The door opens and I jerk, my head flying up and my eyes widen as a figure blocks out the light. It’s not Julian. This man is taller and wider in the shoulders than Julian. My body trembles as I watch him. He closes the door and remains in the shadows as he makes his way around the room to me. My hammering heart makes it difficult to judge how far away he is from the sound of his footsteps. I suck in air and try to back up, despite the fact that I’m stuck in place.
“Hello, Carly,” the man says as he steps into the light and I gasp, jerking on the rope harder, desperate to flee as ice cold fear fills my belly.
“Damian.”
He smiles, taking a step toward me and I see the same evil glint in his eyes that I recognized in Julian’s earlier. My chest tightens and my thoughts screech to a halt. What is he doing here? All the puzzle pieces rattle around in my brain and I can’t make them fit together. What does Damian have to do with Julian?
“It’s lovely to see you again,” Damian purrs, his gaze dropping to my chest and he frowns as he runs a finger along the first cut. “I see Julian decided to get started without me.”
“What are you doing here?” I ask, flinching as he traces around the wound again. He licks his lips and meets my eyes.
“I’m afraid you’ll have to wait for that answer.”
I jerk on the rope again despite the tearing pain in my shoulder. “No. You’ll fucking tell me now.”
“Will I?” he asks, his eyes lighting up and a slow smile stretching across his face. “I don’t think you’re in a position to argue. I do love your fire, though.”
I remain quiet, staring him down as I wait for answers and finally, he sighs.
“All right. I suppose I could give you some answers while we wait.”
I blink. “Wait for what?”
“Ah, that’s not one of the questions you’ll get an answer to. It would ruin all the fun,” he says, laughing, and I turn away from him. “I suppose I should start at the beginning, huh?”
Silence stretches between us and as I look back at him, he nods. He peels his suit jacket off and tosses it over the chair next to me before slowly rolling the sleeves of his dress shirt up.
“I was born here in Baton Rouge and my daddy, he was a mean old bastard. He loved to smack me around just to hear me cry and he did it often. When I started school, I was different than the other kids. I never fit in with anyone and kids can be so mean, but you already know that, don’t you?” He smirks and I wonder just how much he knows. “Even back then, I had… certain tastes and it got me expelled on a few occasions, which only made my daddy beat me more.”
“I’m sorry,” I whisper, hoping I can appeal to his emotions somehow but the wry smile he flashes me makes my heart sink.
“Oh, don’t worry about me, sweetheart. See, it all got better when I met Julian. He was different, too, and we became friends merely out of necessity. It wasn’t until we were in high school that we realized we both were into the same thing.” His gaze drops down my body and he runs his tongue over his teeth.
“Which is what?” I ask, despite the fact that I’m sure I don’t want to know. He grins.
“Aren’t we impatient? Hold on, I’m getting to that part.” He steps up and places his hand on my ribs. “See, we realized we were both really intrigued by the idea of sharing a woman but more than that, we both fantasized about hurting them.”
I suck in a breath and he grins, shaking his head.
“I mean, what are the odds, right? It would have been rare to find someone who wanted to share a woman but to also find someone who liked the sound of her screaming in pain? It was fate. Our imaginations were endless and we finally had someone to share our darkest thoughts with. Things just grew from there. Alone, we were vulnerable but together, we realized we could rule this fucking city and get everything we’ve always wanted.”
“Meaning?” I already think I know the answer, but I need to hear it.
“You… and your sister. You belong to us now and we’ll do whatever we damn well please with you.” He runs his fingers down my neck to my breast and I shudder.
“We don’t belong to you.”
He laughs, nodding. “Oh, but you do, actually. We bought you.”
“You what?” I ask, my mouth going slack as my head swims. “You can’t buy a human being.”
“Technically, you’re right but who’s going to come after you? Your mother is the one who sold you two off like prized pigs.”
I shake my head as I struggle to breathe. “No. That’s not true.”
“It seems that the men of this town have caught on to your mother’s games and they refuse to play anymore so she needed to find another way to make money. The poor thing is broke. Julian and I overheard her at a fundraiser, complaining that her daughters couldn’t find good men and well, we jumped on the opportunity. She was so eager to give us any information we needed about the two of you.”
“No,” I whisper, my mind fighting to understand everything he’s saying.
“Oh, yes. I’ve even seen the lovely little tape you made in high school,” he whispers, pressing his nose against my cheek as he releases a breath. His breath fans out over my skin and I fight back a sob. “I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve gotten off to it. Planning this whole thing took months and I didn’t know if I was going to make it.”
I still can’t wrap my mind around it. The money sent to the account in the Cayman Islands and the burner phones, it all makes sense now but how could she just sell us like things she grew tired of? Sure, she’s always been single minded when it came to getting what she wanted but this… this is taking it to the next level. I can’t help but think of my daddy watching over me right now, his heart breaking. Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised. Maybe I should have expected something like this all along. My mind drifts to Chance.
“Chance will come for me,” I whisper, shaking my head again. Damian’s mood shifts in an instant and he grabs my face, his lip curling back in a snarl.
“I never want to hear that fucking name again; do you hear me? You are mine now and the only way you leave here is in a fucking body bag. If you ever try to leave, I’ll hunt that bastard down and take my time killing him.”
“No,” I gasp, unable to stop an image of Chance lying dead on the floor from entering my mind. My heart explodes with pain and I gasp for air. I’ll do it. I’ll live an eternity of this if it means he gets to live.
“Yes,” Damian hisses, his breath washing over me and I gag when the smell of tobacco floods my nose. “Since the moment I first saw you with him at the gala, I’ve wanted to take my knife and sink it into him so don’t think I won’t. It won’t be a slow death either. Maybe I’ll nick a lung and watch as he slowly suffocates or I’ll set him on fire just long enough to make the end of his life excruciating.”
“No!” I scream, tears pouring down my face as I pull at the rope again. “I’ll stay.”
“Damn fucking right you will. Maybe I wasn’t clear enough, but you are mine now. Well, ours.”
My lip trembles and I nod, accepting my fate. With any luck, he’ll just kill me.