Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
L ondyn
His cruelty was stunning.
Londyn’s breath hung in her throat. He could not actually mean to make her choose between her sister’s fate and the pain she would suffer at this monster’s hands.
The glint of desire in Oliver’s icy-blue eyes was unmistakable. They darkened the longer he stared at her. His lean, muscular body grew taut in anticipation of her next move. He wanted her. Wanted to hurt her. To take what he had paid a small fortune to possess. Londyn was dizzy with fear and anger that her life had come to this.
“Why offer a choice at all? Or is this just a game to you?” Londyn inched away, instinctively creating distance between them. “No matter what I choose, you will not honor it. You are a criminal. A sadistic user of women. You prey on the helpless and the weaker sex. We both know you will do as you please. Spare me the insinuation that you might keep your word.”
A muscle ticked in Oliver’s jaw. That her words stung him seemed highly improbable. In the robe’s deep pocket, Londyn recklessly gripped the handle of a small paring knife. Earlier, she’d snatched it from the butcher block of knives next to the stove while Oliver gathered items for their breakfast from the refrigerator.
“Your soul is so black and so diseased that imprisoning a woman is the only way you can have one.” She took another small step back. “Decency and innocence are so offensive to a man like you that you must destroy it by any means possible.”
A smirk flitted across Oliver’s sculpted features at the hurled insults. “I might be the villain in this fucking story, Londyn, but I’m giving you a choice. A death free from pain or the relief of knowing your dear sister will be cared for after you’ve taken your last breath. But my patience is growing thin. I’ll decide for you if you can’t.”
“My sister. I choose my sister!” Londyn cried out.
Oliver pulled his cell phone from his front jeans pocket and dialed a number.
“Hey, I need you to set up a bank account at Georgia State Bank for Paris Yvette Sky. Immediately, that’s when. I’ll text the details in a few minutes. Two million. Establish Lex as attorney of record for all approvals and distributions. Line up private nursing care while you’re at it. The very best you can find. Yes. Indefinitely.” There was a pause as Oliver listened to whatever was being said on the other end of the line, but his gaze did not waver from Londyn’s. “I’ll explain everything later. Thank you, Bridgette.” He ended the call and returned the phone to his front pocket. “Satisfied?”
It was a trick of some sort. A cruel, heartless trick designed to mess with her heart and mind. If her sister was truly provided for… with more money to cover expenditures than Londyn ever would have made auctioning off her virginity, it proved one inescapable fact. Oliver Winter was a monster of epic proportions, blessed with a web of power and money so vast it could swallow an insignificant nobody like her in the blink of an eye. A dark, terrifying monster graced with the face and body of a Greek god and the wicked charm of an archangel banished from heaven.
Londyn’s panic swelled until her chest was tight with it, her body damp from cold sweat that drenched any hope of survival. This man. This killer.
He truly owned her now.
She had sold her soul to the Devil himself.
Oliver came closer, anchoring his hands on the top of her shoulders. Hard fingers dug into her flesh through the robe’s thick fabric. “So damn noble of you, Londyn. Putting your sister before yourself.” His voice was husky and low. “But who knows? If you do as I say, if you please me, maybe I’ll give you what you want. Maybe I’ll kill you while you are coming on my cock at the fucking height of your pleasure. You’ll have to work hard to earn that kind of mercy, though. Fuck, now is as good a time as any to see if you can pull it off. This is your chance to prove you really want it.”
Releasing her shoulders, he grabbed her hand, but Londyn abruptly tore away from his grasp. She whipped the knife from the robe’s pocket. Although Oliver moved out of reach, he did not appear surprised that his prisoner was armed.
“Stay away from me,” Londyn warned, dashing hot tears from her cheeks while keeping the knife pointed at him. “Give me the security code so I can open the door.”
“You’re that eager to be chased through the woods again, are you? We’ll arrange that later on my private property,” Oliver drawled. “You run; I chase. You hide; I find. You fight; I fuck. I like that game.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you.” Londyn’s voice trembled. Another tear rolled down her cheek. It was suicide to defy this man, but she had no choice. “I’m not…”
“Did you forget the bargain we just made, Londyn? You will do anything and everything I tell you. For your sister’s sake, remember?” He advanced until the point of the knife touched his stomach. “So, what’s it gonna be, little killer? Stab me or cry for mercy?” His gaze turned harder. More predatory. An endless, fathomless black well of savage depravity that made her tremble. “I can choose for you. And just so you know, I’ll enjoy both.”
“Get away from me!” Londyn nearly screamed. She teetered on the edge of full-blown hysterics as the knife pierced Oliver’s T-shirt, but he merely laughed and leaned closer.
“You’ve killed one man, but I wonder if you have the guts to carve me up, Londyn.” His voice was soothing, his eyes dark with excitement. He was getting off on her fear. The realization left Londyn nauseous and terrified of the repercussions of her actions. He would not let her get away with this. Even if she somehow escaped this cabin, this man would hunt her to the ends of the earth.
“Please… I’m begging that you let me go. I-I’ll repay you the money from the auction somehow. Just let me go.”
A stain, darker than his black T-shirt, spread from under Oliver’s ribcage as the knife sank into his flesh a little more. Londyn chewed her bottom lip in agitated despair. What was he going to do to her now?
“Let you go? Last night, I gave up two and a half million dollars for the pleasure of fucking you. And an additional two just for the thrill of breaking you.” Oliver laughed, his hand suddenly latching around hers. Ignoring her gasp of pain, he twisted her wrist until the small blade sliced even deeper into his flesh. Londyn stared in horror as he deliberately exacerbated the injury.
“We’re just starting to have some real fun. And the only way I’m letting you go is if you leave in a coffin.” Yanking the blade from her hand, Oliver tossed it into the sink. “You’re a naughty girl, Londyn. I admire that fire inside you, that drive for survival. I think we have a lot in common. We’ll both do whatever is necessary to get what we want—even murder.”
Londyn glared at him as he laced his fingers through hers and brought them to his firm lips. He brushed her knuckles with his mouth deceptively soft, pressing warm kisses as he regarded her. His eyes crinkled at the corners, acknowledging her fear and contempt.
“I’m nothing like you,” she hissed.
“Keep telling yourself that.” He grinned as he spun her around. Within seconds, he had stripped her of the fluffy robe and pinned her naked body over the kitchen island.
It happened so fast, his hands so brutal and determined that Londyn barely registered how effortlessly he manhandled her. She was like a ragdoll he played too rough with.
“I’m disappointed you didn’t think it was worth keeping your end of our bargain, Londyn,” he tsked while anchoring her hands in the small of her back. She cried out, struggling when he pulled another pair of zip ties from his back pocket. He probably owned stock in the thin plastic strips, which would explain his ready supply. Londyn kicked and squirmed while he effortlessly held her down and secured her. “I’ve spent far too much money on you not to have earned a certain degree of respect. How can I trust you when you turn on me like a feral cat?”
Londyn bucked, breathless with sheer panic when Oliver pressed his lower body against her buttocks. His cock was hard. Like a metal pipe bruising her flesh as he deliberately forced her to feel his arousal. The material of his jeans scraped her skin. Leaning down, he murmured in her ear, his breath warm, “You shouldn’t have pulled that knife on me, baby. Now, you will be punished, and your sister won’t get the care she needs.”
“I’m sorry...” Londyn gasped. “I’m so sorry. Please don’t punish her because of my actions. I’m to blame. And I-I promise I’ll be good if we can keep the bargain.”
The heat of his body lifted from her back, leaving behind a warm wetness she realized was probably blood from his wound. Bile rose in her throat.
“Hmmm.” Cool air swirled between them as Oliver moved slightly to the side. “So, let me make sure we understand one another. You agree that I will use you however I like in exchange for the deal made on your sister’s behalf.”
“Yes! Yes. I agree. Please.” Her words were now a whisper of agonized confusion. With her upper body pinned against the cold granite of the island, her nipples contracted into hard buds until they throbbed and ached with mystifying intensity. When Oliver kicked her feet apart, his large hand easily encircling her bound wrists and keeping her immobile; her stomach quivered with desperate anticipation. Something was horribly wrong with her. She should be rigid with fear. Not sinking into a hazy lassitude where her body insisted his hands somehow felt… right. “Give me another chance, please.”
Oliver ran a free hand down the center of her back, pushing the tangled mass of her damp hair aside. Calloused fingers gently stroked and danced down her spine until he reached her bottom. Cupping one buttock then the other, his palm burned her skin as he caressed the firm swells. Londyn’s muffled whimper of alarm drew a deep chuckle from him. “Not sure you deserve that, but you definitely deserve this.”