Chapter 6
Iawoke to a crushing weight on my chest. Vise-like fingers encircled my wrists, rendering me incapable of moving, and a strangled cry tore from my throat. Instantly, I thought of Eve, but she wasn’t here; she was with Stacey…
Oh God. No she wasn’t. Stacey had dropped her off after Ian left. Someone had broken in, and she was asleep in the next room.
“Kayla!” A familiar voice said. “It’s me. Calm down.”
Gage.
I sucked in breaths of relief but then reality crept in again.
What the hell was he doing in my bedroom in the middle of the night, pinning me to my mattress?
He’d scared the life out of me until I’d realized he wasn’t some random serial killer rapist. “What are you doing?” I squeaked.
“If Eve wakes up, she’ll be terrified. You can’t pull shit like this! ”
“Eve’s safe.”
I blinked, taking a moment to let his statement sink in. “Of course she’s safe. She’s in her bed, Gage.” My words came out too calmly for the panic fisting my heart.
“She’s on her way to my jet. She’s safe, Kayla.”
“What the fuck do you mean she’s on her way to your jet?
” I fought against his hold, kicking and screaming, though his strength made my efforts useless.
Gage had always been and always would be too strong for me.
Tears heated my cheeks, though these were born of rage just as much as fear. “Why are you doing this?”
He wrenched my arms to the mattress and held them down, and his strong thighs kept mine from lifting off the bed.
“I told you I wasn’t leaving here without you, and I meant it.
Now we can do this the easy way or the hard way.
It’s up to you, but if you want to be reunited with your daughter, then don’t fight me.
” He loosened his grip slowly, as if testing to see if I’d attempt escape.
“I’m going to let go, and you’re going to get dressed, understand? ”
With a gulp, I nodded. He let go and slid from the bed, and I got up on shaky legs, my breaths coming in choking gasps. I searched for the nearest pair of pants and pulled them on underneath my T-shirt.
“How can you do this to her? She must be terrified!” I wedged my feet into my sneakers and faced him, my body trembling.
“I can’t believe you kidnapped my daughter!
Who has her? Please…you can’t mess with Eve.
She’s innocent in all of this!” I fought the urge to get on my knees and beg, but doing so wouldn’t help.
He’d come this far and he wasn’t about to change course now.
“She’s fine. Katherine’s with her.”
Time did something funny. One instant I was standing a few feet from him, and the next I had my hands around his throat, squeezing as a red haze clouded my vision, fingernails digging in and scraping away skin until he yanked me out of reach from causing real harm.
He twisted me, bent me over the bed, and used his thighs to trap me against the mattress.
All the fight went out of me for a few seconds—seconds I couldn’t afford because he used them to secure my hands behind my back.
“You’re only making this harder on yourself.”
“You fucking bastard!” How could he let that bitch anywhere near my daughter? I wanted to kill him; the urge to crush his throat with my bare hands overwhelmed me.
“Eve’s fine, so knock it off. Katherine won’t hurt her. She’s a mother too.”
And that was supposed to make it all better? I gritted my teeth as he pushed me into the hall where the narrow space seemed more suffocating than usual. Helplessness stole over me as we approached the front door. He was really doing this.
Why was I surprised?
Deep down, I never thought he’d involve Eve like this. He’d used her against me a year ago, but she’d been safe from the fallout. Safe as expected, considering she’d been fighting her own battle. But now…
He’d gone too far, even for Gage.
“I’ll send movers for your things, but everything you need is already waiting.” He grabbed my purse and keys before opening the door. “Let’s go,” he said, gesturing for me to go first.
How fucking gallant of him.
He didn’t even bother to keep a physical hold on me; he knew he had me where it counted.
He had Eve and that was enough to make me comply without hesitation.
I slid into the passenger seat of his car and ignored the burn radiating down my arms from being restrained.
He rounded the hood and settled into the driver’s seat.
“Where are you taking me?”
“The airport, and if you promise to behave, I’ll free your hands.”
“Fuck you.”
With a sigh, he started the ignition and pulled onto the street. “Have it your way.”
“My way? How about you bring my daughter back and leave us the hell alone?”
He clenched his jaw. Keeping one hand on the steering wheel, he unzipped his pants with the other. “Get your head in my lap.”
My eyes widened. I couldn’t fight him, and he knew it all too well. He’d make me suck his cock all the way to the airport if he wanted, and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to stop him.
“I’ll shut up now, I promise.”
“Yes,” he said, grasping my hair and jerking me sideways into his lap, “you will. Open that sweet mouth, Kayla.” He wound my hair tight around his fist so I couldn’t move and forced his erection between my lips.
His taste flooded my senses and an unwanted response traveled through my body, like sparks misfiring.
My body had to be misfiring. No way was I getting off on this. He bobbed my head up and down, painfully yanking my hair as he neared release.
“Deeper.” His command floated above me, a breathless whisper as the road sped underneath us. To his credit, I didn’t sense the car swerving at all, but that was Gage—always in control.
He pushed into my throat and came in a gush. “Swallow,” he said, holding my head down to the point of smothering me. I couldn’t not swallow.
Neither of us spoke afterward. I was too busy gulping in air as he dabbed at my mouth and chin with a napkin. I tried lifting my head, but he refused to let me up. His penis went flaccid against my cheek, and my tears drenched his lap as I cried myself into a doze.
The soothing hum of the highway was absent when he woke me. I struggled into a sitting position and noticed his jet through eyes bleary from sleep. No one witnessed him escorting me onto that monstrous machine with my hands tied behind my back.
Even the pilot turned a blind eye once we boarded.
Katherine didn’t. I expected her usual smugness, but something close to uncertainty pinched her face as she took in my restrained hands. She sat next to Eve, who lay sprawled on the couch at the front of the jet, fast asleep.
“Gage, I can’t go to jail over this!” Katherine cried. “You didn’t tell me you were kidnapping her.”
“Lower your voice.” He was so calm it was irritating. “Let’s not wake Eve.” He gave Katherine a pointed glare and then turned to me, as if her presence was of little importance to him. “If I untie you, will you behave? I’d rather not have a scene in front of your daughter.”
Caging my anger, I nodded. He released my hands, and I rubbed my wrists until I got some circulation back.
The severity of what he’d done hit me, and I was an instant away from panicking again.
He pushed me onto the couch and took the cushion beside me.
I wanted to go to Eve, but Katherine sat between my daughter and me, and Gage slid an arm around my shoulders anyway, keeping me at his side.
His hold was just as possessive as always.
I peeked up and got a spark of satisfaction upon seeing the nasty red scratches I’d left on his neck and throat.
As the jet sped down the runway and took to the air, I thought of only one thing.
He’s gone too far this time.