Chapter 16
ZINNIA
A terror unlike any other assails my entire being as I come to. The accident. The SUV running into the driver’s side of the truck. The screams of fear coming from Delilah. My own mixing with hers. The gunfire resounding around us.
Oh God, I hope they’re all okay.
This is all my fault. I knew something bad would happen when Gunner got that phone call. I should have insisted we do something different. Maybe put Delilah in another vehicle. Or me, for that matter. It was me they took, and now I’m going to face the consequences of my actions against Basa.
His men made sure to gloat about the attack and how easy they found getting me out of there.
One of them even mentioned going back to finish the job along with taking Delilah.
I went berserk on him at the thought of anything happening to Gunner’s little girl.
The very thought of her being hurt kills me as if she were my own child.
The door creaks open to the room, and the lights come on to show Basa stepping into the room. His usual calm and collected demeanor that he tries to always portray is long gone and in its place is the monster I know him to be.
I swallow my nerves and step back against the wall I’m chained to . . . wishing it would absorb me within its depths.
“You’ve been a very naughty girl, Zinnia, my love,” he says, grinning maliciously as he steps further into the room, almost stalking me.
“I’m not your love,” I snap, not wanting him to know the fear that consumes me.
“You’ve been mine for years, puta, and you know it.
” He shrugs, reaching out to brush the strands of my hair away from my face.
“Tis a shame I’ll have to kill you for your deception.
” The accent in his voice is thicker than normal.
“I’d hoped that by giving you the freedoms I allowed and not letting my men have you that you would be content in your life as mine, but it seems I shouldn’t have.
I should have killed that bastard who you cried for so many nights while I took you. ”
“Doesn’t matter what you did to me, Basa, I was never yours. I’ll always be Gunner’s,” I spit, bracing myself for the punishment for my outburst.
I didn’t expect for him to laugh in my face, but that’s what he does. Throwing his head back, he laughs like this whole situation is hilarious.
“Oh, my sweet, sweet, Zinnia, you never learn.” Basa smirks and curls his fingers in my hair to wrench my head back, his body coming flush with my front.
He sneers at me as he presses in close. “You are mine to do with as I please. I should fuck you again here and now. But I have other things to attend to, and I prefer to hear your screams another way entirely. I’ll prove to you who owns you.
I took that virginity of yours. I fucked that ass of yours and your mouth.
I treated you like a queen and never slept next to another. ”
Bile burns my throat and I swallow it down to keep from allowing it to come up. There’s no way I’m going to throw up and let him know he’s getting to me. I have to trust in the fact he went against the club the way he did.
I can feel it in my gut that Gunner would come for me. He won’t give up. We only just got to the point we are now, for this to happen. No, I won’t let Basa win.
Basa steps back and releases my hair as he turns to the wall of horrors behind him.
I know this wall, because he’s used plenty of the items hanging along it on me throughout the years.
Whenever he had stayed here, he liked to play.
Thankfully after the first year or so, he usually kept me in another room and used other women in here.
I shudder at the memories that threaten to take over. I don’t need them haunting me right now. Not when I’m living them firsthand as it is.
I follow Basa’s movements, first he opens a drawer and pulls out a kit I know all too well. His gaze comes back to mine.
“I figure you haven’t had a dose of your medicine in a while, so I made sure it was stocked here for you . . . if I do indeed decide to keep you alive.”
“Go to hell,” I mutter and jerk against my chains. I’m not about to let him do anything without a fight.
“Only if you’re going with me.” He chuckles and comes back to me, holding the needle. With expert movement, he sedates me and presses the needle into my skin, piercing the flesh. I let out a little cry from the burning of the liquid flowing into my body.
Once Basa empties the syringe into me, he steps back and drops the needle to the floor. Turning back to the wall of horrors, he grabs a knife and comes back to cut through my leggings and tank top. His men had already removed my hoodie when they chained me in here.
Satisfied with the fact I’m stripped of clothing, Basa leers at me like I’m on a pedestal sitting there for his enjoyment. “Still as beautiful as ever my sweet, beautiful puta.”
The drugs he’d filled my body with start burning their way throughout, and I feel the sweat beading along my flesh. The very air around me feels like it’s licking at my skin with flames of desire and ecstasy.
“Feels good, doesn’t it?” Basa snickers and holds up a whip that I’m far too familiar with.
I clench my teeth together to keep from giving him the satisfaction.
“Don’t worry, Zinnia,” he says, stepping closer. “You’ll be screaming . . . begging me soon enough, and when you do, I’ll kill you.” Holding back the whip, he brings it forward with a cracking sound in the air, and I’m barely able to contain the cry of pain as he hits my chest.
Whip after whip, time ceases to exist as he cracks that leather tip against my flesh, sometimes breaking the skin. The longer he hits me, the harder it becomes to keep from screaming. It’s even worse with the drug flowing through my system.
Basa drops the whip and moves over to the wall where he’s got his little bag of goodies. He pulls out another vial of something and fills another needle.
Sweat drips into my eyes, blurring my vision, and I’m having a hard time watching him, but I try to focus on his movements and what he’s doing. When he turns to me, there’s no missing the way his face contorts into that of a devious monster.
Basa stalks across the room, holding the needle up for me to see.
“I’ve changed my mind, Zinnia, on what I’m to do with you,” he states firmly and sticks me with the needle before pressing the plunger.
“I’m going to make you a message to those Devil’s Riot MC bastards.
Especially that one you seem to think can take you from me.
Your death, beautiful puta, will be their warning to stay out of De La Rosa business.
Next time I’ll come for those children they seem to all cherish. ”
My stomach churns with dread, and fear takes hold, clogging my throat as he slams his lips to mine in a final farewell.
When he steps back, I close my eyes and wish to God my life were different. That I would’ve had a lot more time with Gunner and given him the life we should’ve had together.
I open my eyes once more to say something . . . anything, only to lose focus as my body starts shaking violently, and I know this is the end for me.