Chapter 1
ALEX
Agitated footfalls hit the cement floor, each thud a thunderous assault on my sanity, going back, forth, back, forth, back, forth…
Like a feral animal trapped in a cage.
I almost snorted at the irony, since I was the one sitting behind bars. Huddling on the cot inside the prison, my back against the concrete wall and knees drawn to my chest, I hid my nudity from Zach the best I could while still keeping his pacing form in my periphery.
Even inside these bars, I wasn’t about to turn my back on him.
He seemed to be debating with himself, muttering every so often, shaking his head. His madness was a toxin in the air, a poison that clung to my skin, growing more lethal the longer he was incapable of getting his hands on me.
I tightened my arms around my knees and prayed to God Zach wouldn’t notice how badly I was shaking.
Even locking myself inside this cell, out of his reach, hadn’t staunched the tremors of terror.
Because I was safe only as long as he couldn’t get that door open, and I wasn’t foolish enough to think he wouldn’t break in here eventually.
He’d already tried busting the lock panel with a hammer. But Rafe had built this prison to keep me inside, and he wasn’t the kind of man to half-ass shit. I had no chance of escape. Lucky for me, that also meant it would be harder for Zach to breach the door.
“You think you’re so goddamn smart, don’t you, Lex?” He came to a stop on the other side of the bars.
“Smart enough to keep you away from me.” I shot him a seething glance through the dark curls obscuring my face.
With a grunt, he began pacing again, hands fisted at his sides, menace shadowing the angles of his face.
If you only studied the surface, you’d see a dangerously handsome guy, his strong jaw and sensuous mouth enough to draw the female eye.
But beyond the gorgeous face lay the ugliness festering behind those chilly hazel eyes.
Beautiful, manic eyes.
He flexed his fists, arm muscles rippling, and the fiery dragon tattoo winding down his right bicep drew my focus. I’d always despised that ink, saw it as a reminder of all the times those arms restrained me while he used my body as a fuck hole.
That’s all I was to him.
A toy.
A possession.
A thing he could control, contour, constrain to suit his needs.
I was all those things to Rafe as well, but underneath his twisted darkness lay a heart bigger than the hearts of most people.
A heart as fragile as his body was strong.
As light as his soul was dark.
A heart that beat solely for me.
He would come back for me. Rafe Mason would move Heaven and Earth to return to the island, because that’s the type of man he was—a man who would do anything to protect those he loved.
And he loved me.
But he also loved his son, and for that, I loved him even more. Because that’s the way a father should behave—willing to put their child above anything and anyone.
“You’re just delaying the inevitable.” Zach came to an abrupt stop again. “Where’s the fucking key, Lex?”
“Where’s Rafe?” I countered.
“He’s not your concern anymore.”
“He’s my husband. Pretending he doesn’t exist doesn’t make it so.”
Zach’s hazel eyes zeroed in on my wedding ring. “Your marriage is just a worthless piece of paper.”
“Not to me. Tell me where he is.”
Another step brought him that much closer to the bars separating us. “You wanna know where he is? Fine. I’ll tell you. Shelton has him. The fucker is his problem now.”
Shelton…as in the guy who’d tried to pit Rafe and Zach against each other in a fight to the death. Vomit rose as the realization sank in, twisting in my gut like a knife, and I swallowed hard. “What does Shelton want with him?”
“Not my business, Lex.” He crossed his arms. “All I know is I get you. Now, where’s the fucking key?”
I shrugged. It wasn’t the first time he’d pressed me for it, and it wouldn’t be the last.
“You think I won’t get that door open, but I will.” Lip curling in a sneer, he wrapped his fingers around the bars. “So what’s your game plan in the meantime? What happens when you get hungry, huh? Did you stop to think about that?”
Of course I’d thought about it. I hadn’t eaten since last night, and the morning sickness…God, how badly I wanted to retch into the toilet in the corner of this cell, but so far I’d managed to tamp down the urge.
Under no circumstances could Zach learn of my pregnancy.
I got to my feet and went to the sink next to the toilet. Gathering my hair back from my face, I dipped toward the faucet for a drink before giving him a pointed look. “I can survive without food.”
It wouldn’t be fun, but as long as he didn’t break past that door, I had everything I needed.
The room was cool but not freezing, considering the late summer season, so I wouldn’t freeze to death down here while I waited for help.
And I had a place to rest, water to drink, and a toilet.
Other than Zach, time was my biggest enemy.
Ironically, it was also my biggest weapon.
I returned to my spot on the bed and continued ignoring him. Still, the shakes wouldn’t cease. His dark presence was enough to send my heartbeat into an unnatural rhythm.
“You know,” he said, taking on a conversational tone, “I was going to fuck you brainless in his bed. Before I took you away from here for good, I was going to ruin the memory of this place for him.” He let out a snort.
“I never realized he was so fucking deranged. Did you have any idea this prison was down here?”
I bit my lip to keep quiet, because as fucked up as Zach was, I didn’t want Rafe’s tendencies to give him more ideas.
He brushed off the question with a wave of his hand. “Stay silent all you want, Lex. Those bars won’t save you from me.”
“You’re delusional.”
“No, I’m smart enough to beat you at your own goddamn game. You wanna play? Game on, baby.” He stomped up the stairs, and the cellar plunged into oppressive blackness as the door slammed shut. My heart rate took off in a gallop, and I gulped in lungfuls of air as if I were about to suffocate.
Vomit burned my throat, refusing to be pushed down this time. I made my way through the darkness, hands in front of me in search of the toilet. Falling to my knees, I jerked up the lid and dry-heaved.
There was nothing left in my belly to upchuck.
No light to keep me company.
No hope for escape.
As I dragged myself back to the cot, I blinked to stave off the threat of tears, but they slid down my cool cheeks anyway. I would allow myself this moment, because when Zach was around, I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of my tears.
Seconds slipped past. Minutes and hours of utter aloneness, clinging to my last fraying thread of hope.
Even after all of these years, I still couldn’t wrap my head around what made Zach tick.
Evil was a pervasive entity, crawling across the earth in search of a willing host—a susceptible lost soul that not only welcomed such darkness but embraced it.
Zach had been infiltrated, a breeding ground for evil in its purest form. It had been quietly growing inside of him for years.
Maybe he’d been born with it.
I placed a hand over my belly. Would my baby come into the world innocent like most people believed infants were born?
Or would it be tainted by an unavoidable defect of humankind?
I wanted to protect my child from everything, but at this point, I was struggling just to keep the both of us safe from my brother.
Brother.
Funny, how my mind slipped up sometimes, reverting for a split second to the time when I’d considered Zach family. But family didn’t hurt each other the way Zach had hurt me.
The way he’d hurt me again.
There was no if, only when.
When he busted through that door and bent me to the breaking point. When he got what he wanted from me. The last time I’d been at his mercy, my hopelessness had saved me. Two slits down my forearms to end it all. In a weird twist of fate, trying to take my own life had saved me.
But that wouldn’t be an option this time, no matter how much Zach hurt and degraded me. No matter the level of my desperation.
I had too much to live for, and that was all the leverage he needed.