Page 9 of Relentless Sinner

I also didn’t think anything could scare me any more than my previous situation. Yet here I am.

I’m beyond grateful that I’m not chained to the wall in the dungeon anymore with the threat of being raped and sold. But what is this?

What is he going to do to me now?

Jaxon saved me. He pulled me out of that hellhole, away from those men. And yet here I am, still a prisoner. But now I’mhisprisoner. The thought makes me feel sick, like I’m going to throw up my insides and never stop.

I’m sure he’s not going to take it lightly that I tried to run away because I didn’t want to marry him. I’m sure he’s not going to be happy either that he had to come and rescue me.

The fact that I’m locked in here,in his bedroom,says everything.

When we first arrived at this fortress of a home one of the guards led me up here and told me to get cleaned up. A maid came with food and a big T-shirt for me to change into, then they both left. When I heard the lock turn in the door I realized I’d swapped one dungeon for another.

I freaked the fuck out and banged on the door for a full hour before I gave up and decided to clean the filth from dungeon number one off me.

I put on the T-shirt. It swamps my frame and reaches past my knees but I’m grateful for the size because I’m not wearing panties underneath. Everything I wore previously was so dirty I had to put it in a bag to be thrown away.

I have no other clothes, shoes, or anything. The only thing I got back was my purse. It was empty. I don’t know if my phone and money were taken by those men or if Jaxon’s people took them.

I had a duffel bag as well, with clothes and various other things I’d packed for my travels. I was going to head down to Florida. The plan was to get a bus ticket.

I have—or ratherhad—money, but taking the bus would be more inconspicuous and I thought it would throw my father off my trail.

Since I was supposed to go to med school in L.A. I thought he’d be guaranteed to look there.

I was going to lie low for a year then return to New York by my birthday next year to try and get my inheritance money.

Then I’d be able to go to med school wherever I chose and I’d be able to pay for it myself. The first thing Dad did to me whenhe demanded I marry Jaxon was pull the funding for med school to stop me from going.

I’d still have to get married to get my inheritance but I’m sure I would be able to find someone to fulfill that part of the deal and pay them off. Anyone would do as long as I got to choose. Not my father.

Honestly, I never want to see him again. Not after the way he beat Natasha when she told him she was pregnant. It was me who stopped him from doing more damage when I hit him with a lamp.

Dad became abusive when Mom died. The years saw him getting worse and worse but that night was catastrophic. It was like he was possessed.

The sound of the uproar brought in the guards and stopped him from going further. Of course, one of the guards was Alessandro.

He wanted to kill Dad but realized he’d only make things worse for himself and Natasha if he did so. That was the night he took Natasha away.

They worried that my father was either going to hurt her enough that she’d lose the baby or make her get rid of it—like he demanded. At the time she was only six weeks pregnant. That was nearly a month ago now.

After they left everything went to hell for me mere weeks later.

Still, I would prefer to be back at home now than here. At least I know those walls, those halls, those surroundings. The fear I feel there is familiar. This is not.

I glance around the room. The dark furniture, cold marble floors and large French window with heavy drapes surround me, feeling as formidable as Jaxon himself.

They all remind me that I’m in his home.In his bedroom.

I walk over to the window, pull the curtains back and gaze out to the mass of shadowy trees.

This home and the grounds are massive, way bigger than my father’s. And the darkness all around me feels like a thick blanket of smoke trapping me.

This room is his cage. Everything around me is a fucking cage and I don’t know what I’m going to do.

I just know I can’t stay here. I can’t stay here withhim.

Clara’s voice echoes in my head, reminding me that Jaxon Bortsov is a monster. She’s my cousin but the closest thing I have to a best friend outside Natasha. Clara is four years older than me and the girl you turn to when you have problems you can’t wrap your head around.

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