“Oh God! Oh God! No! No. No!”
“He was stalking you!”
He resumed his task of dragging her out of the room. Victoria wiggled Dante’s head from her stomach.
“I did this for you! For you!”
She thought of fighting the maniac, but her motherly instincts kicked in and she became concerned for the child that she carried. She decided not to struggle and to let him lead her wherever he was taking her. Her captor dragged her into a bathroom. Victoria looked around the filthy room. There was dirt, rust, and dried blood everywhere. He lifted her body from the floor and pulled her into a shower. He cuffed both of her wrists and attached the handcuffs to a hook hanging from the shower. He turned the shower on and walked out of the bathroom. Victoria shivered. The water was freezing.
After a few minutes, the water warmed and her captor returned to the bathroom. He had a pair of scissors. He stripped out of his clothes and stood totally naked in front of her. He stepped into the filthy shower with Victoria and smiled. She was terrified that her captor was going to violate her and brutally murder her when he was done. Tears ran down her face. She thought of pleading with him, but she knew it wouldn’t do her any good. Everything that she’d learned about this killer told her that he thrived on weakness. She needed to stay strong, so she smiled back at him. Her captor placed the scissors to her throat, and Victoria looked at him with pleading eyes. He lowered the scissors and began to cut her clothes off of her body.
“Don’t worry,” he whispered. “I have to prepare you. You need to be washed.”
Victoria thought of the other women that he “prepared” in this very shower before he killed them. Her captor went back to the task of cutting Victoria’s clothes. When he was done, Victoria stood completely naked in front of him. His eyes roamed her body before he grabbed a wash cloth and a bar of soap. He began to slowly wash her body. He kneeled in front of her and sniffed between her legs. Victoria cried uncontrollably when he washed her sex.
“You’re dirty. You all are so dirty,” he mumbled as he roughly cleaned Victoria’s private parts.
Victoria’s entire body was shaking as she whimpered and stuttered over her words. “Do... Do you... Are you gonna k... kill me?”
Her captor stood and Victoria noticed his erection. She hoped that she could buy herself more time by cooperating, but there was no way in hell he was going to rape and murder her without good fight.
She jumped when his hand touched her face.
“Shh,” he whispered as he gently rubbed her cheek. He shook his head. “I’m going to cleanse you.” He lathered the wash cloth and gently washed her breast. He reached for the removable shower head and held it over Victoria’s head. She tried to blink the water from her eyes. She needed to see everything that was going on. Her captor poured shampoo on top of Victoria’s head. He sat the bottle down and scrubbed her hair. Her eyes burned from the shampoo. When he was done, he sprayed water over her hair and body until he’d removed all signs of soap.
He wiped her hair away from her face and whispered in her ear, “Such a beauty.” He reached for a towel and dried her body.
“Now you’re ready to be branded,” he said gliding his finger across Victoria’s chest.
Victoria’s eyes widened. She asked with quivering lips, “Br... Branded?”
He nodded.
“But I’m not a whore,” she whispered through cries.
His eyes lit up and he smiled. “Your brand will read ‘mine’, beautiful one.” His face showed pure joy. He stepped out of the shower and dried his own body. He wrapped a towel around his waist and left the bathroom. There was no way Victoria was about to let him carve into her chest. It was time to fight. She attempted to wiggle the handcuffs off of the hook. She struggled until her wrists bled.
Just then, Victoria’s captor appeared in the doorway holding a carving knife.
He narrowed his eyes at her. He was seething at Victoria’s attempt to escape. “I! Said! Mine!” He raised the knife and charged at Victoria.
Chapter 25
STORM
Jack was the first in line in the caravan of vehicles supplied by Storm Enterprises. He rode with Steve and a short stocky cop named Frankie. He’d heard Victoria refer to him as the funny one, but he was extremely serious at the moment. The other cars were occupied by the rest of Victoria’s team and a couple of friends that she had on the department. Steve was right about the police department. Her superiors showed absolutely no intention of getting Victoria back, but her team was determined. They entered Storm Enterprises looking like street thugs, with the exception of the attractive African American officer that they referred to as Natasha. They were immediately detained by Jack’s security team before he instructed his employees to send them up. Jack called Victoria’s parents while Steve pleaded with the department to get John’s last location through his OnStar system. They spouted some shit about procedure and needing a search warrant. The authorities basically blew them off, but Victoria’s family was not giving up that easy. They told Jack that they would be booking a flight out immediately. Jack informed them that booking a flight wasn’t necessary, and sent his private jet to retrieve the Price’s. Jack could have easily reached out to the mayor, but he didn’t have any more time to waste. He bypassed the police department and instructed his tech team to hack into John’s cellular phone and his car’s OnStar link.
Jack had John’s last location, and they were in route. There was no way that Jack could lose Victoria. He’d never loved a woman this way before. Victoria was his promise of a family filled with love. She carried his child, his future. She was his life now, and Jack would give his own to keep her and his child safe. He’d never even told her that he loved her, and he had no way of knowing if she was still alive. Jack pushed those thoughts from his head and focused on getting her back.
They arrived at John’s last location as reported by OnStar. It was an old abandoned hotel and Jack immediately spotted John’s car. Victoria’s team constructed an extraction plan that included Jack staying in the car. That wasn’t an option for Jack. Back at Storm Enterprises, after the debriefing and once everyone cleared from his office, Jack pulled his 45 out of his safe. He turned to see Steve in his doorway. Jack looked him in the eye and told him that it was his woman and child in the custody of a madman. Steve nodded and walked out of the office. So as they turned off the lights and pulled slowly around the back of the building, Jack was ready for war.
Steve looked over at and Jack and said, “Stay in the rear.” But Jack sternly shook his head. “Jack, stay in the back or I will fucking shoot you myself. You’re not supposed to be here in the first place, and all of our jobs are at risk as it is. We don’t have authorization to be here, remember?” He tossed Jack a black hoodie. “And how in the fuck are we supposed explain why a gun toting, billionaire, playboy, friend of the mayor was with us if something happens to you?”
Jack reluctantly agreed. “I’ll stay in the back.”
Steve wrapped himself in a bulletproof vest, and Frankie tossed one at Jack. Steve and Frankie had weapons everywhere. They had guns holstered to their hips and ankles, and blades attached to their belts. Jack looked out the window to see one of the officers pointing his weapon and creeping toward John’s car. When he reached the car, he peaked into the window. The officer gave a hand signal and opened John’s driver’s side. He holstered his gun and pulled John out of the car. John appeared to be injured but he was alive. The officer dragged John back to his vehicle where another officer waited to assist. They pulled John into the back seat. There were four teams and Jack was in the car with team one, which was the entry team.
Since Steve was the biggest of them, it was his job to wield the battering ram and hit the door. Once the door was breached, Steve would step to the side and allow the rest of the teams to enter. So Jack would be going in behind Steve. Team four was for surveillance and intel. They would gather as much intelligence as they could on the building. They were chec
king to see if there were any silent points of entry or if there were any lookouts, but everyone assumed that the killer was working alone. Jack was impressed by their professionalism, but he was more impressed by their dedication to Victoria. Steve was right. If they lived through the night, there was a possibility that they’d all be out of a job. If that were the case, Jack would make sure that they’d all be taken care of financially.
“We gotta hit it,” Steve said reaching for the ram. Apparently team four indicated through his earpiece that there was no possibility of a sneak attack. Frankie opened his door and got out. He carefully closed his door without a sound. The other teams exited the same way. Teams one and two crept silently to the front of the hotel. Team three covered each side, while team four, minus the officer that stayed behind with John, covered the back. When all the teams were in place, Steve swung the ram.
Boom!!
VICTORIA
Victoria gave up on trying to free her wrists and decided to utilize the only method of defense that she had available. Her captor was wielding a knife and charging at her at full speed. Victoria lifted her legs from the shower floor and kicked him with every ounce of strength that she had. He fell back against the toilet, but he wasn’t done. He stood and charged at her again. Victoria attempted to kick her assailant again, but this time he grabbed her feet and plunged the knife deep into her shoulder. Victoria screamed out in agony, and her captor’s expression was one of pure satisfaction.
He grabbed Victoria by the waist, pulled her close to his body, and pushed the knife in further. Pain shot through Victoria’s entire body, and her blood poured onto the shower floor. Her vision blurred, and she could feel herself fading away. The killer held Victoria in his arms and her head fell on his shoulder.
He whispered in her ear, “Mine.”
The word seemed to have snapped Victoria from a dream, because suddenly she mustered the strength to lift her head and lock her teeth onto her captor’s ear. She applied what had to be the force of a pit bull and bit hard into his flesh. He tried to pull away, but she had a secure hold on him. He screamed and continued his fight to free himself. Her captor’s blood flowed down her chin, which gave Victoria a little satisfaction. Victoria’s satisfaction ended when the maniac snatched his knife out of her shoulder. When she screamed, he was free from her hold. Her captor stepped back and grabbed his ear and looked at the blood on his hand. He shot Victoria a look of pure hatred. Victoria’s expression of hatred matched his, except she was smiling. She spat a big chuck of his ear on the filthy bathroom floor. He was seething and Victoria was ready to fight until death.
“Pick up your ear and come get some more,” she taunted.
His expression turned to shock. Victoria figured that he was accustomed to women begging and pleading for their life. Victoria was in severe pain and bleeding excessively, but she had no intention of begging.
“You will die worse than the rest, bitch,” he said through gritted teeth. He raised the knife and charged at Victoria again. She prayed silently for the strength to fight him off again, but she was weak and in pain. Suddenly, Victoria heard a gunshot followed by rapid gunfire. Her captor fell to his knees in front of her. He stared at Victoria with pleading eyes as if he expected her to help him and then fell face down on the bathroom floor. Natasha stood behind him with her weapon pointed. She slowly walked over to him and kicked the knife away from him. Steve rushed in with his weapon drawn and looked down at the killer. He looked up at Victoria in the shower and gasped. She figured that she must have been a sight hanging from the ceiling naked and covered in blood. Victoria saw tears run down Steve’s cheek. The sight of her partner crying caused Victoria’s tears to fall. Steve rushed to her while Natasha dealt with her captor.
Victoria looked behind Steve to see Jack running into the now crowded bathroom.
“Oh God! Victoria!” He yelled while pushing passed Steve.
“Jack?” She looked at him curiously, wondering how he ended up on a rescue. He wrapped his arms around her body and lifted her from the shower floor, relieving the excruciating pain to her wrists.
“Oh God! Oh God! Victoria! Thank God,” he chanted.
Steve reached up and pulled the handcuffs from the hook. While Jack held Victoria, Steve freed her from the handcuffs. Jack pulled her out of the shower and laid her on the bathroom floor. He took off the hoodie that he was wearing to cover her nakedness, until he saw the blood pouring from her wound.
Jack turned to Steve and yelled, “Get an ambulance!” He pulled her close to his body. Victoria could hear the familiar voices of the rest of her team outside the door.
She turned to Natasha and said, “Thank you.” Victoria turned back to Jack’s worried face and saw tears running down his cheeks. The sight of her strong man, who was always in control, crying humbled her. “Don’t cry, baby. I’m ok,” was the last thing she said before everything went dark.
Chapter 26
SIX MONTHS LATER
VICTORIA
Victoria stood naked in front of the mirror and stared at her round belly. She was eight months pregnant, and she couldn’t wait to exorcise her soon-to-be bundle of joy from her body. Her eyes moved to the scar on her shoulder and reminded her of her time in hell. When she woke in the hospital, Jack was by her side. He hadn’t left since. Jack had her entire family flown in from South Carolina. Between her team, her family, Tracy, and Jack’s family, there were enough visitors to have a party. They stayed at the penthouse even after she got out of the hospital. It wasn’t the best way for Jack to meet her family, but at least she didn’t have to do the awkward introductions.
Victoria was able to visit Deon since they were in the same hospital. He’d recovered from his injuries. After three months of physical therapy, he returned to work. She and Natasha had become good friends. Instead of being fired, the members of her team were given commendations. The department took all of the credit for catching and killing the serial killer, as well as for rescuing Victoria. Her captor turned out to be Harold Malone, a wealthy businessman. According to the people that had known him, he seemed normal.
What they didn’t know was that Harold didn’t start out wealthy. His mother was a heroin-addicted prostitute who would bring Johns home. She would perform sexual acts in front of her son. For the right price, she would often allow men to use him. The life his mother lived planted his deep-seated hatred for prostitutes. He had killed twenty-four prostitutes in five different cities. Victoria could never go back to working undercover, since her face had been plastered all over the news next to a serial killer’s.
The press had also gotten wind of her relationship with Jack, and apparently that was news. Victoria had no intention of going back to risking her life and taking orders from bosses that could care less whether she lived or died. Besides, she was a wife and soon to be mother. She and Jack were married a month after she got out of the hospital. Jack insisted that they marry right away. He joked that he didn’t want to give her a chance to change her mind. His parents managed to somehow plan a small elegant wedding at their home in such a short amount of time. They moved into a new house that Victoria was still furnishing. Victoria had finally finished the nursery, which was connected to their bedroom.
Victoria was so lost in her thoughts that she almost forgot that Jack was driving her to her apartment. She needed to return her keys to the building manager. Victoria wrapped a towel around her wide body and walked into her bedroom. She plopped down on her bed and realized that she’d left her lotion in the bathroom. Getting up and walking to the bathroom had become a tiresome task for Victoria.
“Shit,” she muttered. She was debating in her head whether or not she needed lotion.
“My son can hear that, ya' know!”
Victoria looked up to see Jack standing in the doorway.
“Your son, or daughter, is the reason why I can’t get my big ass off this bed,” she said smiling. “I forgot my lotion in the bathroom.”
Jack walked i
nto the bathroom and came out with her lotion in his hand. He got down on his knees in front of her and opened her towel. He raised Victoria’s foot and put it on his thigh. “Allow me,” Jack said with a seductive smile that sent the blood rushing straight to Victoria’s core.
She was surprised at how horny she’d been lately. She was climbing on top of Jack every chance she got. The way he was applying the lotion to her body was about to assure that they wouldn’t be going anywhere anytime soon. When Jack finished moisturizing Victoria, he stood. Victoria, without an ounce of shame, stared directly at the big bulge in his pants. She reached for his impressive package, but Jack caught her hand.
“Oh, no you don’t. We have things to do.” He told her while shaking his head. “Besides, I have a surprise for you. Get dressed, babe,” he said as he helped her off the bed.
Victoria pouted and started dressing.
Jack bent and held the sides of her face, pulling her in for a kiss. “I love you,” he whispered.
“I love you too, baby.” She did love him, and she knew that he loved her. But what she wasn’t sure of was whether or not Jack had married for love or because she was pregnant. When he released her, she finished dressing.
An hour later, Victoria and Jack were pulling into the parking lot of her old building. Jack parked in Victoria’s old parking space. He jogged around and helped Victoria out the car. They walked hand-in-hand to the building. They went in and headed to the building manager’s office.
Victoria knocked on the door and heard, “Come in”, from the other side of the door.
Jack opened the door and placed his hand in the small of Victoria’s back, urging her inside. The building manager looked at Victoria’s round belly and smiled brightly. Earnest was a tall African American man with a kind heart. Although he was in his late sixties, he still managed to keep the building in great condition.
“Hi, Earnest,” Victoria said smiling. She liked the old man.
Beautiful Prey: The Storm Series Page 16
