Chapter 33
chapter thirty-three
Denali
Kai won't be at dinner long, so I pop into the nearest lingerie boutique and pick something special out for him in his favorite color.
Anton drives me home, mumbling about girls and their girly things, and we joke about the bland weather.
This time of the year, usually the city is coated in snow, but this year, it's been a little warmer than usual, and it's dry as a bone outside.
Which is why when I get home, I don't even bother with anything other than telling Anton he can crash for the night if he wants. We're out in the middle of nowhere. Kai will be home soon. And until he's here, I plan to tease him with some selfies and suggestive messages.
The first one I send is a photo of the lingerie on the bed, telling him I can't wait for him to peel it off of me.
About an hour later, I send one of my fingers, covered in spit, a strand of drool hanging between them.
I know he's not going to know what it is, so I suggest that it's something else, and let him sit on read when he says he'll be heading home soon.
The bed looks comfortable, so I spread out on it, turn on the TV, and watch something I don't have any interest in until I hear the door open downstairs.
Showtime.
I pretend to be asleep, pretending that I've passed out waiting for him, artfully arranging myself sexily on the bed in the hopes that he'll come in, see me, and be torn with the desire to wake me or let me sleep.
My breathing hitches as the doorknob turns, and I clench my jaw as I try to sit entirely still, the urge to peek an eye open and see him almost overwhelming. But I can wait. He's the same man who left me a few hours ago to eat with his members, who he hasn't seen in years in person.
"Oh, this is rich."
My blood runs cold, and instantly, I realize I'm in grave danger.
Theo.
I could let him know I'm awake, make a run for it, but I'm not wearing anything. I can't run out of the house and expect to outrun him, either. He's fast. I also can't reach for my phone, because by the time I get to it, he'll be on top of me, and I'll be fucked.
The time for lengthy decision-making isn't now. It's long gone, and I'm running out of options.
I decide on option three, and pray that Theo didn't do anything to Anton. That I can get to him in time.
I open my eyes and scramble backward off the bed, but I miscalculated how close he'd gotten, because his hand snaps out and grabs me around the wrist, and all of a sudden I'm back on the bed, back on the other side, and being thrown to the ground with a snarl.
I scream, hoping Anton can hear me, but Theo's foot lands square in my ribcage, silencing my cries with a sharp pain that I can't ignore. The best I can manage is lying on the floor whimpering.
His face comes into my view, and that hand that grabbed my wrist grips my hair, yanking my face up so I have to look into those murderous eyes.
"Keep your mouth shut or I'll shut it for you."
Theo's grip hurts, he always hurt me when he was mad, but something about the way he drags me away says so much more is about to go down if I don't get away from him. But he stops, just on the edge of the room, and waits.
He yanks me back into the room, hand over my mouth still.
Those eyes, so expressive on the big screen, so beautiful in the sunlight, so photogenic, are filled with malice and rage, and it shakes me to my core.
"You sure do have a lot of nerve, sleeping your way to the top with a man like that when you wouldn't let me dip into the well.
Oh, how the morally just have fallen, huh, Denali? "
I try one more time to jerk my arm away, but he's too strong, though, and the only thing my squirming does is make it hurt worse. "Theo, let me go!"
Instead of releasing me, his lips descend on mine, their presence like a vomit-inducing nightmare. His hand snakes around my waist, pulling me closer, and the other grabs my wrist and pins me to the wall, his hips doing the other half of the work.
"If you can put out for him, you can put out for me, too."
I can't escape him, not unless I want to die here in this room. Maybe my best choice is to give him what he wants so he'll let me go. It's no guarantee, but if I don't make myself seem like a threat, it'll buy me time. Maybe time for Anton or someone else to get to me.
But I know that if Anton isn't coming now, there's a reason. I don't want to imagine Theo is capable of murder, but if he is, then he's capable of doing it to me, too. And that scares me almost as much as the idea of Kai coming home and getting caught in the crossfire.
Kai. Shit. If I'm right, he's heading here now. And likely closer than I want him to be. And it's all my fault.
"Go to hell, Theo," I spit, shoving at him as I make a run for the stairs.
If I can get him to chase me there, I can push him down to the bottom, and with any luck, he'll break his neck on the way down.
But he's too strong, and he easily overpowers me, delivering a death blow to my hope of survival.
His laugh of victory is filled with irony and smugness when he pulls away, licking those lips that women everywhere long to kiss. That people swoon over. That newspapers write articles about.
"I told you to remember your place, Dee. I promised you that I'd always find you, that you'd never outrun me, escape me. Did you really think that anything had changed?"
He leans in, and his hot, stale breath reeks of alcohol. I want to vomit from his closeness.
With a snarl that sounds more fitting for a wild animal, he releases me, tossing me back into the bedroom we just left.
"I'm not done with you, Dee," he growls, his eyes dark, wild.
Unhinged. "I promised when you least expected it, I'd find you.
And you don't have that fancy fuck on your arm to save you now that destiny has come calling. "
And then he slams the door closed behind him.
I watch in horror from three feet away as Theo pulls Anton's purple pistol out of his waistband, and aims it at my head.
There's no emotion in his eyes but rage now, and though I wish I could say I still saw a human in their depths, it's impossible.
No, this is a monster now, and he's got me dead to rights.
I'm stuck, and if I'm lucky, he'll make it quick.
"On your knees," he snarls, spittle flying from his lips, confirming my crazy diagnosis.
My prospects shrivel with every second that passes.
I drop to my knees, whimpering in fear. He's the only man who has ever managed to do this to me, and I hate him for it. The things I would do to him if I had the ability, the chance—
"Now, you're going to be a good little slut and suck my dick for me," he snaps, waving his gun around pointedly, "and you're not going to bite me, do you understand?" His other hand settles on his belt, hesitating when I refuse to speak. "I asked you a question, bitch."
I can't do this. No matter what I choose, I'm about to die.
I can feel it in my bones, can tell from the way he stares at me now, that there's nothing left behind that empty glare.
He's gone, Theo is long gone, and whatever is left is running on autopilot, trying their damndest to ruin me and anything good that he thinks he can taint, or things he can't touch but wants desperately to attain.
So I do the only thing that guarantees I'll be long gone before Kai gets here and gets caught up in this.
I lunge forward and bite Theo's hand, not stopping until I taste blood in my mouth that isn't mine. His scream of fury is loud, makes my ears ring, but I know if I don't take this chance, I won't get another.
I kick his legs out from under him and sprint for the door, not even stopping to formulate a plan as I run wildly for what feels like an eternity, the only goal to put distance between me and Theo.
The air iss tifling in here, and though I'm not wearing a stitch more than undergarments, I make the decision to leave the cabin, my only hope to reach the resort or the assistance cabin, before he reaches me.
Leaves and branches tear at my skin as I dart through trees, hoping I remember the direction the resort lies in. Nothing can stop me now, not even—
"Denali?"
Kai.
His shout of my name has me hesitating, coming to a stop, turning around. If Theo isn't behind me, that means he'll turn his rage on Kai. And the thought of leaving Kai for a second to the madman who wants my soul is more than I can bear.
I can't let a mistake from my past take away the love of my future.
I turn around and take one faltering step toward the cabin, then another, until I'm running again—this time, toward my own demise.
I can't lose him.
By the time I get back to the cabin, the front door is open, and I don't hesitate before running blindly into the damn thing, the only goal to save Kai, to keep him safe. But he's not in the living room when I go in, nor is there any sign of him in the kitchen either.
"Kai? Kai, where are you?" I call out, but he doesn't answer. I don't understand; I heard him a minute ago. He's got to be here—
"Boy, you really are gullible, Denali," I hear his voice say, and I spin around, ready to grab him and go, but it's not Kai my hand closes around—it's Theo.
I forgot he did voiceovers for awhile. That he's good at it. And now, he used that to his advantage to lure me back.
I did all the work for him, all he had to do was play on my weakness. I was a goner from the start.
The last thing I see is the devil in his eyes as he brings the gun down on my temple and knocks me out.