We skipped dinner. By the time we returned home, my skin was numb. My stomach felt slick with an oily sensation, and I couldn’t tell if I was on the verge of throwing up, or passing out. The car ride didn’t help.

“Gabby.” Kieran captured my hand halfway up the steps to the manor doors. “You need to tell me what’s happening. I can’t protect you if I don’t know what I’m fighting.” His hands claimed my upper arms and I was made to face him. “You’re shaking.”

“We shouldn’t have gone,” I rasped.

“We had to, love.”

I shook my head. “We shouldn’t have gone together. We shouldn’t have danced. We shouldn’t have...” I broke off, every warm sensation I’d felt that night being in his arms thickening to a cold slime in my chest. “How could I be so stupid?”

“Gabby!” His hold tightened, bruising flesh, but I was too past that. “Talk to me.”

What could I tell him? Even with the truth, it wouldn’t stop David from what he might do. Even at that moment, he could already be sending men to grab me, to take me. He could be at my apartment, or on his way to Kieran’s.

“We ... we need to get inside.” Now, I had him. My fingers were ripping the expensive fabric of his top and wrenching him in the direction of the house. “Get in. Please. Hurry!”

I got him in first and swung around to slam the doors closed on the empty night. The bolts were wrenched into place, filling the silence with the reverberating crack.

“What’s happening?”

I wasn’t listening. My mind was a catacomb of battle and strategy. It echoed with a bloodthirsty wail, urging me to protect the only thing I’d ever loved.

“We have to lock the doors and windows,” I breathed, the voice sounding half-mad even in my ears. “If ... if you have an alarm, you need to put it on.”

This wouldn’t work. David would find a way in. He would hire someone who knew how to cut wires, knew how to pick locks. Kieran wasn’t safe. I had to get him somewhere safe.

“A hotel...” I swallowed audibly. “You have to—”

“Gabby!” He caught me and gave me a shake hard enough to make my teeth clack together and my neck snap back. The pain slapped me back to the present. “Talk to me!”

But terror had crippled me. It tore out my insides until there was nothing left of me, except a greasy paste at the back of my throat. It slithered down my chest, each serrated barb marking Kieran’s name into my flesh.

“He’s going to kill you,” I croaked. “I should leave. He won’t hurt you if I’m not here.”

“You’re not going anywhere.”

As if to prove it, he scooped me up into his arms and hauled me towards the stairs.

“I can’t stay!” I protested. “He’ll come look for me and if I’m here—”

“If you’re here, I’d like to see anyone come near you.”

“He’s going to hurt you.”

But my arms had wound their way around his shoulders. My face had found a home in the warmth of his neck.

“No one’s going to hurt me.”

He liberated me of the dress and undid my hair from their pins. His arms never lost their hold on me, nor did his gaze ever waver from mine. He placed me beneath the sheets and joined me, fully clothed.

“Talk to me, Gabby,” he urged, lips against my temple. “Tell me what you’re scared of.”

I closed my eyes as the first tear slipped. “Losing you.”

I WOKE THE NEXT MORNING to the complete confinement of Kieran’s arms around me. They enfolded me into the heat of his chest and the soft warmth of his breath on the back of my neck. It was such a welcoming relief to the demons who had chased me most of the night. My eyes were gritty from my troubled sleep. My head echoed with the hollow numbness of exhaustion. All I wanted was to return to the place of slumber, and all I could do was fight it.

Sleep wouldn’t solve my problems. It wouldn’t protect Kieran. It wouldn’t make David disappear. In the halo of day, the party had been a disaster. It had been the thing I’d feared most in my life. Unknowingly, Kieran had opened a box with the power to destroy us both. There was no coming back from that. David would not forgive or forget. He would not overlook what he’d seen. He wasn’t stupid.

I had betrayed my promise.

I had been with a man, but not just any man. I had stolen his daughter’s shining future, his bright, crowning achievement, all the things he had wanted, that he had worked tirelessly towards for seven years ... gone.

I had done that.

He would not be kind or merciful. He would do exactly what he promised.

Maybe even worse.

But all he wanted was me. Once I was out of the picture, he would try and get Kieran back on track. He wouldn’t hurt him if he could help it. He still needed Kieran to fulfill the plan. It was too soon for my plans, but I could do it. I could disappear that very night. I didn’t have the money I needed to get far, but I had the ID and that would work just as well. I could grab a bus and go as far as a single ticket would get me. When David arrived and found I was gone, Kieran would be left unharmed.

“Stop.” The body against my back shifted. The arm tightened, squishing my gut as I was pulled deeper against him. “Whatever you’re thinking, I don’t like it.”

“You don’t know what I’m thinking.”

He nuzzled the back of my neck. “I can feel it. It’s not going to happen. I’m not letting you leave me.”

I sighed and closed my eyes. “I’m trying to protect you.”

“If you leave, it’ll kill me, which would defeat the purpose.”

“Kieran.”

He grunted. “What did I tell you about saying my name in that tone?”

I sighed and twisted over to face him. He’d removed his clothes at some point in the night and his beautiful torso practically begged to be touched. They called for my hands to flatten across his chest and curl up over his shoulders. They glided up to cup the back of his neck.

“You don’t understand just how much you mean to me,” I whispered. “I’ve never known happiness, or affection. I’ve never experienced kindness, but you’ve given me all that in just a few weeks. I would do anything to protect you.”

“Then stay and let me fix whatever is upsetting you.” He hooked a strand of hair and gently tucked it aside. “Give me a chance to show you I can handle whatever’s happening.”

Maybe he could. I had to believe David wouldn’t hurt Kieran. That was my only shining beacon. If all David wanted was me, I could live with that.

“On one condition.” I waited until I had his full attention before continuing. “You’ll get a bodyguard.”

Kieran blinked. “A what?”

“A bodyguard,” I repeated. “Someone qualified. Someone with black ops training and ninja skills. Someone enormous and an expert in all weapons.”

He stared at me, possibly waiting for me to laugh and tell him I was kidding. When I didn’t, he made a sound between a chuckle and an exhale.

“Baby, that’s...”

“Please,” I pressed. “It’s the only way I’ll stay.”

The humor left his face. “Just what the hell do you think David’s going to do if we’re together?”

“I don’t know,” I whispered, fear working up my chest. “But I’m not taking any chances.”

“Okay,” he murmured slowly. “But I’m getting you one, too.”

I winced. “I don’t need—”

“If this matter has reached the point where I need to start wearing a bullet proof vest and walk around with an armed escort, sweetheart, you’re getting one, too, especially since you’re the one David wants.”

Bullet proof vest. Why hadn’t I thought of that?

But my palms framed his stubbled cheeks and I peered up into his eyes. “You don’t think I’m crazy?”

“I think you’re scared,” he answered almost immediately. “I think there’s more to this than you’re telling me, and I think you know that if I ever found out, I really might kill the son of a bitch.” The fury dimmed slightly. “I think you’ve been alone for so long that you don’t know how to let anyone help you. But I don’t think you’re crazy.”

I SKIPPED THAT ENTIRE week of school. Even with the driver Kieran hired to take me, the one instructed never to leave my side, the outside world had become a dark and dangerous place. I couldn’t even stand to part the curtains, just in case.

Professor Weber came to the manor for our sessions. He was kind enough not to mention the same outfit I wore each time, nor had he asked why I wasn’t in classes. He worked with me in one of the main libraries, the one filled with more than just ancient volumes and Latin scripture. He never yelled or lectured me when I got an answer wrong, even if it was a topic we’d already covered. That alone made me really like him.

“We should get you some things,” Kieran decided one wet, windy afternoon as we sat cuddled in the back sunroom, watching the rain splatter across the glass. “While I love seeing you in my shirts, you should either let me take you to your place and grab some things, or let me hire people to pack it all up and bring it here.”

I loved his attempts to get me to stay with him. The idea had become more and more appealing with every day that passed and I found myself calling his home mine. It was only the tiniest thing stopping me.

I twisted my head back on his shoulder and caught his shadowy gaze. “I have really shitty things. Are you sure you want them here?”

“That’s up to you.” He laced our fingers together and lifted the back of mine to his lips. “I have a whole empty wing for you to use as storage, or you can toss it all away and we’ll buy new things.”

I chuckled. “Now you want me to redecorate your place?”

“Our place,” he corrected, snaking our joined hands across my abdomen and tugging me closer. “I want you to be comfortable here. Do whatever you need to until that happens.”

“I’d have to go through my things,” I mused. “I don’t want the furniture, but my clothes and a few other pieces...”

His heart kicked against my shoulder blade. “Are you saying you’ll move in?”

I chuckled at the excitement he was failing miserably to conceal. “If that’s okay—?”

The slam of his mouth over mine was all the answer I got. I was hauled out of the V between his legs and made to straddle his hips. My hair made a fine veil between our faces while the heavens rumbled overhead. We were both breathless by the time one of us broke the kiss.

“Too soon to ask about marrying me?”

I burst out laughing as I pushed upright on him, resting my butt on his thighs. “You, Mr. Kincaid, are an impatient man.”

“Damn right I am.” His palms settled on either sides of my bare thighs. “We should have been married five years ago and expecting our third by now.”

I feigned horror. “Five years ago? I was seventeen, you pervert.” I laughed when he winced in realization. “Besides, we’ve barely moved in together and you want to knock me up? You are shameless.”

“And dying to see you—”

He was interrupted by the gong of the doorbell. The hand he’d slipped beneath the hem of my top and flattened over my belly stilled. His eyes jumped up to my face, all traces of humor gone.

“Stay here,” he told me when I quickly scrambled off him.

“Don’t answer it,” I begged, grabbing his wrist.

“This is our home.” He pushed to his feet and dropped a hard kiss to the top of my head. “I won’t hide in it.”

I watched him leave the room with my heart in my throat. My stomach quivered with anxiety. The restlessness propelled me off the lounge and hurrying in the direction of the main area.

I heard Kieran undo the deadbolt and the groan of hinges as the doors were open to the gloomy day. I ducked behind an opening and listened as he greeted the visitor.

“David, this is an unexpected surprise.”

All the nerve endings in my fingers and toes prickled, sending waves of numbness up my limbs. My lips tingled, a strange vibration that matched the pounding of my blood in my ears.

I tried to hold my breath, suddenly terrified he might hear it somehow, but it was nothing to the war drums in my chest. I slumped against the wall with both hands mashed over my heart.

“I apologise for the intrusion.” His steady footfalls clipped deeper into the foyer. “I would have called, but I was in the area.”

“That’s never necessary,” Kieran assured him. “But was there something I could help you with?”

“Marcella sent me,” David said. “She’s been concerned about your absence to dinner these last few Sundays. She thinks you’re upset about something that happened during the party. I assured her that couldn’t possibly be the case, but you know she thinks of you as family.”

“I understand,” Kieran began. “Please extend my deepest apologies. I never intended to upset Marcella. I’ve been preoccupied with work and it has consumed all my time.”

“Of course!” David said at once. “That’s exactly what I told her. Men like us, it’s a nightmare trying to juggle personal and business, but I hope you’ll make time to visit us tomorrow night.”

“I don’t think that will be possible. I have a prior engagement.”

David sighed. “That’s quite unfortunate. Marcella will be so disappointed, especially since Gabrielle has also vanished off the face of the planet. Her mother is terribly concerned, but that’s Gabrielle, selfish to a fault.” He paused before adding, “You haven’t seen her by any chance, have you? Cordelia seems to think you left the party together and, well, that’s the last time anyone saw of her.”

“Gabby?” Kieran clarified. “I did see her at the party and we did leave together. We had dinner reservations.”

“Is that so?” David all but purred. “Well, that’s certainly an interesting twist in development. Should I ask what your intentions are?”

“I’m going to marry her.”

I sucked in a breath at the unfaltering response.

“Marry?” The question was blurted in a rush of outrage. “To that...” he cut himself off.

“That what?” Kieran prompted smoothly. “That had always been the plan, wasn’t it? You and my father have been pushing me for years to settle down and marry your daughter, well, she’s your daughter, isn’t she? I would think the news would delight you.”

There was a long stretch of silence where all I could hear was the air rushing through the open doors and the patter of rain on stone outside.

“Son,” David said at last, his temper barely controlled under the single word. “You have always been family so I feel like I can trust you with a very personal matter.” He paused as if collecting his words. “Gabrielle is a troubled girl. Her mother and I have been trying for years to hide her ... problems, but there just isn’t a doctor in the world who can fix her.”

“Are you saying she’s crazy?” Kieran mumbled dryly.

“No! Not at all. She’s troubled,” he said again. “Delusional. She confuses reality.” He barked a laugh. “She used to think I wasn’t her father. She had this insane notion in her head that she was the product of an affair Marcella had, which is ludicrous.”

Heat rose up my chest and burned behind my eyes. It coiled around my bunched fists, making them tremble at my sides. Tears of fury blinded me when I stalked out from my hiding place and charged to where the two stood framed in the open doorway.

“I am not delusional!”

Both men snapped around, startled by my appearance, but my focus was on the loathsome monster tainting my home with his vile presence.

“You can lie all you want, but I’ve already told Kieran everything,” I snarled. “You won’t turn him against me.”

“Gabrielle.” David fixed me with his soulless eyes and humorless grin. “There you are. Your mother has been beside herself with worry.”

“Get out,” I seethed, trembling from the force of my anger. “You’re not welcome here. None of you. This is my home and I won’t let you taint it with your perverse, twisted evil—”

“Careful, Gabrielle.” Every drop of humor vanished off his face, leaving behind the demon I was used to, the one who terrorized my every breath. “I don’t think you want to upset me.”

“No.” Kieran stepped between us, his frame wider and taller than the man darkening our doorway. “You don’t want to upset me, David.”

David seemed to have forgotten it wasn’t just him and me this time. He blinked at Kieran as if surprised to find him blocking his path. His eyes swung from him to me, the blue chips of barely suppressed rage. They swore vengeance, and I felt it spear straight through me, stealing what remained of my courage and filling me with horror at my own stupidity.

“You’re making a mistake, Kieran,” he said curtly. “This isn’t what you want.”

“What I want is for you to get off my property and stay the hell away from Gabby. The next time you so much as look at her, I will destroy you. And I can. My father has a very large, very thorough file on you, did you know? It’s full of all manners of sordid, not to mention disturbing facts. Things I am sure you don’t want the members of your board, your wife, the public to know about. Just one peek at her and I will bury you. She’s mine now. You’ll want to remember that. Now, get out.”

The color on David’s face could only be described as eggplant. The violent shade of deep crimson intensified the hatred in his eyes, the vicious twist in his mouth. It fattened the veins at his temples into throbbing worms. I had never seen him so enraged.

But he snapped on his heels and stormed into the downpour. His hunched silhouette crossed the driveway to the parked car at the bottom. Kieran and I watched him pull away, kicking up wet gravel and sending a plume of gray smoke billowing into the air.

“Gabby?”

I turned wide, stunned eyes to the man standing in front of me, a glorious and beautiful shield protecting me from my demons. I couldn’t believe we’d actually done it. I couldn’t believe David had just left. Just like that. I couldn’t believe it was over.

“It ... it’s over?”

He gave a slow nod. “It’s over.”

A sob burst from my chest. Then I was leaping into his arms, mine twisting around his shoulders, my legs around his hips. I was vaguely aware of him kicking the front doors closed and carting me back to the sunroom.

“Now, where were we?”

“I’M OBSESSED WITH YOUR clit.”

I bowed into the finger. My thighs had parted in welcome the moment he’d stepped into the kitchen.

He hadn’t disappointed. It was the first thing he’d done once he’d pinned me to the counter. His chest had settled along my back and his hand had gone straight beneath my skirt to my core.

“Kieran.”

I tried to draw in air, but my mind had become a lost abyss of passion. The bowl of mixed fruit sat forgotten in front of me as he lit me on fire.

It had become a habit of his in the mornings to get me off with just the lazy flicks and nothing else. He liked feeling me come apart on his fingers. It was becoming a ritual as predictable as the sunrise, and I loved it.

I reached around and palmed his cock through the soft material of his sweats. The hot bulge strained into my touch, already hard and waiting. His groan filtered into my ear as I gave him a firm squeeze before liberating him into my hand. I guided him to my opening.

That too was a ritual.

Mine.

His fingers were never enough. Leaving without feeling him inside me ruined my whole day.

He nudged aside my breakfast, bent me over the cold marble and pushed in, catapulting my senses into the flames.

I gasped across the smooth stone. Nails clawed uselessly as he matched the strums of his fingers with the hard strokes of his erection. My hips drove back to meet each thrust, too close to care about anything, except getting off.

“Don’t stop...”

His response was a guttural grunt and the increased rhythm of his thrusts.

I wasn’t sure who came first, only that we’d stopped and the room pulsed with the sounds of our breaths.

I kept my eyes closed and let the world return gradually, a slow trickle of sights and sounds. The counter cooled the flush in my cheek and kept me from sliding to the ground.

“Are you sure you have to leave?”

His cock slipped from inside me, flaccid and wet, and was tucked away. I shivered at the loss, missing him already.

He gently eased me up and turned me to face him. His large, warm hands smoothed my clothes back into place before settling on my hips.

“I think you should come back to bed.”

I laughed and hooked my arms around his shoulders. “I think the CEO of your company should show up to a meeting.”

He pursed his lips. “That’s the beauty of being CEO, I don’t have to.”

“We need to get our routine back. For example, now that I have all my stuff here, including my clothes and books, I should probably finish school, and you need to make sure your company is still standing.”

His hands roamed up my spine in lazy strokes, pulling me a little closer each time until our fronts aligned.

“I like being home, doing nothing with you,” he said quietly. “But fine, on one condition.”

I bit back my grin. “Of course, which is?”

“Text me in between classes so I know you’re okay, and dinner out tonight.”

I pretended to consider it. “Well, if that’s the only way I can get you to put pants on...”

I scooted away before he could smack my bottom, and laughed when he swung and missed.

“Says the woman who keeps taking them off,” he muttered, folding his arms over his gorgeous, naked chest.

I only laughed harder and returned to my breakfast on the other side of the island.

“What do you have this morning?”

“I’m meeting Professor Weber at the library in an hour.” I poked at a chunk of cantaloupe with the prongs of my fork. “Then I have English Lit.” I popped the bit of fruit into my mouth and chewed. I swallowed before speaking again. “He sounded so amazed when I suggested meeting there instead of here.”

“Weber?”

I nodded. “I think he thought you were holding me hostage all this time.”

Kieran scoffed. “That’s crazy.” His face dissolved into a sly grin. “You would be completely naked if I were.”

I snorted a laugh and gave my head a shake. “You can’t blame him. I haven’t left this place in three weeks. I’m astounded that the school hasn’t already suspended me for missing so many days. Even with Professor Weber bringing and submitting my work every day, and the notes...” I gave my head another slow rock. “I need to get him the biggest Christmas present in the world. Maybe an island.”

Kieran chuckled. “I talked to your Dean and he talked to your professors who I’m sure had their teacher’s aides make notes for you.”

I stopped eating. “When did you do all that?”

“A few weeks back, after the party. I didn’t want you worrying about that on top of everything else.”

I stared at him in amazement. “And the Dean just agreed?”

“I may have promised to fund the new science department.”

“Kieran!”

He jabbed a finger at me. “Woman, tone!”

I exhaled heavily. “You deserve the tone this time!”

“Why? You need to finish school and the school needs a new science department. I think everyone wins.”

He made it sound so simple. The logic was undeniable.

“I just don’t like...” I trailed off, not sure what I didn’t like. “Thank you.”

From his propped position against the counter, Kieran watched me with those breathtaking eyes.

“Do I get to see you for lunch?”

I grinned as I combed my fingers through my hair. “Of course.” I went over to him and kissed him once. “What else am I supposed to look forward to all day?”

He grabbed me before I could get too far and pulled me back against him.

“How much longer?” he murmured over my mouth.

“Seven months, one week,” I gasped. “Then I’m all yours.”

He groaned and kissed me harder. “Fucking right. Going to spend that whole first month between your legs.”

I half sighed, half giggled at the promise. “Can’t wait.” I pulled back. “But until then, classes.”

He let me go, but followed me to the front doors.

“I’ll text you,” I promised, dragging my coat on and grabbing my book bag.

“I’ll be waiting.”

I kissed him one last time before braving the early morning chill.

Jeremy rolled out of the car before I left the front stoop and popped an umbrella open. He met me on the front steps and walked me down to the backseat. He pulled the door open. The motion parted the front of his coat, giving me a quick peek of the holster strapped to his ribs and the metallic glint of a Glock.

The sight of it never failed to make my stomach queasy. Not the weapon itself, but the reason behind it; David hadn’t returned since that afternoon almost two weeks prior, but he wasn’t someone who gave up easily and I wasn’t convinced he wasn’t lurking nearby, waiting for his chance to strike. Now more than ever, when our defenses were down. But we couldn’t just stop our lives and hide behind stone and wood. Kieran had an empire to run and I only had seven months left before I got my diploma. David had already taken enough from me. Plus, I believed completely that Kieran wouldn’t let him hurt me. That confidence was the only reason I even considered going back.

Jeremy held the door until I was comfortably seated.

“Thank you, Jeremy.”

With a bob of his head, he sealed me in. I caught sight of Kieran through the water tracks streaking down the glass. Still bare footed and bare chested, he dominated the doorway with his arms folded. I waved as Jeremy ducked in behind the wheel.

He stayed there until we’d crossed the gate.

“Where to, miss?”

I turned my head forward. “Public library on Stanton, please.”

I still had almost forty minutes before my meeting with Professor Weber, but I wanted to get to the library early. The extra time would give me a chance to go over my notes and organize my books before he arrived. I also wanted to grab one of the popular back tables before the other students. Without shelves nearby for people to shuffle around, it was the only truly quiet places in the entire building. And they were beneath the high, stained windows, allowing for natural light.

I briefly wondered if I should grab us coffees. Professor Weber always had a thermos full of the stuff. I always preferred tea, but neither were allowed inside, so I pushed the idea aside. 

We pulled into one of the spots in front and Jeremy killed the engine. The rain had stopped, but he still grabbed the umbrella from the floor of the passenger’s seat before climbing out.

“You don’t have to come in with me,” I assured him when he opened my door. “I’ll be fine inside. The place is full of people, and Professor Weber will be there with me.”

Jeremy Myles — at a guess — must have been in his mid to late thirties with a cleanly shaven head and a lean frame. He had the air of a bodyguard, which I hadn’t thought possible until meeting him. Everything about him was no nonsense and threatening, and he made no apologies for it.

“My instructions are clear, miss.” He shut the door behind me. “I am to accompany you wherever you go.”

I didn’t argue. Why would I? Just because David hadn’t darkened our doorway, didn’t mean I was foolish enough to wander around without an armed escort.

I gave Jeremy my best smile and started towards the building with my backpack in tow. We climbed the steps, slick with rain and reached the heavy, iron and glass doors. But no sooner had I pulled on one when my phone rang. I scavenged my bag for it and hit talk without checking the caller ID.

“Hey,” I said, certain it was Kieran — no one else called me. “Miss me already?”

There was a moment of silence before an unfamiliar, female voice filled my ears.

“Ms. Thornton?”

I frowned and looked down at my phone. The screen read, unknown.

I put the phone back to my ear. “Yes? Who is this?”

“I’m Melissa Won, Professor Weber’s assistant.”

I tried to recall if Professor Weber had ever mentioned an assistant, but couldn’t.

“Hi,” I said for a lack of anything better.

“I apologise for the interruption, but Professor Weber has been momentarily delayed and was hoping you could meet him at his home instead.”

It wasn’t such an odd request. He’d spent the better part of three weeks putting his life on hold for me, it didn’t surprise me that he would have work to deal with now that he didn’t need to make the drive to my place.

“That’s fine,” I assured the woman.

“Excellent. I’ll text you the address.”

The line went dead before I could thank her. A second later, my phone chimed with an incoming text.

I squinted up at the man next to me. “Professor Weber wants to work from his house today. Would you be okay with a change of plans?”

“I go where you go,” was his response.

I showed him the address as we returned to the car.

It wasn’t a far drive from the library, even if it was a longer distance from the school. It just meant we would have to leave earlier than planned for me to make my first class.

The house was a simple cape cod style painted a faded gray with green shutters. It sat tucked between two other homes, both as cold and blank as Weber’s. The entire neighborhood seemed void of life, which wasn’t so surprising given the early hour.

I stole a peek at Jeremy, but he hadn’t pulled his gun so I took that as a sign that he didn’t find anything abnormal about our surroundings.

He led the way down the uneven path to the front door. I rang the doorbell.

There was no sound from inside, but a voice called, “It’s open!”

I turned the knob and stepped into the rectangular cut of foyer that opened in several directions. The left held a sitting area. The right was a closet. Straight ahead was a set of stairs going up and a hallway deeper into the house.

“Professor?” I called.

There was a clatter towards the back of the hall.

Jeremy took my elbow when I started forward. The indication was clear; I didn’t go in further.

“Back here!” came a female voice, the same one from the phone.

I relaxed. “The assistant,” I told Jeremy, who still hadn’t relaxed, but looked less tense by a fraction.

I started forward with Jeremy right on my heels. We passed another more formal sitting area, a cluttered desk I could just make out in passing through a crack in the door, and stopped at the open doorway to a kitchen.

A beautiful, oriental woman stood in the other side of an island. She smiled when we came into view.

“Gabrielle?”

I nodded, gaze moving over the shadows pooling everywhere. “Melissa?”

It was her turn to bob her head. “I wasn’t told you would be bringing a friend.”

“Yeah, sorry...” I frowned. “Where’s Professor Weber?”

“He’s running behind. He asked me to get you started.” Her full lips curved. “Let’s sit in the den, shall we?” She started around the island. “It’s the door on your left.”

I hadn’t seen another door, but I turned back into the hallway.

“Which way?”

I heard the twin pops, the distinct snap of a paintball gun discharging, but never had a chance to find the source when I was struck on the side of my neck, the sting of a large mosquito.

“What...?”

Something slammed into my back. The impact sent me sprawling to the floor, sending the hardwood vibrating beneath me. The sound reverberated through the corridor, through my bones and echoed in my ears.

I twisted over and the room swam in murky, gray light. Shadows shifted in bleeding smudges. It all danced in time with the drumming of my heart. The air thickened with the oppressive weight of heat. It choked me, stealing my voice along with my consciousness.

“WHY IS SHE UNCONSCIOUS?”

The question circulated through the cavity of my throbbing brain. It rolled in a thick fog along my senses, making me painfully conscious of the weight of my tongue.

The rest of the world didn’t return any gentler. It roared into focus with a ferocity that ripped two realities in half. Light and shadows swam in and out through milky waters, making my eyes water and my brain spike.

I started to bring my hands down to shield my face only to have them catch somewhere just over my head. Something rattled. Their clattering against something beneath my head resonated along the walls of my skull. I tried again to pull my hands down. The efforts sent a shower of needles down my arms. My fingertips prickled. I became aware of the ache in my shoulders and along my back.

“Kieran?”

The stench of sulfur, bleach, and urine greeted my full awareness. It circulated around the stink of blood, wet concrete, and my own sweat.

I opened my eyes.

The room was dull, a grimy dreariness associated with dank basements and prisons. I was strapped to an upright X. My arms and legs chained at the wrists and ankles by padded cuffs found in hospitals beds. My skin was bare, my clothes gone, except for my bra and panties. The simple cotton undergarments were no match to the chill sweeping through me and around me. They certainly left nothing concealed from the man looming above me.

It took my panicked brain a full minute to register his face, but it was the man from the party. I couldn’t remember his name. That whole night had been such a nightmare, one I had wanted desperately to escape. Meeting one of David’s friends hadn’t been high on my priorities.

Now, I wished I’d paid closer attention.

The room was small, barely larger than a prison cell, but perfectly square with concrete walls making up three of the four sides. One held a metal door. The fourth was a sheet of thick glass the color of a murky pond. There was no ceiling. The space above our heads was open to the rafters and a single light, a strip of fluorescent that blazed down with a harsh, white glow. It reminded me of a fishbowl, one that only contained him, me, and the X.

I pulled at my binds.

“Where...?”

“You’re in my doll factory,” the man said as if that were the most natural response. “I’ve been asked to fix you.”

I blinked. “Fix me?” I glanced at the window, but couldn’t see anything from my angle near the corner. “Where’s Kieran?”

The man’s head bent to one side, giving him the air of someone trying to place an important detail.

“Do you mean Mr. Kincaid?”

I nodded vigorously. “Yes, please, I need to see him.”

“I’m sorry, but I’ve been given very clear instructions.”

“By whom? Please!” I fought against the restraints. “There’s been a mistake. Kieran will tell you—”

“I don’t answer to Mr. Kincaid,” he interjected. “He doesn’t own you.”

I shook my head. “Own me? No one owns me.”

“That’s where I’m afraid you’re wrong, Ms. Thornton. I’ve been over the paperwork. They are in order. I assure you.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, please ... please, let me go.”

He checked his watch. “We’re just waiting for your owner to arrive. We’ll decide what to do once he has.”

“My...?”

The door behind him clicked open and a girl slipped in dressed in nothing but a tight, black corset and leggings. Her dark hair was combed back into a ponytail to accent the black cat ears perched on the top of her head. She wore high, thin heels and black opera gloves, and a tiny, red ribbon around her throat, reminding me of a slit throat.

She paused just inside, hands clasped delicately in front of her, chin lowered respectfully.

“Here?”

She gave a slow nod.

“Excellent. Show him in.”

I wasn’t surprised when David stepped through the door. No one else would have gone to such lengths to possess me, no one else would have the reason to chain me naked to a board.

“Hello Gabrielle.”

Hatred frothed in the pit of my stomach, fanning bravery I knew I didn’t possess.

“Kieran is going to kill you,” I hissed, ignoring the crack of my heart raging against the walls of my ribs. The chains on either side of my head rattled, giving away the extent of my fears as every tremor rolled over me in waves.

David chuckled. “There is nothing he can do. You broke our agreement. You belong to me now.”

“I will never belong to you.”

He reached into the inside pocket of his coat and withdrew a folded piece of paper. He snapped it open and held it in front of my face.

I recognized my signature at the bottom of the long and heavily worded document. Several spots held my initials, places that required my full understanding. I hadn’t. I couldn’t while he’d been standing behind me the entire time, close enough that I could just feel the brush of his clothes on my naked skin, his eyes taking in his deposit, the first half of the payment.

It was to prepare me, I think. To show me just what he would take when the contract ended. The whole thing, making me strip in front of him, making me stand at his desk, legs a wide V, torso bent forward, my crotch on display for his violating eyes had been a preview of what I was to expect. I’d barely been eighteen a week, and that had been the pleasure point for him, my young, untouched body splayed across his desk. I couldn’t even guess how long he kept me there like that. It could have been minutes, but it had felt like hours. I’d trembled the entire time, hands in fists at my sides. Blood filled my palms from the deep gashes created by my nails.

But it would be over soon, I kept telling myself. Once I was out of that house, I would never come back. This was just a necessary evil.

“You’re lucky I won’t ask you to do this every Sunday,” he’d said, a dark shadow between my legs. His chair squeaked with the forward motion of his body leaning in. It took all my resolve not to cover myself. “But the wait will be worth it.”

My freedom was temporary, a loan I had to pay back, a game he could use to torment me with every Sunday. Something to hold over my head, a new type of torture before the toying cat ate the mouse.

“So, you see?” he interrupted gleefully. “You promised me something in exchange for something you wanted, but you broke your word. You fucked another man.”

The humor was gone now, replaced with a hatred that chilled me all over. He put the paper away and took a step towards me. I would have edged back, but I couldn’t move. Instead, I found myself crowded by him, by his smell and heat. The proximity made me want to vomit.

“He’s never going to find you,” he drawled. “Because he will never look here.” His gaze lowered to my chest covered only by a scrap of lace. “This is where the really bad girls are sent. I warned you.”

His fingers settled on the skin of my waist. The contact seared flesh like acid. I flinched, which seemed to amuse him.

“I told you what I would do, didn’t I?”

The fingers followed the bend of my hips to where my panties started.

“Get your hands off me.”

My voice wavered, a choked whimper contradicting the strength I was trying to put forward.

David smirked, a filthy twist of his lips that made me sick to my stomach. “You say that now, but in a few weeks, you’re going to beg for my touch. You’re going to want nothing else.”

The retort was hot on my tongue only to die when he slipped past the elastic of the only thing covering my mound. They plunged past the folds of my sex to my slit.

I closed my eyes against the assault. I fought with everything in me to let my mind wander to a dark, empty place, but he kept bringing me back.

“Someone’s already wet,” he breathed, voice ragged and thick.

I wanted to laugh in his face, but I couldn’t unlock my jaw to speak.

“I’ve wanted to do this since that night you asked me to let you leave for school. Do you remember that night?” He plunged deeper, harder, making my insides recoil. “The memory of your tight, hot body naked on that desk has kept me company daily until the time I had you like I do at this moment.”

He withdrew. I tried to close my thighs, to rub them together in hopes of easing the pang he’d left behind. But the chains wouldn’t allow it.

The fingers were brought to his mouth and he sucked each one into his mouth.

I waited until he’d licked the last one before allowing myself to grin around the pain and revulsion.

“How does it taste?” I growled through my teeth. “Do you like it?”

My questions seemed to momentarily catch him off guard. He stared at me as if trying to decide if I was serious.

My grin widened until I was laughing, the sound boarding on hysterical.

“What you’re sucking off your fingers is Kieran fucking me all last night and three times this morning. That’s the wetness soaking my panties, his hot, delicious come.”

The recoil of his entire body only made me laugh harder. The sound of it echoed over and along the walls, a half mad cackle that made my own skin prickle. It ended abruptly with the crack of his palm. The pain and burn brought tears to my eyes. Copper filled my mouth. I gagged on it.

“I was going to be merciful.” Blunt fingers bit into my face, wrenching my face back in his direction. “I was going to go easy, but now, you’re going to wish you were dead. I’m going to ruin and destroy you.”

I narrowed my eyes. “You can do whatever you want, because when Kieran gets his hands on you, you’re going to wish you were dead.”

He released me with vicious shove and stepped back. He was breathing hard when he turned to the man by the door, the man watching the exchange with a quiet deliberation.

“I want the full training,” David said. “I want her to suffer. I want her broken. I want her so completely beaten she can’t even shit without asking permission.”

The man stared at David.

“I don’t break or beat women, Mr. Thornton. I don’t think you understand our purpose here.”

Hope prickled in my chest. It wasn’t enough to make me think maybe I stood a chance, but maybe he’d help me.

“I want one of her.” David jabbed a finger towards the girl standing still and quiet over the other man’s shoulder. “Can you do that?”

The man turned his chin and peeked at his companion from the corner of his eye. “Lady has been my special project for almost six years.”

“I don’t have six years,” David muttered. “I’m giving you two months. I’ll double what I’m paying you now.”

The man looked past David to me.

“Perhaps this is something we should discuss in private.” He pivoted to the door, but paused to address his companion. “Keep our company entertained until I return, Lady.” He reached up and brushed the side of her face, but the way she practically melted into that single touch, he could have brought her to the brink of orgasm. “Be a good girl.”

She made a deep purring sound and blinked up into his face with an adoration that seemed deeply personal.

He left with David in tow. The door snicked shut behind them, and I was alone with the unnaturally thin woman with her feline eyes and unwavering stare.

“Please,” I whispered. “I don’t belong here. I’m being held against my will.”

Her head cocked to one side, but she remained immobile and mute. I wondered if maybe she couldn’t speak, or maybe she’d been forbidden to do so.

“What are you going to do to me? I didn’t consent to any of it. Please, you have to let me go.”

She continued not to speak, or move.

“I can’t feel my fingers,” I tried one last time. “Can you just undo the straps?”

I was wasting my breath. I needed to talk to the man, her ... boss, or whatever he was. He was clearly in charge.

He was the only person who could help me.