Page 4 of The Rise of Saint (The Sins of Saint 1)

He traced a gentle finger down the side of my face, my bottom lip quivering. “Because it’s expected of you.” A smirk tugged at his lips. “I can already hear your thoughts reeling with so many questions. Soon, they will all be answered.” He let go of my hair and put some distance between us. “But first we need to leave.”

I stepped back, wanting to be farther away from him as I shook my head. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

With a smirk, he glanced from me, to Brad’s dead body, then back to me—a silent warning powerful enough to let my last bit of courage wither away. “You will, Mila. You will.”

He nodded toward a man standing a few feet away. I didn’t even realize he was moving closer, not until I felt his fingers wrap around my elbow. I tried to jerk free without taking my eyes off the man who just killed my friend. “If you’re going to kill me, just do it now and get it over with.”

He smirked, those picture-perfect lips turning into the mouth of the devil. “Oh, sweet little Mila. Do I look like a merciful man to you?”

“Merciful?” I frowned in disgust.

He reached out to touch the back of his hand against my cheek, but I jerked away. He bit his bottom lip, eyes narrowed as he studied me, the wicked glint in his eyes giving me a glimpse of his evil intent. “Believe me, killing you would be me showing you mercy.”

His glare cut from mine to the man behind me. “Clean her up. We leave in half an hour.”

“No! I’m not going anywhere with you, and you can’t make me. You can’t do this!”

There wasn’t even a split second for me to take a breath before he had his hand around my neck, fingers biting into my throat so tightly I could only gasp for air. My eyes widened, the toxic mix of fear and my need to breathe sending a surge of panic thundering against my chest. His glare was as deadly as his grip.

“First lesson. Never raise your voice to me, ever. And secondly,” he pulled me closer to him, “there is nothing in this world I can’t fucking do, and that includes taking you. Now, keep your goddamn mouth shut, do as you’re told, and don’t give me a reason to ruin this already plain looking face of yours.”

If I wasn’t so desperate for a breath, his insult would have hurt more than the pain from his fingers clawing at my throat. My head felt like it was on the verge of exploding, my lungs aching as they pleaded for air, all the while his menacing glare swirled with dark warning.

Abruptly, he let me go, the force causing me to stumble backward. I gasped as air finally filled my lungs, and I reached up to place a shaky hand on the burning skin around my throat. There were so many things I wanted to yell at him, scream at him, swear at him. But my need to breathe was stronger, and I braved a glance his way. There was no remorse in the depths of his eyes, and his squared shoulders and stone expression exuded power—the power of a tyrant.

“I won’t warn you again, Mila. The sooner you start knowing your place, the easier this will be.” His jaw ticked as he kept my gaze, the fire of warning raging behind iced irises. “For all of us.” He turned, grabbed his drink, and walked off as if killing a man in cold blood and kidnapping a woman was just normal, everyday business for a man like him.

As tears streamed down my face, my chest rising and falling while fear clawed at every bone in my body, I watched him walk away. The man in the navy suit, with the light blue eyes and textbook perfect lips. A killer. A kidnapper. The devil.

I was dragged by two large hands across the carpet until I heard the stomp of our feet on the marble floors of the foyer. My body suddenly felt drained of all my energy. The stories you heard of adrenaline kicking in, your natural instinct going on autopilot to escape situations like these, were bullshit. There was no rush of energy, no all-consuming need to escape. It was like my body had been drained, my mind caught in the web of vertigo, as if it was trying to alter this new reality I was trapped in.

I glanced down at Brad’s lifeless body one more time before I was pulled around a corner. That was when I lost my hold, the moment my body and mind both shut down, the world disappearing right before my eyes.

I fell back, arms catching me before I hit the ground. A woman’s voice sounded from far away, flashes of images slicing through my head like blades.

“Take her to the room.”

I wanted to fight back. I wanted to stop them, to scream, but somehow my mind had short-circuited, and I couldn’t do any of those things.

“Hold her down. We need to get her cleaned up and ready to leave.” My back hit something soft, like silk sheets, my shoulders pinned with what felt like two boulders.

“Mila, we’re not going to hurt you.”

More flashes. A woman’s face. Blonde. Pretty.

I needed to fight.

My skin crawled as I felt hands and fingers sliding down my body. “Keep still, and this will be over soon. I promise.”

“No.” I couldn’t hear my own voice, but I knew I said it. I didn’t want anyone touching me. I didn’t want this to happen to me. This happened to other people, to other girls. Not me. It wasn’t supposed to happen to me.

“Hold her still, James.”

“I’m trying. The bitch is strong.”

Strong? I wasn’t strong. I wasn’t even moving. I wasn’t fighting. I wasn’t trying to break free. I was just lying there, weak and frail, letting them do whatever they wanted.

“James!”

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