And his words sickened me.
Of course I would have to be the one to be weak. Unlike Claire as he quite rightly pointed out.
I didn’t answer although he gave me an expectant glare like he was expecting me to give an answer.
“Stand up,” he demanded.
I stood on shaky legs.
No point protesting or fighting simple commands.
“Take your clothes off.” He spoke so cool and calm as if he was talking about the weather.
“No, please.” I shook my head. “Please, please.”
He smiled and pulled a gun from his back pocket. He pointed it at me and my whole body seized up with numbness.
“Take your clothes off… now! Or I’ll shoot you. Handing you over to your father alive is a courtesy. But push me and I may change my mind.”
I started to shake and tremble knowing he meant every word. He’d do it. This man was some kind of monster. He’d have no compassion. He didn’t care.
When he pulled the trigger back I slipped the straps of my dress down and pushed it down the length of my body so I could step out of it.
Fuck…
I was doing this. I was taking off my clothes in front of this mad man. I couldn’t even drag it out because I didn’t have much to take off.
Just the dress and my underwear. My underwear which was next but I went for my sandals instead.
“No, no, nice try. Leave those on.” He waved the gun down at my feet and beckoned me to straighten up. “Bra and panties off now.”
I looked at him and stared long and hard deciding I couldn’t do it.
I couldn’t.
I lowered and instead of dragging down my panties like he thought I would do I pulled my dress back on.
I was done. If this was it then this was it. He may think I was weak and defenseless but that didn’t mean I had to be.
I shocked him to shit when I stepped forward, right in the line of the gun.
“Kill me. Just kill me. If that’s an option I want that.” I squared off with him. “You won’t treat me like shit and make me take my clothes off so you can fuck me before you kill me. Kill me first.”
It was the most bravest thing I’d ever done in my life and he didn’t like it.
He growled and raised his hand to slap me again but a knock sounded at the door.
He looked to it eyes blazing and stormed out of the cage.
“Come in,” he called out.
A dark haired guy as tall as him came in carrying a machine gun. “We have company boss. Giovanni and Cage are here and they brought company. They also screwed with the surveillance.”
Xander and Pa was here?
Together?
They were really here?
Oh God… my heart started beating again. It felt like it had stopped and started up when hope sparked from deep within.
Balthazar bared his teeth like the animal he was, picked up the little vase that was on the table, and launched it across the room.
“Fuckkkkk!!!! What the fuck are you saying to me?” Balthazar bellowed.
“What should we do?” the guy asked.
Balthazar looked to me, marched over and grabbed my arm so hard it popped and I almost thought he was going to pull it out of its socket.
He yanked me and pulled me out of the room. The guy followed behind.
“They crossed me.” Balthazar scuffed as we walked down the corridor. “That’s fine. I’ll shit all over them. They really have another thing coming if they think they can just come in here on some crazy rescue mission. Get Ethan.”
“Yes boss,” the man said and diverted down the path in the opposite direction.
Balthazar snapped is gaze to me and scowled deep. “This just got more interesting, sugar. It sure did. But good for you, you get to watch your boyfriend and your father die.”
“No!” I cried trying to shake him off me.
“Yes, yes, yes.” He sang loud on top of his voice.
He dragged me to a control room where there was several TV screens. A guard sat in front of them.
The eight screens that were in a row all had the same thing. It was footage of some offices. There was one screen however that had something different.
When Xander and Pa came into view I sucked in a sharp breath.
Balthazar saw my reaction and laughed.
“Wonderful, I’m gonna enjoy this. Let’s spice it up with some fun. Release the poison gas,” Balthazar ordered. “We can start with that and see who dies first.”
I looked to the screen wishing I could warn them.
Instead I was going to watch then die.
They came for me.
They came…
Chapter Sixty-Two
Xander
“Can I at least have a fucking gun?” Giovanni snapped, glaring at me as he stopped in his tracks.
We’d been walking down a dark corridor. It was off route to where we’d originally wanted to go, but now our new route.
I stopped too and returned the seething look he was giving me.
It was understandable as fuck why I wouldn’t trust him with any kind of weapon around me. Realistically though, he did actually need to protect himself, given what just happened.
Frowning, I pulled out a long reach knife and held it out to him. At least, if he got any bright ideas and went rogue on me I’d be able to handle him better with a knife than a gun.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” he barked and glared at me.
“Take it or leave it pal, you’re the one who fucking tortured me.” I wasn’t about to just forget that, not for a second. “Want me to trust you with a gun?”
He bared his teeth like a wild animal and took the knife. He looked it over with disdain and shook his head.
Ignoring him, I started walking again and he caught up.
As we’d proceeded down the path some little lights came on. It was all very ominous and tension grew with every step I took. I’d been waiting for something more to happen and nothing had. It was ten minutes ago that we’d gotten separated from the others and three of our marines killed. Just like that.
What else was going to happen?
“It’s too quiet,” Giovanni observed.
I couldn’t even give him the cold front of silence I’d been sporting since he’d come on the scene. He was right.
“I know,” I agreed.
He stopped again and looked around. “Something’s wrong. Something doesn’t feel right. It’s like we’re going and it feels like a damn trap. They must know we’re here.”
I gazed at him. maybe the tension was screwing with my abilities. Yes I could sense that something was off and agreed that they must have known something was wrong, but I didn’t get the sensation of the trap.
“What are you thinking?” I asked him.
“This is the trap, where’s the bait? We’re in the mouth of hell, where are the demons? Even with your … whatever it was you did with the security and surveillance cameras someone would have checked out the stair well and seen the dead marines. But there’s no one looking around. Nobody checking things out.”
As he spoke it dawned on me why that could be. Why it was that nobody might be checking things out.
“They can see us,” I breathed. A jolt of panic rushed through my body.