30. Lily
Lily
30
Waking up is a struggle as each of my senses slowly returns.
The room is bright when I open my eyes, and I blink several times to adjust to the light. My head feels heavy, and my mouth dry. I’m lying on something solid but soft, a bed probably, and every joint in my body aches in protest when I try to sit up.
When I do, all at once, the memories of what happened with Emilia at Raphael’s penthouse come flooding back.
“That bitch,” I moan.
She drugged me.
Emilia was out of her fucking mind, claiming I was in the way of her and Raphael’s nonexistent romance. And the only way to get rid of me was…Xiao.
Fuck.
An image of Mei lying down in front of the television flashes across my mind. That fucking bitch drugged my daughter, too.
“I’ll kill her.” If something has happened or does happen to Mei, I will go against every moral fiber of my being and kill that bitch.
“Mei?” I call out, twisting to look around for her, but the room is empty. Glancing at the window, I frown. It’s small and circular. Not at all like the floor-to-ceiling windows at Raphael’s penthouse.
I stand on shaky feet before losing my balance and stumbling into the wall. Is it me swaying or the ground beneath me? Peering outside, I see only water and nothing else in sight. What the hell am I doing on a boat?
Moving toward the only door in the room, I shout again with urgency, “Mei!”
I’m not sure what lies on the other side, but if it leads to Mei, I will face anything.
My hand reaches for the knob, but it opens before I can, and the lead actor in all of my nightmares fills the doorway.
“Baby, I’ve missed you.” Xiao practically purrs, a sinister smile pulling at his lips.
The door closes behind him, and he stands in front of me, blocking my only way of escape.I back up right away to try and put some distance between us. It’s useless, though. He simply eats up the space with every step he takes toward me.
He’s dressed in a white button-down shirt with a matching black vest and slacks. He undoes the links at his wrists and then slowly rolls up his sleeves.
I watch each movement unfold with a wary eye as if waiting for the strike of a coiled snake.
“Did you miss me?”
My immediate response is no, but I swallow it down and stay silent. Mistake number one. I should have just lied.
His hand collides with my cheek faster than I realize, and the momentum pushes me back onto the bed.
“Or are you that Italian’s whore now?”
Xiao stalks toward me, and I scramble backward onto the bed desperately hoping to put distance between us. But his hand wraps around my ankle, and pulls hard. I attempt to kick at him with my other foot, but Xiao simply grabs that one too, and now he has control over both my legs.
“Did you fuck him?” Xiao demands, spreading my legs wide so he can settle between them. “Huh? Have you given yourself to that bastard? Has he had what is mine?”
“Stop! Let me go. Please.” I struggle, but he’s too strong.
“Answer me!”
“No!” I cry.
Xiao slaps me again and the metallic taste of copper floods my mouth as an explosion of stars fills my vision.
“Don’t fucking lie to me.”
“Did you think of me when you let him fuck you?” Xiao goads. “Did you enjoy it? How many times did you fuck him, you fucking whore?”
His hands move from my legs to the waistband of my leggings. I push at his hands and try to keep my leggings up, but then he sends a punch directly into my gut that leaves me gasping and unable to stop him.
Cold air rushes over my naked bottom, and hot tears spring to my eyes as the realization dawns on me that Xiao is going to rape me.
It’s nothing new. He’s done it more times than I can count. But it’s like the time I spent with Raphael wiped all those memories away. And now, every good moment between us will be washed away.
“Did you enjoy his touch?” Xiao asks before he shoves two fingers inside me, and I cry out at the painful intrusion. “Did he touch you like this?” He leans forward, buries his face in my neck, and bites me there hard. “Did he leave marks on you like me?”
I thrash around, arch my back, shift my hips...I try anything I can to get away but nothing works.
“I own your pleasure. Me! No one else!”
Xiao’s wrong.
Raphael’s face flashes across my mind. In such a short amount of time, he’s shown me not only how to live again but also how to own my pleasure.
Because it’s mine. Not anyone else’s.
And if Raphael were here, he’d tell me to fight back and not give up.
So I do.
I reach for Xiao’s hair and tug hard, taking the bastard by surprise. He hisses through clenched teeth, releasing me as his hand slips free from between my legs.
“You stupid bitch!” he hollers.
I kick at him, not caring where or what I hit, only that I hit something hard enough that he’s forced to let me go. I don’t even bother grabbing for my pants when I scramble away because modesty be damned when you’re fighting for your life.
A hand wraps around my hair and yanks me backward. Xiao effortlessly flips me onto my stomach and uses his weight to pin my legs down.
“No!” I scream, desperate for someone, anyone, to hear me. “Please. Don’t do this. I’m begging you.”
Xiao’s voice is heavy with sarcasm. “I do like it when you beg.”
A crazy idea comes to mind. If I can’t overpower him physically, maybe I can do so mentally.
“You’re right,” I start, drawing on every reserve I have left in me to put a poker face on and lie. “I’m sorry. I did sleep with Raphael, but it was terrible. He’s nothing like you, baby. Nothing. You are so much better. I missed you.”
Xiao eases his hold off my upper back, enough that I can twist my head around to look up at him. He’s peering at me suspiciously. Like he doesn’t believe me. I need to try harder.
“He could never make me orgasm the way you do.”
Xiao’s lips jerk up. “That’s right, baby. Only me.”
He then thrusts forward, and I send up a silent thank you to whatever higher power is listening that he’s still wearing his pants.
When Xiao rubs his bulge, his much tinier bulge, against me, it takes everything in me not to cringe. So, instead, to keep up appearances, I let out the most exaggerated moan, hoping he believes it.
As he does it again and again, I rack my brain for the right words to say that will stop this from going any further when there’s a knock on the door.
Xiao freezes and peers over his shoulder.
“What?”
“Sir, we’re ready to push off, and the captain would like to speak with you,” a timid voice answers.
“Tell him I’ll find him when I’m done here.”
The voice clears his throat before saying, “I’m sorry, sir, but he says it’s important. Something about international waters and permits.”
When Xiao growls out his frustration under his breath and then all at once, he sits back and climbs off the bed. I fight the urge to crawl away, to hide myself from his seedy eyes, but I have to continue to play my part so I force myself to stay still.
Xiao straightens his clothes before reaching out to grip my chin. I force a smile on my lips when I peer up at him. “We’ll finish this later. Welcome home, baby.”
When he kisses me, a wave of nausea slams into me, and bile creeps up my throat. But it’s only when he leaves me alone in the room that I double over and vomit with tears streaming down my face.