Page 97 of Captive Souls

His cologne was sickly-strong, an assault on my senses, making my head pound. Or maybe that was his grip on my neck. Or maybe it was the world falling apart on top of me.

“Where is my sister?” I demanded. I needed to understand how much pain I was going to be in.

“Safe,” he smiled pleasantly. “She’s dancing in a production tonight. I hear she’ll be wonderful. Such a talented dancer. So much ahead of her. But that future is so fragile. So reliant on her small body staying healthy. Whole.”

My mouth went dry. Not from the fear of his threat—I’d been living underneath that pressure for months. But from relief that she was okay. Unharmed. Stone might’ve been the biggest piece of shit to walk the earth, but I didn’t think he was a liar. Killing Daisy was losing the leash he’d fastened me on. He was smart enough to understand that.

Still, the question remained of just how he’d found me. Not that thehowof it really mattered at that point. He had found me.

I was screwed. I understood that. I was chained inside a motel room with men with guns, the mob, guarding me. I didn’thave a weapon, no protector, no man who loved me more than anything coming to rescue me.

Knox was dead.

Dead.

I couldn’t breathe around the agony of that.

Cold certainty circled around my neck like a noose. There was no escaping this. My fate was sealed. Because Daisy was their bargaining chip. And I’d give up for her. My fight was over.

Don’t you dare, Knox’s voice growled in my ear.Don’t submit.

I steeled myself and stared into Stone’s brown eyes. “You can try,” I hissed. “You and your pathetic excuse for a cock can try. But Knox has ruined me completely and utterly for all men. No matter what you do to me, I’ll always be his.”

Fury, white-hot, flashed in Stone’s eyes, and I thought he might hit me. I wanted him to. I wanted to show him that I could fracture the control he valued so dearly. But he tamped it down, sucking in a deep inhale and squeezing my neck harder.

“We will see, fiancée,” he murmured, pulling me so our lips almost brushed. “I know I seem civil now, but I have thought of all the ways I will bring you to heel. I will break you, Piper. And you’ll be nothing but my obedient wife. If you’re not, I’ll throw you to my men and let them fuck all of your holes until you’re bleeding from the inside out and begging for death.”

His threat was a velvet promise.

Dread wrapped around my heart, squeezing. I knew that threat wasn’t empty. He’d do it. And thought parts of me wanted to die right then, I didn’t wantthat.

One monster or many? Was that my fate?

I struggled to keep my breathing even. There was only one monster I wanted, and he was gone.

Stone stared into my eyes a moment longer before letting me go and standing, putting his jacket back on and smiling at me as if he hadn’t just threatened to have me gang raped.

“I’ll give you time to consider.” He glanced at the expensive watch on his wrist. “Twelve hours should be sufficient. Enough time for my staff to pull together a wedding. Daisy has already been informed that she’ll be maid of honor. We’d hate to disappoint her, wouldn’t we? Then she’d feel as if we no longer have any use for her, and that would be terrible indeed.”

On that warning, he left.

He stared at the man who had been standing silently in the corner of the room. “No more marks on her face,” he barked. “I want my wife presentable. We can cover this with makeup.” He waved to my black eye as if he knew what could and couldn’t be hidden by cosmetics. As if he had experience in that. I shuddered at just how many brides he might’ve considered before me.

“But I want her looking presentable. Arms too. They’ll be exposed. If she fights, make sure you don’t leave any marks.” His eyes went to my exposed thighs. “And no one touches her sexually, unless I decide that this wedding will no longer be prudent.”

My eyes clouded with tears I refused to let fall. I was nothing but a piece of meat, property, to a man assuming my body was a collection of trophies, his to control.

“I’ll be seeing you,” Stone promised, looking at me again. “It would be in your benefit to wear white and be smiling at me as you walk down an aisle. You’ll like your life. I’ll make sure of it. I’ll plant babies in you, and you’ll be the dutiful wife and mother I know you can be.”

And then he left.

Left me with the horrifying knowledge that Knox was dead, and I was destined to marry a true tyrant.

Plantbabiesin me.

I felt triumphant knowing that at least that threat would never find its way to actuality. I felt grateful for the cancer that had made it so my womb would never be home to babies that bastard could‘ve used to control me. But that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to be tortured in all the ways a woman could—and those were many.

I’d lain, staring at the ceiling, mute for hours. It had bored my captors, who had probably been expecting, hoping, for more of a fight. They were bloodthirsty to cause me more pain. Their boss had okayed it, after all.

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