Page 68 of Call Sign: King
“It remains to be seen if you will be able to earn my forgiveness for your indiscretions during my absence, but I do so look forward to providing you with the corrective lessons you deserve. Perhaps if you show the proper amount of repentance, I might be able to forget your betrayal.”
Irena’s crying was hysterical even before Vlad barked his next order to the two guards still across the room.
“Come. Secure my pet to the cross. I would like to begin her first lesson.”
At the sound of her husband’s dark order, Irena flailed in the manacles. The sounds of a struggle were drowned out by the sick laughter of the sadistic men in the room. The realization of just how evil these men were slammed into Khloe hard, making her feel like she might throw up.
A kick to her stomach jarred her eyes open just in time to see it had been Irena’s foot to contact her during the struggle to wrangle her fighting body toward the wooden St. Andrew’s cross bolted to the back wall of the platform.
Khloe watched in horror as the men first secured Irena’s wrists near the top of the device before each taking an ankle and yanking the naked woman’s legs apart, securing them high enough off the ground that Irena had to stand on her toes to hold any weight off her wrists.
It was when one of the guards inserted a leather padded bolster between Irena’s stomach and the wooden cross that her Russian rant began. Whether she was begging or cussing, Khloe couldn’t be sure. The only thing she knew for certain was that the added device forced Irena’s ass far enough away from the wall to provide a better bullseye for her upcoming punishment.
Scratch that. As the scene unfolded, Khloe realized this was no punishment. Had Vlad used his hand or even his belt, perhaps that adjective would have applied. But instead, he’d crossed to a closed armoire and spread the doors wide to expose the dozens of torture implements and weapons enclosed within the otherwise regal looking piece of furniture.
Khloe slammed her eyes closed again after watching Vlad remove a bullwhip and a long rattan cane from their hooks.
A long minute passed as she held her breath, with nothing to do but listen to Irena’s pitiful whimpers while she awaited her fate.
The yank of Khloe’s long hair shocked her, snapping her head backwards. As she opened her eyes, Vlad’s gloating face was just inches away. The smell of his hot breath made her want to throw up as he warned her. “You need to watch carefully because you’re next. I even have a very special surprise for your first punishment.”
The temptation to spit on him as his mother had done to her grew as her stomach cramped. Gratefully, he released his hold on her before turning to shout orders to the two armed guards in Russian. One of the men turned and walked to the other end of the room, out of Khloe’s line of sight. She was too busy watching Vladimir snapping the tip of the whip against the wooden planks of the floor for practice to pay the guard any attention.
With each snap, Irena’s whimpers grew as she was left to anticipate what was coming.
Vlad’s first strike was not to his wife’s ass, but higher. A thin red line appeared from her right shoulder to her left hip. For the briefest of seconds, there was silence in the room, but as the line turned a deeper red, Irena’s first bloodcurdling scream filled the silent void.
The monster didn’t even give her a moment of respite before laying a second and then third line of fire across his wife’s back. Irena fought like a wildcat, flailing against her restraints hard enough that red lines of blood already ran down her outstretched arms.
Unwilling to be a witness to the horror show, Khloe closed her eyes again. But ten seconds later, the agony of fire spread across her own defenseless breasts. Her eyes flew open to find Vladimir grinning maniacally, his whip now turned against her.
“I expect to be obeyed. I told you to watch. I suggest you keep your eyes open and on my wife’s lesson.”
The scene in front of her blurred from her unshed tears. She took fast sips of air as she did her best to keep from crying from the pain soaking into her chest. A quick glance down showed she now had a red welt across her heaving breasts. Khloe’s left nipple was on fire as it had taken a direct hit, but even that pain paled compared to what she was pretty sure was an open cut around the left side of her body where the tip of the whip had sliced into her skin.
A fresh wave of hatred for all the man in front of her had done bolstered her resolve. He’d hurt her friends and stolen her away. But Ryder would find her, and when he did, she looked forward to watching her husband make Vladimir pay for all he’d done and continued to do.
Khloe lost count of how many times the whip struck Irena. It wasn’t until her back was seeping blood from several open wounds that she finally collapsed into a limp pile of flesh hanging from the restraints. Thankfully, the woman had lost consciousness.
If she’d thought it was the end of the punishment, though, she’d been wrong. Vlad merely traded the whip in for the cane. Stepping closer to his wife on the cross, Vladimir laid a new line of pain across her body, this time at the top of her ass.
The renewed assault brought Irena’s agony back to life. Throwing her head back to howl in pain, Vlad placed another cane line about a half-inch lower. Strike after strike, he made his way lower, leaving a neat row of parallel lines of fire covering Irena’s ass. The precision was as impressive as it was horrific. It told the story of just how much practice the evil man had gotten at this questionable activity in the past.
Both women heaved a sigh of relief when the cane skittered across the floor. But when Vlad unbuckled his belt and pulled it from the loops of his jeans with a fast flick, Khloe knew the thrashing was far from over.
The wide leather striking the still fresh lines of fire on Irena’s back and ass brought the heat back to the surface, renewing the unfortunate victim’s frantic yet failed struggle. Khloe forced her attention to the man wielding the leather.
Sheer glee was the only way to describe the look on the monster’s face. Happy excitement poured from the asshole — clearly enjoying beating his wife. If that was his reaction to hurting someone he’d sworn to love and cherish on an altar of God, what the hell would he do when he turned his aggression against Khloe?
Fury consumed her, bringing a renewed struggle against her own restraints. Her brain knew it was futile to fight, but she couldn’t just stand there and not try something. Even if she somehow managed the miracle of breaking free of her bonds, Vladimir and his guards still stood between her and her freedom.
The sound of the belt hitting the floor may have brought comfort to Irena, but Khloe had a front row seat to see it wasn’t because her punishment had ended. It was just time for Vlad to move on to his next act of torture.
Rape.
He unzipped the fly of his jeans, pushing them off his hips enough to allow his already hard cock to spring free of the confining fabric, proving the sadistic violence against his wife had turned him on.
“Don’t worry. You’ll be next. I’m sure you understand it’s only right I fuck my wife first,” he said with a sly smile on his menacing face. Their eyes met and Khloe saw the darkness of his soul displayed in the morbid pleasure he was achieving by hurting his own wife.
