Chapter 25 #2
We continued walking, the only sounds our footsteps and the occasional rustle of wildlife. My arms were already starting to ache from the position, and the adrenaline from earlier was wearing off, leaving exhaustion in its wake.
“How far?” I asked.
“Another ten minutes to the road. The car should be there by the time we arrive.”
“Why not just take me back to your own car at the cabin?”
He glanced at me, one brow lifting. “You ran so far away that it’d take at least thirty minutes to walk back there. I figured you wouldn’t want to do that.”
“Wow, what a gentleman you are,” I grumbled. “So thoughtful.”
“I try,” he said dryly.
“So where will this car be taking us, exactly?”
“The Dionysus estate. I believe you’re quite familiar with it,” he said, lips quirking again.
“So you’re taking me there as... what? A prisoner? A hunting trophy?”
He didn't respond immediately. When he did, his voice was measured. “I’m taking you there so you'll understand why I chose you.”
“Chose me,” I repeated flatly. “Like I'm just some kind of prize you can select at the fair after you’ve won a game. Not a real person with their own thoughts or agency.”
“You’re not a prize,” he said. “But yes, I chose you. Your name on that List wasn't random.”
“I figured that much,” I snapped. “You put my name there because I was investigating the Club. Because I got too close. So this is your way of getting rid of me, right? Making me disappear.”
“That's not why.” His hand tightened on my arm. Not painfully, just firmly. “But you'll learn soon enough.”
His words made my skin crawl.
“How about you stop with the bullshit cryptic non-answers and just tell me what happens to women at that estate?” I said in an acid tone.
“Are you going to toss me into an alligator-infested lake? Or is it more like those mafia movies where you make me dig my own grave before you shoot me in the back of the head?”
He chuckled. “You’ve got quite the imagination, Violet,” he said. “But it’s nothing like you’re picturing.”
“What is it, then?”
“I can’t tell you right now. You need time to go through it all. To process and understand everything,” he said. “But I can tell you one thing: I’m not going to hurt you.”
“You’ve just hunted me through the woods, and now you’re kidnapping me. That's literally hurting me.”
“Is it?” He stopped walking and turned to face me. “Because five minutes ago, you were kissing and fucking me like you wanted to be caught all along.”
Heat flooded my face. “That was…”
I trailed off, not quite knowing how to finish my sentence.
Julian smirked and started walking again. “Come on. Those alligators are pretty hungry. We shouldn’t keep them waiting.”
“Oh, ha-ha,” I said, rolling my eyes. “You’re a real comedian.”
“Again… I try.”
“How about you try to be a decent person and not abduct women in the woods?”
He ignored that. Just kept walking.
“I have another question,” I said a moment later. “What would you have done if Ginny didn’t go for your deal? How would you have found me then?”
“I knew she would.”
“You can’t know that for sure,” I said.
“Yes, I can. Everyone has a weakness,” he replied. “So if you want something from someone, all you need to do is figure out what that weakness is. Then you can push that button until they deliver what you want.”
I lifted a brow. “So what’s your weakness?”
“Let me rephrase my original statement,” he said, voice dripping with dark amusement. “Almost everyone has a weakness.”
My mind was whirling now. Julian was obviously putting on this macho ‘I’m too cool and alpha to have any weaknesses’ act to intimidate me, but his original statement was actually correct.
Everyone on this planet had a weakness. Even the coldest, hardest men.
So whatever his was, I needed to figure it out.
From there, I could figure out a way to use it against him in order to break free from captivity.
Unless he was lying about not killing me, in which case that strategy was pointless, because I'd be dead before I ever figured out his weakness.
“I looked into all your friends,” Julian went on. “And Ginny was the obvious choice to get on board. I knew she wouldn’t turn me down in the end.”
“That’s so fucking cruel,” I muttered. “Dangling hope for her sister over her head like that.”
“I’d hardly say I dangled it. I transferred the money the second I finished my conversation with her,” he replied. “Even if I was wrong—which I wasn’t—and she didn’t come through for me in the end, I would’ve let her keep it.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Why?”
“It’s a real fuck-around to get a transaction reversed,” he said, shrugging as if two hundred thousand dollars was no big deal. “Besides, I wasn’t wrong. She came through for me and practically delivered you to me on a silver platter. So I consider it money well spent.”
“I guess you’re used to paying for women, huh?” I muttered.
He glanced at me, brows knitting. “What do you mean?”
“You know I was at that initiation ceremony,” I replied. “I saw what those men do with the girls hired as so-called ‘entertainment’ by the Club.”
“What some of the men do,” he said. “Not me.”
A strange mix of relief and possessiveness flooded through me. “Really?”
Julian chuckled again. “Yeah, really. Why do you care, anyway? Are you jealous?”
Yes.
“No! Of course not,” I said, face flushing hot again. “I just… I don’t like the idea of women being exploited.”
“Those women aren’t exploited. They’re paid an entire year’s salary for one night of work, which they all consent to doing,” he replied.
“But like I said… it’s not work I’m interested in engaging with.
There’s only one woman I’m interested in being eng—” He stopped abruptly and cleared his throat before finishing his sentence. “Engaging with.”
I frowned slightly, my foggy brain trying to catch what he'd almost said, but the thought slipped away before I could grasp it.
The next few minutes passed in silence. My feet hurt. My arms hurt. Everything hurt. But I forced myself to keep moving, to not give Julian the satisfaction of seeing me falter.
Finally, the trees began to thin. Up ahead, I could see the faint glow of headlights. We emerged onto a narrow dirt road where a black SUV sat with the engine running. The driver—a man in a dark suit—stood beside it, professional and expressionless.
“Sir,” he said with a slight nod when he saw us.
“Thanks for coming so promptly,” Julian replied, opening the back door. He looked at me. “Get in.”
I stared at the open door, at the leather interior, at the point of no return.
Once I got in that car, it was real. No more running. No more escaping. Just... whatever came next at the estate. Whatever happened to the captured girls.
“Violet,” Julian said, voice softer now. “Get in the car.”
I wasn’t sure why I obeyed. Maybe because I was too tired to fight anymore. Maybe because some part of me was actually curious about what happened next. Maybe because his hand on my arm was gentle, almost protective, and I was too confused to know what I wanted anymore.
I climbed awkwardly into the back seat, my bound hands making it difficult. Julian slid in beside me, and the driver closed the door behind us.
The interior was warm, quiet. The driver got in the front without a word and started the car. As we pulled away from the forest, I watched the trees disappear behind us through the tinted window. Somewhere back there were my friends. The cabin. My failed escape. My old life.
I felt Julian's hand find mine behind my back, his fingers threading through mine.
“I know you don't understand yet. But I promise you, you're going to understand eventually. Why I chose you.”
I didn't answer. Didn't know what to say. Because the worst part wasn't that he'd kidnapped me. The worst part was that when his thumb stroked gentle circles against my palm, some treacherous part of me didn't want him to stop.
I leaned back against the seat as a yawn suddenly rose in my throat. The warmth of the car, the gentle motion, the complete exhaustion settling into my bones… it was all starting to blur together. The adrenaline had finally burned out completely, leaving me hollowed out and empty.
My eyelids grew heavy. I tried to fight it, tried to stay alert, but my body had other ideas.
“Tired?” Julian asked, his voice seeming to come from very far away.
I wanted to snap at him, to tell him that of course I was tired after being hunted through the forest like an animal, but I couldn't form the words. Could barely keep my eyes open.
“It's okay,” he said. “You can sleep. We have an hour until we reach the estate.”
“Don't want to,” I mumbled, but I could hear how slurred my words were.
“You're exhausted, Violet. Just let go.”
His voice was so calm, so steady, and I was so, so tired. My head tilted sideways, coming to rest against something solid and warm. It was his shoulder, I realized distantly.
I should pull away, I thought. Should stay alert and plan my next move.
But I couldn't. My body simply wouldn't cooperate anymore.
“That's it,” Julian murmured. His hand released mine, and I felt him shift. A moment later, something soft settled over me. His jacket, I assumed.
I knew I should protest. Should stay awake. Should…
But then darkness pulled me under, and I let it.