Page 97 of Devilish

OF COURSE I’D been locked up after my attempt at running away. Rupert had always had a security guard around, but never more than one, and I hadn’t expected them to be stationed at the back door.

He really wasn’t going to let me go this time, was he?

I hugged my knees closer to my chest on the single bed with its plain white sheets, surrounded by the same boring white walls with no windows. Nothing had changed about the room I’d spent so much time in. There were still no pictures of any kind on the walls, which I’d always found odd, considering Rupert ran an art gallery.

I glanced at the bathroom, which was just as stark as the room it adjoined, and narrowed my eyes at the showerhead like it had done something to offend me personally. Rupert wanted me to shower, to wash off any lingering part of Lucien from my skin, but he could go to hell. Lucien was the only thing getting me through right now, and every time I burrowed my nose beneath my shirt, I could smell his cologne. He’d hovered over me on the couch, fully dressed for his meeting at Libertine, and looking and smelling so delicious that I tried my best to convince him to stay.

Dropping my head to my knees, I closed my eyes and focused on that last memory, holding it tight. I didn’t know how many hours had passed since I’d been taken, but Lucien had to know by now that I wasn’t at home. He had to know I never wanted to leave him. I’d told him that, right? God, I should’ve told him that every day, because he made me feelworthsomething every day.

Unlike the last time I was here, I didn’t feel resigned to my fate. Everything in my life had changed so much during my time with Lucien, and now I knew what I could have. What I didn’t have to settle for.

I didn’t have to put up with this shit. I didn’t have to cower before Rupert, or do what he wanted me to, and I sure as hell didn’t have to live here like this with him. I would just bide my time until I found a way out. This wasn’t forever. My future included Lucien and books and travel. It included my working toward my GED and finding my own path. And whatever that was, it meant ensuring that no one else would ever end up in the situation I found myself in—at the beck and call of someone with money and status. Before meeting Lucien, I thought all rich guys were the same, but that wasn’t true at all. Some people actually didn’t use their power and money to harm.

A key turning in the lock made my heart jump, that familiar initial panic rising within me.

I forced myself to breathe normally. There was nothing Rupert could say or do that would change anything.

The door was pushed open with a loud thud against the opposite wall, as though Rupert wanted to announce his presence.

News flash, asshole: the chill of something evil formed icicles in the air when you stopped outside the door.

I shifted to my feet, trying to gain whatever ground I could against Rupert, as he walked inside and slammed the door shut behind him. He gave me a calculating once-over, and I could tellby the displeasure on his face that he knew I’d disobeyed his direct order.

Good. Suck on that, you miserable bastard.

“I thought I told you to shower.”

It didn’t escape my attention thathehad done so, and the damp hair at the sides of his temples and redder-than-usual cheeks made my stomach revolt. He was dressed in a pair of ugly-ass silk boxer shorts and matching robe. He probably thought he looked sexy in that getup, but he just looked ridiculous. Especially when I’d seen Lucien inhisrobe.

I wasn’t going to think about that, though. Not right now. I didn’t want to taint his image with this gross picture of Rupert. There was only one reason Rupert had come here straight from the shower, and the idea of his touching me in any way made me wrap an arm around my waist to stop from hurling.

“Kai?”

I jutted my chin up with as much defiance as I could muster. “I don’t take orders from you anymore.”

“Is that right?” Rupert’s lip curled as he walked over to me. “Then maybe I’ll just have to force you.”

He grabbed hold of my arm, the same one he’d yanked me out of my seat by at dinner, and the sting from those bruises shot through me. I gritted my teeth, refusing to cry out or show any signs of weakness, as he dragged me toward the bathroom door.

“I told you,” Rupert said, putting his extensive weight and muscle into pulling me inside the sterile room. “I won’t have you smelling likehim. Not when you’re about to be with me.”

I shuddered. The idea of letting anyone—let alonethisdisgusting human—anywhere near me after Lucien felt like a fate worse than death.

Not caring how much it hurt, I ripped my arm free of his cruel grasp and backed up in the small en suite until I felt the tile wall behind me.

“I’d rather be dead than let you touch me again.”

Rupert looked unimpressed by my show of bravado, though. He smirked and leaned in to turn on the water.

“You don’t think that could be arranged?”

Honestly, it had never crossed my mind until this very second. But if he was a man capable of forcing himself on someone, ofbuyingsomeone like a piece of property, how much worse was disposing of someone?

“Don’t tempt me, Kai. I have my ways. And while your ass may be as sweet as your face, it’s not worth all that much to me if I can’t get inside it.”

Another violent shudder racked me, his words so vile I again almost retched. The only reason I didn’t was that I hadn’t eaten anything all day.

With the water running, Rupert turned to see me still plastered to the wall. “Get undressed,” he barked.

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