Page 66 of Corrupted

"It was," I said. "A Subaru. He didn't want me to have the same name as a car." This whole conversation was surreal. I hadn't thought about any of this for years. At least seven or eight.

Kurt chuckled. "I'm sorry I teased you about that. You're right, flower would be perfect. You always were a beautiful flower." He cocked his head at me.

I swallowed down the small breakfast I'd managed to eat before the guys brought me down here. I glanced at them again. I didn't know what to think. In his mind, it was like the last few years never happened. Like he never laid a hand on me.

"What are they doing here?" Kurt asked. "Why am I in this cage?" He kicked his feet, rattling the chains. "Is this some kind of prank your brothers are pulling on me? No offence, but it's not funny." He was starting to become agitated.

"It's not a prank," I said quietly. "You held me in a cage for five years. Just like this one."

"I would never—" he started.

"You raped me. So many times I lost count." I leaned back against Reuben as he stood behind me, his hands on my upper arms.

Kurt's eyes widened. "Mina! I would never do that to you. I know it's going to take some time for you to turn to me, but you will. When you do, you'll willingly give yourself to me. Why would I force myself on you?"

He looked horrified. Not as horrified as I felt. Those moments ran over and over in my head on repeat, hard as I tried to ignore them and push them away. I could still feel him on top of me, pinning me down, pushing himself into me. Thrusting.

I swallowed hard. "It was what you did. You even had one of your friends video you raping me. I saw it. They saw it." I jerked my head towards my guys.

"Yes, we did," Damon said coldly.

Kurt gaped before sinking back to the back of the cage. "I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't do that." He said it over and over at least a dozen times, while shaking his head.

"What the fuck do we do now?" Gianni asked. "He's still the same asshole."

My tongue swept over my bottom lip. He was, but at the same time, he wasn't. Terry must have hit him extremely hard.

In Kurt's mind, he hadn't harmed a hair on my head. Maybe, like this, he was harmless. Defenceless. Could we actually kill him like this? If we didn't, then I had no idea what we'd do with him.

"You could let me out of here," Kurt said pitifully. "Whatever I did, I'll make it up to you. I swear. Whatever you need me to do, I'll do it. If you think I need help, I'll get help. Just please…" He crawled back to the front of the cage and gripped the bars again.

"Please, let me out of here." He looked like he was going to burst into tears.

Something I'd never seen him do. Something I never would have thought he was capable of.

Reuben stepped forward, crouched down right in front of Kurt. "No," he said simply. There was an air of absolute finality in his tone. It didn't matter what I said, Reuben was absolutely not letting him walk away. Never.

Kurt's expression changed like a switch was flipped. He snarled at Reuben and tried to take a swing at him. He couldn't reach through the bars, Reuben was just out of reach.

"Reuben motherfucking Brantley," Kurt growled. "You think you're so fucking better than everyone else. You and your asshole sidekicks and your slut." He glared at me, teeth bared.

"It was all an act," I said softly.

Of course it was, he'd always been a good actor. He must have figured this was his only chance. If he appealed to my humanity, maybe, just maybe, I'd go soft on him. At least I had some humanity left. He had none, not even a tiny bit.

The grin he gave me was brutal and nasty. "You almost bought it, stupid bitch." He raised his voice to a high-pitch. "Mina, Mina, I never touched a hair on your fucking body. I sweeear."

He closed his mouth and smirked. "You would have let me out, wouldn't you? You would have let me walk out of here. I would have come straight back for you. You would have been the one in the cage again. Like the stupid bitch you are. Fucking slut. You spread your legs for the first man that came along. Didn't you? Didn't you?"

"At least we know what to do next," Gianni said. "Let's see how long he lasts in that cage. I'll tell Terry to save some scraps to feed him every few days. Maybe some water here or there. What about some country music thrown in for shits and giggles?"

Kurt jerked his legs against the chains. "Fuck off. Get it over with and kill me. You know you all want to."

He lifted his chin, as though daring me to grab another length of chain and wrap it around his throat. Tempting, but that would be far too easy.

"All the more reason to leave you alive," I said. "Because you want to die, just like I did. And it gives us something else to look forward to, when we get bored."

I yawned playfully, my hand in front of my mouth. It was past time I had some fun with this asshole. He'd had the upper hand for long enough. Now it was my turn.