Does he know my truth or only part of it?
Does he know the missing piece of the puzzle I’ve been desperately trying to put together for years?
No, there is no way he knows the truth, but he does have the missing piece of information. There is no way to know its significance without the rest, which is why he needs me.
I hear the roar of the plane engine near my head, giving me a pounding headache.
I want to open my eyes, but I won’t, not until I’ve figured out every clue I can while Langston still thinks I’m asleep.
I’m surprised I’m on a plane. I thought he would take me back to Enzo and Kai’s compound to be tortured until I told the truth. Or at the very least back to Langston’s house, which is also in Miami.
I’m a monster with plenty of dark savageness in my heart, but it doesn’t mean that I deserve to be taken like property.
So why am I on a plane?
Is the plane flying around in circles to confuse me before he inevitably takes me to the dungeons in the Black house? He thinks if I don’t know where I am, I’ll be more scared. He doesn’t know there is only one thing I fear.
One thing in the entire world—and Langston can’t use that fear against me.
No one can.
Not anymore.
I smell coffee brewing nearby, and I’m desperate for a drink. It would help my splitting headache from Langston’s sedative.
But I doubt Langston will serve me coffee now that I’m his slave.
Dammit.
I’ll survive whatever he has planned for me. I’m more than strong enough. I’m a survivor.
But that doesn’t mean I’m happy about it.
In the end, Langston will pay with his life for what he’s about to do to me.
He thinks fucking me against my will will bring back all the horrible memories from that night. It will make me talk. That he won’t even have to actually fuck me to get me talking, just threaten me with rape.
I smirk. He doesn’t know me at all—not anymore.
“You can open your eyes. I already know you’re awake,” Langston says.
“Why? So I can look at your ugly face? No, thank you.”
Langston sighs. “Get up, Liesel. Don’t make this difficult.”
“I’m not going to listen to a word you say. I’m going to make this as difficult for you as possible.”
Then the bastard puts the cup of coffee right under my nose. It’s a heavenly smell and my parched mouth waters. I’m desperate for a taste. My body betrays me and opens my eyes, showing how desperate I am for the cup of coffee.
I reach for the cup—he jerks it away just out of reach.
I grit my teeth together to keep my steaming anger inside. I feel the burning anger in the pit of my stomach shoot up my chest like lava, but I won’t let it gush all over him until the right moment. As much as I want to tell him off right now, I don’t have any power on a private jet miles over the ocean.
I sit up on the couch and lean my head back against the wall.
Only then does Langston hold the cup out to me again.
I don’t immediately reach for it this time. I just watch him, trying to figure out the thoughts churning in his head. There was a time when I knew exactly what he was thinking before he spoke it.
“Take it, Liesel.”
That only makes me want to disobey more. But damn do I want that coffee. No, I need it! It may seem ridiculous, but I know that I need that coffee to survive. I’m going to need every bit of my strength, every drop of caffeine to fuel me.
I snatch the cup out of Langston’s hand and drink it before I feel any self-pity that makes me want to throw the cup of coffee in Langston’s face.
The coffee tastes like heaven to my dusty mouth. It’s warm and rich with a hint of cherry and chocolate—my favorite.
I look up at Langston, expecting him to gloat. To say ‘good girl’ or something condescending, showing that he’s in control instead of me.
Instead, Langston stares at me like he’s seeing me for the first time. His eyes have narrowed, his jaw clenched, his mind closed off. I can’t tell if he’s angry, or happy, or confused, or annoyed, or pissed, or turned on. All I know is there is a lot of emotion brewing beneath the surface of that half scowl, half awe expression.
We sit silently as I drink my coffee. I don’t know what’s about to happen next; this might be my only moment of happiness for the day, week, month, year…
So I savor every sip.
Down to the last drop.
Langston stands up just as I’m about to finish my cup and walks to the front of the private plane and disappears through a door, leaving me alone in the back. Some people might try to take this chance to snoop, to find a weapon, something to help me escape.
But that would be a waste of time. Langston is better at wielding a gun than I am. Even if I had a gun or knife, he’d stop me long before I was able to wound him. And there is no escaping on a private jet.
Langston returns a minute later with a pot of coffee and a plate of scones. He snatches the cup from my hand, refills it, then hands it back, before putting two scones on a plate next to me.
He doesn’t give me an order, but it’s clear in his gaze that he wants me to eat or he’ll force-feed me.
My queasy stomach makes my decision easy. Whatever he drugged me with has made my head dizzy and my stomach upset. I need food. I pick up one of the scones and nibble on it.
“Where are we going?”
Langston leans back in his single chair across from me on the couch. He’s wearing his usual outfit of jeans, boots, and a plain black T-shirt. He blends in and is ready to fight at a moment’s notice.
He looks like Langston, but there is a heaviness to his stare. Something has changed about him; I just can’t put my finger on it.
Not that I care. I don’t care about Langston. I need to get him out of my life, once and for all.
“You’ll find out soon enough.”
I sigh. Same old Langston—it’s either no answer or a lie.
“What are you going to do to me?”
He peers out the window next to him as if he didn’t even hear my question. Or maybe he’s considering how to answer me?
Finally, his heavy gaze returns to me, and I wish he’d kept staring out the window. As much as Langston tries to hide it, there is only one stare he gives me when he looks at me. And as much as I try to hide it, there is only one reaction my body returns when he stares.
Lust.
No matter how we hate each other, we missed our opportunity for one night in the bed, and our bodies resent us both for that.
That’s probably why I’m here? For Langston to have his way with me. That way, he gets control of his lust without giving up any power to me.
I’m not naive enough to think I could truly fight him. If he wants to torture me, rape me, kill me, he can. But I can make the memory one that haunts him for the rest of his life.
“If I answer you, you won’t believe me,” Langston says in a deep octave that vibrates through my chest cavity and hits me in the heart, making it beat rapidly in response.
“That’s right, you’re a liar.”
He smirks. “Same as you.”
“How long will you keep me?” He’ll hurt me to get whatever he wants—my pain may, in fact, be what he wants. He’s a sadistic bastard, after all.