Vengeance: A Dark Billionaire Romance (Empire Sin)

by Isabella Starling

  He picked her up and swung her over his shoulder, and the girl squealed with delight when he took her inside the house. Her mother was standing next to the stove, cooking something delicious. It smelled lovely.

  “Hi, my darling,” her father greeted the woman, pressing a kiss to her full lips, just like her daughter’s. The woman laughed, and the girl smiled even wider. “What’s for dinner then?”

  “Lasagna, your favorite.” The woman winked at the little girl and took her from her father’s arms, while the man stirred the meaty sauce in the pot. The little girl was happy, almost deliriously so. This was her favorite thing in the world, having both of her parents in the same room and doting on her. She wasn’t spoiled, but she did love attention.

  They spent the next half hour chatting about this and that, and the little girl showed her father everything she’d done while he’d been away. She reveled in his praise, grinning wide as he complimented her drawings and beaming with pride when he complimented her Lego sculptures. She showed him around her room, every toy perfectly in its place, and he commended her on keeping her room neat and clean. She did everything for him, and every word that came from his lips ingrained itself in her memory, ensuring she’d never forget what her father liked, and would never stop trying to please him.

  She loved her mother, of course, but she was undeniably a Daddy’s girl, living for those moments when her father came home from his long work trips and spent some time with her.

  The little family sat down to dinner in the dining room. The girl sat in her chair at the head of the table, and she felt so very happy, as happy as she’d ever been.

  They tucked into their dinner when the monsters came out. Fingers of darkness, shadowy and evil, sneaking from under the table, seeping through the walls of the room like blood and turning the whole scene crimson and black at the same time. The girl tried to scream, but the fingers invaded her mouth, snaking their way down her throat and shutting her up for good. They filled her nostrils, filled her ears with evil whispers and screams she’d never be able to forget, and they ruined her beautiful dinner with her family, carrying the name of the man who sent them, the man who was going to tear her beautiful, perfect family apart.

  Knight, Carter Knight. Laughing, screaming and whispering the name over and over again, inside her head, inside her tiny little body, the name being forcefully engraved into her young skin until she screamed with unbearable pain.

  She screamed so loud but no one heard. No one could save her, and she watched the shadowy figures drag her parents away into the darkness.

  It was all gone, her perfect family, everything she loved, everyone she cared for, wiped away when the monsters came and took everything into the abyss.

  I felt hands on me, heavy hands touching me in places that felt too intimate, too close for comfort, too hard to be innocent, and I screamed at the top of my lungs.

  My hands flew up and I hit, I scratched, I pummeled my little fists into the person holding me down while I screamed, tried to get them off me at any cost. I needed to be safe, I needed to get away, I needed Mommy, and most of all, I needed Daddy to keep me safe like he promised he always would.

  “Evangeline!”

  The voice was deep, but in the darkness I couldn’t make out its owner.

  I stopped hitting him when his grip tightened and his hands forced my own away from his body. His face came into focus and I stared at him with my heart pounding, trying to understand what was going on.

  And it was him. The man from my nightmares, the man who’d taken everything away from me, just because he could. A sob wracked my body and I turned away so I didn’t have to look at his painfully handsome face. It hurt too much to look at him. It brought back too many memories.

  “You’re okay,” he told me. “You’re okay, little girl. It’s all okay now, you’re safe, please don’t worry.”

  I let him hold me and I let myself calm down a little. I accepted his arms around me and pretended I felt safe. My heart was still pounding, but slowly the adrenaline drained from my body until I felt like I was nothing but an empty shell.

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered, and my body shook as he held me up to his chest. “I’m sorry, I was having a dream.”

  “I know,” he said, and I felt his lips touching the top of my head. A kiss…

  We lay there quietly and I forced myself not to sob in the arms of the man I hated.

  “What did you dream about, little girl?” he asked, his lips pressed tightly against my hair. “Tell me what kind of nightmares a girl like you could have…”

  For a moment, I really wished I could. I wished I could tell him everything, from the very beginning, and let him make it all better for me. But I couldn’t let that happen. I couldn’t let myself trust the man who’d torn my family apart.

  My father had made the same mistake, and he’d paid for it dearly.

  I kept quiet, my mouth shut as he stroked my hair.

  “Evangeline…” His voice was soft, and I wondered if I’d ever get used to hearing my name on his lips. I really didn’t think he’d use it, especially not as freely as he appeared to be doing right now.

  He seemed to realize I wasn’t going to answer him, and his arms tightened around me. His nails dug into my skin and my heart started pounding in fear again.

  Had I really hit him?

  Before, when I was waking up from my dream… I was so scared, still convinced someone was out to get me. I would’ve done anything to get those monsters off me. But now I wasn’t sure whether the man I shared a bed with really was the monster from my nightmares or not.

  “You hit me,” he said. “And scratched. And bit.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said in a shaky voice. “I didn’t–”

  “I don’t care, Angel,” he said roughly, and moved away from me.

  My body felt the loss of his arms around me, my skin feeling cold and strange without his palms on me.

  “You know I’ll have to punish you for that?”

  His question was simple, yet it made my blood freeze in my veins. He’d punished me before, with the dinner thing, but I thought now it would be different. That punishment wasn’t nearly severe enough, and something in his hardened gaze told me he wouldn’t make the same mistake again.

  I realized I was back to being scared of him. Not just scared, so terrified I couldn’t even bring myself to look at the man. It was too dark anyway, the room enveloped in darkness from the night outside.

  He didn’t bother turning on a light as he pulled a shirt over his head and covered his naked torso. I stared firmly at the bedding.

  “Come with me, little girl,” he said, and my fingers bunched the sheets up nervously.

  “W-where are we g-going?” I stuttered. I barely recognized my own voice. I’d never sounded that frightened in my head.

  “To the playroom,” he said simply. “Where bad girls get what they deserve.”

  I stared at the bed. My eyes were dancing over the crinkles in the all-white Egyptian cotton, and I was so afraid I barely saw anything in front of me. I wanted to run, but I knew I didn’t stand a chance. If he wanted to punish me, he was going to do it. And the longer I resisted it, the worse I’d get it in the end.

  “I’m scared,” I said, but he ignored me completely. Or maybe I’d only really said it in my head.

  I forced myself to my feet. I was still naked from the previous night, and he was wearing pajama bottoms and a simple gray shirt. I wanted to get it over with. I wanted to forget that his touch had ever made me feel good.

  I walked over to him on legs so shaky it was a wonder I didn’t collapse on the spot.

  “Good girl,” he said roughly, but I knew it didn’t change a thing.

  He opened the door of the bedroom and led me into the hallway, down the whole length to it and then up some stairs that seemed to lead into the attic.

  It was a huge open space, with ceilings so high I couldn’t touch them if I stood on my tiptoes and reached all
the way up with my arms. I could barely make out anything beside that. It seemed to be filled with some kind of equipment that I couldn’t make out in the darkness.

  Carter held the door open for me, and motioned for me to walk inside. I did, so slowly it almost hurt.

  He closed the door behind us, and when I heard the key turning in the lock, my heart pounded even faster.

  I hugged my naked body with my own arms when he switched the lights on.

  “Welcome to my playground, little toy,” he told me, his voice hot against my neck.

  I shivered, but it only made him chuckle. I realized he was probably getting excited because of my discomfort, and it scared me even more. But I wouldn’t let him see that.

  His fingers trailed a line down my spine.

  “See, some people collect beautiful things,” he told me as my eyes danced over the unfamiliar shapes of the items in the attic. “I think there’s no point in leaving a pretty toy like you on a shelf unused…”

  He gripped my neck with his fingers and I cried out when his other hand tugged hard on my hair.

  “I think, Angel,” he said, his voice deep and rumbling. “The best toys are meant to be broken.”

  I whimpered.

  “Because my favorite thing is putting them back together and finding all the new ways to break them again.”

  Seven

  Carter

  Her skin almost looked luminous in the darkness. I turned on a single light, dimming it just enough to keep the atmosphere in the room a little mysterious. Angel looked scared as hell as her eyes took in the room.

  I’d been going easy on her for much too long. I should’ve shown her this room on the day I brought her home. I felt like a jackass for waiting this long. She needed to learn her place – something both of us tended to forget.

  “Pick something you want to use,” I said in her ear.

  I could feel her panic coming off her in waves, so I nudged her gently and she moved forward.

  She walked between the various pieces of equipment, her fingers touching the leather, the wood. She seemed curious but frightened at the same time, and I felt my cock responding to her natural instincts.

  “I don’t know what any of this stuff does,” she said, looking at me over her shoulder.

  I raised my gaze from her pert little ass to those beautiful eyes.

  “Would you like something simpler?” I asked her. I couldn’t believe the words coming from my mouth. Was I actually giving her a choice? This girl was messing with my head, and the worst part was, I wasn’t sure I hated it.

  “Yes, please.” She came to stand closer to me, her eyes dancing over my face nervously. She wanted to say something, but she was anxious, and I was eager to find out what it was.

  “Tell me what’s on your mind, little girl,” I said softly, my fingers touching her cheek.

  “I’m scared you’ll hurt me,” she admitted. “I’m afraid of pain.”

  “But you hit me,” I reminded her with a grin. “How else am I supposed to punish you, Angel?”

  “I’m sure there’s something,” she said. “You can think of something, can’t you?”

  She reached for me with her small hands, but seemed to change her mind halfway. I stared at her wrists held together like that and got the perfect idea of what I was going to do to her. My cock stiffened at the thought of it.

  “Follow me,” I told her, and she fell into step behind me meekly as I led her deeper into the playroom.

  I walked over to some hanging equipment and picked my favorite rope off it. It wasn’t too rough against the skin, but it was strong enough to hold her tight when she was bound. There was no way she could break free from it.

  “Sit down,” I told her, patting a leather bench in a corner of the room. “Right here, Angel, come on.”

  She only hesitated for a moment before sitting down demurely and making me laugh out loud.

  “Not like that,” I told her. “Spread your legs. I want you to ride it.”

  She blushed but did as she was told, and I knelt down next to her, tying her ankles first. I made sure she couldn’t move them, binding them to the legs of the bench as tightly as I dared. Her wrists followed next, and I tied them together in front of her. She seemed to exhale in relief before I raised her hands above her head.

  “W-what are you doing?” she asked as I fastened the ropes around her wrists to a hook above her head. “Please… I don’t understand.”

  “Just something to keep you on your toes,” I told her simply, and she whimpered as I secured her arms above her head, stretching her skinny body tight. “Remember, this is a punishment, Angel. I can’t let you get away with everything.”

  Of course, we both knew I was lying. It was minimal, what she’d done. A reaction she couldn’t have stopped, something that came from her dream not her fear of me. But I should’ve punished her much more for what she’d done in the kitchen. And my God, I wanted to do it now. If the scent coming from her was a clue, I knew she was excited as well.

  I stepped back to admire her, and she arched her back under my eyes, her tits jutting out for me so beautifully. My cock ached just looking at her like that, but I’d already decided not to fuck her that night. She didn’t deserve it, not yet. The next time I got to be inside her, I wanted her begging for it so desperately it made her cry.

  “You look beautiful like that, Angel,” I told her, and she blushed, but didn’t look away, almost daring me to say more with those eyes of hers. “You know, I have a feeling I know something about you.”

  “What’s that?” Her voice was breathy already, catching with need. I didn’t even need to look at the leather of the bench to see she was getting wet for me. It was so obvious in her shaky, needy tone.

  “I think you’re going to come so easily for me,” I told her. “I think you barely need anything to do it, barely any stimulation. Do you think I’m right, little girl?”

  She finally looked away, so I walked closer and tipped her chin back. Her eyes danced wildly across my face and I wondered whether I’d just discovered a secret she’d desperately tried to hide from everyone, including her damn self.

  “I think I am right,” I said. “And I want to see how many times we can make you come tonight.”

  “How is that a punishment?” she asked, her voice raspy and making me laugh out loud.

  “Oh, little girl,” I said with a grin. “You’re about to see.”

  I took off my shirt, and her eyes drank in every inch of my body as I tossed it to the floor. I realized she hadn’t really seen me like that. The first time I’d fucked her she was on her knees in front of me, and I was almost fully clothed. She stared at me openly, looking at every pore blackened with ink. She didn’t ask a single question though, and I wanted her to. I wanted to explain every single tattoo that marred my skin, and I promised myself in that moment that eventually, I would.

  “I bet it’s hard to sit like that,” I told her gently, moving behind her. Her shoulders tensed when she felt my breath on her neck. “I bet you want to feel me touching you… Making you feel better. Your body must feel tense like that.”

  I could feel how badly she wanted to speak, but she kept her mouth firmly shut. I almost wanted to commend her for it, but I changed my mind. Not yet. Not until she really proved what a good girl she was for me.

  “I bet you want to feel my fingers on you instead of my breath,” I told her, and she exhaled softly. “I bet you want me to ease all this fear from your shoulders.”

  I inhaled her scent, needy and sweet at the same time, and I fought my own urges. I wanted to bury myself inside her. I’d already decided I wouldn’t fuck her that night, but I needed to do something. I needed to feel some part of her on my skin.

  I moved back in front of her and she stared at me, her eyes open so wide they were watering.

  I touched her cheek and she gasped, leaning against my palm right away. She was so needy for attention it almost made me worry what Savage had done
to her before. It felt as if she’d been isolated for years, and just hungered for that touch now, hungered to be satisfied in the most primal way possible.

  Touch…

  I wanted to touch her more.

  “Do you like my voice, little girl?” I asked her, and she nodded against my palm. “Do you think my voice alone could make you come?”

  She cried out and I ignored it, letting go of her pretty face and pushing my pants down without hesitation. My cock sprang free and she hissed when she saw it, her eyes so wide those tears slipped down her cheeks.

  “Words, Angel,” I reminded her. “Respond with fucking words.”

  “I-I don’t know,” she whispered, her voice breaking.

  “We’ll see, won’t we?” I stepped out of my pants, burying my hand in her messy hair. I held her hair back just out of reach of my cock and she mewled as I reached for my balls with my free hand, weighing them in my palm.

  “You know I want to fuck you, don’t you, Evangeline?” I asked her. “You know how fucking heavy my balls feel when I’m around you? I just want to fucking come inside you, it’s driving me fucking insane.”

  “Please,” she whispered, licking her dry lips.

  She was inches away from my cock. Inches away from tasting me, and yet I wouldn’t let her. And all tied up like that, she was completely helpless, just the way I wanted her. She stared at my cock so hungrily I felt a vein throb along my length.

  “Please what?” I asked her gently, but she wouldn’t answer.

  I grabbed my cock in my fist and tugged on it, hard. Her eyes followed my every movement, and when she looked back up at me, her eyelids fluttered open and closed, open and closed, over and over again.

  “I…” she said. “I’m close now.”

  “You’re close?” I leaned down next to her, my breath hot against her cheek. “Close to coming already, little girl? I’ve barely even fucking touched you.”

  “Let me come,” she whispered, so fast I could barely make out the words. “Let me come, please.”