by Caitlyn Dare
But I didn’t drink the toast Phillip gave me. I didn’t—
“Feeling okay, little mouse?”
“W-what did you do?” I rub my head, swaying gently. Fighting to stay upright, I find Cade as he steps out from darkness like the devil coming to claim me.
“Your dessert. I had it laced with a little something special.” He stalks closer. “Just for you.”
“B-but why?”
“Why?” he grits out. “WHY?” His hand flies out and grabs my neck, wrenching me forward. “Because your father has been a very, very bad man, Mia.”
I suck in a sharp breath as he confirms what my mind refused to believe.
“You see, Garth Thompson isn’t just head of security at the Town Hall. No, your father has a very special job for Q.” He cocks his head to the side. “But then, you already knew that, didn’t you?”
No.
No!
I press my lips together in defiance.
“It doesn’t matter.” His lip twists in mild amusement. He’s enjoying this. He’s enjoying every torturous second. “You’re going to pay for your father’s sins, Mia. And when Q finds you broken and ruined, they’ll realize what a mistake they made for ever trying to control me. I am my father’s son, and it’s time to honor his name.” He throws me to the ground and I land with a thud, pain shooting through my skull.
Cade drops to his knees, clawing at my dress, tearing it apart to get to my skin. He’s like a man possessed, his eyes feral and wild as he wrestles my legs apart and rips off my cotton panties.
“So innocent,” he snarls, “when we all know you’re anything but.” He spears two fingers inside me, pain lancing through me. I cry out but it sounds muffled, everything growing distorted around me.
Cade covers me with his big, imposing body as he keeps working his fingers inside me. “Your father is a murderer, Mia. Q’s assassin. He could have taken me out any number of times to save you from this fate… yet, he didn’t. He let things play out just the way Q wanted them to… and do you know why?” He stares down at me with fire in his eyes. “Because he’s weak. But I’m not weak, and I’ll show them. One by one, I’ll show them that they picked the wrong guy to manipulate.”
Tears stream down my face as I thrash beneath Cade, barely able to breathe. He backhands me out of nowhere, my head thumping against the hard ground, stars exploding in my vision.
Everything is hazy after that. I feel his hand between us, his fingers strumming that place deep inside of me. My body begins to melt at his touch, betraying me. He kisses me—hard, punishing kisses, pushing his tongue down my throat as if he wants to suffocate me. His teeth bite down on my bottom lip, drawing blood, before moving down my neck, sucking and biting, marking me as his hand squeezes my neck to the point where I can’t breathe.
My hand claws at his fingers, desperately trying to loosen them. But it’s no use. My limbs are heavy and drugged, the fight slowly leaving my body and turning into synthetic pleasure.
He plucks and strums my clit until I’m no longer thrashing but writhing under his touch, needy and desperate. Tears fall harder down my cheeks as I break for him, as I shatter and splinter into dirty pieces. Pieces I know will never be whole again.
Cade smirks against my cheek, “Good girl, baby. You make it so easy. Tell me, do you come so hard for Easton? Does he know how to fuck you just the right way to make you scream?”
Cade works his buttons open and pushes his slacks over his hips, pressing himself right up against me.
“Do you think he’ll want you when I’m done with you? That is, if there’s anything left.” His fingers flex around my thighs, stretching me wide as he slams into me so hard, I cry out in agony.
He’s going to kill me.
Cade Kingsley isn’t just going to ruin me. He’s going to kill me.
But all I can think as the edges of my consciousness begin to fray is that at least this nightmare will be over.
31
Bexley
The pain that rips through me as I watch Cade lead Mia from the room is like nothing I've ever felt before.
Everything that has happened in my life, all the pain and heartache from my past in Sterling Bay, pales in comparison to this moment.
Reaching out, I hold onto the back of my chair to keep me upright as my heart pounds and blood rushes past my ears so fast that I'm sure I'm about to pass out. A warm hand lands on my shoulder before Channing whispers in my ear.
"I'll keep her safe." I nod, although we both just saw the dark glint in Cade's eyes as he looked at each of us. Nothing good is going to happen tonight.
"If she needs me, fucking call me. I don't care what it is or how bad."
He nods before following Q and the rest of the Electi from the room. I hang back, and so does Mia's father. As I stare at him, my fists curl so tight my nails dig into my palms.
"If he hurts her, I hope you know that it's all your fault. If anything fucking happens to her tonight…" My voice cracks, pain shooting from my chest as if the devil himself has just pushed a stake through my chest.
"I know." His voice is barely a whisper, and I wonder if he's actually said the words. "It was never meant to be like this."
"Well, it fucking is, and what did you do to stop it?"
I don't hang around to hear whatever excuse he's thinking up. Instead, I storm out of the room which I'm sure is going to haunt me forever and run up the stairs, needing to catch up with the others.
I don't want to go to a fucking party to celebrate this shit, but I need to be somewhere with cell signal so that I can go to her if she needs me.
Channing gives me a sad smile as I climb into the back of the SUV and the driver takes off to the Cargills’.
"You reckon he's already balls deep in her by now?" Ashton asks, a smirk curling at his lips as he stares right at me.
"You motherfu—" I launch myself across the car, my fist connecting with his jaw before anyone manages to get a grip on me and pull me back.
"Easton, enough," Tim barks, his voice terrifyingly cold.
"Fuck you, Davenport. He doesn't get to fucking talk about her like that. She's not some cheap fucking whore. He wouldn't talk about Fawn like that."
Tim growls at my suggestion.
"Exactly," I spit. "Cocksucker deserves more than one hit. He's fucking sick."
Ashton's eyes continue to hold mine, his smile lighting them up and stirring my anger to all new heights.
"Enough, Moore," Tim barks, much to my surprise, and the cunt immediately wipes the joy from his face.
If I didn't already know he was a fucking psychopath, watching his emotions flip so fast like that would have proven it.
"You good?" Tim asks, testing the water by releasing his hold on my arm slightly.
"No. No, I'm not fucking good."
Silence falls around the car before we turn toward another fucking mansion behind huge, gilded gates, and Ashton pulls a small tin from his pocket and throws back two pills.
"It's party time, boys." He holds the tin out, offering it to me first.
I stare at it for a few seconds, unmoving, before I lift my eyes to his.
"Fine, your loss. Tim?"
"Hell yes, my man." He takes the tin before passing it to Brandon, Alex, and then Channing, who also refuses.
Fuck knows why he's still here. He should be trailing Mia already, but I guess he's waiting for the best time to slip out unnoticed. Whatever he's doing, he's not doing it fucking quick enough. Anything could have happened to her already.
I stare out the window as the car pulls to a stop, but I don't see anything, I'm too lost in my own head, in my own nightmare.
Climbing out with the others, I follow them toward the house. The music pounds the second the door is pulled open, and when I look up, I find people fucking everywhere.
"Fucking move, Easton," Ashton barks from behind me, giving me a solid shove so he can get around me and start the party.
Just like always, the cro
wd parts like the fucking Red Sea as the guys arrive. Alex stands proudly beside them, milking the attention while I just wish the ground would swallow me up.
With little other choice, I follow them in and head straight for the quietest room I can find.
Slipping into a room that thankfully has no other people inside it, I close the door behind me and drop down onto the couch before lowering my head into my hands. My cell buzzes in my pocket after a couple of minutes of losing myself in my misery, making my heart damn near beat out of my chest.
Channing: I'm on my way to the house. I suggest you get a drink.
I want to. The temptation to drown all of this out is strong. So fucking strong that my hands are trembling with my restraint. But I can't. If something goes wrong and she needs me and I'm not able to get to her, I'd never forgive myself.
Slumping back on the couch, I look around the room, surprised to find it's some kind of office. Surely Phillip Cargill isn't stupid enough not to lock his office when his kids are throwing a fucking party?
Pushing from the couch, I walk over to the floor-to-ceiling bookcase and begin looking for something, anything, that might shed some more light on this fucking nightmare.
I have no idea how much time has passed as I flick through one of the old books I found on the top shelf which contains some of the old traditions and rituals of Quinctus.
It's a beautifully ornate book with the most stunning penmanship on the inside. Part of me didn't want to touch the pages for fear of damaging them when I first opened it, but the second I discovered what it was, I pushed all that aside and sat down at the desk with it, running my fingers over the script until I found a word that made me pause.
Coglio.
It describes the ceremony we sat through only hours ago before moving onto what happens after. My stomach turns as I think about what Mia might be doing right now.
My brows pull together as I read about how the union used to happen outside, under the new moon. It must be one of the ceremonies they’ve updated, given how many people have been working at the Electi house, getting everything ready for tonight.
But my mind can’t help drifting back to only a few days ago when I took Mia in the woods behind Gravestone U. It was so intimate, so dirty and forbidden. My stomach drops, thinking that we’ll never get that again.
My cell pings again, and I rush to pull it out, hoping that it's an update from Channing that everything is okay.
I fumble with it, in too much of a hurry to read what might be there, and it tumbles to the floor. Swiping it up, I have to do a double take when I find Mouse on the screen.
I rush to open it, my hands trembling and my heart pounding. Please tell me that you're okay. Please tell me you found a way out, I silently beg, even though I know it's useless.
Mouse: I need you. Please come to my parents’.
I'm up and at the door in a flash. The entryway is still full of people as I push my way through while calling for a car to come and get me. I don't give a fuck if anyone sees me leave; the only thought in my head is getting to her.
If she's at her parents’ already, then something is very, very wrong.
"Fuck. FUCK," I roar as I run down the long-ass driveway so I can get to the car quicker. I’m just through the gates when a black car pulls to a stop beside me.
I bark the address at him and sit with my knee bouncing and my fists clenching as he makes his way to the other side of town.
"Can't you go any faster? This is kind of an emergency."
"I'm on it," the driver says, stepping on the gas a little.
It still takes longer than I'm happy with, but not too long later, he's pulling down the street that Mia's parents live on. I've got the door open before the car's even come to a stop. My feet hit the sidewalk and I take off running.
Channing's car is out the front, next to her parents’ car, and I breathe a small sigh of relief that he's with her.
A weird noise makes my steps falter, and the second I look up to see what's going on, I'm thrown back as the house explodes before me.
I land on the sidewalk with a thud. My head ricochets off the ground, making my eyes fill with water as my heart pounds. It takes a second for my head to clear before I can scramble up to see what’s happening.
"Noooo," I cry, stumbling forward and running toward the red-hot flames. My face burns as I draw closer to the fire that’s already getting out of control, completely engulfing the building. "Mia," I scream, trying to find a way into the house, but it’s hopeless. There’s no way in.
"MIA," I scream again, looking around, hoping she's going to appear from somewhere.
"No. NO. NOOOOO."
I fall to my knees, the asphalt cutting into my skin as the scent of burning fills my nose. The air around me becomes hazy with smoke as I watch in horror while her house begins to fall in on itself with her, her family, and Channing inside.
Mia and Bexley’s story continues in Fractured Reign.
Two angsty romance lovers writing dark heroes and the feisty girls who bring them to their knees.
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Also by Caitlyn Dare
Rebels at Sterling Prep
Taunt Her
Tame Him
Taint Her
Trust Him
Torment Her
Temper Him
Gravestone Elite
Shattered Legacy
Tarnished Crown
Fractured Reign
