Page 29 of Scandalous Kingpin
My hands balled into fists, the static in my ears growing louder.
Until a soft crunch came from behind me and I whirled around.
Time stopped as I was faced with Ivy’s horrified expression, her eyes roaming the scene around me. Cobra, the guard dog I had trained to protect Ivy using the scent from the clothes I’dinstructed my men to lift from her Irish estate, stood next to her, hackles up and growling, perceivingmeas a danger.
I’d rest easy knowing my trainers were successful, though now it might cost me my life.
An ear-splitting sound escaped her lips, her eyes wide and her pupils dilated, when she took in the sight of the woman behind me, her face bloody and her wrists bound.
When her voice turned raspy and she stopped screaming, her pale expression made the hairs on my neck rise.
I reached for her in an attempt to steady her and explain, but she fought me off, shoving me away with more strength than I thought her small frame was capable of and beelining for the stairs.
“You don’t understand,” I growled, trying to catch her legs but only managing to get kicked in the chin. I stumbled back, the sound of my adoptive mother’s mocking laugh from where she followed me into the corridor filling my ears.
It was the final straw for Cobra, who lunged at me, eyes black as he foamed at the mouth. I jumped to the side and she narrowly missed me, biting my prisoner in the leg instead.
Chapter Fourteen
IVY
Ifollowed the dog who seemed loyal to me and eager to guide me through the halls from my bedroom, thinking she’d take me to her owner in the living room. Maybe lead me outside, where she’d do her business and then beg for a treat.
What I found in that dank basement cell made my heart stop.
I was greeted by bloody fingers dangling off a rope. A woman sat in a metal chair, her hands and ankles tied. Her face a collage of black and blue, her clothes soaked with blood and filth. The dungeon had a chill of terror curling in my stomach.
A fuckingwoman.
My stomach roiled, but the confusion and horror trumped the dizziness that tried to pull me under. Any decent man—whether he was attached to a criminal organization or not—didnottouch women and children.
I only needed to stand there for thirty seconds, listening to the darkness tainting his voice.
My blood drummed in my ears and my mind screamed. All the signs were there all along, but I was blinded by his beautifulangel-like face. Except there was no more hiding. I could see it clearly now; he was thriving on pain and control.
My vision dimmed, terror inflating in my throat, and my gasp of horror must have not escaped my host.
Priest’s blue gaze, full of cruelty and something psychotic, came my way. For a moment, I couldn’t breathe, paralyzed by what I was seeing and the brutal savagery in his eyes. But then adrenaline jolted through my veins and I ran.
The horror of what I just saw played on repeat in my head as I made my way to the top of the basement staircase. I just had to make it through the foyer. The front door was closed… too far away, but maybe I could hide somewhere.
Tears ran down my cheeks as soft footsteps registered behind me.
A wretched, painful scream pierced the air—from the woman? from me?—and I flinched.
I had my hand around the door handle when blood-stained arms caught me from behind.
I opened my mouth but his hand covered it, muffling my screams, while I fought against his iron grip. Dread tightened my lungs, smothering each breath before I could inhale.
“Angel,” he rasped, the soft endearment putrid against my ear. He shifted me around and I froze, the fight leaving me all at once. “Let me explain.”
Priest’s eyes swallowed the shadows in the room, something in them freezing my blood at the source.
“What’s there to explain?” I breathed, suddenly exhausted.
Maybe he intended to imprison me as well, the sick, demented creep. The sound of my ragged breathing filled the space between us as my thoughts strayed to the horrendous possibilities. It was enough to drive any sane person to madness.
“Who is she?” I blurted, shaking with fear. “Are you going to do that to me?”
