Jules read the announcement. He’d never felt such anger. Rage. Rage.
Theo pressed his temples, trying to ease a headache that was building. The meeting had gone on too late and now he was desperate to get out of there. He glanced at Max who shrugged apologetically and mouthed ‘Sorry, boss.’
The investor was too important to the company to blow off so Theo smiled at him. ‘I’m so sorry, do you mind if I make a quick call?’
Alone in his office, he called Jess and the tension eased the second he heard her voice. He apologized for being so late.
‘I’m going to take the ‘copter out the island as soon as I can,’ he promised.
‘I’ll wait up for you and make it worth your while.’ He loved the soft tone in her voice. How had he ever existed without this woman?
‘I hate leaving you alone at night.’
Jess made a noise. ‘I’m not living on tenterhooks anymore, Theo. Besides, I have the dogs.’
‘And the gun.’
‘And that.’
Theo sighed. ‘Okay, well, I’ll be home soon.’
He returned to his meeting and with a jolt of annoyance found himself soon dragged back into the dull conversation. At the back of his mind, there was a constant chant, a constant pleading.
Just keep her safe until I get there. Just let her safe, please. Please.
At home, Jess let Stan and Monty outside to pee. The land behind the house, woodland lit by Theo’s floodlights, was an eerie green in the artificial light but she knew, just before midnight, the lights would snap off and the house, the wood, everything would descend into an inky black. Inside, she flitted around tidying, keeping busy, trying not to think about being alone this late. She loved being here, and to her surprise, loved doing the ordinary things a homemaker would do. The sisterhood will have my head, she grinned to herself. In the kitchen, she heard the dryer click off. Folding the clothes, she hugged the warm stack to her as she went upstairs. She put the clothes away and moved over to close the drapes.
She jerked back from the window in shock. A figure, silhouetted against the floodlights, was standing at the edge of the woods, watching the house. Jess edged to the window to see if she had been imagining it. No. There was someone there but she couldn’t see his – or her - features. As she gazed down, the person lifted their hand and gave a languid wave. Jolted, she went downstairs. She grabbed her phone and went to the front door, peering out, her heart thudding. The dogs started barking and she ran to get the gun Theo had made her practice with before he would leave her alone. Angry now as well as scared, she opened the back door and the dogs skittered in, their tails wagging. That made her feel better at least. She clicked the safety off and stepped onto the porch.
There was no one there. She scanned the trees. Nothing. She blew out her breath, relieved. The fog had started to roll in from the water and it seeped around the house, hanging like gossamer across the floodlit wood. The floodlights clicked off. Midnight.
Come home, Theo, she begged silently. She went back inside and turned to close the door just as Jules stepped into her eye line, less than a foot away.
Before she had time to react, he was on her, clamping a hand over her mouth, dragging her back into the kitchen, kicking the back door shut. His arm was across her throat, pressing down, making it hard to breathe. He slammed her into the wall, her ribs taking the force, knocking the breath from her body.
He threw her to the floor, pushing up her skirt grabbing, grasping hands, tearing at her underwear. She used all of her force to kick and punch and try to get free and he slapped her, hard enough to make her ears ring. She fought against him, shouting, ‘No, no, no!’ as he ripped the delicate fabric down her thighs. His hand came up to clamp over her mouth, but she bit him, hard, bucking with all of her energy to get him off of her.
His hands were around her throat, squeezing, unremitting. She jammed the heel of her hand up, trying to slam it into his nose – she made contact, not hard but enough to make him release his grip.
She scrambled away from him, trying to grab her gun which had clattered to the floor, but he grabbed her ankle and pulled her back to him. Her body fell hard against the stone floor.
He grabbed her head between his hands and bounced it viciously off the stone. Dazed, she let her guard down for a split second – then he was in her, thrusting, grunting, tearing. He pinned her hands above her head. She was sobbing now, in anger, raging at him, at herself. She could feel the blood from the back of her head smearing across the floor, soaking her hair. He continued to force himself into her and she cried out with pain as he pushed her legs further apart. He pinned her arms to the floor, his breath heavy on her face. With effort, she brought her knee up and pushed with all her strength. With a frustrated yell, he pulled away, enough for her to kick him between the legs as hard as she could.
He jerked away, groaning in pain and she was up, scrambling away from him, clambering through the blood on the floor.
He rocked back, knees to chest, clasping his groin. ‘Bitch!’ She had darted into the hall, making for the front door but her feet, slick from the blood, slid out from beneath her. She skidded across the floor until her legs slammed into the base of the antique mirror. With a groan, it toppled forward.
She put her arm over her face as the glass smashed into her. The heavy frame made contact with her head with a sickening crunch and she slumped to the floor, unconscious.
Jules recovered himself and, limping, followed the sound of the shattering glass. She was so still, so vulnerable, lying there amongst the slivers of the mirror, some sticking into her skin, little pools of blood. A large gash along her hairline was spilling blood onto the floor beneath her. He bent over her, avoiding the shards around him, and placed two fingers against her throat, the delicate artery that pulsed against his fingertips. Alive. Good. He didn’t want her dead, not yet, at least. He’d wait until she woke up. He wanted her awake for the next part, the part where she would beg him for her life…
The fifth time Theo got her voicemail, he started to panic. He grabbed his jacket and strode out of the office, ignoring the surprised look of his secretary.
‘I’m going home,’ he barked back at her then he was at the elevator, punching the button up to the rooftop helipad.
He strapped himself into the little helicopter, thanking god he’d learned to pilot it a long time ago.. He cussed himself out of buying a house so remote and isolated now – what had he been thinking? Why had he thought to be away from the city, with the police and emergency services, would be safer? Fucking, fucking idiot. He prayed as he propelled the helicopter to its maximum speed.
Please, let her be okay, let her be safe…
A cough, a sharp noise in the quiet of the house. She started and gave a gasp of terror. Jules sat on the staircase, in his hands, a lethal shard of mirror glass. He turned it over and over; it glinted in the moonlight. She tried to get up but her body held no strength. She managed to pull herself into a sitting position, bracing herself against the wall. She could feel blood trickling down her face, it burned as it rolled into her eyes. Her would-be killer laughed at her struggles.
He moved suddenly, pulling her down, straddling her body. She cried out as the glass on the floor cut into her body. She could smell sex on him, stale sweat. Rape… Her head spun, pounding with pain, nausea rising up inside her. He showed her the glass shard and laughed.
‘Who’s the fairest of them all?’ He laughed.
Her eyes whirled around, panicked, she sought out anything, anything that would help her. Her arms scraped around, feeling, anything to help, the glass slashing her skin.
But he pressed down hard on her, grabbing each hand and kneeling on them, hard, grinding them into the broken glass on the floor. She couldn’t move, couldn’t fight.
He’s going to kill me, she thought, he’s going to kill me and I’ll never see Theo again. Oh God, Theo…
He tore open the bodice of her dress. Her eyes widened in terror as
her assailant raised the shard of glass above his head. Time slowed down as she waited for the pain, for the weapon to be driven into her. As she waited to die. From somewhere, somewhere far away, maybe in her imagination, there was the sound of helicopter blades.
And then an explosion of pain as Jules began to stab her to death. Theo… oh god, Theo…
Theo waited, antsy while the chopper blades slowed and stopped. He unbelted and stepped out of the cabin and just listened. The weather had worsened, and all he could hear was the wind in the trees. The house was in darkness. Theo took a deep breath in. Was he overreacting? He had no proof she was in danger, any danger at all. Theo hesitated then walked towards the house and listened again. Nothing. He took a step onto the porch.
Jules looked up at the sound of the chopper. Damn it, he would have to rush this and he wanted to enjoy every second. Jess had started to struggle was but was obviously still dazed and he easily pushed her down with one hand. Their eyes locked and Jules smiled at her tenderly. This is it. The end of everything.
He loved the way her lovely eyes opened wide, in horror, in terror. ‘Goodbye, Jessica…’ and he raised the weapon to kill her.
Theo put his key in the lock… and nothing happened. He tried again. The door wouldn’t open. Had Jess put the deadbolt on? He cupped his hands around his eyes and gazed into the dark hallway. He saw something glittering on the wood floor but couldn’t make out what it was. Then he heard a noise that made his heart freeze, his legs quiver. An anguished cry that was strangled off, a gasp, a noise of someone in agony. God, no, no…
Jules drove the shard of glass into Jess’ belly, feeling the soft, vulnerable flesh give way under the weapon and Jess cried out in agony and tried to fight back, tearing her fingernails across his face, trying to gouge his eyes out. It just made him angrier, more vicious and, as he stabbed her again and again, he felt her becoming weaker. Dying. Jessica was dying and it was exactly as he had dreamed. She coughed a fountain of blood up and her body went limp. He was about to stab her for the fifth time when he heard the banging on the door. Storm’s voice, panicked, desperate.
‘Jess! Jess, let me in! Jess!’
Jules took one last moment to gaze at Jess, so beautiful, so damaged, so ruined. She was unconsciousness, the pain too much for her, her torn belly spilling blood in a dark pool around her, her thin dress soaking it up. She couldn’t last much longer, she was losing too much blood. She’s bleeding out. Jules smiled, then, as he heard Theo shout again and he took flight.
A sudden movement caught his eye. In the hallway. He got closer and saw someone running through the dark house. Jules. He’d know that profile anywhere. His stomach disappeared and he darted to the window. Whoever it was had gone out of the back. Theo sprinted around to the back door and his stomach dropped as he saw it swinging open. The figure he’d seen was nowhere. Theo walked into the kitchen, listening.
‘Jess? Honey, it’s me, it’s Theo.’
The house was silent. Theo walked through the dark kitchen and into the hall. It took him a moment to realize what he was looking at, what he was hearing. Labored breathing. Gasps for air. Painful, rattle gurgles of a throat too full of blood. Blood. Too much blood. A woman’s body, a woman who had been stabbed viciously, brutally, mercilessly, her clothes drenched. Ghastly, unimaginable stab wounds in soft flesh. Theo’s mind could not make the connection between the woman and Jess. It couldn’t be her. There was no way.
Because the broken and bloodied dying girl on the floor looked nothing like the women he loved. In a second, she was in his arms, his hands pressing down on the wounds in her belly, desperate to keep the blood inside her, keep her alive. He pulled his cell phone and called the emergency services, not taking his eyes from her face, amazed he could speak to the operator so calmly. All he could feel was abject terror. Jules had gotten to her. He, Theo, had failed to protect her, had broken his promise to her. She was dying and he didn’t know how to stop it, didn’t know how to do this. He couldn’t take his eyes from the vicious stab wounds in her abdomen. So much hatred. So much violence. This couldn’t be the way they ended, couldn’t be the way she ended. Jules didn’t get to win, he didn’t get to win.
‘Please, Jess, stay with me…breathe, breathe…I love you so much.’
Jess came round and wished that she was still unconscious. The pain of her wounds was nothing to the raw terror and hurt in Theo’s voice. She concentrated on the feel of his arms holding her, trying to keep her alive. Jules had done what he’d always promised and she didn’t know how to fight the pain, the blood loss. She stared up into those green eyes, those terrified, desperate green eyes so full of love for her that she tried to smile at him, to reassure him.
‘Jessie, my Jessie, I’ve got you’
His voice was so tender and caring, after the violence of earlier, that she opened her eyes.
‘I love you,’ she whispered, ‘I love you so much…’
‘I love you, god, I love you,’ Theo was sobbing now, ‘Please hang on, help is coming, help is coming.’
She felt his arms holding her, tight, safe, comfort. She didn’t know why he was crying. Her brain was hazy. Her eyes whirled, trying to focus on him. Nothing made sense. At the corners of her eyes, little black spots growing larger and larger. No, I want to see his face, his beautiful face… She could hear him talking to her but he was getting further away, so far away…
‘No, no, sweetheart, stay with me, stay with me, oh God, no, no, please…’
The darkness came.
Stay With Me Part Seven
Sirens.
She was so beautiful, her dark hair clouding around her shoulders as her robe slipped from her shoulders, revealing her heavenly body. Theo let out a fevered sigh as he saw that under her robe, she was wearing nothing but a harness, the supple leather straps crisscrossing her lush body, her dark red nipples hard and ready for him. She straddled him on the bed and he couldn’t keep his eyes off of her.
Flashing lights, voices shouting. In here, in here…. please…
His mouth sought her nipple greedily as his hands slipped between her legs to find her sex pulsing and wet. His cock, already rigid and engorged, strained to find her pussy. She lowered herself onto him, grinning and gasping as he clamped his hands on her hips and impaled her onto his swollen cock, ramming his hips upwards, wanting to take her, take her hard…
Rust and salt and fear. Blood, her blood, everywhere. Please, Jess, breathe….
Don’t ever stop fucking me. Her lips were at his ear and he flipped her onto the floor, towering over her, taking control. He bit down on her nipples, buried his face in her pillowy breasts as he drove harder into her. Her legs were clamped tightly around him and she smiled up at him. I love you so much…
She’s dying. They’re telling me she’s dying. She won’t wake up.
She won’t wake up…
Amelia was breathing hard as she ran down the hospital corridor. She nearly screamed when she saw the abject despair on Theo’s face. For a long terrifying moment, she thought Jess was dead. But then he gave her a ghost of a smile. She hugged her stricken son.
‘How is she?’
Theo shook his head. ‘She’s in surgery…Mom, it doesn’t look good. She’s lost so much blood.’
He sat down heavily on one of the chairs. Amelia was horrified.
‘Oh my God. Theo.’ She sat down beside him, appalled. ‘I thought you said the mirror fell on her.’
Theo looked at his mother. He’d told her the very minimum, knowing that if she knew the truth, she would panic and his mom’s driving was erratic at the best. ‘It did. But I think she crashed into it trying to get away from… she was stabbed, Mom. He knifed her in the belly, repeatedly, brutally. And he raped her.’
Amelia gazed at her son in disbelief. ‘Who?’ She asked, weakly, her face pale.
Theo’s own face hardened. ‘Her step-brother. He’s tried to kill her before. Christ, Mom, this is just the latest in a lifetime of abuse and assau
lt she’s had to live with.’
‘No, are you sure? I mean…’ She searched Theo’s face and saw the utter desolation in his eyes. He nodded.
‘Yes. She was raped. There was so much blood, Mom. All over the kitchen, the hallway. When I saw her, I thought she was… she was so still, covered with blood. Someone had had their hands on her. There're bruises on her neck, finger marks, her dress had been ripped open. He stabbed her. Jesus, he really stabbed her…’ He choked on his final words.
Amelia started to cry and Theo rubbed her back. He leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes, silent tears coursing down his face.
‘Mr. Storm?’ The surgeon who stood in front of them had kind eyes but all Theo could see was regret in them. His heart clenched tightly in his chest. Theo introduced him to Amelia.
‘Mr. Storm, Jessica is stable but still critical. She lost a lot of blood, as I’m sure you realize and we had to repair her liver and remove her spleen. Her abdominal injuries are…,’ the doctor seemed to struggle, ‘…well, they’re amongst the worst I’ve seen in my thirty-year career. The worst. The stabbing was brutal, merciless . Her assailant aimed to end her life in the most painful, savage way possible, of that I have no doubt. He or she used something other than a knife so the wounds were jagged, hard to repair cleanly, she will have scarring. We’ll know more in the next few hours.’
Theo thought about the lethal shards of glass that had been scattered around her body. Jules had used one of them to stab her, he was sure. Nausea threatened to overwhelm him, and, the strain etched on his face, he cleared his throat. When he spoke, his voice cracked. ‘Doc?’
His Sweet Torment: A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance Page 68
