Chapter 3 #2
“His band wouldn’t suit you.” I shake my head.
“What? Why?”
“Because it’s the color of shit.”
Steve snickers behind me, and Kelsey follows with an uncertain giggle. Aurora freezes. I raise my hand, my fingers brushing her cheek, tucking away a stray curl. She sucks in a ragged breath. Her body remembers my touch—the leather gloves—one hundred percent. She’s trembling like a caught mouse.
I lean close to her ear. “Your neck deserves a gold chain. Heavy and short.”
Aurora shudders, and an involuntary, quiet moan escapes her lips.,“My God …”
“He doesn’t come around these parts.” I straighten with a smirk. “But there is someone else. I suggest you remember that.”
“My boyfriend—” Her voice fails her, crumbling into a whisper.
“Your bugger can’t protect you.” I nod toward the dense trees of the surrounding forest park.
Evening is falling. The shadows grow longer and uglier, creeping onto campus grounds.
Aurora glances at the silent woods. At that very moment, from deep inside the Citadel, a quiet, muffled moan drifts out.
She jumps, and that same primal terror flashes in her eyes—the terror that once threw her into my arms. Aurora barely finds the strength to pull back and clings to Kelsey like a lifeline.
“Let’s go!”
Her friend, absorbed in her chat with Steve, barely reacts. My broken princess has to drag her away from us by force, practically running toward the gates.
I follow her trembling, tight ass with my eyes and lick my lips. Aurora can say whatever she wants. She can convince herself she came here for that bastard Zack, but her body language speaks louder than any words. She craves captivity.
I won’t reveal the truth to her yet that I am the prince from her nightmares. First, I need to figure out why the hell she’s fond of her captor’s bastard. One thing I know for certain: her fears belong to me, and I’ve studied them better than anyone else.
Steve and I step into the Citadel.
Isaac pokes his head into the hall. “I’ve been waiting for you.”
“Aurora Vance held us up,” Steve says.
“That girl from the news is really hanging out with her maniac’s offspring.” Isaac shakes his head. “The whole of Stonehaven is watching. Is she out of her mind?”
“What did you find out?” I cut his chatter short.
“This way.” They both turn serious instantly.
The interior of the Citadel is flawless: expensive renovations, heavy antique furniture, wide arched windows. As we cross the lounge, another moan sounds from the right.
“If someone’s turned this place into a brothel, I’ll personally rip out their trachea,” I growl.
“Relax, man.” Steve, as always, is cheerful. “We just brought a guest.”
We walk through a covered passage, past the attached shooting range and fight club, where the dull thud of impacts echo from within—my men are training.
We enter the workshop and garage. Amid disassembled engines and gleaming car bodies, a battered guy is tied to a heavy steel chair.
His head hangs limply, chin resting on his chest, a ragged moan escaping his split lips.
I shift my gaze to my self-satisfied captains.
“I told you to get information, not set up a torture chamber here.”
“You gave us damn little time, and we were just getting into it.” Isaac shrugs. “We had to drag him to the Citadel.”
“Who the hell is this?”
“This is Bill, Zack’s friend. They hang out together all the time. As we found out, Bill covered for Zack a couple of times, helping him get rid of the bodies of overdosed whores. And he also periodically fucks his slut sister, so he’s well aware of almost everything.”
I chuckle and walk over to Bill. He raises his head with difficulty. “Listen, man, I’ll tell you everything … Just stop beating me, okay?”
“Aurora Vance,” I growl, punctuating every word. “Did he fuck her?”
“That newspaper girl?” Bill blinks his swollen eyes, trying to focus on my face. “What’s her name …, Rescued Snow White?”
“Cinderella, shit,” I rage.
Bill shrinks back into his chair. “So you dragged me here because of that bitch? What the fuck? I would have laid it all out anyway—”
I backhand him. The guy’s head jerks to the side, and a dry crunch comes from his jaw. He’d better learn his lesson: such a jerk has no right, to not only insult my broken princess, but he doesn’t even get to say her name with his filthy mouth.
“Oh, fuck!” Bill howls, spitting a broken tooth on the floor mixed with saliva. “Man, why?!”
I hover over him, restraining myself. “Answer the question, Bill.”
“No! Zack didn’t touch her, even though she begged him like a dripping bitch! He takes whores to the Onyx Plaza Hotel almost every night!”
“Why?”
“What?”
“Why did he refuse her? She’s the best he’s ever had!” I don’t even need to know the names of Zack’s whores to be sure.
“I don’t know … Maybe his dad had left too many ugly scars on her?”
I punch him in the face again, and the nasal septum cracks under my fist.
“Shut the fuck up. She’s beautiful. Even if you breathe the wrong sigh in her direction, you’ll die.”
“Okay, I get it …” He spits blood on the floor. “Do you like her so much? Look, I can talk Zack into giving her to you, just let me out.”
“Why is he dating her?”
“Zack wants to get his hands on the Vance money! Why else?” Bill spits out a blood clot, rushing to spill everything he knows.
“Caleb is the main heir to the Vance fortune,” I state. “Zack has nothing to catch there.”
“Yeah, but won’t the beloved daughter’s husband get a fat piece too? As for Zaсk’s dad—” The guy swallows hard. “Even before it came out he was a maniac, his business was tanking. Now their clinics are shutting down one after another. The Thornton family is going under, they need gold lifeboats.”
That’s right. The Thorntons are drowning in debt. Zack isn’t just pathetic, he’s a vulture, trying to stuff his belly at the expense of the girl whose life his father tried to turn into hell.
“Which of the Vances knows they’re dating?”
“Seems like no one yet … Zack wants to get married first, present them with a fait accompli.”
“Are you sure?” I frown.
Without serious backing from the Vances, Zack’s plan is pure suicide.
They’ll kill him faster than he can sign the marriage certificate.
If I were Aurora’s father, I’d have ripped that son of the maniac who tormented her apart alive.
I’d skin him inch by inch just for daring to breathe the same air as she did.
“Well, actually …” Bill flinches, trying to avoid my gaze. “Zack bragged that he’s got it all figured out. Said he had an entry ticket but didn’t give details! Let me go, man?” He whimpers when I idly flex my fingers. “I’ve told you everything! Swear!”
“You aren’t wearing a bracelet,” I say, nodding toward Bill’s wrist. “You aren’t a member of this club. And yet, you’re on my turf. I’ve already let two chicks go today, so my quota for mercy is filled. Besides, you insulted my girl …”
“What the hell are you talking about, man?! I’ve never touched your girl! That’s all on Zack!”
“His turn will come soon enough,” I mutter, turning my back on him.
Steve steps up, readying a silenced pistol, but I wave away the weapon and walk over to the workbench where the engine of a heavy bike lies in pieces. The steel crankshaft weighs over twenty pounds, and the cold metal fits perfectly in my grip.
“You know, Bill, I’ve got an idol—Strangler. A legendary old-school killer. He had this habit of choking his toys. I’ve realized I’m different. First, I only have eyes for one. And second …, if anyone else so much as glances in her direction, no one gets out alive.”
“You’re a fucking psycho!” he screams, eyes wide as I adjust my grip on the steel.
I drive the oil-slicked steel straight into his jaw, cutting his scream short. A sickening, wet crunch of shattering bone echoes through the room. I strike again. And again.
Control over the body and reflexes is a vital part of a killer’s work. My control is perfect, partly because, every now and then, I let the beast off the leash to feast.
I pummel Bill’s head until there’s nothing left that even vaguely resembles a human being.
Tossing aside the bloody crankshaft as it clattered across the concrete, I straighten up and exhale freely. The tension in the muscles is replaced by a pleasant lightness.
Now I know Aurora and Zack didn’t have anything. She hadn’t fucked anyone before him either. She’s innocent, and this discovery has my cock throbbing with desire. I want to break her down then put her back together for myself.
Steve takes his cell phone out of his pocket. “Desire, do you really need this headache?” As he scrolls through it, he glances at me quizzically.
“Look for the hotel,” I say.
“Already on it. Onyx Plaza Hotel,” he says, showing a website with pictures of the rooms. “It looks good.”
“Set up surveillance on Zack. Find out when he’ll go to fuck his whores next,” I order.
It’s time for my broken princess to find out what a pathetic jerk her boyfriend is. Hmm, and I must not forget to bring the Prince’s mask. Aurora clearly misses her main nightmare, and I am waiting for the moment I see that pure, primal horror in her eyes again.