Chapter 20
Damien
“What the fuck?!”
The room around me goes quiet. I look up, gritting my teeth as I realize I’ve just spoken out loud. Everyone at the table is staring at me. The governor, his wife, and the four other influential politicians Vale invited to dinner. The latter has also turned flashing eyes toward me.
“Sorry,” I mutter. “I’ll be right back.”
Leaving the table, I hurry to the bathroom at the back of the restaurant. I lock the door and lean against it, my eyes glued to my phone. Seraphina is standing in the middle of the room, watching a jellyfish take its last breath. She killed it. I don’t understand.
I mentioned the possibility of dinner, then had to cancel. I made it up to her with a gesture I thought would mean something. She destroyed it all.
What the hell is going on? She’s obviously not reacting to my canceling dinner. Did something happen?
Logan spoke to her moments before she went nuts. Maybe he knows.
I dial his number and press the phone to my ear.
“What did you say to her?” I growl before he’s had a chance to speak.
“Uhm. What?” His voice comes through confused, a little uneasy.
“When you went to speak to her just now. What did you say?”
“Oh. Uh… not much. Just that you had to cancel. Because she’d been waiting for you.”
“That’s it?”
“Well… I apologized.”
“What? Why?”
“Uh…”
I click my tongue impatiently. “You shouldn’t have done that. She’s my captive. She shouldn’t expect anything from me. And you shouldn’t have apologized in my place.”
“Right.” He sounds increasingly uneasy, and I have no idea why. But my mind’s not on him right now. It’s on her.
“I didn’t have a choice anyway,” I add defensively, even while hating myself for feeling the inexplicable need to defend myself.
“It’s not like I can tell her what’s going on, can I?
You know as well as I do that there would be no protecting her if Angel got even an inkling of it.
And with the rat still in the building, they’d know, sure as shit.
She’s already a target. If anyone even breathes the word nanochip to her, I can’t answer for her safety. ”
“Right,” he says again, this time almost choking on the word.
I hang up the phone, furious. There’s still no explanation for her reaction. I’ve already visited her today. That’s one visit more than she has any right to expect.
Seething, I open the feed again. She’s lying on the floor among the glass shards, her eyes fixed on the ceiling. What the hell? Does she have a death wish or something?
My anger dissipates, replaced by a creeping sort of anxiety. I have no idea what’s going on with her. And it drives me mad. Madder still because I’m not supposed to care.
Before I know it, I’m calling Logan again, this time on speaker phone so I can keep an eye on the feed.
“What should I do?”
“Huh?” His uneasiness has given way to confusion.
“What should I do about the girl? She’s lying on the floor, staring at the ceiling. I’m three hours away. My hands are tied. And Vale has lined up about ten more meetings. She destroyed all the things I told you to get her. The aquarium is shattered and she’s lying in the broken glass.”
He snorts in amused surprise. “She killed the jellyfish?”
I clench my fists, willing myself to stay calm. “Tell me what to do.” The words sound far too much like a plea, and I wish I could take them back. But desperation is tugging at me. She must be having some sort of mental breakdown or something. I can’t leave her like this.
“I don’t know, man,” answers Logan slowly. “I’m not a relationship expert.”
“This isn’t a relationship,” I hiss. “She’s my captive.”
“Well, I locked the door,” he mutters. “She’s not getting out. Let her lie on the floor. So what? I don’t see why you care.”
“I don’t,” I snap. “But she’s lying on broken glass.”
“Okay. So I’ll slip a pack of Band-aids under the door.”
“That’s what you can do,” I say suddenly, breathing easier. “Go see her again.”
“Uh…”
“You’ve always been a brother to me, Logan. I wouldn’t ask this of anyone else. But I trust you. She’s probably going insane from being alone so much. Stay with her for a while. Okay? Watch a movie or—”
“Definitely not,” he interrupts. “I would do anything for you, Damien. But not that. Anyway, it won’t help.”
I take a deep breath, willing my anger to stay down. I’m not used to Logan resisting a direct order. “Why not?”
“Well, for one, I’m pretty sure she’s terrified of me. Didn’t you… didn’t you see how she reacted when I walked in?”
The unease in his voice is back, and I try to make sense of it as the old migraine beats down on me. “I guess the only time she saw you, you were telling Igor to point a gun at her.”
He exhales. “Right. Pretty sure she’d wet her pants if I told her I was going to spend time with her. She’s already falling apart. Hanging out with someone she thinks wants her dead won’t do it.”
I rub the bridge of my nose. “Fine. But you’ll need to keep bringing her meals for the moment.
I won’t be back till Wednesday, and we haven’t been able to get Lucy out yet.
I think we can manage it pretty soon, though.
They’ve charged her with a petty crime from ten years ago that has nothing to do with what they suspect us of.
But they can’t hold her indefinitely on that. I don’t think she’s squealed.”
“She wouldn’t,” says Logan loyally.
I hang up the phone, my thoughts still on Seraphina, and walk out of the bathroom. I nearly run into Vale.
“So,” he whispers. “Having trouble with the pet?”
I shrug. “Doesn’t matter.”
“You sure spend a lot of time thinking about something that doesn’t matter. She killed a jellyfish?” he says the words with a snort, and I glower at him, realizing he’s overheard my phone conversation. “She’s openly defying you,” he growls. “Kill her.”
“She’s going to get what’s coming to her,” I snap, then shut the door in his face.
Back in the bathroom, I put in an earpiece to prevent Vale from overhearing me. Then I call the private line to her apartment. I reach the answering machine three times. By the fourth, I’m ready to wring her neck.
At last, though, I see her stand up slowly and head to the telephone.
“Hello?” she says in a dull voice.
Anger makes my voice cold. “There’s a broom in the entrance closet. Clean up the mess.”
She waits a beat. “No.”
My hands clench into fists, even as I’m thankful Vale doesn’t hear her answers. If she were defying me in front of him, I don’t know what I’d do.
“Clean it up, or I’ll have Logan take care of it.”
On the feed, I see her stiffen. So she is afraid of him. Terrified.
“Okay,” she mumbles.
“And eat the food on the table. You haven’t touched your dinner.”
Another pause. “I’m waiting for you.”
I force myself to remain angry, even though her answer makes my throat constrict. So all of this is about the dinner, then. She must have attached a lot more importance to it than I realized.
“I’m not here, and I won’t be back for another three days at least. Logan will bring you your meals. If you don’t eat, he’ll force-feed you. And he won’t be as gentle about it as me. You hear me?”
“Yes,” she says sullenly.
In the feed, I see her inch the phone away from her, as if she’s preparing to hang up. Without my permission. “Oh, and one more thing, Seraphina.”
She brings the phone back to her ear and waits quietly.
“When I get back, I will punish you. And if you try this bullshit again while I’m away, I will have Logan take a belt to you. Is that what you want?”
In the feed, I see her clutch the side of the table, as if to keep herself from falling. I feel a pang of compunction, threatening her with something I’d never let happen. No one touches her but me. Still, she needs to understand she can’t do whatever she wants. Even with me far away.
I bury the guilt under my anger and wait for her response.
“No, sir,” she mutters, but I detect a note of defiance in her voice.
I choose to ignore it for now, and hang up.
-
The next few days pass far too slowly. I manage to keep my mind on the meetings, and even succeed in getting the bullshit charge dropped against Lucy. She returns to Devil Tower, and I breathe easier now that she’s once more in charge of the meals.
Meanwhile, my pet has returned to an outwardly submissive state. She spends most of her time staring at the polar bear-shaped hole in the wall. She doesn’t wait by the phone anymore, and something about that upsets me, though I don’t know what it is exactly.
Finally, I’m done with meetings. I take a red-eye plane back and arrive in the morning.
The first thing I do is head down to her apartment.
She’s already up, showered and dressed. She’s sitting on the couch, her eyes glued to the wall, a glazed expression on her face.
When I enter she looks up, but doesn’t react apart from a slight tensing of her shoulders.
I stop in front of her. “Get up.”
She swallows hard, but obeys.
“Lean over the armrest.”
I can see her legs buckle as she bends over, her head pressed against the tufted back of the couch.
Gritting my teeth, I slide the zipper down from her dress and pull down her panties.
Her clothes land in a puddle around her feet.
She isn’t wearing a bra, as usual. Any thought of mercy evaporates as I drink in her naked curves.
Her tiny waist, the swell of her hips, her full bottom.
Clearly, she’s forgotten who she belongs to.
I’m going to mark her well. See that she doesn’t forget again in a hurry.
I take my belt off, fold it in two, and bring it down on her ass. She doesn’t react. I bring it down harder, and her body tenses under the strain, but still she manages to stay still.
It takes a long while for the first cry to escape her lips. Even then I keep going, striping her from her lower back to her thighs. I don’t stop until she’s fallen to her knees, quiet sobs making her body quake, though she still hasn’t made a sound.