CHAPTER SIXTEEN
KYRA
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Maddox opens the door, walking in with a tray and placing it on the cabinet without looking at me. He’s been gone for hours and never brought me breakfast after storming out.
I’ve had a shower and put on jeans and a sweater. My hair is pulled up on a messy bun on the top of my head and I have a simple gloss on my lips.
My body still aches in places from his touch, and yet this man won’t look at me.
He also won’t free me.
At least he’s feeding me. I was getting worried.
While having sex with him was beyond incredible, I have to remember he’s dangerous. My instinct says he’s not, but I don’t trust my own mind right now.
I think I might be the crazy one catching feelings for him. It was probably all imagined and just lust. After all, I’m hardly the most experienced woman.
The aromas from the meal waft around the room, making my mouth water.
“Thank you,” I say quietly, because I don’t want to starve. If he’s going to kill me, I’d rather he shoot me or something just as quick.
Maddox wears a pair of black sweatpants and a short-sleeved black T-shirt. It’s the first time I’ve seen him look casual. If you exclude being naked.
And what a piece of art he is. All ripped and tattooed like some bad boy in a movie. His beautiful silver eyes and heavy frame are intoxicating.
I want him to take me in his arms, kiss me, and whisper sweet and sexy things to me for just one more night. My fingers ache to reach out to him, but I tuck them under my thighs.
“Tonight, we’re going out,” he announces.
What?
That’s the last thing I was expecting him to say. Going out? Like I’m his girlfriend. This man is so confusing. It’s like he forgets that he’s kidnapped me.
I’m torn between categorizing him as a serial killer and imaging being the woman who walks beside Maddox Sterling as the one he desires.
Stop.
“I need to go home,” I reply. “Maddox. You have to at least call my mom.”
His jaw clenches.
“I will be back in three hours. Be dressed and ready.”
“Where are we going?” I sigh.
“To the Alliance Club,” he replies as his silver eyes roam my face and body like he’s checking to see I’m okay.
I’m not okay.
I’ve heard of the Alliance Club. It is a very exclusive bar with rumors circulating about what takes place inside.
“Wear the black dress,” Maddox says.
“Okay,” I reply, suddenly wondering if this might be the chance I get to break free. To slip a note to a bartender or have someone recognize me.
It’s certainly a better chance than staying here.
“Do you take medication?” Maddox suddenly asks, his brows slightly dipped.
His question surprises me.
“No. Wait. Yes. My asthma puffer that you gave me. Oh, and I was taking birth control, but only started a few weeks ago,” I confess, biting my lip.
I didn’t want to get pregnant by Pierce, so I had gone to a different doctor than our usual family one and had three months prescribed.
“At least I know you weren’t planning on producing a little brother or sister for me.” He hisses, then strides to the door.
Ouch.
“Three hours. Make sure you’re ready.” Maddox then slams the door.
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MADDOX
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So, the anti-depressants were a lie. I thought so. The fucking prick. With every minute that goes by, the angrier I get about Kyra marrying my father.
It’s not happening.
She belongs to me.
Not in the I kidnapped her, so she’s mine kind of way —although, yes, that too. I mean, she’s mine in every sense of the word.
Mine.
Fucking mine.
I’m not returning her to my father. I’m not walking away and spending my life imagining him sliding his cock inside the woman...I...want.
That I’ve claimed.
She can lie to me about being in love with him all she wants, but I don’t believe her.
I can’t.
I won’t!
After the interview on the news podcast, my phone lit up like a fucking Christmas tree. We have a group chat that’s years old, so Parker, Travis, and Killian appeared on the screen.
“I’m in Central Park.” I grunted as I walked back to the penthouse.
“Where’s your bodyguard?” Killian asked.
“Waiting by the car. Get to the point. Yes, I saw Pierce on the podcast.”
“What’re you hoping to achieve?” Parker frowned. “He knows you have her.”
He’d picked up on that too, huh?
His comment did help to give me clarity and that I wasn’t overexaggerating inside my head. This is the power an abuser has over you. For life. Even as a grown man, I can admit that the small boy inside me, that didn’t have the brawn and power I have now, still yearns to have the ability to punch him in the face and say, “Do not touch me.”
You trust your parents.
You should be able to trust your fucking parents.
That breach of a fundamental right as a little, vulnerable child is forever etched into your psyche.
It makes you question everyone and everything.
These men, my brothers, keep me grounded and are the sounding board I need when the noises in my head talk over one another, and I can’t hear a safe thought.
As I do for them.
As we do for one another.
“Good,” I replied. “Then he knows I’m responsible for the shame and humiliation he’s already suffered. And I’m not finished.”
“Is all this worth it?” Travis asked, then held up his hand. “Let me ask the question in another way, because of course he deserves to suffer. But what about the girl? Does she?”
The girl.
“Her fucking name is Kyra, and she is well looked after.” I assured them. “I won’t let anyone hurt her.”
I saw their reaction before I could correct myself.
Travis begins to smile. “Boys, you all know my bank account number. A sweet million each, thank you.”
“The fuck? You bet on me fucking her?” I cried as I walked back to my penthouse.
“Yes, he did, and I thought you had better morals than that,” Parker groans, clearly now in debt by a clean mil.
That was stupid of him.
I’m no saint. I don’t even know if I have a heart. A soul perhaps, but not a heart. They all deserve to lose the seven figures if they’re betting on my goddamn morals.
“Jesus Christ, Maddox.” Killian shakes his head. “She’s engaged to your father.”
Was.
By the time I’m finished with her.
I’m not going to explain my messed-up mind when it comes to Kyra. All they need to know is that I am keeping her, and Pierce is not marrying her.
Well, they don’t even need to know that. Not yet.
Anyway, they’re hardly saints themselves, so I turned the conversation back on them.
“Don’t tell me you wouldn’t do the same.” I rolled my eyes.
Every single one of my friends is rich beyond most people’s imaginations and handsome as fuck. Women line up to spend a night on the end of their cocks. Every week.
Every night.
“Fine. But none of us have kidnapped a woman.” Travis reminded me with a brow lift.
“Don’t need to,” Parker added.
Assholes.
They’re winding me up.
“Fuck off. I didn’t kidnap her to get my rocks off. You know why I’m doing this. I could destroy my father’s company in forty-eight hours, but it won’t have half the impact of embarrassing him in front of the nation. Look at him already lashing out with this bullshit about her mental health.”
“Destroying his company would also shame him. Tell me you didn’t do this because you wanted the girl.” Parker tested me.
I went silent, not willing to go there. “Fuck off.”
“It’s okay if you did. But next time just ask a girl out for dinner, for god’s sakes.” Travis snorts.
I wasn’t in the mood after seeing my father on screen. I need them to understand exactly who he is. I’ve shared what he did to me, not what I’ve suspected and confirmed since.
“Listen, Pierce runs a child sex ring. He’s a goddamn snake, bringing executives into his lair and then blackmailing them with evidence of what they did when doped up.”
“Jesus,” Killian curses.
What he did to me as a child was disgusting enough. He would have friends over, and when Mom would crash out, he’d pull me out of bed and take me to the library where the men were drunk as hell.
Shaking, I’d wrap my arms around myself knowing I wasn’t able to fight or stop them. I was too small. Too weak.
My pajama pants were always the first to go.
Pierce would tug them down and lead me over to the men while stroking my little cock.
I hated that my body reacted. That the noise of the men, the smell of the smoke and alcohol all blended into one terrifying scene. At least in my memory it did, as if not being able to play it back might erase it from reality.
But I do remember.
I remember enough.
I remember the feel of the wet mouths around my dick, the way my body trembled in fear. The way I felt sick and shamed as I came and the gleeful pleasure on their faces.
I think the aroused glossy eyes were the most revolting.
Knowing now that he’s done it to hundreds of other young kids makes me sick to the stomach.
“How?” Parker asked, shocked.
“I don’t know.” I glance at the phone and push the button at the crossing.
I don’t know how he’s doing it. But I know it was taking place. I’d overheard a conversation I shouldn’t have at the Alliance Club one night outside the back entrance. A man confessing that he’d gone to a private event and had very little recollection of what happened. Next minute, he’d been blackmailed and received an incriminating photo of himself.
I’d felt sorry for the poor guy and a bit guilty as I suspected he was talking to his lawyer.
Then the last piece of the mystery clicked into place when, I presume, he was asked if he did it.
“Yeah, but I’m not into fucking underage boys, so I had to have been drugged.”
My hands clenched as the Sterling name was tossed out, and I knew. I vaguely knew who the man was and did some digging. Turns out he does know my father and that was enough proof to me that he’s been abusing other children for years.
That was three months ago, and I knew then I had to take action. Revenge has been at the forefront of my mind all my life, and I’d been waiting for the right opportunity.
Once I knew he was hurting other children—likely hundreds over the years—I couldn’t wait any longer.
Having him killed was one option. One I strongly considered.
Then when he announced his engagement to Kyra Fox, it was as if life had handed me the opportunity on a silver platter.
No, I didn’t do this to fuck her.
I did this to fuck with him.
“I’m going to bring her to the club tonight.” I suddenly told them.
“Seriously?” Parker asked.
“At least we’ll get proof of life.” Travis snickered. “Also, you know her face is all over every social channel, right?”
I smiled.
“Yes, I’m counting on it.”
“I’ll message Zayne,” Killian said. “He won’t want to miss this.”