His Battered Submissive (Restrained Fantasies Book 3)

by Brandi Evans

  "Do you think for one goddamn second I'd pull you away right now if it wasn't important?"

  No, Carter absolutely wouldn't.

  "Fuck!" Maddox kicked the car's tire. "Be there in fif-fucking-teen minutes."

  "Hurry." The line went dead.

  Maddox grabbed the handle; he didn't see the redheaded man with the gun until it was too late.

  Katlyn wasn't sure how much time had passed when voices—one male and one female—announced new arrivals. Sarge lifted his head from her knee as a pretty brunette ambled into the room with the aid of a crutch and a handsome blond billionaire. Katlyn didn't need an introduction to know who these two were.

  Tall and blue-eyed, Maxwell Penn looked impeccable in a midnight-blue, three-piece suit; he also looked intimidating as hell, as if he could disintegrate her with one look. Someone outside the lifestyle might look at the powerful way he held himself and mistake it for confidence or cockiness, but Katlyn knew better. This man radiated Dom like no Dom she'd ever met, and she pushed instantly to her feet. While she wouldn't classify the unease coursing through her as fear, it was damn close.

  His fiancée, Breanne Jennings, was a smile to his scowl. She wore a perfectly cut pantsuit the same shade as his suit, but the cream-colored lacy top softened her look, making her appear both feminine and formidable. Even the brace she wore on her leg didn't diminish her appeal.

  They made quite the striking power couple. In her old T-shirt and hand-me-down jeans, Katlyn felt ridiculously demure.

  Maxwell gave Katlyn the once over, his gaze disapproving. Everyone's disapproval shouldn't surprise her. Seeing his response made her feel that much shittier for what she was planning to do.

  She was doing the right thing, wasn't she?

  "Welcome, Katlyn! Oh, please sit back down. Lord knows I am." Bree ambled to the couch with the awkward gait of someone not used to moving with only one good leg. When she arrived at her destination, she eased onto the leather sofa and let out a long sigh.

  "Are you okay?" Katlyn found herself asking, her inner nurse taking over. Aside from knowing Bree had been attacked and nearly killed—twice—Katlyn knew little about her fellow sub.

  "Yes, yes. Or I will be soon." Bree offered a smile. "Sitting for long periods is still hard, and traffic was brutal on our way home."

  "We should have arranged to be driven home in one of the SUVs," Maxwell said, a hint of Britain playing through his words.

  "I prefer riding in the Jaguar. It makes me feel posh." Bree mimicked his accent and failed spectacularly. Still, a smile split the Dom's lips, and god, if that wasn't a game-changer. Smiling, he was stunning.

  "So you've said, my sweet." He caught her by the chin and tilted her face up for a quick kiss. "Now, I'll let you two talk while I get your ice pack, pillow, and a hazelnut latte."

  "You're too good to me, Mr. Penn." Affection laced Bree's smile, the kind few couples ever quite seemed to reach, and once again, Katlyn found herself wishing she was back in Maddox's arms. Everything seemed so much simpler and safer there.

  "I'm afraid Sarge scared your cat," Katlyn said when the Dom had left. "Sarge didn't go after her or anything. He's very trained. He just sat there excitedly, shaking like a loon and wagging his tail."

  "Oh, I'm sure Tabs will punish us later, but I'll soothe things over by sneaking her some salmon or something. She's used to being Empress of all she sees." Bree gave Sarge's ears a scratch. "You were smart to stay away from her claws, though. They're lethal. Trust me, she brings them out every time it's bath day."

  Sarge barked in the way he did as if he understood everything.

  With Bree still loving on Sarge, Katlyn lowered her voice. "Thank you for agreeing to help me. I didn't know what else to do."

  Bree nodded, and although her smile was understanding and gentle, an air of disapproval still played through it. "I, of all people, know what it's like to run from a painful past. I also know that if you don't deal with it, your past can come back to bite you in the ass when you least expect it. That said, if you're truly positive this is what you want to do, then there's no sense going it alone. Max has connections, and he'll use every single one to make sure you disappear."

  "I don't want to disappear or leave Maddox. It's the only way I have to protect him from himself."

  "I get that. I'd give my own life to protect my Max. Hell, I almost did."

  "That's how I feel about Maddox, which is why I have to leave. I have to protect him, at all costs, even if that cost is my life or my happiness."

  Bree paused for a long moment. "So, it's okay for you to risk your life to save him, but it's not okay for him to risk his life to save you?"

  Katlyn opened her mouth, but she had no valid argument. She'd decided to keep him from risking his life for her, and in doing so, she'd put herself in danger to keep him safe. She'd risked her life to stop him from risking his. She'd flipped their roles. She'd never looked at it that way.

  "I love him." In the end, it was all Katlyn could say.

  "And that's a valid reason to do almost anything," Bree said, "but on the flip side, love can also make people do the stupidest things. It can make you go right when going left should be bloody obvious. Max and I almost didn't learn that in time, and it nearly destroyed us, didn't it, my love?"

  Katlyn looked over to see Max with an ice pack, a pillow she'd swear was shaped like a llama, and a steaming latte.

  Max didn't answer Bree's question. Instead, he handed his fiancée the latte and then grabbed one of the throw pillows and set it on the coffee table. With the delicate touch of an expert artisan picking up his most cherished work, he lifted Bree's injured leg and set it on the pillow. After removing the brace, he draped the ice pack over her knee. His actions were a sweet contrast to his otherwise stern command and made her yearn for her own Dom.

  When he'd finished, he pushed to his feet and spoke to his fiancée. "I've got some more calls to make before we can get our guest on her way. I'll let you know when the final details are in place."

  "Thank you, my love, but before you go…" Bree crooked her finger and lured him in for a quick kiss.

  Before turning to leave the room, the Dom gave Katlyn a displeased glance that landed dead center of her chest, exactly where her heart was already breaking.

  "What would you do, Mr. Penn?" Katlyn asked before he could make his exit. "In my place, what would you do?"

  He turned back to her, but he didn't speak, simply stood in the center of the living room like a vengeful god whose subject had addressed him without permission.

  "Easy, Ms. Matthews. I'd do whatever I had to do, sacrifice whatever I had to sacrifice to keep the woman I loved at my side. Nothing is more important to me than us staying together."

  Katlyn hadn't known what he might say, but she hadn't expected something so heartfelt and moving.

  He returned to Bree's side and took her hand as he sat beside her. "Several months ago, someone took Bree and hurt her to get revenge on me. I didn't know whether she was alive or dead. I didn't know what the maniac who took her was doing to—"

  His voice broke, and Bree pulled his hand to her lips. Their expressions spoke volumes. So much pain and love passed between them that it made Katlyn ache, but she was also awed by their passion. These two had been through hell and back. They'd survived. The knowledge was a hammer strike to her resolve to disappear.

  Max managed a deep breath before continuing. "The hours she was missing were the most brutal I'd ever experienced. I wouldn't wish that kind of hell on my worst enemies, and it's a hell I imagine your Dom's going through right now."

  The crack in her resolve turned into a gaping crevasse. Oh god. Max was right. Katlyn had been so caught up in what she thought she had to do that she hadn't stopped to think about how leaving would devastate Maddox, but she should have.

  She should have.

  He'd said her death would destroy him. He'd already lived a month of not knowing whether she was alive or dead, and she'd just
put him right back in that hell. Goddamn it, she was a terrible person.

  "I have to call him." Katlyn pushed to her feet on shaky legs and dug her cell from her purse. "Have to apologize."

  Behind her, Bree offered Max a triumphant smile.

  Katlyn's finger's trembled as she hit the round icon with his smiling face. The device rang and rang and rang, but he didn't answer. She tried not to let that get to her. There could be a myriad of reasons he wasn't responding. He was just on the phone with someone and trying to find her. Yes, that was it. He most certainly wasn't hurt and avoiding her.

  She tried again, and a familiar voice answered on the fourth ring. "Hello, bitch."

  Jeff.

  Her knees gave out, and she hit the hardwood floor like a marionette whose strings were cut.

  Sarge let out a loud bark and came running.

  Somehow, she managed to keep from dropping the phone. "What did you do to Maddox?"

  "What? No hello for your dear husband? That's unacceptable. You'll have to be punished."

  Over the line, a sickening thud and Maddox's stifled bark of pain made her clutch her stomach. Jeff had punched and kicked her enough times that she recognized the sound.

  "Please stop!" The words flew from her mouth. "Oh, god, Jeff, please stop. Please don't hurt him. I'll do whatever you want, just don't hurt him again."

  Bree had wobbled over behind a sprinting Max. They took one look at her, back to each other, and then Max was on his phone. Bree lowered gingerly to the floor and sat with Katlyn.

  "Oh, I am going to hurt him," Jeff said. "A lot. And I'm going to keep hurting him until you get here. And maybe then, once you're here, I'll stop hurting him. Or maybe, I'll put a bullet between his mother-fucking eyes after I make him watch me fuck you. We'll see."

  A million tiny razor blades sliced through her chest and stomach simultaneously. Maddox. She'd killed him as entirely as if she'd stabbed him in the heart. She'd killed the man she loved. She'd made her nightmares a reality.

  "Where are you? I'll come to you," she said, even as Bree shook her head wildly. "But you must promise to let him go. If you do, I won't fight you anymore. I'll go willingly. But if you hurt him again, I swear to god I'll do whatever I have to do to take you down."

  Jeff laughed—and kicked or punched Maddox again.

  "Be here in twenty minutes," Jeff said. "I'll text the exact location. Come alone. No cops. And trust me, I'll know if you call anyone. My friends are monitoring your phone, and if I get even a whiff of cop, I'll kill your little fuck toy. And I'll do it slowly."

  And with that, the line went dead.

  Two subsequent texts came back to back. The first was an address. The second was a picture of Maddox tied to a chair in the middle of what she imagined was a warehouse. A piece a silver tape covered his mouth, and his face, the gorgeous face she loved, sported a myriad of blooming bruises. Blood trickled from his nose and spread across his cheek.

  Oh, Maddox…

  She willed the tears away. She didn't have time for a breakdown. Maddox needed her.

  "I have to, to, to…" Katlyn tried to stand, but her legs and brain didn't seem to work at the same time.

  Max helped her to her feet and held her firm, as if afraid she might topple again.

  She handed Max her phone, the address showing. "I have to get, to get here in twenty minutes. Please help me."

  Chapter 23

  Harris had punched him, kicked him, used a taser on him, kicked and punched him several more times, but none of it hurt Maddox as much as seeing Kat step into the abandoned warehouse.

  She wore a sweatshirt he'd never seen before, with Make Fit Happen written in bold letters across the front. She held her arms up in a position of surrender. The only thing she carried was her keychain.

  Their eyes locked, and her fear, her defiance, and her love for him shone clearly, a beacon in the dark. He hoped she could feel his love for her, too, and that she'd turn around immediately and leave him to his fate.

  But running wasn't a possibility. Harris was already beside the door. The monitor on the table to the right had shown her approach. The screen showed four sections, one for each of the warehouse's entrances. He'd been giddy as she approached, and Maddox had felt his life ebbing away with each footstep.

  Kat glanced around the room before turning her attention to Harris. Even from here, the straightening of her shoulders was visible. Terrified, she was still defiant.

  "You're alone," she said.

  "Very observant, bitch." Harris telegraphed his next move, and Maddox could see the backhand coming long before it landed and knocked Kat to the concrete floor.

  She struck the ground with a thud Maddox swore he felt in his own body. She groaned with the pain. Maddox strained against his bindings, against the tape covering his mouth. Goddamn it, he needed to get to her, needed to get her out of here. He needed to save her!

  "Shut the fuck up, asshole," Harris snapped at him, pointing Maddox's own Glock at him. "This isn't about you, but don't worry, I'll get to you soon enough."

  Fuck you!

  Harris grabbed Kat by the hair and yanked her to her feet. She didn't make a single whimper as the man who'd terrorized her for years dragged her to Maddox.

  Harris jammed the barrel of the Glock at the soft spot beneath Kat's chin. "Take a good, hard look at your fucktoy," he said, so close that Kat could no doubt feel his putrid breath on her face. "You signed his death warrant the first time you let him fuck you, so when I kill him—oh, and I will kill him—I want you to know it's your fault."

  Tears made her eyes look huge. "I love you, Maddox."

  I love you, too. Maddox willed her to hear the words he couldn't physically speak. He wanted her to know he didn't regret being with her, not for one second, even if this was the outcome. The only thing he regretted was not being able to keep her safe. He'd made a promise and again failed her when she'd needed him most.

  "You love him!" Harris yanked her around to face him and punched her in the stomach. "I'm your goddamn husband. I'm the one you should be saying that to."

  "No." Even partially bent over to combat the pain, struggling to breathe, Kat defied him. "You're not my husband anymore. I fucking hate you!"

  "Bitch!" Another backhand sent her sprawling back to the floor. The keys in her hand clanked as she hit the ground, but the sound was quickly eclipsed by her hiccupping wails of pain as Harris landed one and then two kicks to her midsection.

  Maddox yanked against his restraints until a searing pain tore down his arm, but even then, he didn't stop fighting. He had to get free, had to save Kat.

  His hands were bound behind him, and his legs were fastened to the front two legs of the chair. If he managed to tip the chair to the side, would it shatter? If it did, would he be able to get to his feet before Harris riddled him with bullets? Probably not. And if he were dead, he wouldn't be able to help Kat.

  Fuck!

  With one last kick, Harris stumbled away from Kat. She mumbled something, and he'd have sworn two of those words were "Roger that," which made no damn sense. That was a response to a —

  Holy fuck!

  Was she wired?

  He'd no sooner made the deduction when a dozen things happened simultaneously. Kat pushed onto her knees and jabbed the keychain taser he'd given her into Harris' groin. His howl rang through the room as another howl punctured the air, this one the canine battle cry of a fierce warrior.

  From the corner of his eyes, Maddox caught a brief glimpse of Sarge as he charged past Maddox and leaped at Harris. As Sarge tackled Harris, Kat dove for Maddox. At the same moment, in a last desperate move before Sarge wrestled him to the ground, Harris lifted his arm, aimed the Glock at Kat, and pulled the trigger.

  Being shot felt an awful lot like being kicked again, and she didn't care for it.

  But Katlyn pushed past the pain and did her best to wrap herself around Maddox, shielding him as much as she could. If she kept her body between his and the com
motion behind her, where the rest of Max's security detail or cops or whoever were converging on Jeff, then hopefully, she could keep any stray bullets from slamming into Maddox, letting the vest Max had put on her protect them both.

  She held tight to the man she loved as the pounding of feet, the shouting of orders, and Sarge's violent growls created a cacophony of noise that almost managed to drown out Maddox's frantic, muffled cries. He must have realized she'd been shot, but he didn't know she was wearing a vest.

  "I'm okay," she said over the noise, even though she wasn't sure he could hear her. "I'm okay. You're okay. We're okay." And somehow, she'd find a way to make sure they stayed okay for the rest of their life.

  Jeff's voice rose as the rest of the noise died down. "Fucking bastards. Let me go. Let me go! I have powerful friends."

  "Settle the fuck down, asshole," Carter said, sounding close enough that she risked lifting her head and looking back.

  Jeff was in custody, surrounded on both sides by burly cops who were forcing him away from her.

  "You're gonna pay for this," Jeff said. "He's on his way right now, and he'll kill you all!"

  Sarge pressed his nose to Katlyn's cheek and then to Maddox's as if to say, "You're okay, humans. I saved you."

  "You got him," she was saying to Carter as he knelt beside the trio.

  "No," Carter said, "we got him. Your bravery made it possible."

  She didn't have time to respond because Maddox was grunting and squirming like crazy. Shoot! He was still gagged and restrained.

  "Sorry," she said before yanking the tape from his mouth. There was just no easy way to do that.

  "Kat was shot," Maddox said the moment he could speak, voice damp with fear. "Get me untied."

  "Shot? Where?" Carter dragged her onto her knees and ran his hands over her torso. "Get the paramedics over here," he bellowed over his shoulder.

  "I'm okay." She put a hand on her flank and said, "Vest caught it." She turned to Maddox and held her sweatshirt up so he could see the vest Max had put on her after she'd asked for his help.