Chapter 28
Dom
“Fuck, kitten,” I whisper against her ear, barely able to drag my focus away from the blood staining her body. “You look fucking unreal right now.”
My hands move over her slowly after that, almost greedily, spreading blood across every inch of ruined skin I can reach, while crimson smears beneath my palms in thick, uneven streaks.
The second my fingers brush over the fresh cuts carved into her stomach, a sharp hiss slips past her lips, her entire body tightening against the restraints above her head, but she still doesn’t say a fucking word.
Not one plea.
Not one insult.
Nothing except those broken little breaths shaking out of her every couple seconds. And honestly? I’m pretty sure I know why. At this point, I think she’d rather have my cock inside her than spend another second under Cain’s knife.
The realization settles deep in my chest with something dark and ugly that feels way too close to satisfaction.
Her skin burns beneath my hands as I slide lower, gripping her waist harder while blood keeps running over my fingers in dark red streaks before dripping from her body onto the floor below us.
She trembles violently the entire time, exhaustion making her legs weaker with every passing second, and I can practically feel the exact moment she starts leaning into my touch instead of trying to pull away from it.
Like her body already knows which one of us hurts less.
“Jesus fucking Christ,” Cain mutters somewhere behind me, sounding halfway amused. “You’re seriously obsessed with her.”
A grin slowly pulls at my mouth while my hands keep moving over her body, smearing blood across ruined skin as another shaky hiss leaves her lips the second my fingers brush over the fresh cuts carved into her breasts.
Maybe I am.
But not with her.
I’m obsessed with the sight of her hanging there covered in blood and bruises while her body trembles beneath my hands hard enough to rattle the chains above her head every couple seconds.
I’m obsessed with the tears still clinging to her lashes, with the way she keeps trying not to cry anymore even though her breathing turns uneven every time someone touches another open wound, and with the look in her eyes that keeps shifting between hatred, fear, and complete fucking exhaustion.
Because this version of her? This broken, bleeding version standing in front of me right now?
That’s the one I can’t stop wanting. I don’t care about what’s happening inside her head, and I definitely don’t give a shit about her feelings.
I don’t want soft conversations, pretty smiles, or whatever the fuck people are supposed to care about.
What I want is the blood running down her body.
The sounds she makes when pain twists together with fear.
The way her thighs shake harder every time my hands touch another ruined part of her skin.
And maybe that’s exactly why this feels so fucking good.
Because every tear sliding down her face, every trembling breath leaving her mouth, every fresh cut split open across her body feels like another piece of Reed finally getting avenged after ten goddamn years of carrying that grief inside my chest like something rotten and alive.
For the first time since we buried him, it almost feels like the rage is finally feeding on the right person instead of eating me alive from the inside out.
Like all that rot sitting inside me finally found a body to crawl into instead.
I turn my head toward the couch where Cain’s already sitting, completely relaxed, like the blood covering the floor and the girl hanging half broken a few feet away from him mean absolutely nothing.
One arm rests lazily across the back of the couch while the other raises the whiskey glass to his lips, the calm expression on his face somehow making the whole room feel even more fucked up.
“You sure you don’t wanna join us?” I tease him with a grin while my hand slides slowly down Sierra’s waist. “Last time all three of us played together, our little kitten was moaning so hard she could barely fucking breathe.” I breathe out slowly, watching Sierra tense beneath my touch.
“I’m pretty sure she’ll love it just as much this time too,” I continue casually while my eyes drag over the blood running down her thighs.
“With or without a gun pointed at her pretty little head.”
The second the words leave my mouth, a broken sound slips out of her throat before she can swallow it back down, and suddenly her entire body is fighting the restraints again while raw shock crashes across her face so hard it almost looks painful.
Cain glances toward her over the rim of his glass before letting out a dry scoff.
“Relax,” he mutters coldly, swirling the whiskey in his glass like she’s already beneath his attention. “I’m not wasting my dick on you twice.”
I snort quietly under my breath, shifting my weight while I watch the smug look spread across his face.
Such a cocky fucking bastard.
“Don’t tell me your new little girlfriend already has you whipped,” I mutter with an amused grin. “That would honestly be the most pathetic plot twist of the night.”
“I do not have him whipped.” Her voice suddenly cuts through the room so sharply that the entire atmosphere shifts instantly.
A grin spreads across my face before I even bother turning toward the doorway, because the second that voice cuts through the room, I already know this night just became a whole lot more interesting.
“Well,” I mutter with a low laugh, “speak of the fucking devil.”
Nobody reacts right away. Then Sierra notices who just walked in. Her whole body jolts violently, terror flashing across her face so intensely it almost looks painful.
I step back slowly, enjoying the pure shock unraveling across her face, before I finally drop onto the couch beside Cain like none of this is anything more than late-night entertainment.
I hand him my empty glass with a grin and nudge his arm lightly toward the bottle while Sierra keeps thrashing against the restraints hard enough to make the chains scream above her head.
“Now this,” I say while leaning back comfortably into the couch, “is where the night completely goes to hell.”
“My dad is gonna kill you, you dumb ugly bitch!” The scream tears out of Sierra, shredding whatever composure she had left. “What kind of sick fucking joke is this?! Let me go!”
Tess starts walking toward her without rushing, the sound of her heels echoing softly through the room while desperate yelling keeps bouncing off the walls like she still believes somebody’s about to save her from this.
Then Tess’s hand suddenly lashes across her face—hard enough to throw her head violently to the side. The slap echoes through the room, and a second later blood starts to gather at the corner of her mouth before sliding down her chin.
“Shut the fuck up,” Tess spits directly in her face.
Silence crashes over the room instantly after that, broken only by Sierra’s uneven breathing.
“Your dad?” Tess repeats with a small laugh that sounds almost offended. “Sweetheart, your precious daddy doesn’t even want to fucking hear your name anymore.”
“What?” The word barely makes it out of her mouth while confusion twists across her face at the same time, like everything underneath her just cracked open without warning.
Tess steps closer and grips Sierra’s cheeks between her fingers, crushing them together until her lips twist into a pathetic pout while she tries desperately to pull away.
“Your precious daddy finally got tired of your bullshit,” Tess says sweetly.
“Especially after all those cute messages you sent him about your amazing new life, leaving the country with your husband, not needing his money anymore, not wanting anything to do with him or the business because you finally found real happiness somewhere else.”
Sierra rips her face away from Tess’s hand so violently, the chains clatter above her head again. “What the fuck are you talking about, Tess?” she asks, sounding more unsteady with every word. “What did you do?”
Tess simply stares at her, the silence stretching while a soft smile slowly spreads across her face, and somehow it feels more unsettling than the slap itself.
“I took care of you,” she says simply. “Clearly somebody fucking had to.”
“No… no! You’re lying!”
“You really still don’t get it, do you?” Tess mutters quietly, and for the first time since walking into the room, something genuinely ugly starts bleeding into her voice.
“I hate you.” Her eyes slowly drag over the blood covering the floor before lifting back toward her cousin. “I always fucking hated you.”
The atmosphere in the room shifts instantly after that, like years of resentment finally cracked open inside her all at once.
“You took everything from me while acting too fucking innocent to even notice it happening. Every room you walked into immediately became about you, every guy wanted you, every girl wanted to be you, and everyone else just stood there kissing your ass because daddy’s money could buy you your own little kingdom. ”
“What are you talking about?” she chokes out, tears pouring uncontrollably down her face while the words keep falling apart more with every second. “I never did anything to you! I always tried to be your friend!”
“My friend?!” Tess suddenly screams, years of frustration exploding out of her so violently that even Cain shifts beside me at the sound of it. “You call that friendship?!” Her chest rises sharply while her entire body shakes with rage.
“You ruined my fucking life! My dreams, my future, everything! It was already bad enough watching you bully Reed for years like he was nothing, but killing him too?!”
“What?” Sierra freezes completely.
“What the fuck did Reed ever do to you?” Tess throws the words straight into her face, her voice turning so venomous the entire room seems to tighten around it.
“Besides trying to survive in the same town as you?! Besides existing while you and your pathetic little boyfriend treated him like fucking garbage?!”
The second her breathing starts to break apart, Cain is already crossing the room toward her. He wraps one arm around her waist and pulls her against his chest while she shakes with rage, kissing the side of her head softly until she finally starts calming down.
“Shh,” he whispers in her ear. “Relax, baby. It’s almost over.”
She slowly melts into him, her breathing finally starting to steady while one of her hands stays tangled tightly in his shirt. Then her eyes drift back toward Sierra again.
“And since nobody filled you in yet…” she says while pointing one finger toward me. “That’s your fucking husband right there.”
A grin instantly pulls at my mouth while Tess reaches calmly into her purse before pulling out a stack of folded papers and lifting them right in front of Sierra’s face.
“Marriage certificate and everything.”
Her eyes widen instantly, disbelief crashing across her face before they flick toward Tess again, like her brain is scrambling to catch up with the reality of what she just heard.
“This is impossible,” she whispers. “This is some sick fucking joke…”
“Not at all,” Tess says calmly. “Remember that cute little girl who asked you for an autograph when we were going to swimming lessons?”
The color slowly drains from Sierra’s face while a smirk slowly spreads across Tess’s lips the second she realizes she finally understands.
“Aren’t you so fucking narcissistic? Why would you ever think someone would actually want to be you?
” The room goes dead silent except for Sierra’s uneven breathing.
“All your life you were nothing more than a spoiled fucking brat,” Tess continues coldly.
“The rudest girl in town, the biggest bully, the kind of bitch who could point at someone and suddenly everybody else would destroy them too just because daddy had the money to make people kiss your ass.”
Sierra starts crying harder.
“But not anymore,” Tess says softly. “Now you’re completely on your own.” A small smile slowly spreads across her face. “And after tonight, you’re going somewhere far away where nobody will ever fucking find you again.”
“No!” Sierra screams instantly, snot mixing with tears while terror completely destroys whatever composure she had left. “Why are you doing this to me?! Why, Tess?!”
“Because I loved Reed.” The words come out shaking with so much bitterness and grief that something ugly twists in my chest at the sound of it. “And if I can’t have him anymore,” she says, a faint crack slipping into the words this time, “then you don’t deserve peace either.”
I cut in before she spirals too deep into the emotional shit because one part of her little speech finally catches up with me.
“Wait a second,” I say, frowning at her. “Where the fuck are we sending her?”
Tess slowly turns her head toward me, completely calm compared to the breakdown she was having seconds ago. “Somebody recommended me a guy.” She says calmly.
“Oh, great. A guy,” I mutter sarcastically. “Why stop there? Fuck it, let’s invite the whole country. Maybe start an Instagram live too while we’re at it.”
Cain immediately steps forward and punches my shoulder hard enough to shove me a step sideways before fixing me with an irritated look.
“Calm the fuck down,” he mutters. “She knows what she’s doing.”
“We have a contract,” Tess points out flatly. “And he’s getting paid a lot.”
“What’s his name?” I ask, narrowing my eyes at her.
Tess looks toward Sierra when she answers, almost like she wants her to hear every single word properly.
“Kage Malrik.”
The name means absolutely nothing to me, but the slow smile spreading across Tess’s face makes my stomach tighten anyway.
“He’s not the kind of man you find by accident,” she says without hesitation. “People like him exist because monsters with money always need someone willing to do the dirty work nobody else touches.”
“And what exactly makes him so special?” I ask while leaning back against the couch, watching her carefully.
Tess laughs quietly before looking directly at Sierra again.
“Because once he takes someone,” she breathes out quietly, “they stop belonging to themselves.”
Sierra’s expression crumples instantly. “No!”
“He’s very creative with breaking people.
” Tess continues over her, completely unbothered by the crying.
“And from what I heard, he enjoys it way too fucking much.” Something about the way she says it leaves a strange tension lingering in the room before a wider smile slowly spreads across her face.
“But honestly?” she adds while staring at Sierra like she’s already imagining her gone.
“I think you and Kage are gonna have a beautiful fucking time together.”