Page 39 of Heartless Prince

“Girls see our rings and hear all the dumb rumors about the society, so they know the kind of power and influence we have. That turns them on. They want to get fucked by us. But not just by us. They want the whole experience. So we give it to them. The music, the stupid made-up symbols, the candles. It’s everything they think we do, and in return for us giving them that, we get laid. Good deal for everyone. But it has nothing to do with the real society.”

“What about that girl who came in and screamed about someone taking her sister? Kylie Burns. You told her you knew where she was.”

He snorted. “I only said that to shut her up. She was obviously drunk or crazy. I’ve never heard of her sister.”

“Oh.” I was surprised at how talkative he was being after all the unbridled maliciousness from earlier times. “Why are you suddenly being nice to me?”

“I’m not being nice. I just don’t mind talking to you when you’re like this, because you’re so high you can’t be anything but honest, and honesty is pretty fucking rare for you, isn’t it?”

The full force of his loathing hit me again like a brick, and I sagged in his arms. “I don’t know what I did to make you hate me so much,” I mumbled.

He scoffed. “Really? You’ve never done anything that might make someone dislike you? Nothing springs to mind at all?”

We were in the mansion now. He was carrying me down a softly-lit hallway, toward the elevator.

“I’ve done bad things before,” I murmured. “Really bad things. But that doesn’t mean I deserve… this. Whatever this even is.” The last word came out more like ‘ish’ due to my slurring.

His eyes narrowed. “Oh yeah? What bad things have you done, doll?” he said icily. As if he already knew….

“I don’t want to talk about it,” I muttered. Guilt roiled in my guts.

“Of course you don’t. But I will make you talk about it one day, Tatum.” He pressed the elevator button for the lowest level, then put me back down on the floor.

It was cold beneath my feet, but I barely noticed, too distracted by a hot rush of anger toward Elias. Who the hell did he think he was, saying that he would make me do stuff? I was so sick of his attitude, so sick of this horrible place.

“You can’t make me do anything,” I said in an acid tone as the elevator sank downward. “I know what you’re trying to do here. You want me to be like an MK-Ultra sex slave, with all your mind control and drugs. But I won’t fall for it. I won’t!”

He chuckled again. “MK-Ultra? Wow. You’re really into your conspiracy theories, aren’t you?”

“That’s exactly what you’re doing. Trying to program mindless sex slaves.”

Elias suddenly pushed me up against the wall, his hands above my shoulders. His breath was hot against the shell of my ear, sending unwanted tingles down my spine. “Mindless? That’s what you think I want?” Another cruel laugh. “You stupid little slut. You couldn’t be more wrong if you tried. I want you completely lucid and aware of everything I do to you. I want you to know exactly what’s happening when I force you to your knees and choke you with my cock. I want you to know exactly what I’m doing when I fuck you and punish you. Mindless is the last thing I want you to be.”

The elevator door opened, and he dragged me out, pulling me down the artificially-lit hallway toward my cell. I didn’t struggle. As much as I hated the tiny room, I craved it, because it was the closest thing I had to a home now, as messed up as that sounded.

Elias swiped a keycard in the door, then shoved me into the room. “Goodnight, little whore.”

“I hate you,” was all I had to offer in response.

“Good. I want you to hate me as much as I hate you.” He smiled at me, but there was no mirth or kindness in that smile. It was reptilian, evil. Strangely sexy.

I hated how hot he was, hated myself for noticing and physically responding. It’s just the drugs, I told myself. They were dulling all sense of reason and rationality as they coursed through my veins. Any tingling, heated response I had to this man was induced by that. It wasn’t real.

Was it?

He turned away. I reached out and tentatively touched his shoulder before springing back in case he turned and slapped me like his father seemed so fond of doing. “Wait,” I said in a ragged whisper, forcing my twisted attraction to him aside. “Just tell me… what’s going to happen to me?”

“I already told you,” he said, his upper lip curling in disdain. “You’re going to be punished for the things you’ve done.”

I shrank back. “By who? Just you?”

“Yes. You’re mine now. I own you.”

I swallowed and shook my head. “No. You’ll never own me. No one will.”

His eyes glittered with malice. “We’ll see about that,” he said, his voice soft and deadly. “You’ll be begging to obey me soon.”

“No. You can never truly own something that hates you,” I said softly.

He smiled again, as if I’d just told a hilarious joke. “Like I said,” he began, words laced with cold finality. “We’ll see about that….”

---