Chapter 5
Chapter Five
O liver
“Will you be staying with us for the remainder of your reservation, Mister Winter? Or have your plans changed?” the front desk concierge inquired.
Oliver rubbed a thumb over his bottom lip. Every fiber of his soul screamed that he should get the hell out of Diamond Lake Ranch sooner rather than later. But the impossibility of finding suitable lodgings at this hour could not be ignored. Besides, he couldn’t check into a new hotel with the bruised, naked girl he’d just chased through the forest. No, leaving the ranch would wait at least until morning.
“Staying, Mister Phillips. Although I’ll need a change in accommodations due to current developments. One of the outer cabins equipped with a cage will do nicely. I would greatly appreciate your handling the necessary arrangements.”
“Of course, sir. It will be taken care of immediately.” The concierge snapped his fingers to gain the attention of a porter. He spoke quietly to the man and handed him a master key to Oliver’s rooms.
“I do not blame you for being in a hurry, Mister Winter,” Erik said with a smile of approval. “Knowing how rough you play; I hope she lasts through the remainder of the night. For the sake of your bank account, anyway.”
“Thank you, Erik.” A familiar tingle of warning nagged Oliver as he accepted a congratulatory cigar from the Russian. Something felt off about this entire situation, but damn if he could ferret out the precise cause for concern.
Sure, he’d backed out of a lucrative deal of selling them the woman his brother loved, but the organization offered multiple assurances that his standing had not suffered. Besides, in addition to the exorbitant sum he coughed up for acquiring a new prize, he’d been assessed a sizable fine for reneging on that contract. Money had a way of smoothing out problems. The Russians would overlook many things if paid enough. That was a universal truth in many aspects of this life he led.
“Enjoy, my friend. You will let us know if you need anything, yes?” Erik asked, his gaze shrewd.
“As long as Barlow doesn’t want payback for those knots on his head, we should be good.”
Erik waved a hand in dismissal. “Ruel gave him thechoice of girls in the play dungeon. He’ll be kept busy and will forget about the hunt.”
Oliver nodded before heading to the expansive bar area mere steps away from the ranch’s lobby. While waiting for his cabin to be prepared and his new possession cleaned up, he might as well have a drink and contemplate everything he planned on doing with her.
The cabins of Diamond Lake Ranch were hardly cabins in the traditional sense. The buildings along the outskirts of the main lodge were luxury chalets. They came complete with a lower-level room set up for all manners of erotic play and heated plunge pools overlooking the huge lake. They had an isolated feel, surrounded by mature aspen trees with leaves that shimmered and sang in the spring and summer months. They were very popular with guests requiring more privacy and no prying eyes.
Oliver had never stayed in one before this visit. He preferred the convenience of staying in the main building and having the amenities close at hand. Staying in a cabin meant one either undertook a short walk to the main lodge or used the ranch jeep assigned to that cabin.
Having settled in almost an hour ago, Oliver now waited impatiently for the delivery of Item Number Fifteen.
Although he’d been given a dossier file containing all pertinent information related to his new toy, Oliver did not open it. He preferred to unpeel her layer by layer. Piece by ragged piece. He truly was curious to see what she would reveal on her own. Would she share her secrets willingly in exchange for promises of mercy? Or would she stubbornly keep it all hidden while waiting for death at his hands?
Taking a drink of his favorite scotch thoughtfully stocked in the well-appointed bar, Oliver drifted around the luxurious cabin. At one point, he paused in the living room area and admired the beauty of the lake below the wall of windows. The moon illuminated the water while creating dark shadows in the trees still holding onto the late summer leaves.
Oliver continued his exploration while lingering in the doorway of the cabin’s sole bedroom. A circular iron cage occupied one corner, standing about seven feet high and six feet wide. The cage door had a number keypad and a padlock to secure whatever real-life treasure was placed within its confines. An elaborate but sturdy birdcage that he intended to make full use of.
Oliver’s cock hardened at the images his mind conjured. Item Number Fifteen. His little killer. Naked and shivering. Locked in this beautiful cage. Unable to escape while he made use of her lithe, warm body.
A knock on the front door alerted Oliver, and a quick check of the security camera confirmed it. The girl hung limp between the same two burly guards. Her head was lowered to her chest, and despite the chill in the air, she was scantily clad in the same bandeau bra and thong she’d worn at the auction. She was also sporting handcuffs, although this time, her arms were not pulled behind her back like before. Oliver’s annoyance at the lack of care demonstrated for his property revealed itself in a heavy scowl as he flung open the cabin’s front door.
“Where do you want her?” The guard speaking was the same who’d kicked the girl at the start of the hunt. A fresh scratch marred his cheek, and frustration radiated off him. In his hand, he carried an overnight bag. Oliver realized it must belong to the girl. It was probably filled with personal items from home. Her own clothes. Toiletries.
“Bedroom.” Oliver stepped aside so the men could enter. They practically carried their charge through the foyer, and Oliver’s anger simmered when he saw the girl trembling from exposure to the cool air. Whose decision was it to deliver her in such a state? It was unacceptable.
“Not wasting any time, is he?” one guard muttered as they half-marched half-carried the girl down the wide corridor. Oliver watched with narrowed eyes from the doorway as she was unceremoniously tossed onto the bed.
Instead of remaining there, however, she rolled to the side of the mattress, her movements lethargic. New bruises adorned her upper arms, and although she’d been washed clean of the grit and scrapes associated with her desperate foray in the woods, her cheeks were wet with tears. The leather collar was still around her neck, but there was no longer a leash attached to its center ring.
Her gaze frantically searched the room. And Oliver finally saw the color of her eyes when she found him standing silently in the doorway. Deep, dark gray. Fathomless and full of secrets and questions. Wide with terror. It was like gazing into approaching storm clouds while lightning illuminated the universe from the inside out.
A moan escaped her throat as she twisted away from the rough hands keeping her hostage. Was she more frightened of the men restraining her? Or was it the sight of her new owner that induced her panicked response?
“Hold her still,” Oliver instructed, his voice calm, although whatever he was experiencing in that moment, deep inside his gut, was far from rational. It went beyond possessiveness. Beyond ownership. It was something so wild, so fucking feral, it scared him. This girl… this girl was his. His from this very moment until she drew her last shuddering breath beneath him. His . “I want to see everything I paid for.”
“She’s a goddamn handful, that’s for sure,” the taller of the two guards grunted as he pressed the girl down into the thick mattress, oblivious to the danger of his rough actions. “You see what she did to Carl? It’s why we had to cuff her again.”
“Has she been sedated?” Oliver asked, his lips tight. He already knew the answer. He just wanted confirmation.
“Yeah. Same stuff she was given at the auction. Should have tied her feet, too. Maybe even hogtied her. Just about kicked ol’ Rodney right in the balls when we got her out of the Jeep.” Carl grabbed the girl’s ankles, yanking them with such force that she cried out.
The pain woke her from the semi-conscious state. She began fighting, weak as a newborn kitten at first, then with increasing ferocity until she writhed against captivity like a wildcat. Teeth flashing, she snapped at anything that came close to her mouth. During the frenzied attack, she latched onto Carl’s forearm.
Letting out a sharp curse, Carl cuffed the girl’s temple with a meaty fist. She instantly went limp, her head lolling from the force of the blow.
“Fucking bitch! You gonna pull that shit again?” Carl bellowed at the unconscious girl, spittle flying from his mouth in his anger.
“Goddamn it, Carl,” Rodney swore, scowling up at his partner as he rolled the girl onto her back. He pushed the hair out of her face, assessing the damage. “How many times you gotta be told, you stupid asshole? Never hit them in or around the face. Never . No matter what. No matter how pissed off they make you.”
“Yeah, well, she deserved that and a hell of a lot more for all the trouble she’s caused.”
Oliver did not think. He let the fury sink in and drown him. He did not question his reaction or consider reining in the red-fueled rage swamping him. When the guard sank into a low chair, he quickly approached the distracted man from behind.
“Fucking bite me,” Carl grumbled as he examined the bloody wound, “and think you can get away with…”
In a flash, Oliver captured Carl’s head in his hands with a forearm caught beneath the man’s chin. One quick twist, a sickening crunch, and Carl slid from the chair to the floor in a motionless heap.
“Holy shit.” Rodney jumped off the bed, backing away from the girl’s prone body as Oliver advanced toward him. Hands raised in supplication, the look of terror on the guard’s face was comical. “Mister Winter… What the fuck? He shouldn’t have hit her, but goddamn, sir, you didn’t have to kill him.”
“On the contrary. It was an absolute necessity. That’s not the first time he struck her. While I had no right to object before, I certainly do now.” Oliver paused long enough to shove Carl’s lifeless body out of the way and fixed a stony glare on Rodney. “Now, I would advise you to get the fuck out of my cabin and take this piece of shit with you. And when you report this incident to the directors, let them know that I’ll happily explain why I killed the bastard who mistreated my property in front of me.”
“I-I understand, Mister Winter.” Rodney swallowed hard. “Can you help me move him?”
“I’m sure you can figure it out,” Oliver replied, shaking his head. “I suggest you get busy.”
It took Rodney nearly ten minutes to wrestle Carl’s body out of the cabin and loaded into the Jeep. Once the man was gone, Oliver pocketed the key to the handcuffs, set the security system, and returned to the bedroom.
The girl lay unmoving on the bed, her long, rich-brown hair streaming across the covers. Her eyes were still closed, her handcuffed hands resting on her bare stomach.
Oliver examined the bruising on her soft skin in the room’s soft lighting. Some marks, like the mottled red discoloration along her jaw, resulting from the scuffle with Lee Barlow in the woods. The darker ones, the purplish-yellow ones, must have occurred during the time leading up to the auction. But a few were so fresh, so vivid, they could only have happened during the transport to the cabin and into his custody.
“Fuck. I should have insisted on different guards,” Oliver muttered, disappointed in his lack of foresight. Why the abuse this girl had suffered bothered him so acutely was a mystery, but it couldn’t be ignored. If it wouldn’t have caused unwanted hassle, he probably would have exterminated the second guard for good measure. But that would not be overlooked by Diamond Lake Ranch. Murdering one was justifiable. Two? That was a reckless and foolish move he refused to take.
Showing restraint was surely a sign of his personal growth over the past year—an example of newfound rationality and maturity.
A rueful chuckle escaped Oliver. Mature? Yeah, possibly. But rational?
No fucking way.