He nodded in agreement. “Yes, we all suffer from being too comfortable.” He stood up, walking towards me then placed his hand on my shoulder. “Well I must say, it is good to have you back.”
I didn’t reply. I couldn’t. I didn’t feel his sentiment, nor did I feel the conviction in his statement. As if to prove me right, he halted after he opened the door and turned back to me. “Oh and Daniel.” I turned my head to show him my attention, as was expected, always. “This one is special. I’ll be watching your training quite closely.” I didn’t miss the hidden message. I was on probation, from my own father. He was known for his lack of trust in anyone, especially me.
“I would expect it, Father.”
Smiling, he nodded then left, pulling the door closed behind him. I blew out a breath and leaned forward, rubbing my hands over my face, wiping away the distress. I needed to be strong. I was strong but fuck, if I didn’t see Mae everywhere in this damn place. Her ghost dominated every corner, the echo of her soft cries constantly making my cock throb. Her blood still stained the walls, her pain potent in the air.
I knew I was sick but even I was shocked at how easy it was to slip back into the role of Master as soon as my foot had crossed the threshold. This house, this business called to something inside me, it fed the hunger for carnage and violence that lived deep inside me.
For two years I had managed to bury that side of me, concentrate on the love that my daughter brought. Her gentleness and innocence had given me a chance to find a part of me I never knew had existed. Yet here I was again; sex, depravity and bloodshed growing stronger inside me every fucking second I breathed in a house that exuded sin and debauchery.
The fact that Connie had been placed for auction was a good thing, it gave us time, time to shift through this mess. She wouldn’t risk slaughter until she had all her targets in one place together, the exposure that would come with killing them one by one would jeopardise the end game. So the fact that Franco was already informed was a godsend. I knew him, he wouldn’t wait to deal his revenge. He would be here shortly. But until then I would relent to the calling inside me. Connie had said she would survive, and truth be told, I needed her to survive if I was to see Annie again. However, that didn’t mean that the monster in me couldn’t play before that time came.
I hated how fucking breath-taking her body was. Her tight, pale skin contained curves that called for the decoration of blood. Her breasts were small but firm, her dark nipples plump and perfect. Her flat stomach showed off the vigorous side to her life, her abs defined but still feminine. She was taller than Mae, surprisingly, her legs long and her thighs strong. I wouldn’t be a man if I didn’t picture those legs wrapped around me securely, her lithe body squirming in pain beneath me.
I circled round her, pausing and studying the many slash marks that adorned her back. The darkness inside me was satisfied by her imperfection, by the evidence of her torture. I’d heard how brutal the Phantoms’ training schedule was, but to witness it was quite amazing. By the looks of her, they hadn’t just whipped her into submission, they had thrashed her into a killer, completely pulverised the child in her and built a machine.
My eyes dropped to her arse, the firm roundness tight and sheer perfection. She flinched when I slid a hand over one buttock, excitement curling within me, my dick roaring to life with a simple touch.
“I’m not sure I appreciate how your body excites me, swan.” I smirked at my pet name, her body stiffening when she caught it. “You have no idea how much I want to fuck you and choke you at the same time.”
“And I’m not sure which I’d rather suffer.”
I quirked an eyebrow at her response. She was tough, I’d give her that. Most women would start sobbing at my remark, showing their weakness. But Connie seemed to thrive under my degradation, much like Mae had.
I slid my hand around the front of her, enclosing my fingers around the front of her throat. She gasped slightly yet I wasn’t sure if it was from arousal or fear. For the first time, I couldn’t read the woman under my hold. I’d always had a gift at deciphering their anxiety and panic from their needs and fantasies, but Connie was a void, nothing but indifference and control in her.
“I’m predicting you’re not innocent.”
She snorted and turned her head to look at me over her shoulder. “And what do you class as innocent? A virgin? Or a blank canvas that you can paint with cruelty?”
Moving around her, I cupped her chin in my fingers, holding her tightly. She glared at me but still she showed no fear. I inclined towards her until my nose brushed against the tip of hers. “And wouldn’t you look exquisite, decorated with your own blood?”
Her tongue slid along her bottom lip, moisturising and teasing. “How about you let me down and we’ll decorate the walls with your blood… Master.”
Running my tongue up her cheek, I whispered in her ear. “You are already on the site, the bids climbing as we speak. Well done. You’ve become quite the trophy for many.”
She laughed. “But of course, I wouldn’t expect anything less. I’m quite a treasure.”
“Treasure,” I repeated with a small laugh. If nothing, the Swift sisters always managed to bring a smile to my face.
“And Franco?”
“On his way.”
“How perfect,” she breathed. The excitement in her was palpable, her hunger for bloodshed contagious. The darkness that lived in her was a revelation, a match for my own gruesome longings.
“Mmm,” I replied. “But for now we must keep up appearances.”
She stilled faintly but I didn’t miss it. Finally a reaction that made my gut churn, thrilling the deepest part of me.
“What did you have in mind?”
I moved back, removing my body from hers. “You want to play, swan? You need release like Mae did.” Her eyes fired with hatred. Excitement grew into enthusiasm, anticipation at how much this little bitch could take. I walked over to the lever on the wall and cranked it until the chain holding Connie upright lowered, giving her some respite. She thumped to her knees, her muscles screaming at her when her face contorted in pain.
“You’re simply stunning when you’re overcome by pain.”
“And I wonder how you will look?” she retaliated with venom as she looked up at me. I chuckled, fisting a length of her hair in my hand.
Bending into her, I smiled then tutted. “Always so eager, Connie. But as I’m such a gentleman, I insist. Ladies first.”
GRITTING MY TEETH at the pain that was tightening each unused muscle in my legs, I looked up at Daniel. He stood before me, looking down at me. I saw the depravity in his expression, the bulge in the crotch of his trousers. His fists were clenched, his forehead creased but it was the conflict in his eyes that confused me.
“I’m not Mae, Daniel.”
I hissed when his fist struck me, my neck snapping as my face erupted in pain. I didn’t give him the satisfaction of a reaction.
“I may resemble her but I am very much not her.”
“You think I don’t know that?” he spat, his eyes blazing. He was struggling with the two sides of him, the devil on one shoulder telling him to harness his cold side and grant me the pain he so wanted to dish out, yet the angel on the other, I knew haunted him with visions and memories of Mae.
“I think you’re struggling to differentiate, yes.”
He dropped to a crouch before me, his hand capturing my throat, his long fingers biting into my skin. “There isn’t an ounce of your sister in you.”
I nodded, the action restricted under his hold. “I’m glad you’ve noticed. So don’t back down from this, from what you need to do.” He frowned deeper, my words shocking him. “I can take this, Daniel. You need to hurt me, you need to show them you can still hurt and play their game.”
“Do you even understand what it is you’re telling me to do?”
“Yes,” I answered. “Do it.”
He licked his lips, his chest heaving with his excitement. �
�I don’t play nicely, swan. I’m cruel, twisted.”
“I know. I know, but if we are to reach the end goal, the game should be played accurately.”
He blinked at me before he slowly closed his eyes. “The cards have been dealt.” His cryptic words caused me to stare at him. “And I refuse to let you fold, Connie.”
“I never quit, you’ll soon learn that about me. My promise is always steadfast.”
He inhaled slowly, his eyes narrowing. “And your promise to end this game with my life.”
“Steadfast.” I smiled inwardly when anger held him, the confusion buried under his hatred. That was more like it.
He shot upright. “Then tell me why I should assist you?”
I pulled in a breath. I hadn’t wanted to reveal this part of my assignment but he needed to know, needed to understand. “Because Annie is marked.”
His eyes snapped onto mine, the colour draining from his face as a choked sound caused my heart to ache. Whatever or whoever he was, he loved Annie with a passion. “What?”
“That’s all I can tell you. I need to end this Daniel. Do you understand now?”
“But what does this have to do with my father and Franco?”
“Their connection to this is my …” I sighed, shifting my knees to release some of the tension in them, the hard floor cruel. “I am restricted from what I can tell you but… we received two separate orders, one for you and one for both you and Annie.”
“My father?”
“I don’t know, Daniel. I’m never given the details, only the order. That’s how it works, and truth be told, normally I never want to know the details. I don’t need nor want to acknowledge the reason why I take someone’s life, yet Isa… my Master alerted me. He… how do I say… has a soft spot for me.”
He glared at me. “You’re fucking your boss?”
I pushed my tongue into my cheek, puzzled by the bitterness to his tone. “My relationship is none of your concern. But be thankful for it, because if he hadn’t included me in this order then we both would be none the wiser, both you and Annie would currently be residing with my sister.”
His face tightened, his fury potent around us. “There is only me and Frank who are aware of Annie’s existence.”
“Apparently not. Now, I’m well aware of how your father works, and I’m quite concerned as to the extent of Franco’s need for revenge. Do you see what I’m getting at, Daniel?”
He nodded.
“And if they are already suspicious of you, your gift of me is strengthening your commitment to them, but it will jeopardise everything if you don’t play the fucking game.”
Something clicked in his eyes and his lips parted as he took a long breath. “Oh my God, you haven’t been watching us to hurt us.”
I rolled my eyes. He really was fucking stupid at times. “No, Daniel, I haven’t.”
“You’ve been protecting us.”
“Annie. I’ve been protecting Annie,” I corrected. He dropped his gaze to the floor, many things shifting through his thoughts. “We shouldn’t be discussing this here.” I flicked a glance to the camera in the corner of the room. He shook his head.
“I disabled the microphone, only the visual is working.”
I glared angrily. “Christ, Daniel! They’ll suspect.”
“No. It’s fine, I did it the moment we arrived. They’ll just think it broke before we even came here. I’m not sure how long we have until they find it and fix it though.”
“Can they lip read?”
“What the fuck?” He stared at me with humour. “No, they can’t lip read.”
“Are you sure about that?” He blinked and I sighed in annoyance. “You have to cater for every eventuality, Daniel.”
He nodded in surrender. “Yes, of course. One thing is bothering me though. The order. I am well aware of how the Phantom’s work. You risk your own life if you don’t carry out an order.”
I nodded. “Yes.”
“Then…?”
“I will comply with the order.”
“What?!”
“Annie will… as far as they are concerned, be taken care of.” His confusion was back. “She will be given a new identity, a new life after all this. I have taken care of it, don’t worry.”
He sighed, blowing out a relieved breath. “Thank you.” I nodded. He hadn’t missed that I hadn’t given him the same courtesy. “You will make sure she is cared for by…”
“I have plans in place. Annie will lead a full and good life. You needn’t worry.”
“How can I not worry? She’s my daughter, my life!”
“My promise is the only thing I can offer to put your mind at rest, but she will get through this. She will still go to school, she will still fall in love and build a family. She will still grow old with a man who will cherish her. All the things her mother was never afforded.”
His eyes met mine, the despair in them matching my own. “I would have been honoured to provide Mae with all those things.” His whispered words shocked me. I wasn’t even sure he had intended me to hear them but I had. He swallowed, his gaze almost pleading with me to understand him.
“But you still destroyed her.”
Lowering his eyes to the floor, he nodded. “Yes.”
I didn’t want to witness his hurt, he didn’t warrant any compassion, only pain at what his past had comprised of. I shut the thoughts out, the many mocking jeers in my head that I had done worse, much worse, than him.
“We need to get on with this.” He snapped out of his reverie and blinked at me, giving me a small nod of acknowledgement. “What would you usually do?”
He grimaced and closed his eyes. “Connie, really, you don’t…”
“Yes! I do… get over it Daniel. I need you to hate me. You need to bury Mae, drown her out and concentrate on the old part of you, the person you were before you met her. If you want Annie to live, then do this. Don’t worry about me, there is nothing you can do to me that hasn’t already been done. I was trained a Phantom, Daniel, and you can only imagine the things they did to me.”
“But… rape,” he whispered, his face holding a shameful grimace. I was shocked by his guilt. I had been told he had settled down, changed, but to be honest I had never expected it. Satan is forever a devil, and Daniel was, or had been, the darkest of the dark.
I caught his attention. “Let’s just refer to it as…. Sex with a fight.”
His brows shot into his hairline, a small humorous light glinting in his eyes. “Are you sure?”
Chuckling, I nodded. “Yeah, I’m ready for a release. Sex isn’t all holy for me, Daniel. Sex is… fucking, a way out for the anger inside. However, I must tell you that I don’t like to cuddle after.”
He tried to bury the chuckle but his lips twisted. “Not even a coffee?”
“Nah, but a cigarette would be good.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” he whispered in my ear when he reached up and unclasped the cuffs around my wrists. “I don’t kiss,” he added when he leaned back from me.
I grinned at him. “Two peas in a pod. Now come on, let’s fight and show them what you’re made of.”
I WAS STRUGGLING to hold on to my sanity as she knelt before me. Her eyes held mine, the message in them clear. She said she could handle this side of me but truth be told, she didn’t actually know that side of me.
She was the complete opposite of Mae but the exact replica and my mind was finding it hard to push out the mirror image.
Connie blinked up at me, her expression both cold and compassionate. She knew. She knew what my heart held, as much as I had tried to hide it from her. And I supposed, to her, that gave us a connection. Which in a way, it did. However, she was unaware of just how much a part I had played in her sister’s death. I wasn’t delusional, I knew she would end me right there and then if I told her, and I agreed, I did deserve death. But I needed to get Annie to safety first, I needed to die knowing that her life could be lived to the full.
�
��My name is Connie Victoria Swift.” I watched as Connie lifted her chin defiantly and gave me the words I needed. “I am my own person. I am the very reason your life will end when the final card is dealt.” She stood up, her face full of anger. “I am the reason Mae’s life took the route it did.”
I stared at her, my eyes wide and unblinking. What the fuck?
“I abandoned her when she needed me most.” She took another step towards me. “I am the very reason she started to self-harm. I am the cause of her inner hatred. I am the motivation she needed to destroy herself.”
“What?” I hissed at her.
Her chest heaved, her own hatred at herself evident in her eyes. She hesitated, her gaze secured on mine as she spoke the words that finally snapped my restraint. “I gave her the weapon to extinguish everything she was. I left her, Daniel. I left her alone and grieving. I walked away and never – fucking – looked – back. She was weak and she was a fool.”
She flew into the wall when my fist knocked her feet off the ground, her body following with a heavy thud. She scrambled up, palming the wall for support. Her face bounced off it when my foot connected with the base of her spine. “She was not weak!”
“Yes,” she spat as she attempted to get up. “She was pathetic. Poor Mae,” she mocked sending my rage into a dangerous level. “Always poor, poor Mae.”
I grabbed a fistful of her hair, snapping her neck back harshly as I pulled her across the room. “Don’t speak her fucking name again!”
“Holier than thou, Mae. That’s what they called her at school. Did you know that, Daniel? Never split her fucking legs for anyone.”
She stared me out as my fingers circled her throat, the compression I forced over her larynx made a strange squeak. Her pupils fired, her tongue peeked out, her chest heaved, her breasts pushing into my chest. The bitch was aroused. Well fuck!
I smirked at her. “You want to fuck, swan? You want to show me just how fucking holy you are?”
The smile that lifted her lips was dirty and depraved. “There’s nothing holy about the way I fuck… Master.”
The Salvation of Daniel (The Blue Butterfly Book 2) Page 7
