Page 10 of Cruel Master

I also had to acknowledge that I’d never gone back to the place I’d grown up. I’d never gone home, never attended my own father’s funeral … all so that he would remain free from suspicion.

He continued after several beats of silence. “You will remain here, in this apartment, and you will do exactly what I tell you to.” I heard the floor creak as he stood. Listened to the movements of his footsteps across the floor as he approached me and the inhale as he breathed in and released the smoke from his lungs. Hard fingers gripped under my chin and lifted my head so that my face was tilted up towards his.

“You have a long time in here, baby,” he said. “Until you can repay even a fraction of what you cost me, you belong to me. And, Angel?” I meet his eyes. “I intend for you to take forever to pay back your debt to me. After all, we did agree to devote ourselves to one another for life. To have and to hold …until deathdo we part.”

“You can’t keep me here,” I huffed. “Iwillfind a way to get free.”

He grinned. “Oh, don’t you worry about that, love.” He turned the cigar around and placed it against my lips and blinking in confusion, I parted them. “Inhale,” he ordered. On instinct, I did. I felt the smoke invade my lungs, fill me up, and then felt a fogginess in the back of my mind. When he pulled the cigar away, I coughed. I coughed and coughed and shook my head as he turned and lifted an ashtray from the settee, crushing the cigar, which wasn’t even half finished into the bottom.

“What…” Another cough attacked and I felt my legs relax. Something was wrong. That cigar … my head … it wasn’t normal.

“Do you like one of my new products?” he inquired

“New products?” I repeated, more confusion swamping my brain.

“Yes,” he said. “Despite your betrayal, I’ve managed to maintain quite a bit of power. I’ve begun spreading my business acumen to other markets, and this is a new type of drug we’re marketing. It’s designed to make you relax. For you especially, darling, it’ll make you lose all of your worries and just accept what’s happening. Be grateful I offered this. I can still be kind if you’re a good girl for me—that is, if you can manage to be good for longer than what it takes to stab me in the back.”

The bitterness of his tone was not lost on me, but the foggy smoke made it difficult to think. “I didn’t stab you—I wouldn’t…” A groan rumbled out of my chest. Why was it so hard to form sentences?

“What’s happening?” I asked, even as his words finally sank into my mind. As soon as I inhaled that smoke, my mind had hazed over. The air over my flesh felt colder somehow before it turned hot. Incredibly hot. A million pinpricks of fire rose to the surface of my skin. My head tilted one way and then another as if my neck was struggling to support it. I couldn’t seem to focus on any point in the room.

“It’s fast acting,” Gaven explained as he finished what he was doing and turned around to face me. He pulled a small black square from his pocket and held it in his hand. “It will enhance a few things for you.”

“B-but you were…”

Hadn’t he been smoking it? He’d taken a single inhale, at least. Had he just been holding it between his lips for the rest of the time? Why wasn’t he reacting the way I was? My head rolled forward and looking down, I realized that I’d let my legs fall open once more, putting the full view of my pussy on display. Air wafted over my open, wet flesh. A gasp escaped me and I snapped them shut again—as much as I could, anyway.

A low chuckle reverberated from him. “Oh no, we can’t have that.” Gaven’s thumb pressed over the central button on the remote in his hand and the wand between my legs flared to life.

I screamed as both of my knees shot outward and my lower spine pressed against the back of the chair, but it was useless. Though keeping my legs open didn’t press the wand so hard against my clit, there was no removing it. I tossed my head back and screamed again as the vibrations increased. The damn thing was hammering against my clit, sending what little cognition I had left in my brain into the stratosphere.

I couldn’t think. I couldn’t breathe. All I could do wasfeel.Feel how soaking wet my pussy was. Feel the hard, fast stimulation buzzing between my legs. Shit. Fuck. What was I supposed to do? I’d known that if Gaven ever caught up to me, that he’d be angry, but I never expected that he’d do this. Keep me captive in some room and torture me like this. I’d expected nail-pulling, beating, or even waterboarding.

Hate.

Pain.

Violence.

He was a killer, after all. But this? Sexual torture? That hadn’t even been on my radar. And oh, was this fucking torture.

Gaven stood there and watched me squirm as I tried to wriggle, unsuccessfully, away from the press of the toy. My lips parted and I panted with the effort it took not to lose my ever-loving mind. Just as it was about to send me over the edge, the vibrations ceased. I gasped for breath and curled inward. I could feel the sweat coating my body, thankful for some relief and yet, also mildly disappointed that I hadn’t reached that glorious threshold. My chest shuddered as I sucked in air so hard it scraped through my dry throat. My breasts trembled with the effort, my nipples pearling into hardened points.

“You haven’t been exposed to this drug,” Gaven explained carefully, as if he hadn’t just nearly forced me to come apart under his seemingly indifferent gaze with nothing more than the press of a button. “Tolerance and body weight are also taken into consideration. Someone of my mass needs to inhale a lot more of this for it to be effective—you, however, are quite susceptible, darling. You’ve toned up, become quite a bit smaller than the last time we saw each other.” I looked up and glared at him, but his eyes weren’t on my face. They were on my body and his lips were curled down—as if he was displeased by the words coming from his lips. “You’ll find yourself quite lulled by this drug—well, that is, until I take it away.”

Toned? Ha. It wasn’t exactly by choice. I had to be fit. It was either learn the skills necessary to survive or risk being found, taken, and possibly killed. But despite his words, I wasn’t thinking of that right now. I was shaking. Trembling actually. I could feel the heat of his gaze under my skin. This was a problem—a big one. I needed to get out, to get away.

I’d considered that Gaven might catch up to me someday. I’d had plans in place. Now, though, the harder I tried to think of what I’d planned to say in this situation, the more it evaded me. Another groan worked up my chest. I was so fucking hot, I’d swear flames were licking at my skin. My head tilted forward, and I struggled to keep it up.

If Gaven planned to keep me drugged for long stints of time, I was fucked. Ronald needed me. I still had him to consider, but more than that—staying around Gaven for any length of time would put him in danger, especially if what he said was true and he was still involved in the Price Empire. I had no doubt that my sister would sniff out my whereabouts and the second she knew I was with him again, all hell would break loose. I couldn’t let that happen. I had to convince him to let me go.

“Gaven,” I said, my chest pumping up and down. I didn’t care, now, that I was naked and bare before him, that he could see the hard points of my nipples or the rounded sides of my hips or even the evidence of my arousal coating my pussy. “Gaven, whatever you think you’re going to get from me—”

“I know exactly what I’m going to get from you, Angel,” Gaven said, cutting me off. His boots made hard sounds on the floor as he strode closer and then bent down. This time, instead of lifting my chin up, his hand curled into my hair, gripped hard, and yanked until I had to arch my back and thrust out my breasts to keep it from hurting. He grinned down at me, his smile twisted and angry—but even beyond that anger, I knew the truth. He was hurt, and he was punishing me.

“I’m going to get the last five years of my marriage back,” he stated. “Every wicked thing I had planned for you, you will do. You will remain in this chair and take your punishment until you learn to do as I ask, and when you do, you will learn to continue your service to me for the rest of your life. Misbehave, and you’ll be right back here. Locked up. No freedom to do anything—not even go to the bathroom by yourself. Is that clear?”

“You can’t…” I gasped.

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