Chapter 26
Twenty-Six
Dani
As the door breaks down, I cry out for Kayden but I know it’s useless.
He’ll never get to me in time. I turn, dropping the phone as I make a mad dash for the backdoor.
I don’t even make it halfway across the living room before a hand grabs my arm in a punishing grip and yanks me backwards.
I land on my side, a jarring pain shooting up my arm at the impact, making my fingers tingle painfully.
In my haste to get away, I don’t see the kick coming.
The breath is knocked from my lungs as the kick lands on my ribs, and I brace myself against the hardwood floor, trying desperately to breathe in any air, but the pain is excruciating.
Moments pass—moments that feel like forever—before I can finally take a deep breath again, just as a hand grips the hair at my scalp and yanks my head up.
“Let me go!” I scream, kicking my legs out as my hands reach up to scratch at their arm.
The grip in my hair suddenly disappears, and I just barely catch myself before my head slams into the floor.
I look over with sick satisfaction as I see the blood running down his arm.
I slowly stand to my feet, faking an air of confidence despite the shaking of my legs.
“The fucking bitch scratched me!” the man yells, looking over at the man that rang the doorbell.
This must be Andrei. He’s tall with black hair that’s graying on the sides, and cold, soulless blue eyes.
If I had to guess, he’s probably in his fifties.
He’s dressed in a charcoal-grey suit that’s perfectly tailored to his frame.
In all honesty, he looks exactly like I’d picture a Russian crime lord to be.
He looks over at me—devouring me—with an air of possessiveness that makes my skin crawl.
I shrink back as his gaze roves over my body, a wave of nausea hitting me thinking about his intentions.
“Yes, well… she is a feisty one, I’ll give her that,” he says with a smirk as he leans against the kitchen counter. “I will so love breaking her.”
He rubs his chin as he continues to eye-fuck me, before turning to the man that kicked me. “Marco, tie the suka up and let’s get out of here. Her first lesson is going to be how to take a proper cock in her whore mouth.”
Marco moves to grab me but I twist out of his grasp and make a run for the door again.
I refuse to give up; I will fight them every step of the way.
At this point, I have no idea if Kayden is coming and if he is, how long until he gets here.
The thought sobers me further—I’m on my own.
Just as I reach the glass door, a sob catches in my throat as my hand grasps the handle, relief coursing through my body before horror takes its place as all hope comes crashing down.
A man appears just outside the door, smirking at me, at my fear.
I take a step back and bump right into Marco, who grabs me by my upper arms and whispers in my ear, “Maybe Andrei will let us have a turn, too.”
I move to escape his grasp but he just tightens his hold until I know for sure I’m going to have hand-shaped bruises tomorrow—if I make it to tomorrow, I think bitterly.
I curse myself for my decision in leaving Eden, for leaving Kayden.
I gave them the perfect opportunity to get to me, and I was too immersed in my own feelings—my own stupid thoughts—to see it for what it really was.
Marco leans past me, his mouth brushing against my ear and his erection rubbing against my ass as he unlocks the door.
“About time you joined us, Ivan.”
“Someone had to check the perimeter, you lazy sack of shit,” he spits out.
“Yeah, well, you’re here now. Show this cunt a lesson in what we do to women that try to escape us.”
Ivan’s gaze sweeps over my face before looking me up and down. “Boss, you didn’t exaggerate. She’s gorgeous and looks like we’ll have plenty of fun breaking her in.”
Without any warning, his fist connects with the right side of my face, and as hard as I try to bring my hands up to protect myself, Marco holds my arms firmly at my sides.
Ivan grabs my hair, tilting my head up straight again and lands another punch, this time over my right eye. The pain is blinding.
“Stop, please stop,” I whimper weakly when a third hit lands, blood starting to trickle from my nose. Already the skin over my cheek feels tight with the swelling and radiating pain shooting through my jaw and neck.
Ivan doesn’t release his punishing grip on my hair as he comes directly in front of my face.
“Let’s see a little more of that body.” He rips my shirt off my shoulder but fails to tear it further.
In frustration, he punches my abdomen, causing me to once again sputter for air.
While I’m trying to breathe, he feels for my waistband before he shoves his hand down my shorts and under my thong, cupping me before violently shoving a finger in between, rubbing a painful circle around my clit.
I wince and bite my tongue, wanting nothing more in the world than for him to stop.
Thankfully, or maybe unthankfully, Andrei intervenes. “That’s enough, Ivan. We need to get going.”
Andrei comes closer into the living room, his sickening gaze sweeping over my body once again makes me feel like I’m going to hurl. “You’re going to behave. And if you don’t, I won’t stop my men from having a turn with you until you learn to listen.”
Ivan’s hand slips out of my pants and sweet relief courses through my body. He looks at me with a smirk before slapping my cheek softly. “I’ll have to finish what I started later.”
The part of me that’s raging takes over. “Fuck you, asshole. Fuck all of you.”
“You underestimate me, pet. While I am eager to leave here as quickly as possible, I’m confident enough that I can spare a few minutes to fuck a new attitude into you,” Andrei says, already taking off his suit jacket and unbuckling his belt.
“You think that scares me?! You think you scare me? Anthony Romani and his men raped me countless times, you’re just another small-dick, big-ego asshole that is so insufferable that you have to resort to raping women because no sane woman would touch you with a ten-foot pole.”
Andrei pauses his motion to loosen his tie and chuckles. “There’s the spicy woman I was promised.”
As though my words just turned him on more, he continues taking off his tie and starts to roll up his sleeves.
I have no more defenses left. A cold resignation settles over my shoulders, and I feel my mind start to retreat in on itself.
I survived Anthony Romani, I can survive this.
I will survive this. I will survive this.
I repeat the mantra over and over, refusing to break down.
“I want her bent over that coffee table, shorts off. Now!” Andrei yells, his composure snapping.
Ivan wastes no time yanking my shorts down my legs, the chill of the air brushing over my thighs. Marco turns me away from Ivan and the backdoor and shoves me down on my knees over the glass table. I fight and struggle and nearly get loose until Andrei decides otherwise.
“Marco, Ivan, hold her down,” he says, coming to stand behind me. He shoves open my legs with his shoe as Ivan and Marco hold down each side of my upper torso against the table.
“Let me go, you fucking assholes!” I hear Andrei drop to his knees and I dare a glance over my shoulder.
He unzips his pants and pulls out his cock, running a hand over the length before moving closer.
I struggle harder, desperate to be anywhere but here.
Marco uses one hand to push my head down until my left cheek is smooshed into the glass, unable to see anything.
They each hold my arms, Ivan pushing my upper back into the table, thoroughly restraining me as silent tears run down my face.
The fabric of my thong cuts into my sensitive flesh as Andrei painfully rips it from my body.
His fingers thrust between my legs, forcing a strangled scream as I try to close my legs, but it’s useless.
Andrei places his knees between my legs and starts to rub his cock through my center.
With his other hand, he traces Kayden’s mark on my ass cheek.
“I see that Kayden marked you. I knew with all the fight in you, that you liked it rough. Maybe I should add my own little mark. What do you think, pet?”
When I refuse to answer him, Marco grips my hair, lifting my head and slamming it into the table. My vision goes blurry but I fight my body’s urge to pass out.
“Answer me, suka!”
“Fuck you,” I whisper.
“What was that?”
I repeat myself louder, “FUCK YOU!”
Marco lifts my head again just as I feel Andrei thrust into me, causing my head to slam back into the table. There’s a shattering as the glass table gives way under the force of my head crashing into it.
I black out for a few seconds, or at least I think it’s a few seconds.
When I come to, my upper body is still draped over the metal frame of the table, little burns from the cuts erupting over my skin from the broken glass.
My body jerks with each punishing thrust, my mind retreating further and further until I become numb.
The fight completely leaves me, and I think it pisses Andrei off even more.
He grabs my hair, yanking my head back painfully mid-thrust.
“Fight me, Dani. Fight me!”
I do the exact opposite. If he get’s off on frightened women fighting for their lives, I’m not going to give him what he wants.
“Fucking, stupid cunt!”
He pulls out and I choke back a sob, unwilling to give him any satisfaction.
His knees disappear from between my legs, and I immediately clutch them closed as he walks around the couch, does his pants back up, and places his suit jacket back on—as though nothing even happened. Yet, here I am, completely broken all over again.
“You’ll learn, Dani. You’ll learn to fight me. You’ll learn that I yearn for the struggle and the fear in your eyes. Ultimately, you’ll learn to give me what I want to avoid being passed around to my men,” he says, pouring himself a glass of wine in the kitchen. “They won’t be as nice as I can be.”
Marco and Ivan release their hold on me, causing me to fall to the floor, the glass cutting into my hands. Marco takes a seat on the couch as Ivan stands over me, looking down at me with lust in his dark eyes.
“There will be time for that later, Ivan. For now, let’s get going.”
Every second that passes has my hope that Kayden will get here in time dwindling.
I should have never left him, I think to myself.
My heart breaks all over again as the hope of a future with him escapes like sand through my fingers.
Kayden’s darkness is nothing compared to the pure evil of these men. Why I didn’t accept that sooner is beyond me at this point; all I know is the regret is so overpowering I sob. A silent, choking sob.
I refuse to be taken again, I think to myself as I grab a shard of glass—I could cut my own throat, completely ruin all of Andrei’s plans, ensure no one else takes advantage of me—escape this hell.
The thought of what that would do to Kayden stays my hand.
Maybe there’s a little hope left.
And I hold onto that sliver of hope with everything in me.