My games were not going completely according to plan.

Beau was smarter than I gave him credit for in the beginning. I didn’t want to admit it at first, because it felt too good to think I had him wrapped around my little finger. I loved knowing he was addicted to me, loved feeling his lingering gaze on me as I went about my business. But after what happened on my first day there, and he showed me he had a dark side to him as well, Beau decided to ignore me completely.

That night, the only thing he did was show me to my room, and I tried to hide my anger knowing he didn’t want me to sleep in his room. The bedroom he gave me was beautiful, and the luxurious Egyptian cotton sheets on the bed alone probably cost more than anything I’d ever owned.

But I felt offended that he hadn’t made a move on me. The only thing he’d done, forced his fingers inside me, took me by surprise. I was sure he’d be more careful with my virginity, but he ripped it away as if it were worth nothing to him, and what was worse, he decided to shun me afterwards and made me question every move I’d made in his presence.

I didn’t see him for two entire days. On the third day, I was lying in bed, barely awake, when I heard him walking around in the apartment, the sounds of running water slowly waking me up from my slumber. I wanted to get up and confront him, but before I could do that I heard the locks turning and he was gone.

The bastard kept locking me inside his apartment, and by the fourth day, I was painfully bored. I’d explored the whole apartment, and apart from a few locked doors, I hadn’t found anything of interest. A part of me wanted to act up just because I could have, but another part of me told me to be good and well behaved for this man who was my new master.

And the biggest part of me was afraid.

I was scared of this man, and no amount of false bravado could prevent my blood from chilling my veins whenever he was around. Maybe it was a good thing that he’d been keeping his distance. Maybe it was the only way I’d stay safe.

On the fourth day, I fell asleep on the couch after watching some TV. By that time, I had become familiar with Beau’s routine. I knew there was a maid who came into the apartment when I was sleeping. I knew he did it purposefully so I’d have nobody to talk to. Whether he was still punishing me for the messy kitchen or just trying to fuck with my head, I wasn’t sure. But the place was spotless every morning, and there was fresh food waiting for me to last me through the day.

I had just eaten my dinner, which the maid had left in the oven, and I drifted off to sleep after lunch, covered up with a soft faux fur throw from the sofa. I was getting angry. Angry, bored, and upset. I just wanted my money, and I wanted to get the hell out of there. Beau Wolfe wasn’t what I thought he would be, and I was getting restless.

I woke up because I couldn’t breathe. My breath caught in my throat as I came to, and I tried to get the oxygen into my lungs desperately. My eyes flew open in fear.

He was kneeling down next to me, both his hands wrapped around tightly around my neck.

“Please,” I croaked, and he cocked his head to the side and gave me a curious look. He looked at me like a kid who had found an injured baby bird and was trying to decide whether to save it or give it a mercy killing. Beau’s eyes glowed with interest I hadn’t seen in him before.

“Beautiful,” he muttered to himself, one hand coming up to my cheek and gently stroking it as he choked me with the other. “You look so beautiful when you let me take control, babydoll.”

“Let go,” I begged, but he didn’t move an inch. My breaths were making me wheeze and my eyes started to roll back helplessly. He was cutting off my air supply so fiercely I thought I would pass out any second.

But then something took over me, and I forced myself to raise my arms with the last bit of strength in my body. I raised them and we both looked at my shaky, helpless fingers. And then I attacked him, and fought him, because I wanted to breathe.

He seemed surprised by my suddenly found strength, and he laughed out loud when my small fists banged against his chest. Slowly, he loosened his grip on my throat until I finally felt the reassuring flow of oxygen back in my lungs.

“You can breathe,” he said gently, as if he’d just given me the best gift I could’ve asked for. “I think you deserve a few more breaths before I decide you can’t have any more.”

He let go of me and I pushed him off, grabbing my throat and coughing up a storm as I sat up on the couch. My eyes shot daggers at his face, but he merely grinned at me as I slowly came to and remembered how to breathe again.

“I think I’ve left you alone for long enough,” he growled menacingly at me, and I looked away from him, feeling uncomfortable to my very core. “It’s about time you and I started to have some fun.”

“I’m bored,” I snapped at him. “There’s absolutely nothing to do here. You can’t just leave me in this apartment and expect me not to get antsy. What on earth do you expect me to do all day, anyway?”

“Watch your fucking mouth,” he told me with a sugary smile. “Or it’s going to cost you.”

I leaned closer to him, my lips lingering merely inches away from his.

“Cost me what?” I asked softly, the words barely a whisper.

“Cost you more than your fucking pussy,” he said, grinning wide as I averted my gaze. He grabbed me by the cheeks, refusing to let go and forcing me to look into his eyes. “You know, I’m pretty sure if that sweet little pussy had never been touched, you’d still have two virginities for me to rape out of you.”

I averted my eyes at the crudeness of his words, and his fingers tightened on my cheeks.

“Look at me,” he ordered huskily, and my eyes fluttered back to him.

He stared at me intensely, his eyes burning. I drank him in, his painfully handsome features and his horribly scarred face. One brown eye and one so bright blue he couldn’t possibly see anything with it. And I didn’t feel sorry for him for once. I didn’t feel scared either. I felt… Desire. A deep need to feel him touching me. To beg him to take my body and do whatever the fuck he wanted with it.

He kept looking at me and for a moment I really thought he was thinking about possibilities on how to hurt me. But then something changed inside him, and he let go of my cheeks, rubbing his own, his fingertips lingering on the ugly scar that marred his handsome features.

“You’re bored,” he said thoughtfully. “I suppose I could let you have some fun. I have a busy week or two at work, so I won’t be able to pay as much attention to you as I’d like to.”

“Could I have a phone?” I asked him eagerly. “Or use your computer… I won’t message anyone or speak about this, I just want something to pass the time.”

“Maybe,” he said thoughtfully, giving me a quick look. “You can use my computer for a while. There’s an old laptop I don’t use anymore. I’ll bring it up to your room.”

It was something so simple, but it ignited a happiness inside me like nothing I’d felt before. He actually wanted to do something for me. He wanted to make sure I wasn’t bored, that I wasn’t losing my mind in the gilded cage he’d put me in.

Beau held true to his word, and after taking a shower, he brought an older model of a laptop into my room.

“I’ve added some security measures to it,” he told me.

I took the laptop eagerly, but he snatched it just out of my reach. I gave him a nasty look, pouting when he took it away from me again. I hated that he had this much control over me, that he got to decide what I could have and what I couldn’t.

“Little brat,” he said roughly. “Tell me the magic word.”

“Please?” I asked, and he shook his head, his eyebrows knitting together. “Please, let me have it.”

He handed it over to me again and this time, he let me take it out of his hands.

“Thank you,” I mumbled, and he laughed at me before heading towards the door.

“Good girl,” he said softly. “Maybe in time we can actually teach you some fucking manners.”

He left me alone in the big empty room, and I opened up the laptop eagerly. I was so fucking bored, so desperate for any kind of amusement, I would’ve done anything for a fix of entertainment. The first thing I did was try to reach my Facebook, but I noticed the website had been blocked and I wasn’t able to access it.

My hands formed little fists and I wanted to smash the computer into little pieces. Beau was too controlling for his own good, and I hated the way he tried to own me. I didn’t belong to me, and no matter what happened between us, I would never let him have every little piece of me. I’d never let him break my mind. My body, maybe, but my head would never submit as freely as my body did.

I logged into my email next, and while it worked, I realized straight away I wasn’t able to send emails, only read them. It pissed me off even more, but I told myself I didn’t have time to worry about it, and decided to read everything in my neglected inbox instead. There were some messages I’d missed, but most of them, I didn’t really want to see.

One of them was a letter of acceptance from a community college in the city. I was going to start there in the fall, but now with everything that had happened and my sister disappearing, I knew there was no way for me to give up what I had here. What was college good for anyway, when I had a hefty sum waiting for me in the bank as soon as my time with Beau was over? I would take being used as a little fuckdoll over four years of studying any day.

But there was one message with no subject that caught my eye. I looked at the sender and it only said their address was anonymous. Curiosity got the better of me and I clicked through the email, staring at the words on the brightly lit screen.

I know what you are doing, the email read.

Luckily for you, it’s exactly what I need you to be doing. You need to keep up pretenses and make everybody believe you are your sister.

Nobody can find out you’re not her, least of all the man you are living with.

Let him believe you are Charli. Let him think your sister is alive and well so her body can go cold in the grave I made for her.

Keep your mouth shut and I’ll make sure you don’t join her.

I stared at the screen in front of me and the words danced in front of my eyes. This couldn’t be true. Surely, my sister wasn’t really dead… was she?

It had been easy to steal her life, to take her role like it was what I’d meant to be the whole time. But I never really believed Charli was gone. Never admitted to myself something bad might’ve happened, and that she was gone for good.

I felt a strange pang in my chest, a tight, uncomfortable feeling that made me hold back a sob. She wasn’t really dead, was she? I hated her. I’d wanted her to leave so many times. The last time we spoke, I’d shouted at Charli and told her she wasn’t my sister. That I hoped she would die and finally mind her own fucking business and let me have my own life. I told her I wanted her dead.

And now there was a chance, no, a big possibility, that she really was gone.

Tears welled in my eyes, confusing the fuck out of me. Charli and I had never really gotten along, but the mere idea of her being gone from my life left me weak and scared. I didn’t want her dead, despite what I’d yelled in her face the last time we’d been together. I had a feeling I’d regret those painful, evil little words for the rest of my life.

I didn’t want to be alone. I felt scared to the point of being sick at the mere thought of it, and I pushed my chair away from the desk abruptly, shutting the laptop with my heart pounding. I needed someone to make me feel better. I needed him… Beau. I needed his strong hands reminding me there was a pain worse than knowing your sister was gone forever.

There was no way I could have told him what happened. The person who had sent the email had threatened me if I did. And as terrified as I was, I was too fucking scared, too worried about myself, to ask for Beau’s help.

I sneaked out of my room quietly, and as soon as I was out in the hallway, I heard voices coming from Beau’s office. He was having a discussion with somebody, and by the sound of it, it wasn’t only getting graphic, but pretty heated as well. I tried to make my way closer to the door so I could eavesdrop when I bumped into a tall, broad frame made up of tight, rock hard muscle.

“Where the fuck are you going?” the man barked at me, and I swallowed uncomfortably, looking up at the man who’d blocked my path.

“I…” I whispered. “I just need to get to Beau.”

“That’s Mr. Wolfe to you,” he snapped as I finally got a better look at him. Everything about him was fucking scary.

His frame was so broad he filled the doorway in the hall, preventing me from taking another step forward. His arms were crossed, the biceps huge and swollen. His head was shaved and a menacing tattoo snaked from his neck down his chest and inside the V-neck shirt that bulged with his muscles. He looked like he could knock me out with a single finger. My pussy tightened at the thought of him.

“I need to talk to him,” I said, trying to sound confident, but failing miserably.

“You can wait,” he said roughly, giving me a bored look. “Oh, you’re one of those Empire Sin girls.”

Now, his eyes finally drank me in, in a way so obscene I felt like his eyes were fucking me on the spot. He looked at my outfit, the too-short dress and my nipples tightening under his roving eyes. I shifted my weight from one foot to the other while he stared at me like I was a Happy Meal. I felt raw and exposed, and my panicking heart took over my wet pussy until I felt so very scared. The truth was, I was alone in the hallway with a wall of a man I didn’t know – a bodyguard, by the looks of it – and if he wanted to, he could fuck me up with a single smack of his brick-like hand.

“Please,” I said softly. “Just let me get past you.”

“No, I don’t think so,” he replied with a wicked grin. “Let me take a look at you. You know, I’ve been thinking of getting a little plaything like you myself.”

“As if you could afford it,” I scoffed, rolling my eyes. It was obvious from the way he looked he wasn’t as loaded as Beau.

The second the words slipped from my mouth, I realized I’d made a mistake. He launched himself at me, taking a single step forward and letting his fingers wrap roughly around my throat.

“You think you know everything, little bitch?” he snarled at me. “Let me teach you something else, then, to add to your knowledge base, you fucking slut.”

He backed me up against the wall, and in a single slap, he’d gotten my quivering legs to open up for him. I couldn’t even breathe, and my eyes filled with tears as I looked up at him.

“You won’t hurt me,” I spat in his face. “You wouldn’t fucking dare.”

He laughed at me, as if he knew I was all talk. As if Beau even gave a shit about what fucking happened to me. There was no way I was getting out of this unharmed. The man who had me backed up against the wall wouldn’t be gentle, and the man who owned me never really gave a fuck.

“Please,” I added as an afterthought. “Please, I won’t tell Beau what happened.”

“Beau,” he said angrily. “I’ve worked for the man ten years, and I still have to call him Mr. Wolfe. Yet he’ll let a hot little piece of ass he’s paying to fuck call him anything she damn well pleases. I ought to punish you for that, slut. You don’t take the privilege seriously enough.”

His rough hand found its way between my legs and I cried out when he slapped my pussy. My eyes squeezed together tightly and I fought every second of my instincts telling me to scream my head off. But when he started ripping at my panties, I couldn’t help myself anymore. I let out a helpless shriek, and a second later, his strong palm covered up half of my face, shutting me up.

But when he started to assault my panties again, the door leading to Beau’s study opened, and two men came strolling outside, deep in conversation. One of them was Beau, and the other was a tall, bearded and gray-haired businessman. My eyes widened in shock just as Beau looked up to see me. He stopped mid-stride, staring at me as the guard pushed me roughly against the wall.

“This one was getting a little too fucking frisky for my liking, Mr. Wolfe,” the guard said with a smirk. “Had to get her to stay still. Not a very good toy, is she?”

“Get. Your. Hands. Off her,” Beau growled, and I breathed heavily against the guard’s palm. My eyes danced over to the bearded man.

He was older, but very handsome. He wore a suit that looked expensive even to me, and a smirk that looked plain evil. My heart pounded fearfully in my chest as they all stared at me.

Slowly, the guard moved his hand off me, and the second he let go, I used all the force in my arm to slap that fucking smug smirk off his face. My hand hurt like hell, and he grabbed it the next second, growling in my face. But then Beau was between us, separating me from the guard with his lean, toned body. He slammed the larger man against the opposite wall, and I stumbled away in a haze of tears and shakiness.

I walked backwards until I bumped against the older man, and his fingers wrapped around my naked forearm gently, but firmly. His touch was searing. His voice in my ear felt like a hissing snake.

“Be careful, little girl,” he said, and I felt goosebumps erupting all over the back of my neck. But I couldn’t focus on the stranger – my eyes were fixed on the fight about to break out in front of me.

Beau grabbed the guard by his shirt, taking fistfuls of the fabric in his hands and growling in the larger man’s face. The guard looked pissed as fuck, barely able to hold himself back. There was no doubt who the stronger man was. But it seemed as if Beau had been filled with rage and adrenaline to the point of being able to rip the other man’s head off.

“Apologize to her,” he said roughly. “Apologize for touching her.”

“Why the fuck would I do that?” the guard snarled. “I ain’t done nothing wrong.”

“You’re never touching her again,” Beau warned him. “In fact, you won’t even be looking at her anymore, you fucking prick.”

“Beau…” the guard started defensively, and in response, Beau slammed his oversized body against the wall, hard. Paint chipped above them and fell down in little specks of dust, covering the guard’s dark clothes.

“Don’t call me that,” Beau said. “It’s Mr. Wolfe to you.”

He pushed the guard away, slamming him into the wall one last time before rubbing his hands clean and turning back to face us with an unreadable expression.

“That will be all,” he said coolly. “Thanks for stopping by, Rhys.”

The older man released me and I practically fell into Beau’s arms. My heart was pounding, and I was grateful that he was there to catch me before I embarrassed myself by falling over. This older man… I’d never seen him before, but something about him felt so familiar. His mere presence chilled me, and I felt a strange, hollow feeling in my bones when he was nearby.

For some reason, I was more scared of the older man’s presence than the guard who had accosted me.

“By the way,” Beau said over his shoulder. “You’re fucking fired.”

My whole body tensed as I waited for the guard’s response, but before he could say a word, the older man, Rhys, laughed.

“Such a drama queen, boy,” he said with a hearty laugh. “What’s your name?”

The last question was directed towards the guard.

He was shaking with anger and Beau made me stand behind him, a protective gesture I would usually find offensive, but that day, it only made me feel safe and secure.

“Liam,” he finally replied.

“Liam,” Rhys said with a grin. “Why don’t you come with me. Mr. Wolfe might not like you on his team, but with me, you’ll fit perfectly.”

My blood froze in my veins thinking about the kind of business the man must’ve been running. But the guard, Liam, only hesitated for a second before grinning wide and stepping over to join Rhys on the other side of the hallway. And then it was just us against them, and I was left shivering and scared as fuck as they glared at us.

“I’ll see you soon, boy,” Rhys said to Beau, and put a hand on Liam’s shoulder. “I guess it’s safe to assume you don’t want to get rid of the girl anymore?”

My eyes shot up at Beau’s, and I saw him swallow thickly.

Was he really trying to get rid of me?

And what the hell did that entail?

“She’s staying with me,” Beau replied with a heavy voice, and Rhys merely nodded before motioning for Liam to follow him to the lift.

“I’ll see you, and you know where I am if you change your mind,” Rhys said over his shoulder. He gave me a once-over and licked his lips. “She could be beaten into the perfect toy if need be. Or disposed of. It’s your call, boy.”

By the time the elevator left, I was shaking so much it felt like nothing but Beau’s strong hands were holding me up.