A loud whoosh escaped her mouth and she doubled over, or at least as far as she could with her arms tied over her head.
The two men worked to fasten her wrists to the cross. They removed the pole and bent to secure her ankles. She kicked free and clocked one of them in the jaw.
“Fucking bitch!” He worked his jaw side to side, then whipped his hand out to grab her ankle. With a tug, he yanked her foot to the side.
Her entire body dropped and she cried out as she fell, suspended only by the cuffs around her wrists. Quickly, he buckled her ankle to the bottom of the cross.
Working beside him, the other man did the same with her opposite leg. She was now spread eagle, legs apart, with her hands secured overhead. Her back was to me and I could no longer see her face.
“Tonight, Kate will pay; a life for a life.” My Monster’s voice filled with profound loss.
“You fucking monster. You won’t get away with this. My Master will hunt you down. He’ll kill you.”
My Monster looked to his audience and his lip curled in a sneer. “My brother is a pansy-assed idiot. This time he’ll be too late.” Hatred spilled from his mouth with the mention of a brother. He turned to the woman and drew a kill line across his throat with his index finger.
Finally, it clicked.
This isn’t your monster.
Josh has a twin.
It had to be because it explained how he looked, sounded, and acted like Josh. I felt sure of it.
Only, if that was the case, it generated more questions than it answered.
They weren’t just identical. They were indistinguishable. How was that possible? I understood identical twins. Everyone knew about twins, but there were always subtle differences.
This man looked, and moved, exactly like My Monster.
He continued on, saying how Kate would suffer before paying the ultimate price. She twisted in her bonds, trying to free herself, but her efforts were futile.
The man who wasn’t My Monster approached me. Our gazes locked. Tension lined his eyes and the muscles of his jaw bunched. He stopped in front of me, his gaze wandering over the intricate rope work with what looked like admiration.
Without saying a word, he continued to the wall behind me. I couldn’t see what he did unless I swung myself around, but I didn’t dare move. If I put myself in a spin, I wouldn’t be able to keep my eye on the room, and there was no way in hell I would willingly put my back to those men.
Not-Josh walked past me. A bullwhip coiled in his grip and death stirred in the jade-green depths of his eyes. His fingers gripped the handle and he shook out the coils until they trailed behind him.
“I’ve been looking forward to this for a very long time. It’s going to be my pleasure making you pay.” His arm drew back then snapped forward. It sounded like a bullet went off, but it was only the cracking of the whip.
Kate screamed as he tore into her back, cutting through the fabric of her shirt and drawing blood.
He paced around her, muttering about his father, her crimes, how he would make her suffer. Every now and then, he struck her with the whip.
Each time, she screamed.
It didn’t take long before her shirt was saturated with her blood. Tiny cuts crisscrossed the expanse of her back and her entire body shook. She hung from her wrists, sobbing, as his arm snapped forward and back.
Forward and back.
Tears spilled down my cheeks. I winced with each crack of the whip. But there was nothing I could do for the poor woman.
For the first time, I felt true fear. What was to keep him from turning that whip on me?
The two men who brought Kate into the room moved to stand on either side of me. I closed my eyes and wished them away. They responded by spreading their legs in a broad stance and crossing their hands lightly in front of themselves, like some modified form of parade rest. They said nothing as they bracketed me.
The whipping continued until only tatters of Kate’s shirt remained. Soaked through, what had once been white was now blood red.
I cried for her as breath huffed in and out of the poor woman. Her legs shook as she struggled to stand, but each strike of the whip took the strength from her until she sagged in her bonds.
The men on the couches looked on with eager expressions plastered on their faces. Feral and depraved, they lapped up her screams and soaked in her misery.
Each crack of the whip brought smiles to their faces as Kate cried out in agony.
“This is what I have to offer,” not-Josh said. “Pure, unadulterated pain. Your clients will watch behind the safety of privacy shields, or they can choose to participate and deal the killing blow. Depending on your clients tastes, rape can be a part of this. Not simulated rape with a willing slave who performs as the client demands. This is one-hundred percent real. And for an extra fee, they can designate who they want killed and we will make it happen.”
“Impressive.” The evil man rubbed his hands on his knees.
“Every event will be tailored to the client’s demands. Rape. Torture. Maiming. Whatever floats their boat. And the pièce de résistance …”
The man clapped. “Bravo, but how will my clients be protected? Murder for pay is risky business.”
“A man who runs death matches isn’t concerned about legality. I’m certain you’ve figured that part out.”
“You seem to know a lot about my business.”
“We share common friends. My connections remain strong despite my incarceration and I’ve spent time reestablishing those relationships. And I’m looking forward to observing your operation.”
“I see.” Carson shifted back in his seat.
Not-Josh’s arm drew back and a crack rent the air.
Kate Summers no longer screamed. A low groan escaped her ravaged body. The despair and defeat in that sound ripped me apart from the inside out. Josh told me not to speak, but he said nothing about blubbering sobs. My cries filled the room, overtaking the devastating ruin that was Kate Summers.
He gripped Kate’s jaw. Lifting her head, he turned it roughly back and forth, then let go. Her chin dropped.
I didn’t think she was conscious.
The glint of a knife flashed seconds before he slashed her neck. Blood spurted across his chest as his hand shot forward. He gripped her throat and his guttural voice echoed in the room.
“Last time, I held the cut across your neck to keep you from bleeding out. I’ll do that for you now, but you won’t die from that. Your very last breath will be the one I choose.” He tightened his grip.
Kate sagged in her bonds and a gurgle escaped as she tried to breathe. Her body convulsively jerked, then stilled a few seconds later.
Not-Josh snapped the fingers of his free hand and the men beside me jogged toward him.
“Get rid of her.” He held her against the cross while the two men unbuckled her legs and then her wrists.
“Hang on a moment.” The evil man placed two fingers alongside Kate’s neck. After a few seconds, he gave a sharp nod. “Dead as a doornail. Well done, and might I say intoxicating.” He took in a deep breath. “I can definitely see more participants than observers.”
Not-Josh lifted Kate’s body off the cross and threw her into the arms of one of the guards. “Take out the trash.”
Her body hung limply over the guard’s shoulder as he headed toward the exit.
Not-Josh turned to me then made a point of looking back toward the couches. He clapped his hands, a sharp retort, which had me jerking in the rope.
“Music. Slaves. And more fucking. Whatever your heart desires.”
A shrill sound filled the room. The evil man pulled out his cellphone from his breast pocket and lifted it to his ear. He cocked his head, listening to whomever was on the other line. Then he looked to Not-Josh.
“My partner is interested in pursuing this further.”
“We can discuss business in a bit.” Not-Josh wiped the sweat from his brow. “I need to get the bitch’s blood off of me.”
<
br /> Without another word, or glance toward me, he marched out of the room. The other guard returned to stand by my side and resumed his modified parade rest.
My insides twisted in knots and I thought I was going to get sick.
Don’t jump to conclusions.
I know!
But how could I forget what I had just seen? And heard?
Chapter 44
“You’re going to wear a hole in the carpet.” Mitzy looked at me, making an exaggerated eye roll. It seemed to be an expression Kate’s perky assistant had mastered.
Everything she did was like that: over the top, larger than life, greater, better, or worse than it really was.
“You have major trust issues,” she continued with her flippant monologue, telling me everything I was doing wrong.
She didn’t know the half of my issues surrounding trust. There was no one, literally, in this world who I trusted.
“Trust?” I glared at her. “Is that what you think this is?”
Clara was in the other room, helpless and suspended in front of monsters, and Mitzy was giving me grief about wearing a hole in the carpet? The girl had no idea the restraint I displayed while Jake was in there instead of me.
“Stop pacing and take a deep breath,” Mitzy said. “Everything is going as planned.”
I pointed to the video feed of the other room and tried to keep my voice level.
My brother laid into Kate with a fury I never expected.
“How can you sit there and watch that?”
“I’m not watching. And what does it matter? Kate’s the Mistress of Pain. She didn’t earn that name for nothing.”
“It’s brutal.”
Mitzy shrugged. “It’s what they do. I don’t judge. You shouldn’t either.”
I was no stranger to sadism. For most of my life, I considered myself a hard-core sadist, at least until I met Clara. She turned everything I knew on its head.
I still craved control. There would be no denying my basic makeup, but there were many ways to dominate without inflicting pain.
Clara taught me this. She showed me how the connection we forged could be more powerful than any of the rest. I didn’t need to hurt her to obtain gratification. Hell, all I had to do was be in the same room with my sweet Clara. With her beside me, I could do anything. Be anything. Most importantly, she made me want to be the kind of man she could love.
Kate and Jake took masochism and sadism to the extreme. We’d talked about making our little production realistic, but not with that degree of brutality.
Mistress of Pain?
I severely underestimated Kate Summers.
“I’m not judging.” I pulled at the roots of my hair with frustration because that was exactly what I had done. “I didn’t expect it to be that brutal.”
“They’re doing great. It’s totally believable, and it’s magnificent.”
“It’s disgusting.”
“Coming from you that’s kind of funny.” She cocked her head. “Something’s different about you.” Mitzy propped her tiny fists on her slender hips. “You’re almost human.”
“Almost human?”
“Yeah, you know, like a living, breathing, compassionate human being. You’ve lost your disgusting edge.”
“Is that so?” I had to suffer through another exaggerated eye roll before she answered.
“Yeah, you’re not a psychopath after all. Who knew?” She pointed to the video feed. “After the things you did, I’m surprised any of that bothers you.”
It did.
Every bit of it turned my stomach and put a sour taste in my mouth.
“I’m surprised it doesn’t bother you,” I said, countering.
Mitzy shrugged. “It’s no worse than watching a horror movie. Compared to the things you’ve done, this is tame.”
Her continued reference to my past crimes had the fine hairs at the back of my neck lifting. Those were things I didn’t want to remember, and I certainly didn’t need this slip of a girl reminding me of the monstrous things I’d done. I knew what I’d done.
And I most certainly didn’t need to relive it. Shit, my hands were shaking. I put my palm to my face and dragged it down to my jaw. I’d been the worst human being.
Honestly, I hadn’t expected to react this strongly to what was happening in the other room. Flashbacks haunted me. Images of Kate and Lily strung up from beams in that abandoned warehouse.
Lily’s screams.
The flash of a knife.
Blood.
There’d been so much blood.
“I served my time.” I barely kept my voice from shaking. Shit, I needed to sit down. I needed to stop watching the feed from the other room.
“No, you didn’t.” Her eyelids fluttered and she looked at me as if I was an idiot.
“I have the parole papers to prove it.” I didn’t know why I felt a need to defend myself, but I did.
“That doesn’t change what you did.” She crossed her arms and hitched a hip on the counter. Her steady stare told me exactly what she thought of me.
“We’re not having this conversation. I don’t have to prove myself to you, or anyone.” I didn’t have time for this shit, and hell if I cared what she thought about me.
Except you do care.
Shut up.
In the other room, my brother rained devastation down on Kate. She sagged in her bonds and appeared to be unconscious. Jake stopped whipping her and moved around to the front of the cross. It wouldn’t be long now before he dealt the final blow.
“You’d still be in jail if it weren’t for Kate,” Mitzy continued the pointless conversation.
I spun around. “She had nothing to do with my release.”
“You’re not that stupid. At least Jake isn’t so thickheaded. How do you think a serial rapist received a commuted sentence? You think that just happened?”
I assumed exactly that.
Overcrowding in the penal system resulted in many criminals serving abbreviated sentences. Although, I now was beginning to think other forces had been at play.
All of this had been my plan, but in reality, it had been orchestrated by Kate, Mitzy, and Lily long before I found myself in that parking lot outside the prison.
They planned every detail from my early release to acquiring Clara at the auction. I adjusted their plan, tweaking it to ensure success, but at the center of it all, Kate, Mitzy, and Lily choreographed this insanity.
I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.
The whole operation made me feel like I was covered in filth. That wasn’t the kind of man I wanted to become and Mitzy thought I was a psychopath. Would I never escape the demons of my past?
I’d been brainwashed by my father and forced to do unspeakable things because of the crazy infesting his mind, but I wasn’t evil. Not that I tried to justify my actions, but damn if I didn’t feel victimized by the whole thing.
My life could have been different.
So many choices led me down the wrong path. What I wouldn’t give to go back and chose left instead of right. I shook my head. Wishing and wanting were useless things. The only person responsible for my life was me, and it was past time to own up to it all.
Mitzy knew nothing about the kind of man I could be, and I wouldn’t let her define me.
“What we’re doing will save lives.” Mitzy gestured to the live video feed. “Here we go. Get ready.”
Jake slit Kate’s throat and strangled her in front of a room of real psychopaths, sociopaths, and villainous men. They were the true monsters.
Not me.
Damnit all.
Not me!
We had a couple minutes before Jake and I swapped out. On screen, Kate’s death played out.
“Save?” I stalked away from Kate’s friend. “What about the girls we didn’t save? The ones from the auction who are living in hell? We didn’t save them.”
Mitzy gave another dramatic eye roll. “You think we let those men take those girls?”
“What are you saying?” I stopped in my tracks.
“You really are a fool,” she said with a snort. “We didn’t abandon those girls. Men are so dense.” Her derisive snort pierced the air.
I rushed her, gripped her throat, and held her against the wall. Her toes dangled a few inches above the floor and her heels kicked against the baseboards while the whites of her eyes showed.
“What are you saying?”
She clutched at my hand, trying to peel my fingers away from her throat. My grip tightened. Her face turned blue, deepened to purple, and the capillaries of her cheeks burst.
The door behind us banged open.
“Oh my God!” Xavier’s slave, Raven, raced into the room. A fiery ball of fury, she attacked me with her tiny fists. “Let her go!” She tried to peel my fingers from around Mitzy’s throat.
I released Mitzy and she dropped to the floor where she clutched at her throat and gasped.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” My words came out in a guttural roar. “If you rescued those girls, you placed us all in danger. You put Clara in danger. That’s not something you can hide, and you can bet Carson investigated all those buyers. He looked into them, their pasts, and likely what they’re doing with their new acquisitions right now. You’ve jeopardized everything!”
Mitzy gripped her throat, gagging and coughing, as she looked at me with murder in her eyes.
I stepped close, invading her space, fists clenched tight as Raven punched me in the gut. Her small frame held zero power and I batted her away like a gnat.
“I’m fucking serious.” I pressed Mitzy to explain. “You’ve ruined this operation.”
“You really are a bastard, you know that?” Mitzy rubbed at her throat.
“And you’re a fucking bitch. Tell me what you meant.”
“Fine!” Mitzy’s voice croaked and she worked to swallow against the swelling in her throat. “Did you really think we’d do nothing for those girls and just send them off to be raped?”
“That’s exactly what I thought.” It’s what they said would happen.
My job was to buy a girl and make her mine.
I bought Clara and trained her to be a perfect slave. All those other girls were collateral damage, consigned to their fates as hapless victims I couldn’t save.
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