Chapter 26
Kael
I pulled up outside the warehouse Bria had tried to rob a few months ago.
She looked over at me, her brow furrowed. “I thought we were supposed to be going to Maya’s house?”
“I have something else I want to show you.”
Her frown deepened as she stared at the building, probably remembering the night I took her. I got out, walked around, and opened her door.
“We're going in. Stay right beside me,” I told her, my voice low.
She nodded once, her eyes darting around the empty lot.
Inside, the air was thick with the scent of rust and old oil. I kept a hand on the small of her back as I led her toward the back room.
Bria stopped dead when she saw what I wanted to show her, her breath hitching. “What is this?” she whispered.
Brook was zip-tied to a metal chair in the center of the room, exactly where I’d had my men leave her. Her face was swollen, one eye swollen half-shut. When she saw Bria, her expression twisted with recognition and something uglier.
I stepped in close behind Bria, my mouth near her ear. “This is part of your rehab: taking back control. This is the woman who helped Darius take everything from you. The one who stood by while he used you. The one who laughed when you were broken.”
Bria’s breathing picked up. She couldn’t look away from Brook. “Why… that doesn’t explain why she's here, Kael.” She sounded so nervous.
“Because you never got to make them answer for what they did to you.” I turned her slightly.
“She’s the first piece. You let them take your power, rabbit.
Your body. Your mind. Your fucking life.
They treated you like something disposable.
Now it’s your turn. You’re going to kill her, and him, and anybody else who ever hurt you. ”
Bria’s hands were shaking. “I… I can’t. I don’t know if I can—”
“Yes, you can.” My voice stayed calm. “You need to. If you don’t, that voice in your head that still says you’re weak will never shut up. Every time you look in the mirror, you’ll still see the girl they broke. I’m giving you the chance to end that version of yourself tonight.”
Brook made a muffled sound behind the gag, thrashing against the zip ties. Bria flinched.
I stepped around her and crouched in front of Brook for a second, then looked back up at Bria. “She doesn’t get to walk away clean—not after what she helped him do. You take this from her the same way they took from you. Put the power back where it belongs—in your hands.”
Bria’s eyes were wide and glossy, torn between horror and something else. Something that looked a lot like want. Need. She understood this would fix something inside her. I’d seen the vengefulness in her gaze whenever she talked about them.
“I don’t… I don’t know how to be that person,” she whispered.
I rose and cupped her face, forcing her to look at me instead of the chair. “You already are. You’ve just been too scared to use it. I’m not encouraging you to become a serial killer, or even to be like me. I’m giving you a chance to right your wrongs.”
I watched her eyes as they volleyed between me and Brook while silence stretched between us. “Remember how you felt when they bullied you at the mall?”
She nodded.
“Remember how they ridiculed you?”
She nodded again after a few long seconds.
Finally, Bria’s voice came out small. “And if I do this… what happens after?”
My thumb brushed her cheek. “Then you walk out of here different. Stronger. And you never have to wonder again who owns your life.”
I waited, watching the war play out across her face.
“Tell me what you want, Bria.”
She swallowed hard, her eyes flicking back to Brook, then to me. “I want it back,” she whispered. “All of it.”
I walked to the table against the wall and picked up the baseball bat. Solid ash. Heavy. I pressed it into her hands, stepping behind her so my chest molded to her back. My arms came around her, guiding her grip.
“Like this,” I whispered against her ear, adjusting her stance. “Shoulders relaxed, but locked. Swing from your hips. Put everything you’ve been carrying into it. Don’t hold back.”
Bria’s breathing was shallow. Her fingers flexed on the taped grip. Brook started mumbling through the gag, her eyes wide.
Bria didn’t wait for more.
The first swing cracked against Brook's ribs. The sound was wet and ugly. Brook grunted, doubling over as much as the ties allowed. Bria hit her again. Harder. Each swing grew surer, meaner. I stayed behind her the whole time, hands on her waist, feeling every twist of her body, every exhale.
“You helped him beat me,” Bria said between swings, her voice shaking but clear. “You held me down while Darius punched me until I couldn’t see straight. You laughed when he kicked me in the stomach. You told him I could take more. You watched me bleed and you did nothing.”
Crack.
“You helped him keep me high so I wouldn’t leave. You made sure the needle was ready every time I tried to get clean.”
Crack.
“You told him I was just a hole to fuck and forget. You stood there while he—”
Her voice broke, but she kept swinging. Brook’s head lolled, blood dripping from her mouth. When she finally went still, I nodded to my men in the shadows. They dragged her body out, leaving a long, wet trail across the concrete.
The warehouse fell quiet again.
Bria stood there, chest heaving, bat still gripped tight, blood on her hands and splattered across her shirt. She looked feral. Beautiful. Mine.
I walked toward her slowly, eyes locked on the wild look in her face. My dick was hard as fuck against my zipper—had been since the first swing.
“Look at you,” I said, my voice low and rough. I took the bat from her shaking hands and tossed it aside. “Standing there covered in her blood like it belongs on you. Do you have any idea what that does to me?”
I stepped in close, gripping her jaw, forcing her to meet my eyes.
“Watching you take that power back… watching you stop being the girl they broke and become something that could break them instead—fuck, Bria. I’ve never been this hard in my life.”
I dragged my thumb across a smear of blood on her cheek. “You’re not weak anymore. And that turns me on more than anything you’ve ever done for me.”
I kissed her, crushing my mouth to hers.
She tasted like copper and rage. She gasped against my mouth, and I swallowed it like it was holy water. My hand fisted in her hair, yanking her head back so I could go deeper. She melted into me, her body trembling against mine.
When I pulled back, she was shaking. Her eyes were wild, her pupils blown wide.
I pressed my forehead to hers. “Can I fuck you right here?” I breathed. “Please, Bunny.”
She nodded. I was too desperate to wait for her to say it aloud.
I turned her, walking her backward until her hips hit a stack of crates, and bent her over them. My hands yanked her pants down just enough. The soft, full curve of her ass filled my palms. I gripped her harder than I should have. She was soaked.
I freed my dick and pushed into her in one slow, deep thrust. She gasped, her body tensing, but she pushed back to take all of me.
“Kael—” Her voice broke on a moan. “Fuck… yes. Just like that.”
I fucked her slow and deep from behind over the crates. One hand fisted lightly in her hair—it had grown longer—while the other gripped the soft flesh of her hip, pulling her back onto me with every stroke. Her ass bounced against me, soft and plush, the sight making my grip tighten.
“Harder,” she breathed, fingers scrabbling for purchase on the wood. “Please… don’t stop. I need it.”
“Fuck, Bria,” I groaned low against her neck. “That was beautiful. You looked intoxicating in your rage.”
She moaned softly, her breath catching with every thrust. She took me—deep, wet sounds of skin on skin filling the space. I kept my pace, leaning over her so my chest pressed to her back.
“You did so good tonight. I’m going to push you so far,” I rasped, my teeth grazing her shoulder. “I want to see how much you can take. How deep you’ll let me in. You’re going to be such a good girl for me… aren’t you?”
She came hard around me, her body shuddering, a broken whimper slipping out as she clenched tight. I followed right after, burying myself deep and filling her with a low groan.
I stayed inside her for a long moment afterward, breathing against her skin, my hand stroking down her side.
This was only the beginning. I was going to make her my equal—and she was already starting to let me.