Chapter Thirty-four
The audience remained seated, letting the Harts leave first. That meant me as well, the two men who’d abducted me from Nico’s hauling me between them like a sack of potatoes so my feet barely touched the floor.
I kept twisting around, hoping to glimpse Nico.
Sometimes I thought I did, but it could just as easily have been someone else.
Two black cars waited outside the courthouse. They were the first vehicles I’d seen in Wonderland. I suspected they were the only two. God forbid the Harts ever walk anywhere.
Nico’s reappearance as we reached them lit a spark of hope inside me. It died almost immediately when he climbed into the first car with Queenie and Henry, leaving me alone in the back of the second with Kellan. The security guard who’d shot Todd sat up front.
I turned to the window, refusing to acknowledge Kellan’s stare burning a hole in the side of my face. Maybe if I ignored him, he wouldn’t speak to me. There wasn’t a single thing he could say that I wanted to hear.
The hope lasted all of five seconds.
“I know you and Nico have been having a thing.”
The words surprised me enough that I made eye contact before I could stop myself.
He laughed at my expression as he held up two crossed fingers.
“Nico and I are like this. We’re brothers, after all.
He often acts as my warm-up man.” A smile tugged at his lips.
“Let me guess. He led you to believe something different.” He shook his head fondly.
“He’s such a liar. That’s his modus operandi.
He tells people what they want to hear. Makes them feel safe.
Plays the rescuer. You’re not the first and you won’t be the last. We’re similar in a lot of ways and very different in others. ”
He stretched lazily, giving his words time to sink in. “I have to confess I won’t play Romeo like he did. I’m more upfront. More what-you-see-is-what-you-get. Some might even say more honest.”
No shit. I’d seen the cuts and bruises covering Todd’s face. I had no illusions about ending up the same way. I shifted my jaw, searching for even the smallest amount of relief from the constant ache.
“Poor baby,” Kellan crooned. “Does it hurt?” He produced a key from his pocket. “Would you like me to unlock it?”
I weighed the satisfaction of refusing against the relief it would bring and finally gave a jerky nod.
Kellan reached behind my head, pulling me forward until our foreheads were almost touching. His cologne barely concealed the smell of sweat beneath it. Every instinct I had screamed at me to pull away. I endured it instead, counting silently to distract myself. I got all the way to twenty-five.
“I think not,” he said in a bored monotone.
“I have a feeling you’ll have far too much to say.
Probably things I won’t want to hear. I’ll get angry.
You’ll get upset. The whole thing will become a drama.
I’ll get hard because I like drama. I’ll have to fuck you, and fucking in a car is sooo awkward.
I’d rather our first time be... well, perhaps ‘special’ isn’t quite the right word, but I prefer to take my time. ”
I jerked backward, ripping myself from his grasp without caring that I left a few hairs behind.
Kellan pressed a button to lower the window. He held the key between his thumb and forefinger. “Say sorry for that or I’ll throw this out.”
My gaze flicked between the key and the blur of countryside racing past outside. Maybe it wasn’t the only key. Maybe the gag could be removed without one. Was it worth the gamble?
I worked my mouth around the silicone. “Srreeeee.” It came out as little more than a muffled moan accompanied by a string of drool.
He frowned. “I didn’t catch that.”
I tried again. It sounded even less like the word than before.
Kellan caught the saliva running down my chin with a fingertip before bringing it to his lips. He sucked it clean, like someone savoring an amuse-bouche. “Mmm. A slight tang of fear with notes of anger.” He smiled. “My favorite.”
He slid the window back up and pocketed the key, looking thoughtful.
“Maybe part of the problem with Todd was that he could speak, but had nothing interesting to say.” His fingers returned to my jaw, slipping between my lips to push the gag deeper until it pressed painfully against my soft palate.
“I was thinking about buying you a muzzle, but maybe we’ll stick with a gag instead.
Not one like this, though. You can get ones with a hole through the middle.
” His smile widened. “That way I can still fuck your throat. Would you like that?”
Not answering didn’t seem wise, but I wasn’t about to claim I’d like it. I settled for shaking my head.
“Yes,” Kellan mused. “One of those. And I’ll buy you a new collar.” His gaze drifted thoughtfully over me. “One with diamonds.”
Was that supposed to be a compliment? Because I certainly wasn’t taking it as one.
His hand wandered onto my thigh before creeping steadily higher. “You’ll still get to see Nico,” he said. “He takes the dog for a walk sometimes.”
I couldn’t make that image fit the Nico I’d thought I knew. Maybe that was the problem. Even after everything I’d witnessed in the courtroom—and everything Kellan had just told me—I still wanted to believe there had to be a decent man buried somewhere underneath it all.
His fingers curled around my crotch. If he expected me to get hard, he was going to be sorely disappointed. There was more chance of the gag disintegrating than me finding any pleasure in Kellan’s touch.
“We’ll get lots of new stuff for you,” he said. “A new dog bed. New bowls. Maybe even a little bow for your hair.” His grip tightened until pain flared. “Say thank you.”
I made a noise behind the gag, not bothering to shape it into words.
Kellan withdrew his hand as the car slowed. “Home, sweet home.”
The building waiting beyond the gates was white, just as Tom Cheshire had described. It was also fucking enormous. Especially for a family of three.
I corrected myself.
Four.
Nico lived here too.
He was already climbing out of the car ahead of us, disappearing inside without so much as a glance in my direction.
I wanted to hate him, but I was still struggling with the concept.
I supposed that would get easier. It had for Warren.
Seeing him again this afternoon had left me with nothing but contempt for him.
Kellan rounded the car and opened my door. “Out.”
I stepped out onto the gravel.
“On all fours.”
I stared at the ground. Even if I ignored the humiliation factor, the gravel would shred my knees.
I remained standing.
“Down.” His voice had lost every trace of amusement.
I shook my head.
The resulting backhand was brutal, Kellan’s ring catching my nose and making it fill with blood.
Panic surged through me. I needed my nose to breathe.
Surely, he’d unlock the gag before he let me suffocate.
Wouldn’t he?
I wasn’t nearly as certain as I wanted to be. And Nico had already gone inside.
Stop expecting Nico to rescue you. He doesn’t give a damn. He already got what he wanted from you.
I was still trying to breathe through the panic when the second blow sent me crashing to my knees. At least it cleared my nose enough that I could breathe again. The panic receded slightly. The same couldn’t be said for my anger.
“Bad dog.”
My cheek burned where his ring had caught me again. Blood dripped onto the gravel beneath me. From my nose? My cheek? Both? I considered my options. Get back up and get hit again. Or stay where I was. Who was I trying to kid? There was only one sensible option.
Kellan stood over me with his hands on his hips, manic anticipation glittering in his eyes. The security guard lingered nearby, his relaxed posture making it painfully obvious he’d seen scenes like this before.
That settled it. I lowered one hand onto the gravel, then the other. Had I ever crawled on all fours before? Maybe during P.E. in primary school. I certainly didn’t remember a teacher watching me the way Kellan was now, practically willing me to make a mistake.
Humiliation set my cheeks on fire as I crawled down the drive, Kellan falling into step behind me.
“You need to train them early,” he said to someone, presumably the security guard. I wasn’t about to turn around to see who, for fear of earning a boot to the ribs. “Show them who’s boss.”
Whatever the other man thought, he kept it to himself.
By the time I reached the door, both my hands and knees felt bruised. Thankfully, someone had left it open, sparing me the humiliation of figuring out how to open it without standing and incurring Kellan’s wrath.
An ornate reception room greeted me beyond the threshold. Paintings covered the walls, each more disturbing than the last. Grinning rabbits with needle teeth. Masked figures dancing beneath dead trees. Pale children with faces too long and eyes too large.
The stuff of nightmares. Like I needed an extra one beyond the reality I was living.
“Left,” Kellan ordered.
I obeyed, crawling into a large living room already occupied by the rest of the Harts.
And Nico.
He had his back to me, but a large mirror in front of him reflected his face. The mirror betrayed him, his eyes finding mine for the briefest moment before he tore them away.
Yeah. Do you see me bleeding, you bastard?
I shuffled farther into the room, hoping I’d leave blood on their cream carpet. Unfortunately, the worst of the bleeding seemed to be over. Even a sharp shake of my head produced no fresh drops. I’d have to settle for depositing the specks of gravel clinging to my palms.
Was this what my life had already become? Would my only pleasure be minor acts of rebellion? It was a bleak future to contemplate.
Henry poured whiskey into two crystal tumblers, handed one to Queenie, then took a sip from the other. “Do you want one, Kellan?”
No offer to Nico. I filed the observation away, telling myself it might prove useful someday. More likely, it was just a way of keeping myself sane. How long would that last?
Kellan shook his head. “No. I’m going to try my new dog out.”
Try me out.
I searched desperately for another meaning beyond the obvious, but failed miserably.
“Of course, darling,” Queenie said casually, as if her son had announced he was choosing a new paint color rather than raping his new captive.
“Don’t forget we have a dinner party at eight.
” She lifted a slender wrist to check the time.
“That only gives you a couple of hours. And no dogs at the table tonight.”
Kellan bent and gripped the back of my neck, revulsion crawling beneath my skin at his touch. “Come on, doggie.”
I couldn’t move. It was one thing to understand your fate, but something else entirely to force yourself to walk—or crawl—willingly toward it. How did people cope when they had to climb the steps to the executioner’s block?
When I remained frozen, his fingers tightened, nails digging into my skin. “Don’t make me hit you again.”
Maybe he’d knock me unconscious.
Maybe that would be better.
Delay.
Delay.
Delay.
Or maybe it was better to get it over with.
A sound escaped around the gag. Not a word—I no longer had any of those at my disposal. Just something raw and primal, carrying everything I couldn’t say.
Movement registered through the panic.
Nico.
He crossed the room with slow, unhurried steps, stopping a few feet from Queenie and Henry, who continued chatting quietly as though their son and his new ‘dog’ had already left the room.
For a moment, nobody spoke.
Then Nico broke the silence.
“I resign.”