Page 106 of Priest

“I want to know all about what you’ve been doing since you faked your death that night.” He gets closer, so close that I feel the bed dip with his weight. “I want to know everything that you know about that asshole I killed.”

Oh, my God. Priest is dead? He’s really dead?

I feel his fingers brush up my arm and I try not to flinch. “I know you hear me, pretty little liar. And soon we’ll be together again. Just like I planned.” Leo’s lips press against my cheek. “I’m going to fuck you into submission, my dirty little slut. And if I find out you fucked that asshole before me, I’m going to kill everyone he’s ever come into contact with.”

Ripples form on my skin as I murmur. Trying my best to make it seem like I’m just having a bad dream.

“Sleep well.” He trails a finger down my neck, over one breast and down my torso, cupping my pussy with his hand. “You should’ve known by now, Isabella, there is no escaping me. No matter where you go, I will find you.”

I hear him stand, then walk over toward the door as he opens it and leaves.

I don’t even know how I had the strength to keep breathing, much less stay quiet. His touch felt like bugs crawling on my skin. Tears escape my eyes as I try to think fast. Not that it’ll matter; I can’t get out of this with my hands and feet tied. What if… What if I could get them loose? I glance around. I need to let my eyes adjust to the darkness, so that’s what I do…

A few minutes pass, or it could be longer. Leo’s promise echoes through me as I dread him coming back because I can’t play unconscious forever. At some point, I have to face him.

Anger boils in my blood.

What he did to Priest… I can’t even think about it. I can’t even imagine a world without him in it, and I meant every single word I said. I love him. If Priest isn’t here and Leo did this to him, then I’ll kill him. I will fucking kill him. I’ll do whatever it takes. I’ll pretend to be his dirty little liar slut. I’ll let him think that it was my lapse of judgment, that my uncle made me do it, that my family did horrible things — which wouldn’t be a lie — and he’ll either kill me or forgive me. Death would be a breeze at this point in time, but I’m still holding out that Priest could be okay. That he was just unconscious… Even as I think it, I remember his lifeless body as I was wrenched out of the truck.

I close my eyes.

I can’t deal with any more loss. Not this time. This time I’m taking my power back.

I sit back on the bed as best I can. My shoulders ache. My wrists hurt. My legs feel paralyzed. Do I just wait here until that mad man comes back? I guess there’s nothing else I can do except wait. It’s not like I can go anywhere.

I don’t fear him, not anymore. What I do fear is not having Priest in my life. It won’t be a life without him in it. That I know without a single shred of doubt.

I must fall asleep somehow, because when I wake, a guard is tugging my gag off and I start to struggle against him. “Hold still,” he growls at me.

“Bastard!” I scream at him, unsure what he’s going to do and if he really is freeing me.

He rolls me away from him and I feel his hands at my wrists as he cuts the ropes free. Then he leans to my ear. “Come quietly and this will go better than planned. If you try to run, it’ll only end badly for you. There’s nowhere to go.”

“Fuck you!” I spit. If I’m going down, I’m going down with a fight.

He ignores me, pulling the ropes free as he moves to my ankles.

Why is he letting me go?

I stop struggling so he can get rid of the ropes, but I feel like gauging his eyeballs out now that my hands are free. I stare down at my wrists; bloodied and bruised from the ropes. I also realize my shoulder aches. More than aches — it could be fractured from the roll over. My entire body feels like I've been run over — which effectively I was — by Leo’s van.

“Where are you taking me?” I demand.

He doesn’t answer.

“Where?”

He catches my wrists as I kick my legs at him once they’re free. “Like I said, I wouldn’t try anything. There’s nowhere for you to go.”

He yanks me by the arm off the bed as I wince in pain. “Ow! You’re hurting me!”

He slaps my face. “Shut up!”

I shudder, my whole body rigid as I let him tug me along. We proceed out of the room and down a dark hallway. We seem to be in a house. A large house. Probably Leo’s, not that he ever let me come over even though we were engaged.

We get to a large grand staircase and I shrug out of his grip. “You don’t have to grip me so hard, asshole!”

He turns and then raises his hand to me as I cringe, waiting for the blow, but it never comes. Instead, I hear a popping sound and I dive out of the way as the dude topples sideways, half of his face blown off by the blast of a gun. I shriek, blood spattering the side of my face as I duck and find myself falling down the stairs on my hands and knees.

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