Page 14 of Love Without Control

I pushed open the door and the hinges squeaked, drawing the attention of the two idiots. The dark-haired one stood from the mattress and stuck his phone in the pocket of his cargo shorts.

“Hey, uh, you here to pick up number five?”

I nodded curtly, and then my gaze found her. Not number five.Evie. She was sitting with her ankles chained to the legs of a metal chair and her hands bound behind her. The dress she’d obviously been forced to wear was black and slinky, barely covering her toned thighs. My temper flared when I saw her face.

“She’s been marked,” I snapped.

Ethan pulled at the back of his neck, obviously uncomfortable. “This one gave us a lot of trouble.”

Good.

“Unchain her and then leave the room,” I commanded, bringing my attention back to the woman. She eyed me warily but didn’t speak.

“Felipe, uncuff her,” Ethan ordered before turning to me. “You can use the bed, but we need to get paid first before you can fuck her. Want us to get the money from your car?”

I leveled him with a glare so fiery, I was surprised he didn’t burst into flames. “No. You’re not seeing a dime until I talk to her.”

“Talk?” he asked like he didn’t know what that word meant.

“Out,” I barked in response, my tone steely and unrelenting.

Felipe stood and backed away quickly, probably to avoid Evie’s now unchained feet. “Watch your cojones, dude.” His fingers brushed across a set of scratch marks on the side of his neck that matched the ones I’d seen on the other guy’s face. I wondered if Evie had left them there. I hoped so. “Chick is loco. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.”

The duo left, and I cautiously approached the woman in the chair, who was looking up at me with apprehensive eyes. “I’m not going to hurt you,” I said quietly, and her eyebrows squished together, forming a soft pad between them. “Can you stand?”

Evie nodded, and I took both of her hands to help her up. She wobbled on the ridiculously high heels on her feet. They were stilettos and at least six inches. Even with them, she was a tiny thing, and I had to look down at her as I voiced my greatest concern at that moment.

“Did they…” I inhaled a deep breath. “Did they sexually assault you?”

I released the air from my lungs when she shook in the negative and said, “No, they kept threatening to, but I think it’s against the rules or something. I heard them talking about it in the hallway.”

My thumb brushed ever so gently across the bruise blooming on her right cheek. “Who did this to you?”

She swallowed. “Felipe.”

“And this?” I dropped my thumb to just below her lower lip, where a split in the rosy flesh was crusted with blood. My voice was quiet, belying the fury sizzling in my veins.

“That was courtesy of Ethan the fatass.”

I nodded, silent for a moment as my mind processed my next move. With this woman standing in front of me, beautiful even though she was battered and bravely afraid, I knew I couldn’t hand her over to my father, no matter what Leo decided. I think I knew that from the second I saw her in the video, but the knowledge of that fact was stark in the reality of seeing her in person. Of holding her small hands in mine.

“Take off your shoes, Evie.”

Her chin trembled, but she stopped it with an audible click of her teeth clenching together, blue eyes flitting nervously to the bed.

“But… I thought they said…” She couldn’t quite manage the quiver of fear in her voice.

“I’m not going to rape you, Evie. Never. I need you to be able to run.”

That soft pad of flesh appeared between her eyebrows again. “Why?”

“Because I’m about to fuck some shit up.”

Chapter 6

BecauseI’mabouttofuck some shit up.

I wasn’t sure why, but those words calmed me just a bit. They probably shouldn’t have.Fuck some shit up.What did that even mean?

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