits. “Have it your way, but don’t forget that I gave you a choice. Try not to hate me too much.”
The frown on my face is replaced by shock. The two men approach me and remove the shackles from the wall while keeping them on me. They grab my forearms and start dragging me up the stairs. No matter how much I toss and try to fight them, it’s impossible.
The chains on my body are too heavy for me to be able to defend myself.
I’m placed in the living room. I’ve been to Dylan’s main home and even summer houses, and this place is neither of them. It’s new, as if he bought it for this purpose only. That’s not the terrifying part.
It’s what I see in front of me.
A giant tub filled with water and ice. It’s in the middle of the room, with one chair on the other side of it. Immediately, alarms go off in my head, and I know what’s waiting for me. Especially because I’ve read in Ray’s files that this is the same torture method they used on Dylan’s father.
One of the men kicks the back of my knee, and I slump down. Dylan grabs the chains that are tied around my wrists and yanks me forward until I’m standing right in front of the tub.
My heart is thumping in my chest.
But I’m not afraid.
Maybe I’ve passed the limits of normal fear and I’ve just gone numb. It’s for the better. It won’t hurt as much if I don’t feel the pain. All I need to do is dissociate myself from this situation, like I’ve done many times in the past.
“You’re going to torture me until I cave in?”
“Torture? Goodness, no.” He feigns hurt, placing his hand over his chest. “It’s merely a method of persuasion, Noelle. This doesn’t even have to start. All you need to do is sign the paper, and I won’t be forced to hurt you.”
I turn my head to the side, looking elsewhere. My eyes scan through the room, trying to find a little opening. That’s all I need. Something small but useful. If I wait for everyone to save me, it means I’m not really good at my job. I’ll be damned if I allow the hunter to become the hunted.
“Very well,” Dylan says.
In the next moment, my hair is being grabbed roughly. One of the men shoves my head deeply under water, and it fucking hurts.
The cold ice slices through my cheek. My lungs start filling with water when I open my mouth. I don’t want to, but it’s almost like an instinct. It fucking burns. It’s as if my entire insides are being ripped apart, inch by inch, ruthlessly and violently.
They pull me out, and I gasp for air. Breathing in hurts more than I thought, and I start coughing violently. Shivers rush down my body because it’s freezing cold. Dylan sees it and only chuckles.
“You forced me to do this, Noelle,” he sighs. He’s sitting in the chair across from me with his arm resting on the armrest, holding his chin on his index and middle finger. “Do you know how hard I tried not to let it get to this? I found every single lookalike I could but no matter how similar in appearance they were, they just… weren’t enough. They weren’t you.”
“You wanted to turn them into me?” I whisper. Disbelief and shock morph together, and I’m left in a haze. “How long has this been going on, Dylan?”
“Hm…” He pauses. “Probably five, six years? It was very lowkey because I needed you to get rid of the De Santis morons first. You get rid of one, then fuck the other. Really classy, Noelle.”
“Shut up.”
He laughs. It’s dark and filled with venom. I don’t know who this person is, but I hate him with every fiber of my being. I want nothing more than to see him fucking suffer.
“Oh, Noelle. We’re just getting started. I have some grand things prepared for you, you know? You’ll change your mind and if you don’t, I’ll just kill you and keep your pretty body as a souvenir.”
“Then go ahead. Kill me, you bastard.”
“And let you off the hook so easily? You’ve made me wait for a life that was never going to happen, haven’t you, Noelle? You don’t think I’m that clueless, right? I know you were desperately trying to break off the engagement. Let me make myself clear. It will never happen.”