She fucking confused me.

Evangeline was the most disobedient, nasty little toy I’d ever had, and yet I couldn’t get enough of her. For every time she defied me and I should’ve spanked that ass raw, she made me want her more. Made me want to make her submit, fall to her knees and pledge to me her fucking obedience. And I knew I’d never stop working towards it until she offered it up to me or I took it, just like I had her last virginity.

I’d mostly ignored her for the day, if I didn’t count the too many times I looked at her on the cameras installed in her room. But now it was the next day, and I had another business meeting on the cards. This time, it was with none other than Barron Savage, the very man that sold me my pretty toy.

Savage was a man of many tricks, and while he was one of the founding members of Empire Sin, he also ran a legitimate business which I often did deals with. And that was why we were supposedly meeting that day, though I had a suspicion the old man would try to sneak in some questions about my little girl.

I spent the day in meetings, and skipped my lunch break when the last one ran over. By the time I was supposed to meet Savage, I was irritable, annoyed and hungry as fuck. We were meeting in our building this time, and him and his entourage were waiting in the conference room when my personal assistant showed me to the room.

She brought out some coffee and we made some polite small talk.

I couldn’t help but notice the man was a fucking mess. His hands were shaking, his thoughts obviously on everything but the deal we were supposed to be making. I picked up my coffee and grinned at him over the rim of the cup, both of us knowing exactly what was on his mind.

“You want to tell me what’s bothering you?” I asked him. “If my PA messed up the coffee again, I’ll fire her ass. You can watch.”

“No, the coffee is fine,” he replied, his voice strained as he adjusted the cuffs of his suit jacket. “I’m just feeling… a little under the weather lately.”

“Something on your mind?” I set my cup down and gave him a blank look.

I knew I was torturing the poor bastard, and I fucking enjoyed it, too. But one of the unspoken rules of Empire Sin was, you didn’t speak about anything related to the club unless it was a meeting specifically for that. And especially not in front of non-members.

I glanced at the entourage that came with Savage. I didn’t recognize any of them.

He saw me look around, and his voice was strained when he asked his posse to wait for him in the lobby downstairs. Once they were gone, his posture improved and he seemed to relax a bit. Not that I gave a shit. I was here to make a business decision, not speak about his former property. Evangeline was my toy now, and our contract didn’t say a word about exchanging intimate details about the girl.

“So, I’ll need a week to think about it,” I told Savage as I scanned the papers in front of me. “It’s a big investment, I’m not sure–”

“How is she?” His voice was uncertain and rough, and I looked up from the papers with surprise.

“Who do you mean?” I asked, feigning surprise, and he practically growled, obviously irritated by my ignorance.

“Don’t be a fucking dick, Knight,” he said. “I want to know how my girl is doing.”

I grinned at him and stretched my arms.

“Far as I fucking know, Savage,” I said easily, “she’s my girl now, not yours. And our contract doesn’t state you should be given information about her.”

“You fucking bastard,” he snarled, slamming his fist on the table.

I was taken aback. I’d had a lot of interactions with Savage, not least of which included buying toys, and I’d never seen him react this way. She must’ve been really special to him.

“What do you want to know?” I asked him, giving him a long look. He was very obviously agitated.

“Are you taking care of her?” he barked, and I nodded.

“She’s well taken care of,” I told him. “She has everything she could possibly want.”

“Is she happy?”

His next question made me shrug and grin.

“As happy as a girl like her can possibly be,” I told him with a smile. “Look, Savage, she did this willingly, didn’t she? You didn’t force her to sell herself, did you?”

“Of course not,” he spat out. “You should’ve heard me trying to convince her not to do it. She’s got a mind of her fucking own.”

“I’ve fucking noticed,” I muttered to myself. “Anyway, about the timeline on this deal…”

“Have you fucked her again?” His voice was desperate, his eyes swimming in blackness as he stared at me. “I need to know if you’ve fucked her.”

“Of course I’ve fucked her, Barron,” I replied, my voice pleasant. “She felt damn tight around my cock, too.”

“Her mouth too? And her ass?” He was getting out of breath, the old fucking pervert.

“Everything, Savage,” I said with a grin. “She’s all mine now. She’s had me in every sweet hole.”

He tugged at his tie as if it wasn’t letting him breathe, and I filed through the papers, giving him a moment to compose himself. He was making a damn fool of himself in front of me, and it wasn’t a good look.

“I have a new girl,” he finally managed to say. “She’s just your type, Knight.”

“Oh?” I looked up, my eyes dancing over his face. He seemed sincere, and if it was a ploy to get something out of me, it didn’t look like it. We seemed to be safely off the topic of Evangeline for the time being.

“Her name’s Charlie Rousseau,” he said. “She’s a dancer in the club at the moment, and she’s expressed an interest in being sold. She’s just your type… Dark hair, pale, light eyes. I brought pictures.”

He reached into his briefcase, and I stopped him in his tracks.

“Who else is interested in this girl?” I asked roughly.

Savage grinned at me. “Beaumont.”

Beaumont… Etienne Beaumont. They called him Beau, even though it was the last thing that came to mind when you looked at him. He seemed more alike to Beast than Beauty, with a large scar that rendered him blind in one eye, and ruined his once handsome face.

He wasn’t known to be particularly kind, and not particularly gentle, either.

“Has he met her?” I asked Savage, my voice strained. He shook his head.

“Not yet. I wanted to tell you about her first.”

“I don’t want her,” I said simply. “Make sure she doesn’t end up in the wrong hands, though. I hate to see a pretty girl get ruined beyond repair.”

“But you haven’t even seen the pictures,” Savage argued. “She’s perfect for you! I’ve kept her aside just so I could show you.”

“I’m not interested,” I repeated, getting up from my seat. “Now, if that’s all, I need to get going. I’ll be in touch in a week’s time regarding the deal.”

“Alright,” Savage replied, furrowing his brows as he stared at me leaving the room.

When I’d almost shut the door, he called out after me, my last name heavy on his lips.

“Yes?” I asked tersely, looking at him over my shoulder.

“Don’t damage her,” he told me roughly. “Don’t scar her. Don’t make her bleed. Don’t torture her.”

“Why’s that?” I grinned. “I can do whatever I want, you are aware of that?”

“Don’t fucking hurt her,” he begged. “Just… don’t. Swear on it, Knight.”

I kept eye contact long enough for him to see my vicious smile.

“I swear on her pretty body,” I told him, and closed the door behind me, my thoughts full of breaking my promise.

* * *

I returned home to fucking chaos.

Carolina looked nervous as fuck when I walked in, wringing her arms in front of her body.

“Miss Evangeline,” she said in hushed tones. “She’s acting crazy, I… I don’t know how to help her. She’s acting like a crazy person!”

“Calm down,” I said, letting her have my jacket and my briefcase. “I’ll deal with her bratty fucking ass. What’s she done now?”

“Trashed her room,” she said, her hands shivering as she took my stuff. “It’s a mess…”

“I’ll go up there now,” I told her, my mouth set in a thin line.

I was fucking pissed. I gave her everything, and she was fucking ruining it. I was really going to have to punish her, as badly as I wanted to skip it… There was something inside her, clawing its way out. A little girl inside a bigger girl, so fucking bruised and broken her older version could barely hide the pieces. She was hiding some kind of trauma, and I’d managed to bring it out in her several times now, hating myself for it.

But the truth of the matter was, I had to make her submit. I had to make her kneel – there was no way around it. Evangeline had to be mine fully and completely, and I wasn’t going to stop before it happened, even if it meant breaking her down to dust.

I was about to leave the front hall when Carolina grabbed my arm and gently tugged on my sleeve.

“Please,” she said softly. “Don’t hurt her.”

“You overstep,” I snarled at her, and she pulled her hand back as if I’d burned her.

We stared at each other for a long second before I tore my eyes away and ran up the stairs.

I heard her before I saw her, crazed little screams, huffs and puffs coming from her library room.

The fucking mess she’d made shocked me as I walked in.

She’d torn out the pages of every book or so it seemed, littering the floor with paper until there wasn’t a spot of the floor not covered in white and black ink. And my pretty little toy sat, stark fucking naked, in the middle of it, hugging her knees to her chest and muttering something to herself, her hair a mess and her eyes wild when she looked at me.

She panicked right away, scrambling to her knees and crawling into the farthest corner from me. She was fucking terrified of me, and I almost hated it.

“Evangeline,” I growled. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

“Shut up shut up shut up,” she muttered, pressing her palms over her ears. “Let me go. Let me go. I don’t want you. I don’t want this. Let me go.”

I’d really fucking done it. Broken my little toy. Her messy fucking parts were all over the room.

I leaned down and picked up one of the torn pages from the books she made me think she loved so much.

“Why did you do this?” I asked her, trying hard not to get angrier than I was. “Why’d you ruin your library, Evangeline?”

“Words,” she whispered. “Words words words. They make me feel safe, Daddy.”

Her eyes found mine and she looked tiny and vulnerable in that position. So fucking vulnerable I wanted to protect her with everything I had.

But I was the worst thing that could’ve happened to her. How was I going to keep myself from her? I wanted her too much. I’d never wanted anything more.

“You feel safe when you read?” I asked her, and she nodded, holding her knees with her arms. “You feel safe in another world, little girl?”

She kept nodding. So fucking broken.

“That’s too fucking bad,” I snarled at her, losing control. “Because this is my world, and monsters run free here, Evangeline.”

She gasped when I showed her the page and tore it down the middle.

“You’re my fucking property,” I growled. “You’re my toy. My little girl. My fucking slut. And I’m going to do whatever the fuck I want to with that body of yours. Say yes, Daddy.”

“Yes, Daddy,” she replied robotically.

“Tell me you’re my property,” I said.

“I’m your property.” Her voice was on the verge of tears.

“Yes, you fucking are. And I’m going to do what I want with you, and to you, toy. Come here.” I motioned for her, and she crawled to me on arms and legs so shaky she practically collapsed at my feet once she reached me. “I’m going to hurt you now, Evangeline.”

Her eyes were glued to the floor, but I forced her to look up.

“Say thank you, Daddy,” I said, and my voice was surprisingly gentle.

“Thank you,” she whispered, her bottom lip jutting out and trembling so temptingly. “Daddy…”