Chapter Fourteen

Tamatha

Dreams and nightmares fought for the upper hand in my sleep. Trapped in limbo, that scary time when I was awake and aware but couldn’t move, I swallowed against memories of before and now. Alec was there, sneering at me, but then he was in so many pieces no one could hope to put him back together again. I sighed when Benecio scooped up my dream self and held me close. Something in his abrasive, demanding touch lit me up like a fucking Christmas tree. I knew it shouldn’t have been the case, but I couldn’t deny it every time we were in bed together. Slowly, we became more than I wanted, and even I didn’t know where we’d end up.

That almost scared me as much as the nightmares.

Benecio was a conundrum and a force to be reckoned with. But with each touch, command, and harsh press of his fingers, I bent more under his will. Even now, his fingers slipped between my legs, teasing against my clit, and I opened for him. Darkness made it hot and forbidden, a place where giving into him was okay. I didn’t have to think about the consequences or how he’d coerced me into belonging to him. But his touch on my pussy was galvanizing, an electric wire streaming through my system, focusing my attention where we connected. Placing my feet flat on the bed underneath me, I spread my knees as far as they’d go, giving him complete access to the skin that reacted to his voice alone.

“Mmmm,” I moaned, the sound filling the air. Decadent and dangerous, his finger dipped inside of me, tracing my labia, slick with my own desire. The darkness of my dreams only heightened the pleasure now. He could fill me with his cock and I’d scream for him. If he commanded me to swallow his girth, I’d take him down until the pain in my throat made me reflexively swallow around the soft head. Anything he wanted was permitted, and knowing that allowed me to enjoy the pleasure on a level I didn’t know existed. He said nothing of my wanton display of need, and it only made me bolder.

Lifting my ass off the bed to let his fingers slide in deeper, I fucked his hand, chasing my climax with single-minded focus. I imagined his dark gaze on his digits sliding in and out of me, shiny and coated with my juices, urging me to come all over him. I was a filthy slut, tossed and turned with bruised palms and knees, and yet he took me under him with vicious desire I didn’t even believe I deserved. How could a man want a woman like me so much?

His fingers dipped further, pressing against my walls, and I sucked in a breath. Climaxing—that line of release when I couldn’t control myself—still scared me, but with Benecio carrying me, I knew I could survive it. I let go, swirling my hips and moving against him, enticing him to play with my clit. But it never came. Instead, I opened my eyes, and found an eerie blurring of light filtering through dark threads of a mask sliding over my face. I clenched, snapping my legs closed.

“Come on, slut. I was getting good footage.”

Ice slithered through my veins. He sounded … wrong. There was no care, no emotion, and it ripped me to shreds. Deep in my soul, I knew what he was doing, and I wanted to claw his eyes out.

Not this. Don’t break the thin line linking us together. Not when it’s so new.

“Benecio.”

His name was a whisper, a prayer, a heartfelt cry for safety. But he was nowhere to be found. Instead, rough hands flipped me over, pressing my face into the pillow beneath me until I couldn’t catch a breath. Rope, rough and biting, was wrapped around my wrists and pulled tight until my fingertips tingled. I flailed and kicked my legs, fighting against his strength with all I had. My mind split, separating this man from the Benecio burrowing his way into my heart. This man was the monster he wanted to be, and I needed the broken soul that he was. I knew how strong Benecio was, the way he could put me into any position he craved while I bit the inside of my cheeks until they bled. I did the same now, swallowing to keep from choking on it. As I focused on trying to keep oxygen in my lungs, Benecio tied my ankles together and looped the ropes between my forearms until I was hogtied and couldn’t go anywhere.

“I am just Midas now.”

Midas was an ill-fated king. Why Benecio believed he was no better than a myth was beyond me, but rage bubbled through me. Each of my muscles clenched, fighting a losing battle to get away. I’d show him. I’d make him feel everything he didn’t want to. I’d make him bow at my feet and acknowledge I was meant to be queen of his empire. Never before had I been so sure I was exactly what Benecio needed, and it all culminated from his fear of me now.

I. Felt. Powerful.

No matter what he tried, he’d belong to me.

He lifted me from the bed and slammed my body on the floor. It took everything inside me not to scream. But I couldn’t hold in my cry as he dragged me across the room. Without visual cues, I couldn’t tell where I was going, but I’d been naked in bed and the cold ground grazed against my nipples. They were tender from Benecio’s fingers, and I hissed at the contact as large, angry tears slid down my face. Here I was, again, fighting against a man who wanted to take everything from me. It threw into stark relief the difference between Benecio’s benevolent control and their cruel abuse. He slid me further along the ground, and I hitched my breath, hoping my son was nowhere around.

“Where is he?” I asked.

“Safe, as long as you do what the fuck I tell you to do.”

I trembled, the questions locked in my throat. “And why should I give a fuck about what you tell me to do?”

“Because I could snap your neck in two. You think I’m some knight in shining armor who came swooping down to save you?”

Yes. No. Absolutely.

What Benecio was to me, I couldn’t explain, and I didn’t want to. I still didn’t understand what we were, if anything, but I knew he’d hurt someone who’d broken me and my son. I knew that was the reason I bowed before him. His touch drove me wild, and my battered heart ached and groaned as he healed it. His nightmares and pain only consoled my own, and there, in our darkness, we warmed each other. My mind was splintering—wanting my Benecio to be here, needing Domino to be safe, and fighting for my life. His fingers dug into my thigh, pinching the skin and forcing my legs open at the knees. I cringed away and desperately tried to close my legs. But it was impossible to do much when he lifted my upper body and shoved me against the couch. The back pressed into my stomach, and I wanted to purge my system of everything I’d eaten the night before, but I didn’t. He would not get that satisfaction from me. The angle, however, was painful and only forced me to pull tightly on my bonds as I shifted to relieve my stomach. Legs gaped open now, Benecio was able to press his fingers against my sex, digging against me with cruel fingertips until I hissed.

“Tell me, cunt, did you like the way I fucked you? Did you enjoy swallowing my cock?”

I bit my lip and waited. I’d give him nothing.

“Answer me,” he demanded.

I let my head fall forward, knowing the worst was yet to come.

“So be it.”

His words were ominous, and every muscle in my body locked as his hand disappeared from between my legs. It didn’t last long before it came back with bruising force. I wailed, and he laughed, a cutting sound that flayed me. He smacked me again, and tingles spread through my system before they jackknifed into horrible agony. My clit hid under its hood, but it couldn’t truly get away. My body was exposed, and Benecio worked out his frustration by beating my flesh. There was no thin line between pleasure and pain, just a direct drive into headlong, splitting throbbing. I jerked, trying to get away, to shield my body, but it didn’t matter. His hot hand held me to the couch, and the loud smacks in the room were counterpoints to my sobbing. My nipples pinched against the back of the couch, and it was just another pang of overwhelming hurt.

“Benecio!” I cried, broken.

The slapping stopped, but my nerves still stung and jerked through me. My heartbeat was loud in my ears in the silence left behind. I needed so many things, yet nothing stayed long enough for me to grasp it.

“You want him here,” Benecio said, shock weaving through his voice.

“Him? Benecio is you, you demented bastard.”

I twisted my body away from him, some untouchable rage exploding through me. Benecio released me, and I slammed on the ground sideways, the impact taking my breath away.

“He’s nothing to you,” he grunted out, lifting me off the ground. I laughed, deep from my belly, as Benecio dragged me out of the house.

“He’s far better than you,” I tossed back.

“Crazy bitch.”

Fuck you!

The wind outside kissed my naked skin and sand grazed over my side, but I was smiling like a lunatic. I wouldn’t break for Midas. He’d learn that soon enough. He’d have to be Benecio to have the pleasure. He huffed as he picked me up once more and tossed me against metal. It wasn’t until I heard the start of an engine did I guess we were on a boat. Saltwater pelted me as we traveled away from the island.

I’ll bring you back, Benecio. I’m still yours.

*

I don’t know how long we rode on the sea.

At some point I fell asleep, but I was jarred awake when the boat cut off. Caught between sleep, my muscles stiff, I didn’t fight as I was lifted into the air and pulled into a cool area. I was left on the floor, and the cold cement leached any warmth from my bare skin. Where was I? There was no way to know, or how I could escape. The Maldives were surrounded by water, and I wasn’t sure how long we traveled. However, the darkness still surrounding me led me to believe we hadn’t traveled twenty-four hours, so most likely I’d only been resting a few hours. The mask was ripped off my head, and I blinked to clear my vision. It didn’t matter; I couldn’t see a thing.

Benecio untied my legs from my wrists and forced me to stand. It took everything to stay on my feet as he dragged me to one side of the room. Once he had me pressed face-first against the wall, he untied my wrists and spun me around. I lashed out, having waited for this moment. I couldn’t see, and he must have been prepared for the action because his shoulder barreled into my stomach. I lost what little was in my stomach, combined with rancid bile. Then he was shifting me again, binding my wrists in front of me this time. When the twine wrapped around my throat, I kicked like a maniac. But still the rope tightened, cutting off my air flow. Choking, I stopped flailing.

“Good girl,” he whispered.

After that, he pressed my fists under my chin, looping a piece of the rope between my neck and the twine, then between my wrists. I’d be stuck in this position, without any way to protect myself. The only bit of solace I received was knowing my breasts were covered from his touch. It didn’t matter, though, and I knew it. He could, and would, touch wherever he wanted. Finally, he jerked on the lead on the rope, and I realized the slack from my neck was hanging down my back. Chains rattled, and I knew I’d been tied off. I’d have to get the rope off in order to escape, but my hands were effectively closed off. Tears of frustration filled my eyes, and I let them fall, knowing he couldn’t see them in the dark.

“I want to break you,” Benecio said.

“You can’t,” I returned instantly. I’d protect Benecio with my life. How silly had I been, believing Benecio’s touch had been cold, domineering, and without feeling. When he touched me, my skin caught on fire, twisted into his web of debauchery and need. Benecio was a firing squad, and I stood in position, waiting for that final blow. What terrified me most of all? I wasn’t sure if that bullet was love, or the thing that would end my life.

“Things can be like they were before. You will be my wife, Domino my heir, and you’ll follow every command. It’s so simple.”

His deal wasn’t even tempting. I just shook my head.

“You act as if you have a choice.”

“I belong to Benecio.”

He laughed in my face. “You don’t even know me.”

I sighed. “I do, and it’s why you’re pushing me away now. Do your worst. It’s not going to change a thing.”

What did I know of Benecio? That his father hated him just a fraction less than his mother. He needed control, and he looked at my son with a mixture of pain, fear, and budding care. I saw it when he tried to hide it, but he couldn’t. His enemies? The mafia his father snitched on and the ones looking to take his empire from him. The same empire he’d given to my son. I knew Benecio’s claim on me terrified and exhilarated me, that he was oh so wrong, but I couldn’t back away. Given the opportunities I’d had, and knowing he would have hurt my child in the process, made me examine why I stayed. Benecio was the man who stood over my son at night to chase the demons away.

“You won’t last, Tamatha.”

“Go to fucking hell,” I said, standing tall.

Benecio chuckled. “I’m taking you with me.”