by Bella J.
Karina closed the door. “She’s not eating.”
“What?”
“Doe. She’s not eating.”
I walked over to my desk. “Maybe she’s not hungry.”
“That’s not it. I took her breakfast this morning, and when I left, she was sitting at the table. When I went back with clothing, she was still sitting there.”
I shrugged. “And?”
“And?” She stomped closer. “Antonio, that girl has to be hungry. It’s been days since we found her, and she’s been off the IV since yesterday. She has to be hungry by now.”
I pretended to busy myself with shit on my desk. “Tell her to eat.”
“I did. Antonio, you need to speak to her. Go tell her to eat.”
I looked up at her, worry clearly written on my sister’s face. “Why should I go speak to her?”
She placed her hands on my desk and leaned forward. “Because you’re her master.”
Within a nanosecond, all the oxygen was sucked out of the room.
Karina kept her disapproving glare on me. “You and I both know what’s going on here, Antonio.”
I clenched my jaw. “And what’s that?”
“Don’t patronize me. Do not sit there and pretend like you have no fucking clue.”
God, I hated that my sister had always had this fucking sixth sense.
“Karina, did you forget the warning I gave you the other day?”
“No. I haven’t forgotten. I’m just here to remind you about your responsibilities.”
I frowned. “My responsibilities?”
“Well…since you allowed her to remain under the impression that you’re her master, she’s your responsibility until you tell her that this is not a goddamn prison and that she is not a fucking slave.” My sister’s voice was surprisingly calm, even though I could see the flames of her anger burning in her eyes as she glowered at me. Made me think the little chat we had the other day sunk in.
I got up from my chair. “Karina—”
“Please, Antonio. It’s clear you’re the only one who can get through to her. Help me help her.”
I didn’t want to. After what happened last night, I knew I had to try to stay away from Doe as much as possible. Everything about her was too tempting, and it made me lose my grip on my resolve. But Karina was right. Doe had become my responsibility—especially after last night.
“Fine, I’ll go speak to her.” I buttoned my suit jacket and walked toward the door.
“Antonio?”
“Yeah?” I stopped and turned to her.
“I told her I’ll ask you if we can give her another room in the house.”
“You what?”
She leaned against my desk. “If we want her to trust us, we need to start giving her freedom. Even if it’s just a little at a time.”
I straightened my sleeves. “Karina, I can see that you’ve taken our guest under your wing, but need I remind you that we don’t know anything about her? And until we do, we need to approach everything in regard to her with caution.”
She held up her hand. “I get that, Antonio. I do. Which is why I also want to suggest with giving her another normal room in the house, we can ask Lucio to arrange a security detail around her.”
I placed my hands on my hips, feeling frustrated as hell. The sick son of a bitch in me liked that she was all locked up in a room in the basement. But I also knew my sister was right. If we wanted Doe to trust us, we had to start giving her a reason to trust us.
“Okay.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “Fine. But let Lucio work out the security before you move her.”
“Thank you, Antonio.”
“Sure, whatever.”
I stomped out of my own damn office, really unhappy about the turn of events. Especially after what happened last night.
God, just thinking about Doe, about the soft whimpers that came out of that pretty little mouth of hers while I had my fingers playing her pussy like a fucking violin made me want to do all kinds of crazy shit. Crazy shit which included rope, whips, chains, and a fucking ball gag. Shit that would only ruin an already broken girl even more.
Of course, the second I got to my room last night, I pumped my cock like a demon-possessed animal replaying the scene of how Doe’s face went from a scared slave girl to a pleasure-filled goddess. I kept the memory of how it felt to have her come around my finger until finally, I blew my load on my stomach like a sixteen-year-old virgin. And then I threw the nearest thing I could grab—my alarm clock—straight into the glass cabinet where I kept my father’s gun, safely locked in a wooden chest. The sound of the shattering glass seemed fitting and only added to the ambiance of how my resolve was starting to fall apart—shattering.
Now, with my father’s gun tucked away behind my back, I was walking toward a room where my vice was waiting for me—her master.
When I reached the door, I took a deep breath and prayed to God I would be strong enough not to succumb to the temptation which was her.
As I unlocked the door, I found Doe pacing up and down the room. “I’m obedient. I’m good. I’m obedient. I’m good.”
“Doe.” I stepped in and closed the door.
She just kept on pacing. “I’m obedient. I’m good.”
“Doe.”
She stopped abruptly, her face filled with surprise when she saw me. Her bottom lip quivered, and a tear slipped down her cheek. “I’m obedient,” she whispered. “I’m good.”
Jesus Christ. I moved closer. “Doe, stop.”
More tears. “I’m obedient.”
“Stop, Doe.” And without even thinking twice, I reached out and pulled her into me, wrapping my arms around her. Her body went rigid, her arms caught between us as I held her. “You need to stop, Doe.” I tightened my arms, pressing her harder against me. The longer I held her, the more I could feel her body relax into mine. But her tears didn’t stop. In fact, her whimpers only grew louder, stronger…until she sobbed into my shoulder.
Good God. I had no idea what the fuck was happening. All I knew was I liked holding her. I liked having her in my arms, giving her comfort. It felt good. As if caring for this woman had the power to liberate me from my own demons. The warmth that spread through my chest felt so unfamiliar but so fucking good.
“Doe.” I eased her back, wanting to see her face. I wiped a few strands of hair from her cheek and gazed down at her. “You need to eat…please.”
The shock on her face when she heard me use the word please wasn’t surprising. The word had probably never been spoken to her by anyone.
“Would it please you, sir? If I ate?”
I could practically hear Karina’s voice, screaming at me to tell Doe I wasn’t her master. I wasn’t her owner. But I was a selfish bastard, and I wasn’t ready to let go of the hold I had on this beautiful, broken girl.
“Yes, Doe. It would please me if you ate. In fact, it would please me a great deal if you would eat whenever you are hungry.”
She stepped back, out of my grasp, and for a second I hated it, not wanting her to walk so far away from me.
I watched as she took a seat and picked up the spoon. While she ate, I stared at her like a fucking psycho with a hard-on. I couldn’t help it. Watching her eat every little piece of fruit as if the fruit itself was delicate, delicious, and deserved to be savored was like goddamn foreplay. One would think that for someone who was probably starving, she would have stuffed her face like a wild animal. But she didn’t. Slowly, seductively—for me, at least—she ate the entire bowl.
After she finished, she placed her hands in her lap, her eyes downcast. “Thank you, sir.”
Fuck. A part of me hated it, the way she humiliated herself through her submission. But the other sadistic, sick, and twisted part of me loved it. I fucking loved how her every move was calculated to please me, to bring me satisfaction.
My fucking balls ached while my cock stood at attention. Being around her turned me into nothing more than a selfish animal who co
uldn’t think straight.
I took a deep breath, mentally cursing my dick who wouldn’t show some goddamn respect toward a woman who had been through hell. When I glanced around the room just to look anywhere but at her, I saw the clothes Karina had brought her laying on the bed.
“Have you tried any of these on?”
Doe looked over to the bed. “No, sir. Would you like me to?”
“Yes. I think it would be a good idea to get out of that shirt.” And wear something less revealing that won’t taunt my fucking dick.
Doe walked across the room, passing me with mere inches of distance between us. It took every ounce of willpower to not grab her, and touch her, and kiss her, and…fuck her.
“Is there anything specific you would like me to try on, sir?”
I lifted a brow. Karina did bring a shitload of clothing to choose from. “How about that?” I pointed toward a floral dress merely because it was the easiest to spot among the other ten hundred thousand fucking pieces. I sat down on the chair. “I’ll wait here while you go change in the bath—”
And then she dropped the flimsy shirt, the white fabric pooling around her feet.
Jesus fucking Christ.
Not even the scars on her back could have ruined the beauty of her nakedness. Even though she needed to pick up a few pounds to fill out all the curves I could only imagine she had, the sight of her still managed to stir a primal kind of need in my groin.
Long locks of dark hair hung down her back, a few strands draped down her left shoulder. Lucky for me, the quarter bottle of bourbon I left there last night was waiting patiently for me to empty it. I grabbed it, unscrewed the top, and took a good swig directly from the fucking bottle, hoping the alcohol would burn away the lust that crept up all the way from my balls.
The round flesh of her ass taunted me, my palms itching to palm it, spank it while I bent her forward.
Good God.
Another huge mouthful of alcohol went down my throat, but I could not tear my gaze away from her as she wrapped the floral dress around her arms, lifting it over her heard. Like a true seductress, she shimmied the dress down her body, her ass moving from side to side. I leaned my head so I could stare at her naked behind right up until the dress covered it.
Fuck that goddamn piece of motherfucking demonized dress.
As she turned, my gaze slipped to her legs. For a woman who had been starved for most of her life, she had the sexiest pair of legs I had ever seen. One would think she fucking worked out—cycled, for that matter—if you saw those legs. And when she faced me, I saw how low the dress came down the front, showcasing the beautiful skin of her chest. A piece of flesh which didn’t seem scarred or mutilated at all.
Judging by the rock-hard piece of wood currently straining against my pants, this was another huge motherfucking mistake.
Staring right at me from across the room, her cheeks flushed with a light shade of pink, she held her arms out. “Does this please you, sir?”
“Oh, you have no idea.” Another gulp of alcohol and I cringed from the burn.
I leaned back in the chair, allowing my gaze to move over her legs, all the way up—her hips, her chest, the skin of her neck—until my gaze met hers. What I saw in her eyes confused the hell out of me. Either I was seeing shit because I really, really wanted to, or she was staring right back at me with the same kind of hunger I felt deep inside my core.
“Doe—”
“You don’t like it.” And before I could stop her, she let the dress slip down her body, joining the shirt she wore earlier on the floor. “Do you prefer me like this?”
“Jesus, fuck.” I closed my eyes, pinching the bridge of my nose with my thumb and forefinger. “Doe, you have no idea what you’re doing to me right now.”
“Do you not like me, sir?”
I snorted. “Believe me, that’s not the problem.” Biting my bottom lip, I slipped a glance at her, my most primal desires getting the better of me. The perfectly sized breasts. A thin, yet alluring waist…and a beautifully bare pussy. The same pussy I had my fingers buried in the night before.
I swore on my goddamn life I was never turned on as much as I was right at that moment. My cock was so hard it could have drilled through fucking concrete. But I felt them. The demons. They were prowling in the back of my mind, whispering, inciting me to let them out. To let them take control so I could take what I wanted.
My mind was a goddamn battlefield while the epic war of good and evil took place inside me.
But then I noticed something that pushed every lust-filled thought to the back of my mind. “Doe. What is that?”
I got up and slowly walked closer.
She looked down to see what I was staring at. “Sir, I’m not—”
I stopped in front of her and hesitantly reached out, never taking my eyes off it. With a single fingertip, I touched her skin a few inches from her hip. Entranced, I moved my finger all along a single red line…a scar.
“What happened here, Doe?” My heart beat so fast, I could feel its pulse hammer against my ribs.
“Master V had a doctor do it to me.” She took a breath. “Master V said it was necessary, to avoid…complications.”
Sweet Mother of God.
“Jesus, Doe.” My gaze cut up to hers. The fucker took her womb. The evil, sadistic, motherfucking fucker took her goddamn womb.
Blinding rage.
A frenzy of fury.
Goddamn mayhem of madness.
I had never known hate and anger as I did then.
“Does that disappoint you, sir?”
“Jesus Christ, Doe. No. It doesn’t disappoint me. But it does make me want to slit this motherfucker’s throat.”
When I stared into her dark eyes yet again, I saw everything this Vadik fucker stole from her. Not only did he take her innocence and destroy her humanity, but he took from her that which no one could ever give back. He stole her future, her chances of ever holding her own flesh and blood in her arms. That was the greatest sin any man could ever commit—taking away a woman’s chance of being a mother. Doe would never know the magic of taking care of her own children, know the joy of hearing her child’s laughter. She would never experience the utmost fulfillment by watching her children grow.
That was the moment I realized there was only one thing that mattered to me now, and that was finding Master V. And once I did, I would spill every last drop of his filthy fucking blood.
Chapter 16
Doe
The expression on his face was nothing short of enraged. It confused me to see him get so angered over something that happened to me—a nobody. My ability not to have children didn’t affect him. But his expression said differently.
For a while after it was done, I mourned the loss of being able to bear my own children—until I realized it was a godsend, a silver lining in the dark cloud I called my life. I couldn’t even imagine bringing a child into this wretched world. Just being born would have been the biggest curse for any child of mine.
While staring at him, I noticed the lust in dark irises was gone. It was there mere seconds ago while he watched me get dressed, and I liked it, feeling his eyes on me, caressing my body with his gaze. For the first time, I did something on impulse—dropping the dress to the floor. I did it because I thought it would please him, but also because…I wanted to.
I wanted to please him.
I wanted to know if he approved of me. Of my body. In the past, all I ever wanted to do was not get punished or humiliated. Yet here I was, wanting to do so many things I never had the urge to do with any man. It was so different with him. Antonio. Somehow I was drawn to his darkness, rather than afraid of it. It was difficult for me to wrap my head around it. To dissect it. To label it.
“Doe.” He searched my face. “You need to tell me everything you know about him. You need to help me find him.”
Immediately, the few inches of my guard I managed to let down shifted right back up. “Find Master V?”
Images of Master V’s face flashed through my mind.
Demon.
Devil.
Satan.
I shook my head. “I…No. No. Please, do not send me back to him.”
Antonio placed his hands on my naked shoulders. “No, Doe. I will never let him take you again. I need to find him so I can make him pay.”
Fear had shattered the desire. It broke through the magnetism I felt toward Antonio, leaving nothing but cold skin and a chilled spine in its wake.
I wrapped my arms around myself, covering my breasts. Antonio stepped back, seconds of the most intense, most deafening silence hanging over us like a looming thunderstorm.
My lips quivered, and Antonio crouched down before me, picking up the dress.
“I know it’s difficult for you, Doe. I know trust isn’t something you know how to do, but I would do anything to get you to trust me right now.”
“I…”
“Dammit, Doe. Just help me find him. Tell me everything—anything that could help me find this sick son of a bitch.”
My fear was stronger than my urge to speak. My thoughts didn’t want to go back there. It didn’t want to reach for memories of the past only to torment me even more. Chills erupted throughout my body, my lips trembling while my fear tightened its icy grasp around my chest.
“Please don’t send me back. Please don’t—”
“Jesus, Doe.”
I felt his hands wrap around my naked shoulders, pulling me into him. Then I tasted the saltiness of my own tears right before I tasted him. His lips. Crashing against mine. Warm and soft, yet strong and demanding, he kissed me. I’d never been kissed before. I’d never known the comfort of such a simple act. But like an angel, his kiss, his lips chased away the demons which threatened to fracture my mind with the memory of a monster. And the longer his lips remained on mine, the more his kiss continued to thaw the ice in my veins.
His tongue brushed against my lips, coaxing me into opening for him, which I did—hesitantly, but oh so willingly. Every second, every caress, every touch of his lips against mine filled me with something so unfamiliar. Warmth. Affection. Something beautiful. Beauty had never been a part of my life. I had never known beauty. But while his lips remained on mine, I knew this to be beauty. I felt it all the way down to my soul.
