Page 1 of Reckoning

Meyer

It was after midnight when my father came to get me, clapping me on the shoulder as I threw back the last dregs of the scotch we had opened for this occasion. Drinking to excess wasn’t something I did often, but the night of my thirtieth birthday was an exception. The alcohol had dulled me enough that I didn’t jerk away from his hand, but I stepped back from him just the same.

“I have a surprise for you,” Conrad said, winking at me under white eyebrows. I felt my smile return and only stumbled a little as I turned around, bumping shoulders with my best friend, Shawn. Conrad was in a good mood.

“More of this scotch, I hope?” I waved the empty bottle, but he laughed.

“Something better, I think. Come with me.”

Sober me would have been more suspicious, but he seemed genuinely happy, which was rare. I shoved off the bottle and buried my hands in my pockets, trying to walk straight as I followed my father out of the restaurant where we had been reveling for the past several hours. I had a lot to celebrate. Not only was it my birthday, but that same morning, I had received word that the board of directors had voted unanimously to make me the COO for Schaf Industries, our family’s firm, the largest defense contractor in the nation. Some tabloids cried nepotism, but my father had refused to throw his weight behind the nomination by recusing himself from the decision completely. I had won this on my own. Years of working in customer service while attending classes full-time for a double major, then a prestigious MBA program. Eighty-hour weeks while my friends spent spring break and summer vacation in Mexico. Shawn and I downed energy drinks instead of snorting cocaine so we could stay up all night to learn the business and work the books. I barely had time for leisure, but it had finally paid off. I was now one of the highest paid people under thirty in the country.

“Give me a hint.” I tripped over my own feet, stumbling forward a bit but catching myself right before I slammed into my father’s back. He turned only slightly to smile at me.

“Don’t make me ruin the surprise, son. You’re going to be very happy.”

I felt like a mafia king as we strolled through the restaurant. Waitstaff cleared out of our way in the kitchen, allowing us to pass into the small loading area at the back of the building. And there, bound on the floor in only her underwear and surrounded by men who could have held her aloft with one hand, was Madeline Sheppard.

I had barely stopped smiling since ten o’clock this morning, but my face stretched impossibly wider at the sight of her. Hearing our approach, Madeline lifted her head and shook her hair from her eyes, though it still stuck to the blood and sweat smeared across her cheeks and forehead. It took her a moment to recognize us—it had been years since we had spoken—but realization dawned soon enough. Her eyes narrowed as she took me in, then looked at my father. “Conrad?”

Using her bound hands, she pushed herself into a kneeling position and started to get to her feet. The brute closest to her landed a kick to her stomach, and she fell over again with a cry.

“You’re right,” I said to my father. “This is much better than scotch.” My head was suddenly clear, my vision unwavering. I couldn’t take my eyes off her.

The small creature on the ground in front of me wasn’t hiding behind her dark hair. The blood staining her pale skin was red in some places and had faded to brown in others. At first glance, it didn’t seem like they had hurt her too badly, but there was a large bruise wrapping around her rib cage. For her part, she didn’t seem to take notice of the cuts and bruises peppering her skin as she rolled to look at us, shifting to her knees once more even though she had been kicked back down the last time. The same brute who had hit her before looked at Conrad, who raised his hand to stop him.

Madeline turned to my father. “What is going on? Why are you doing this to me?” The words were slurred, and I thought they must have drugged her, but she spit blood so dark it was nearly black. A splatter hit the toe of my left shoe, and I frowned. She swallowed as she looked at the blood, clearly uncomfortable at the sight of it. I filed that away for future reference as she spoke again, a little clearer this time. “Is this some sort of prank?”

Conrad crouched in front of her and gathered a mass of her hair in his hand, yanking her head back until she cried out.

“Oh, darling, this is much more than a prank,” he said, pushing down on the crimson bruise flowering across her ribs. She tried to curl around herself to protect the injury, but my father held firm to her hair, so she had no choice but to look at him as he spoke. “Did your mother ever tell you how she knows my family?”

She couldn’t answer because she was gasping for breath so deeply. Her eyes flicked to me as if searching for assistance, but I shrugged at her and stuck my hands in my pockets. Conrad pushed harder on her ribs, and she moaned again. I wish I had more scotch.

“I’ll take that as a no. That’s all right.” He released her suddenly, and she fell onto her elbows. The bone hitting concrete made a sound like stiletto heels on a marble floor.

She turned her eyes to me. “Please let me go. I won’t tell anyone.” Why did she think I could help her? Did I look like a pushover?

My father spoke before I could even open my mouth to reply. “You’re not going anywhere, little girl. You belong to my son now. If you focus on doing what he tells you to, you might just survive the coming weeks better than your whore mother. Do you understand?”

Her face transformed from fear to rage in one fell swoop. “Don’t you dare slander my mother.” She spat in his face, blood and phlegm mixing on his cheek and dripping down across his jaw.

One of the brutes moved forward, arm already cocked, but Conrad waved him off and pulled out a handkerchief to clean his face. He pulled her up a little higher, and then let go at the moment his other fist connected with her cheek. She fell backward, her head making a sickening thump as it connected with the concrete. She groaned and curled in on herself again. My father’s ring had opened a cut under her eye that bled all over her already filthy face. The sight of her crimson blood brought a smile back to my face. I pictured it smeared all over her body, staining her breasts, and the taste of it on my tongue. I took a step forward without realizing it.

My father grabbed the back of her neck and shook her. “I said, do you understand?”

She nodded, shielding her face from further blows and trying to make herself as small as possible. “Yes.” Her voice was as small as she was, a field mouse being borne down upon by a hawk.

Conrad arched an eyebrow at me. “Maybe you won’t have as much fun breaking her as I had hoped.”

I couldn’t stop grinning. This was far and away the best thing that had happened today. “I think I’ll have the time of my life.” Stepping forward, I leaned down and pulled her to her feet, our eyes meeting for a split second before I tossed her over my shoulder. I didn’t even care that her blood would probably ruin my suit. “I think I’m going to take my present and head home.” Joshua, my personal security, nodded and ran off to grab the car. I turned to look at my father, who was frowning at the blood on his fingers. “Thanks for this, Dad. Best thing you could have gotten me.” Calling him Dad? I was definitely still drunk.

He smiled once more, clearly pleased with himself. “Happy Birthday, Meyer.”

I’d have to say goodbye to Shawn later. Right now, I just wanted to go home and play with my new toy. Clasped fists bounced against my lower back as I walked to the car pulling up at the loading bay, knowing not even I could get away with carrying a bound and half-naked woman through a restaurant. Madeline gasped in pain as I dropped her onto the back seat, then she moved away from me as I slid in beside her. I dragged her back toward me as the car pulled away, pushing at the bruises on her arm. She shied away from each one, only to meet the passenger door of the car.

“Meyer.” She gasped. “You can be reasonable. Let me out. I won’t tell anyone it was you.”

I frowned at her. “You know nothing about me.” She whimpered as I pulled her onto my lap and flipped on the lights in the back seat so I could see her better. My father’s ring had left a cut on her cheek; I wiped at the tacky marks on her cheeks only to send fresh blood flowing. “But you’ll learn.” I leaned forward to lick the blood off her face. I tasted my entire future in her, the key that would change the rest of my life. All it would take was one flick of a knife or the flash of a gun in the night. No one would ever know. She was mine forever.

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