Page 13 of Tower

Before Jackson had come into her room demanding she follow him downstairs, she’d been making plans to get out of the house the next evening. Now, it seemed she was out, and she needed to figure a way to get back in.

“What do you want with me?” she asked, folding her hands over her lap. Her thighs were completely bare, with her dress hiked up around her waist. The spanking hadn’t hurt, not really. A few swats to her ass had been enough to shock her, but there wasn’t much pain. The tingle it sent through her body bothered her more than the brief sting of his hand.

She shouldn’t have a tingle. She shouldn’t have anything except anger and contempt for the asshole stealing her.

“Not your concern at the moment,” he answered and turned off the main road and onto an access drive.

As he drove up the winding road, a mansion came into view. With the dark night blanketing the background, the lighted windows sent a shiver through her. She recognized the mansion, its peaks visible from her bedroom window, and there were pictures of it in the papers from time to time. Ash Titan lived there.

She’d heard murmurs among her mother’s men about what went on inside the walls of the Annex. Women were auctioned off, contracted out for deviant play and sex. Women sold from one man to another for whatever pleasure their new owners desired.

And Peter was taking her there.

He’d said the debt had been forgiven. That’s what he’d told Santos when he took her. He was going to sell her to repay a debt? Whose debt?

She closed her eyes for a moment and swallowed back rising panic. Nothing ever got accomplished by crying. She wouldn’t allow this. She was so close to gaining some freedom. Her mother was finally going to let her move out. She was finally going to have a life of her own.

As soon as he parked, she moved into action. She flipped the lock and threw open the door, jumping out of the car before Peter could grab her.

“Hey!”

She heard him yell for her, but she didn’t stop. She raced down the cobblestone path to the gates they’d driven through. If she ran fast enough, she could get through before they closed. But they were already moving, the moonlight flickering off the metal as they crept closer to one another.

“Azalea!” He sounded closer.

She pumped her arms and pushed herself to move, to get there, to get out, to get away from the Annex and from Peter.

“Goddammit! Grab her!”

A man appeared from out of the little house near the gate. She hadn’t seen him before. Had he been there?

She shrieked and tried to jolt around him, but he was in front of her and his hands were on her, holding her arms tight. She fought against him, kicked at him, but the damn mammoth didn’t even flinch.

With another cry of frustration, she watched the gates come together. The bolt latching echoed in the courtyard. She was stuck.

“Where the hell did you think you were going?” Peter jogged up to her and gave the mammoth a nod, which she assumed meant he could release her, since he did. He didn’t leave, though, instead, he blocked her from behind.

“I won’t let you sell me.” She took a step back, feeling the danger of the guard too close behind her. With nowhere to go, she could only gain a few inches of space between her and Peter, but it was enough to let her breathe easier.

Peter’s lips thinned as he pressed them together. Each puff of air flared his nostrils, but he didn’t say a word.

He snagged her hand and pulled her back up the driveway. She took deep breaths to calm her lungs, burning from the run, and to keep her heart from jumping out of her chest.

Fighting him wouldn’t get her anywhere. Not with the mammoth at the gate, and who knew what other animals lurked inside the mansion to help him.

She managed to keep up with him as he took the steps up to the entrance, but when he pulled her to the large staircase inside, she resisted again.

“I’m not going up there,” she said, shaking her head.

He sighed and spun to face her. “You are. Either you walk up these steps, or I throw you over my shoulder and carry you up. Either way is fine with me, but I’m sure you have a preference.”

Azalea clenched her teeth. A smartass remark would probably give him a reason to make the decision for her, and she had a good idea which way he would choose.

She met his gaze, forcing herself to ignore the irritation lurking in his dark glare. “I’ll walk on my own.”

He released her hand and moved aside, waving her ahead of him.

Smoothing her dress, she raised her chin and climbed the staircase.

---