Page 124 of Devious Kingpin
A dull ache formed behind my temples, refusing to recede.
I met his obsidian gaze and I knew he saw my decision because he closed his eyes for a brief moment. When he opened them, there was raw pain in them.
“I would have forgiven you anything, Dante.” My voice broke. “Anything but this.”
Dante exhaled a shuddering breath, his face taut with emotion. Vulnerability. For some stupid reason, I hated seeing the hurt on his face. He reached out, offering me the stack of letters.
“Read them,” he said, exhaling one final shuddering breath. “I’ll wait for you.” His raw whisper clawed at my heart, fresh wounds bleeding out. “I’ll wait for as long as it takes, Wildling. But I’m not letting go.”
He turned to leave, making his way out of the hotel suite he’d paid for. Once by the doorframe, he leaned against it and folded his arms.
He added softly, “I’ll never let go, Juliette. You’re mine. You’ve been mine your whole life.”
Then he leaned back against the doorframe and closed his eyes. I waited and waited, but eventually his breathing evened out and it looked like he’d fallen asleep.
“What are you doing?” I asked, frowning.
He never opened his eyes. “Guarding your door.”
Flabbergasted, I stared at him, almost expecting him to give me that smirk and tell me he was just joking. It never came.
“Go to sleep, Wildling,” he said, never opening his eyes.
I lay back down, closing my eyes and gripping the letters he had given me. They burned in the palm of my hand, but I refused to open them. I wanted to wait until I was alone.
The events of the day flashed through my mind, mixing with those images from ten years ago. The ones I tried so desperately to forget. They both started with a dance and ended—
I cut off the direction those thoughts were heading. I couldn’t deal with it.
Not tonight. Not ever.
Squeezing my eyelids tightly, I tried to focus on my breathing. In and out. In and out.
I must have dozed off because my mind wandered off into forbidden territory.
“Something is wrong with this bitch,” Travis said, laughing at my body that refused to move. I wanted to scream, thrash, and claw. But my muscles failed me. I lay there, wishing I were unconscious.
“What?” Brandon asked. I didn’t even know him, but he’d get to know me really well one day, when I killed him.
“She’s not crying or begging,” Travis hissed, then slapped me across the cheek. “Why isn’t she screaming?”
Not a single sound left my lips, although a solitary tear rolled down my cheek.
They didn’t even bother to restrain me, knowing whatever drug they slipped me would render me immobile.
Travis straddled me and I tried to retreat into my mind where I couldn’t hear their voices. Where I couldn’t feel them touching me.
“Hold this bitch down,” Travis ordered.
“Why? She’s not even fighting,” Sam questioned.
It didn’t matter, because Sam ended up doing whatever his despicable friend ordered him to do. He was weak like that.
Then Travis lay on top of me, his heavy body suffocating me.
He laughed. They laughed. My screams rattled around in my head—I couldn’t breathe. Darkness swallowed me, a vise around my chest preventing air from entering my lungs.
I jerked violently awake, a cold sweat slicking my skin and beading across my brow. My body shook. My lips trembled. I raised my hand, noting a bad tremor as I wiped my palm over my eyes.
