Chapter 12 Summer
Chapter Twelve
SUMMER
I look around the room, waiting for the men with me to leave. I should be able to slip out of here and make it to the people waiting for me.
Except the men don't leave.
Not as they push me into the little room, stepping inside with me and shutting the door behind us.
One takes a seat on the black leather couch, rolling up his sleeves and reclining with his feet on the mirrored coffee table like we're going to be here a while.
Fuck. How am I going to get out of here if they're both with me?
I let out a shaky breath, still keeping up the act of a terrified girl who's been sheltered her entire life. It's not entirely fake either. I don't know what's going to happen, and I couldn't see the man who bought me from the stage.
The red lights had been shining on me, blinding me, leaving the disgusting shitheads who buy women hidden from sight.
I swallow hard and look over my shoulder at the man behind me. "Don't you have something else you should be dealing with right now?"
He smirks and leans against the door, crossing his arms over his broad chest. "You'd think you'd watch your mouth, given the situation you're in."
I shrink back, knowing what is expected of me. "I'm sorry; I just can't imagine that watching me is that important."
The man leans forward to grab a magazine. "The dead bodies outside say otherwise. Pretty pathetic escape attempt, if you ask me. Think they would've been more organized if they were really going to get you out of here."
My heart drops to my feet, and my knees go weak.
Those people died trying to help me.
At least I know it wasn't any of my siblings. They wouldn't have been killed without it being broadcast to everybody.
Noah would've made sure to make it as humiliating as possible.
But that doesn't mean they didn't suffer. It doesn't mean I didn't know who died. Their blood is on my hands even if I'm not the one who pulled the knife across their throats.
The man by the door checks his phone. "Boss wants her restrained. He's going to be here soon. Just finished paying."
The man on the couch sighs and gets up. "Don't we see why we have to do this? Not like she's going to go anywhere or do anything. Look at her. She's shaking just standing here."
On purpose, fuckwit.
If I'm not going to be able to escape, then I'm going to have to play the game. Hope that the monster who bought me isn't going to be the worst man to walk under the sun, even though I know men like my brothers are rare. Especially with the life we live.
I don't fight the men as they wrench my arms behind my back and handcuff them together. I don't say a word as they shove me into a chair in the corner of the room, both of them standing in front of me and blocking my line of sight to the door.
I might not know how I'm going to get out of this, but I will.
It just might take a little longer than expected.
The door to the room opens. The men shift to the side.
Standing there is the man I danced with at the beach.
He looks vaguely familiar beyond that—something about the shape of his eyes or maybe the curve of his smile.
"You." I tip my head to the side slightly, letting my gaze wander over him. "I didn't think I would see you again."
He stands there with his hands tucked deep in his pockets. "Happy?"
"Pleasantly surprised," I purr, crossing one leg over the other, letting my dress ride up higher on my thigh—not that it was covering much to begin with.
"Good." He hauls over the coffee table, sitting on the edge of it in front of me, his knees brushing against mine. "Just you wait until we get to my house. The things I'm going to do to you will have you begging for mercy."
Fuck.
Begging to come, I could handle. Begging for mercy, not so much.
He doesn't want me for just sex. There's a hard glimmer in his eyes as he pulls out a thin knife, running the blade up the inside of my calf before I have the chance to react.
Blood pools on the cut and the blade as he keeps holding the knife to my skin, a subtle reminder that he's the one in charge here.
He could end my life with a single cut if he really wanted to. He could slip that knife straight into the vein in my thigh, leaving me bleeding out.
"You're going to call me Master, understood?"
"Yes."
He digs the tip of the knife into the side of my leg.
I bite back a scream, my teeth sinking into my cheeks as I glare at him. The last thing he's going to get from me is the satisfaction of hurting me.
I'm going to hold out for as long as I can.
Or I'm going to take the thrill of killing me out of his hands.
"Yes, who?" he says, his words slow and drawn out like he's speaking to a child. "Get it right, Summer. I don't want to waste my time training you when you already know how you should behave."
"Yes, Master." I stare straight into his eyes, flinching only when he digs the knife into me a little harder.
He pulls back, picking at dirt beneath his nails with the blade. "Once I'm done with you, I'm going to let my men have a turn with you. It's been a while since either of them got to have some fun with a sub."
The men behind him shift, their eyes dragging up and down my body, the look in them predatory.
Like hell those men are going to get their hands on me.
It's not going to happen. I'll make sure they don't, even if it takes throwing myself out of a window.
I swallow hard, the weight in my chest making it hard to breathe. I'm not ready to die yet, but it looks like I'm not going to get a choice.
There's a part of me that hates Aiden, hates my dad, my grandfather, my great-grandfather, all the men in my family line who keep making the same choices and dragging us deeper into this shit.
He leans forward, the flat of the blade tapping against the side of my knee. "We're going to go home. I'm going to chain you to my bed, and then I'm going to make you bleed."
Fuck.
He looks over his shoulder at the men behind him. "Leave us for a minute."
The men file out of the room without another word.
"Now," he says, his attention back on me. "You're a problem for me, but you're going to be useful. I'm going to have to take pictures of everything I do to you, of course. Your family needs to know what they couldn't save you from."
"You don't have to do that. They'd pay you a good amount of money to get me back. Or I could arrange for them to align with you."
I don't know who he is, but getting my family to work with him might just be the promise I need to get out of here.
His eyes light up for just a moment before he shakes his head. "That's not going to be good enough. Your family is starting to fall, and only someone out of their mind wouldn't take their chance now."
"You don't know what you're doing."
He grabs my leg, his thumb pressing into the cut hard.
I scream, head tipping back, wrists straining against the cuffs that bind me. My chest heaves, and a foul taste rises in the back of my mouth.
I'm going to be sick.
His hold only tightens as I hiss through my teeth.
It's hard to come down from the pain he's inflicting, but I grit my teeth so hard I'm sure they're going to crack, and I pull myself together.
As much as I hated him for it at the time, Aiden trained all of us to be able to take a beating. He and Skyla made sure none of us would take a round or two of torture and crumble. He liked to say our family was stronger.
For years, I've been pissed at him because of it, but now I might be thanking him for it.
The man in front of me smirks, that cold look in his eyes only seeming to grow impossibly colder. "Do you want to tell me again that I don't know what I'm doing?"
I bite my tongue, glaring at him and hoping he knows how much I hate him.
I don't know his name or anything other than the fact that he's a bastard, but I hate him.
"We're going home in a few minutes, and when we get there, you're going to change. There's going to be a collar on you at all times. One that tracks exactly where you are."
As he's talking, the door behind him eases open. It's so soft the man in front of me doesn't hear it as he continues to rant to himself about all the expectations he's going to have for me.
Noah slips into the room, and I don't think I would've ever been so happy to see him. The man in front of me is a monster, and so is Noah, but at least I know what lengths Noah is willing to go to.
At least, I think I do.
Noah holds a finger to his lips.
I pay attention to the man in front of me instead, hissing as he presses into the cut again. "You don't have to do this. I could make sure you get everything you want. My family has connections all over the world."
"I love the sound of you begging." He folds the knife up and slips it back into his pocket.
Out of my peripherals, I notice Noah drawing closer, a syringe in his hand.
I swallow hard, tears burning in the corners of my eyes. "Master, please, just let me talk to my family; I can get you anything you want."
He smirks, but as he starts to lean forward, Noah wraps an arm around the man's neck, hauling him back.
Noah chuckles, the syringe pressing against the man's vein, the needle slipping beneath his skin with ease. "I told you not to fuck with me, Robert."
Robert's eyes widen, and he starts to open his mouth, but whatever he was about to say dies on his lips as Noah sinks the plunger down. Robert's words come out garbled together, not making sense.
I swallow hard, my gaze locking on Noah's. "You know him?"
"Yes."
He doesn't volunteer any more than that as he pulls the needle out of Robert's neck. Robert falls to the floor with a heavy thud.
Noah's gaze drops to the blood on my leg. "He did that to you?"
"Yes." I get up, wincing at the pain in my leg. "Can you get these off me?"
He glances around me at the cuffs as I turn slightly to the side. "I don't know. Looks like they should be there."
My cheeks are on fire, my head going straight to the gutter. "You don't have to be gross about it."
Shrugging, he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a key. His fingers brush against my skin as he comes over and grabs me, holding me still while he undoes the cuffs. A shiver runs down my spine, his breath ghosting across the back of my neck. The heat from his body radiates around me.
I squeeze my eyes shut, letting out a slow breath and bringing myself back under control.
Noah steps away from me, the cuffs falling to the ground. "Get moving. I want to get out of here before more of your family tries to show up and fuck up my plans."
Though it feels like hell to be walking out of there willingly with him, he's the monster I at least have an idea about. He's the one who is going to put me through hell, but he's not going to hurt me more than he needs to.
Even if one day, he's going to need to kill me.
Noah opens the door to a bedroom on the third floor.
"This isn't my room."
"I know." He gives me a gentle nudge inside. "Get some rest. There are going to be long days ahead of us."
He shuts the door and turns the lock, leaving me trapped. Still, I go to the door and try the handle, hoping by some miracle that whatever lock he has on the outside of the room is going to let go, and I can leave.
It doesn't, though. The handle barely budges.
I'm a prisoner again, but at least I'm not Robert's prisoner. I'm not at the home of a man who was going to let everyone who works for him have a go with me, who was going to treat me as nothing more than a communal sex doll and throw me in the trash when he was done with me.
Glancing around the room, I take in the dark woods and the forest green duvet. Thick chocolate brown curtains hang over wide windows, overlooking the sprawling yard and gardens out back.
For a moment, I do nothing but stand at the window, looking down at the world below. There are some men in the yard with guns, marching around. Some of them smoke, while others say something to the men they pass, laughing before carrying on with their jobs.
I turn my back to them all, wiggling my toes in the plush area rug that covers some of the dark hardwood floors. It would almost be a cozy room if not for the man living in it.
And I know it's his room because of the smell that lingers. His cologne covers every inch of the room. It sinks into the fabrics.
Even if the cologne didn't make the entire room smell like Noah, it fits the personality he exudes: dark, moody, going to kill me.
With that small reminder creeping through the back of my mind, I start to look for anything I might be able to use as a weapon. I don't know why he put me in this room instead of one of the others, but I'm hoping it means he was unprepared.
What I'm really hoping it means is that I'm going to find a gun he forgot to have removed before tossing me in here.
I go into the ensuite, wondering if I should leave some blood on the glossy white surfaces just to piss him off. It takes a couple of minutes to clean up my leg.
As soon as I'm done, I start opening drawers and cupboards, feeling around the wood and looking for any hidden doors. And then, there in the back of a cupboard beneath a bookshelf, there's a small groove.
It's so smooth that I almost don't feel it. If it weren't for my fingernail catching on the lip, I would've missed it entirely.
I press along the little indent until there is a soft click.
A little door in the back slides open. There's a small cabinet back there.
I reach in, my fingers brushing against cool metal.
My breath hitches in my throat as I pull out the gun.
I check the magazine, and sure enough, it's loaded. With a rush of hope flooding through me, I load the gun again, taking it to the bed and hiding it beneath the pillow. I cross the room to the bookshelf again and pick a book before flopping down, head on the pillow.
All I can do now is wait.
\\\*
The sun is just starting to rise when the lock turns, and the door opens.
I put the book to the side, my eyes feeling like they're on fire. I've stayed up all through the night, waiting for this moment.
As the door eases open, I slip my hand beneath the pillow, wrapping it around the gun.
Noah steps into the room, and I stand, flicking off the safety and aiming the gun at his head.
His eyes widen, a slow smile creeping across his face that leaves me on edge. "And what do you think you're going to do with that?"
My heart is hammering against my ribs, stomach doing flips.
With a deep breath, I curl my finger around the trigger.