by Anna Edwards
It’s then I realize who holds me, and I know I won’t make it out alive.
Chapter Twenty-Three
William
“Are you getting up today, you lazy ass?” My brother throws a pillow at my head, and I reach out, grab it, and hurl it back at him.
“Sleeping,” I groan
“It’s two o’clock in the afternoon!”
That wakes me up.
“What?”
“You sleep any longer, and you won’t sleep tonight.”
“Thanks, Mum!” I roll my eyes at my brother and sit up in the bed.
“Where’s Tamara? She was supposed to wake me up when she got back from court.”
“Court?” my brother asks, his brows crossed in confusion.
“Yeah. You gave her a bodyguard to take with her.”
“No. I wasn’t aware she was going anywhere. I’ve been with Victoria all morning. She’s so bloody horny all the time I think my dick’s getting chafed.” Nicholas smiles smugly.
“She told me you gave her a bodyguard.”
“Did you dream it? You do sometimes get confused.” The tension in the room thickens as we both try to make sense of where Tamara is.
“No. She definitely told me that. I’m sure.” I reach over to the night stand and pick up my mobile. Using the fingerprint reader, I open it and call Tamara. It rings and rings before going to voicemail. I try again, but there’s still no answer.
“Get up, and we’ll go search the house. I’m sure she’s here, somewhere. Probably working away and paying no attention to the phone.”
“Ok.” Nicholas turns around to allow me to get out of the bed and put some clothes on. I throw on a pair of jogging bottoms and a t-shirt from yesterday. I’ll worry about being clean later when I know where Tamara is. My mind is confused, and I can’t fully understand what’s happening. Tiredness and overstimulation are combining to make me forgetful. I’m trying to focus, but it’s not possible at the moment.
“We’ll find her.” Nicholas must sense my worry, for he places his hand on my shoulder. “I’ll check the house. You go down to her mother’s grave and see if she’s there.”
The short walk to where Tamara’s mother and my mother lie side by side, seems to take an eternity. I know instantly she’s not there and hasn’t been recently because a light covering of snow has fallen on the ground, and there are no footprints. I stand between the two graves and place my hands on top of them.
“Look after her, wherever she is.”
I head back to the house, kick my boots off by the patio doors, and remain standing there when I see Victoria sitting on the sofa, chewing nervously at her nails.
“Was she there?”
I shake my head. Nicholas appears, and worry lines mar his face.
“Did you find her?”
“No, and my driver is also missing. The butler said Tamara left with him early this morning. He didn’t know where they were going. If he did, he would have informed one of us immediately.”
“Oh god.” Victoria covers her mouth with her hand.
Nicholas takes his mobile from the table, next to where Victoria sits, and dials a number. He puts the phone on speaker while it rings, but it goes to the driver’s voicemail.
“Try Tamara’s again?” he suggests with trepidation lacing his normally calm tones.
I pull my phone from my pocket and call Tamara with bated breath. I will her to answer, but when it goes to voicemail, I gulp and try to moisten my rapidly drying throat. Something is wrong… seriously wrong.
“Would she have her phone turned off if she’s in court?” Victoria asks, trying to find a reason for her not answering.
“Maybe, but my driver wouldn’t. He’s expected to always answer his phone. If he doesn’t, he’s fired. It’s in the contract my father made him sign, and I’ve not renegotiated it yet.” Nicholas’ response burns down that theory. “I’m going to call in some people I know, see if we can get a track on her phone.” He starts typing a short message into his phone while Victoria and I both watch him. My hand comes up to my head and swipes across my ear then my nose. I’m anxious, and that does nothing for the mis-wiring in my head. My other hand forms a fist then relaxes before forming a fist again.
“She’s tough. We’ll find her.” Victoria appears beside me, leaning in to give me comfort, and I wrap my arm around her shoulders. Nicholas looks up from his phone, and his face immediately goes white as a sheet.
“Move!” he shouts, and he’s running for us just as the wall and door behind us explode in a hail of glass and bricks. I can’t believe what I’m seeing when a car comes speeding in. I grab Victoria and throw her out of the way toward Nicholas and dive sideways, managing to narrowly avoid being hit as the car slams to a halt in the center of our lounge.
“Nicholas.” I’m on my feet and coughing due to the debris and dust in the room. I hear another masculine cough, and Nicholas gets to his feet. The butler and some of the other staff run into the room.
“Ok,” Nicholas informs me.
“Victoria?”
“Safe,” she replies, but I know from the blood dripping down the side of her head she’s not uninjured. She places her hand on her stomach and groans.
“Get me a doctor,” Nicholas shrieks, and people start running around like crazy.
“I’m ok.” Victoria says as her legs give way. Nicholas sweeps her up, and we hurriedly leave the room. I think I pulled something in my left leg when I leaped out of the way of the moving car because I’m limping, and my calf muscle is painful.
Nicholas puts Victoria down in the hallway. He’s examining her body.
“The baby?” he asks.
“Ok. It’s kicking. I think it’s angry,” Victoria reassures him.
“Thank god.”
He tilts her head back and scrutinizes the cut on her forehead. “It doesn’t look too bad. I’ll get the doctor to look at it.”
He motions to one of the maids.
“Take the Duchess to her room, help her change, and then put her to bed.”
“Nicholas, I’m not a child. We need to find Tamara.”
“No arguments. You’ve got our child in there, and if it’s kicking you because it’s angry, you need to rest to placate it.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes.”
“Ok. Keep me informed of everything, though.”
“I will.” Victoria kisses her husband and disappears up the stairs with the maid who’s supporting her on her unsteady legs.
“You ok?” Nicholas asks me and nods down to where I’m flexing my painful leg.
“Yes. I think I pulled something,” I reply and perform a calf stretch.
“It didn’t hit you?”
“No. Narrowly missed. What the fuck, though?” I look into the room where the dust still billows out.
“My thoughts exactly. I better call the police.” Nicholas rubs his dusty hand over his head and hair, leaving it with a grey sheen.
The door to the lounge opens, and the butler comes out. We don’t need him to speak to know something is seriously wrong and not just because there’s a car sitting pride of place in the lounge where our sofa once was.
“Your Grace, I think you need to see this before you call the authorities.”
Nicholas and I file into the room behind the butler. We make our way over the discarded bricks, being careful not to catch ourselves on shards of glass. The dust is starting to settle but is likely to linger in the air for a long time to come. My cough is triggered again.
We step nearer to the car, and I see instantly through the smashed glass of the windscreen why the butler was so worried. The body of our dead driver sits there with the word traitor carved into his forehead. Half of his skull is missing where it’s obviously been shot away by a gun. I’m looking behind him for Tamara, but the back seat is empty except for her phone.
“Do you hear noise?” Nicholas questions, and I listen carefully. I can hear voices, and they’re com
ing from Tamara’s phone. I reach into the vehicle carefully and retrieve it.
“Hello?” I speak into it.
“About time.” A deep toned voice I instantly recognize comes through, and the phone beeps. I pull it away from my ear and note a request for a FaceTime call. My finger trembles as I press it. Tamara’s face appears on the screen. It’s bruised and blood drips from her lip. The phone camera pulls away, and I see she’s naked and tied to a bed. Her arms and legs are secured by chains.
“What have you done?” I ask with my voice quivering.
“Nothing yet. I hope you like my little gift. Your driver was so easy to manipulate, you need to watch your staff better. I gave him the send-off a traitor deserves though. Can’t have him reporting this to the police, now, can we?” The phone swings away from Tamara and onto the face of my old companion. The man who I’ve shared women with, Lord West. “But you know exactly what I’m capable of. I warned you both. I told you to leave me alone. Now, I’ll force you to.”
He turns the phone back to Tamara, and I watch as a bucket of water is thrown over her to revive her. She screams out with wild eyes when she realizes what’s happening. The caller hangs up before I’m able to speak to her.
Nicholas takes the phone from my hands.
“William?”
I don’t hear him, though, as I allow the darkness in my mind free rein. Lord West wants the monster. He’s going to get him!
Chapter Twenty-Four
Tamara
The water splashes into my face, and I’m brought completely back to my senses by the icy coldness of it. My ribs ache, and my face feels like I’ve gone ten rounds with Mike Tyson.
“Welcome, Tamara. You’ve just missed William. I gave him a call just to show him how lovely you look when tied to my bed. I’m sure he’ll be busy trying to find out where you are at the moment. Shame nobody knows I have this place. It’s my sanctuary from the outside world – the place I can be myself.” Lord West runs his foul hand over my body while talking to me. I want to jerk away and stop him, but I’m tied down so tightly I can’t move. I take a moment to scope out where I am. It appears to be a small room, sparsely decorated with rich red walls that have candle lamps hanging from them, giving a dim light. The place has a feeling of being old, a place of torment from a bygone time. There are two other men in the room. I recognize one as the guard who captured me when I ran, but the other is the face of a stranger. I half expected it to be the driver. I guess he doesn’t get to see through his plan to destroy the Cavendish brother’s now he’s brought me here.
“You’re a sick freak.” I let the words escape from my mouth before my brain engages, and I know the instant they leave I’ll regret them.
“Not a good thing to say to the man who now owns every part of you until I tire of it. That’s the thing about the original Oakfield Society: it puts women in their rightful place, not like these modern feminist movements, trying to empower women and making men weak in the process. You should be home ready and willing, for when your master demands it. Women are made for sex. Why else would you have holes and us the staffs to punish you with? Women have become less humble and more stupid as the years have gone by. We need to return things to how they used to be by reinstalling discipline. This is what Nicholas doesn’t understand. He allows his wife to wear his balls around her neck like a trophy, celebrating his downfall.”
“Whereas, you just wear yours as a sign of how small your dick is?” I just couldn’t stop myself saying it.
“You’ll soon find that to be far from the truth. It’s a shame you were still sleeping when I spoke to William. He could have confirmed the damage I can do with just one thrust. He’s been there cheering me on before with his dick in hand because, let’s face it, nobody wants a freak near them. Even if he’s the Duke’s brother.”
Lord West is still trailing his hands over my body. I’m going to need a damn good shower with bleach after this.
“I always find those who are all talk have little going on for them down there.” I muse into the air. I know I should be frightened, but to be honest, I’m more pissed off because even if I get out of this alive, I’m going to be ruined for William. Maybe he was right, and we are freaks together. A situation that should leave me a quivering wreck is making me angry. Go figure!
“Whatever you’re planning on doing can you just get on with it. No wonder William had to take matters into his own hands. You like to hog all the attention.”
Lord West looks down at me.
“My god, it’s not a disguise is it? You really aren’t scared of what I can do to you.”
“Nope.” I roll my eyes.
“Wow. I’ve never had that happen before. There’s always fear from the underlying threat of what I can do. It leaves a glimmer of doubt in a girl’s eyes even when they try to disguise it. I don’t know – it feels strange.” He reaches into his trousers and re-arranges himself. “You have a pussy, though. Screaming or not. I can still rip it in two.”
He takes his hand from his trousers. My legs are parted on the bed with my most intimate parts freshly shaven and bared to him. My pussy is William’s property, but that doesn’t stop Lord West from taking two of his filthy fingers and pushing them straight into me. I’m dry, and they rip at the sensitive flesh. There is no pleasure, just pain, and the promise of retribution. He thrusts hard, trying to illicit a scream from me, but I will not give it up. If he wants me begging for mercy, he’s going to have to try harder.
“You do realize who I am don’t you?” I sneer at him when he withdraws his fingers and licks them.
“A frigid little bitch?” he retorts with amusement at his choice of words.
“Hardly. I’m Viscount Hamilton’s illegitimate daughter.”
“What?” That piece of information stops him in his tracks. “You can’t be.”
“Why not? Isn’t he the same sort of bastard as you are? A rapist and murderer? I always wondered why I didn’t have a father, never realizing he was there all along. He just couldn’t say because he knew I’d hate him for the way he treated my mother.”
“More like he made a mistake. If you get them pregnant, you put a bullet in their brain before they have a chance to spawn a bastard. Nobody in our position needs that.”
I gather as much salvia as I can in my dry mouth and spit it into his face.
“You’re not a god. You don’t get to make those decisions.”
“Don’t I? Let’s see what happens with you, shall we?”
Lord West nods toward one of the other two men in the room, and the man holds out a machine to him. I instantly recognize it as one of those TENS machines, which are used to relax taut muscles. I’m pretty certain that whatever Lord West intends to use it for, it won’t be for that. He places it down next to me on the bed and presses a few buttons, and the machine fires to life.
“This was an expensive purchase for me. It may look harmless and seem like you're about to get a nice work out, but it’s got a bite to it.”
My skin is still wet from where the bucket of water was thrown over it. Water and electrical current don’t mix, as I find out to my cost when he puts the charged, pointed prong onto the skin of my stomach. It sizzles and crackles as excruciating pain jolts through my body. I bite down so hard on my lip, willing myself not to scream, that there’s the metallic taste of blood on my tongue.
Lord West laughs.
“I don’t smell burning. Obviously not high enough.”
He turns a dial, and I clench my stomach muscles hard, preparing for another shock. But this time the tip is placed on my left nipple, and I’m unable to stifle my scream of torment. Sharp, shooting pains burn through my body, and the stench of singed flesh enters my nostrils. I close my eyes not wanting to see what he’s done to my breast.
“That’s better. So much nicer to hear a scream than misplaced defiance.”
“Fuck you!” I scream, and he immediately reapplies the electrical current to my inflamed nipple. “Fuck
you!” I scream again through a pain so intense my head is spinning, and I’m on the verge of passing out.
“You know, they used this torture in England around the time the society was first formed. They passed some act a while later, though, which called it inhumane. If you ask me, I think it’s one of my favorites, and they need to use it on some of the low-life criminals out there.”
“On rapists and murderers like yourself? Why don’t you let me throw a bucket of water over your minuscule dick and then see if I can find anything to stick the prong onto. Actually, scrap that. Why don’t I just stick it up your fucking ass?”
The two men watching what Lord West is doing take in a sharp breath, shocked at my outburst. The devil himself, though, laughs a malevolent chuckle, which fills the room and has me shutting my eyes and imagining him tied to the bed, writhing in pain.
I hear him flick a switch on the machine, and I brace every part of my body for what’s coming next. I’m panting, and my eyes flicker open just in time to see him push the electrical prong between my legs. He runs it over the outer edge of my pussy lips, and I want to cry. I’m screaming so hard my throat feels like it’s ripping apart, but I won’t let him break me. I can’t. I need to stay whole for when William comes, and then we can end this nightmare together.
“So pretty. So very pretty.”
He places the prong down and switches the machine off. I desperately try to shut my legs when I feel his tongue trace a line over the burn he’s just inflicted.
“There’s nothing better than a dry pussy, waiting to be ripped and torn until it’s beyond repair.
He licks me again, and I can feel despair starting to take over. I need this to end.
One of the two men in the shadows steps forward. I notice he has a pair of hair cutting scissors in his hands.
“May I, My Lord?” he asks and grabs the ends of my hair, which are tied together in a pony tail.
“Of course.”
The snip ricochets through my body as he severs years and years of growth from my head. I’m not sure what’s causing me the most pain, at the moment – the singed flesh of my nipple and pussy, or the loss of my hair.
