I hated the thought of being in his bed again. So why hadn’t I stopped him when he came to get me that night?

I lay awake next to the man that bought me, my head swimming with thoughts about him. I shouldn’t be getting distracted by him, I should’ve had my mind firmly set on the plan I was there to execute. But as the minutes ticked by into the night, it felt like I’d lost track of what I was supposed to be doing.

I made myself remember, and as I drifted off to sleep, I reminded myself why I wanted Carter Knight dead, or at the very least, ruined.

* * *

“Daddy!”

The little girl ran up to her father, wrapping her arms around his knees. She held him close. It had been a week since she’d last seen him. He’d been going on so many trips for his stupid job lately, and she hated every single one of them. She just wanted her dad to stay at home, so they could be the family they used to be.

“Sweetheart, come on,” he said, his voice tired but very obviously happy to see her. “Let me say hello to your mom.”

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.”