Page 74 of Blades of Obsession

“Go to hell,” I hiss, repulsion twisting in my stomach. I wouldn’t touch him with a ten-foot pole.

His eyes darken. “Did you talk to Aiden like that? I’m sure you didn’t.” Before I can respond, he grabs my arm and yanks me off the bed. I make a mental note of the limit the chains set for my movement when he’s gone. “No, I’m sure you were nice and sweet the whole time for him.”

“What, are you jealous of him? You sure bring him up a lot.”

He chuckles, but a muscle in his jaw tightens, giving him away. With his grip still on my arm, he pushes me to the floor, forcing me onto my knees. Pain shoots through my legs as theyslam into the old hardwood. “Look at you,” he taunts. “So scared and helpless.”

“I’m not scared of you.”

“We’ll see about that.” He reaches behind his back and I catch a glimpse of metal—a knife. No. No. No. I immediately lash out and start kicking him with all my strength. He can’t use that on me.

He stumbles back, a string of curses slipping under his breath. “You bitch. You need to learn some manners.” He grips a fistful of my hair, sending a jolt of pain through my scalp as he lands a punishing kick to my stomach. It steals the breath from my lungs, and I gasp for air. “You wanna kick?” he growls. “I can show you what a real fucking kick feels like.”

As if by a saving grace, a booming voice on the other side of the door interrupts. “Hey boss, we got an emergency. It’s urgent.”

“Fuck,” Jacob mumbles, his face contorting with frustration. He points the knife at me. “This isn’t over. You better be ready tonight and learn some fucking manners by then, or I’ll take off my belt.” As he steps halfway out the door, he calls behind him, “I’ll have someone bring you a meal in twenty minutes. Give you some energy for tonight.”

The door slams shut and locks. It takes everything in me not to collapse on the floor and cry my eyes out. But I have to remain strong. I have to show him that he can’t break me. I have to survive. If not for me, then for the people who love me back home.

I can’t imagine what they’re feeling right now. Do they even know I’m gone yet? I don’t know how much time has passed since I was in the motel room. It could be two hours later, it could be the next day.

I take a deep, shuddering breath and find the strength to pull myself back onto the bed. My mind immediately goes into overdrive, busy thinking of ways I can escape.

There was a man out there who called him boss. How many more of them are there? The chances are starting to seem grim. I’d have to break out of the chains, find a way to unlock the door, and then make it past who knows how many men.

Maybe I could try going out the window? But if Jacob is as smart as he seems—after all, he did successfully pull off an entire kidnapping scheme—then he probably has a guard or a trap outside just in case.

I’ll figure it out.I have to.I can’t die here, and especially not being his… whore. I don’t want him to touch me. I don’t want anybody else to touch me, except for Blade. And that’s the first time I’m admitting to myself that I want my body to belong to him. And not just my body, my heart, my mind, my everything.

I’m startled when the door suddenly opens, and a woman walks in with a dinner tray. Has it been twenty minutes already? I must’ve been lost in my thoughts.

The woman is absolutely stunning, with blonde hair and a petite figure. Wait a minute. As she draws closer, she looks familiar.

Blonde hair.

A petite figure.

A familiar face.

“Mom?”

Chapter 28

BLADE

“She can’t be gone!” I yell, hurling a lamp against the wall. The porcelain shatters on impact, echoing throughout the living room, but it does nothing to silence the chaos in my mind.

My chest heaves, each breath a fucking struggle.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” I shout at no one, everyone, myself. My vision blurs with both rage and fear.

The thought of Jacob’s hands on her, touching her, violating her—FUCK!I kick a chair, sending it flying through the air. I want to tear my skin off piece by piece, carve out my organs until I’m nothing left but bones. That’s how I feel without her anyway, just a skeleton. A shell of a person.

It’s been damn near thirty hours since my world came crashing down in the motel room, and this is all I’ve been doing. All I have had the mental capacity to do. Destroy shit. Asher and one of the other hackers have been working to track Jacob down, but they’ve found nothing so far. Jacob removed the chip implanted into all members during freshman initiation, so they’ve been trying other methods.

I’ll have to kill them both if they can’t find her soon. I’m afraid I won’t be able to stop myself. I’m going crazy.

I haven’t eaten or gotten a lick of sleep. I’m running on pure adrenaline now. I can’t even step into my room because the ghost of her presence lingers there. The faint scent of her rosyperfume, the clothes she’s left behind, her hair supplies in the bathroom. All of it is a reminder that she’sgone.

---