Page 92 of Twisted Obsession

Through my anguish, I fought the weariness in my body and lifted my head. I glanced up into my cousin’s face, but images of me standing over his burning corpse filled my brain. Where did that come from? Why was I not afraid anymore? Why was I so carelessly ignoring him, knowing he’d get angrier?

Smack!My neck snapped hard to the left as the sting of his backhand ravaged my skin and set fire to the right side of my face. The force of the impact sent me sideways, and with nothing to break my fall, my hands reached down to cushion the impact.

The hard slap of my hands against the floor sent pain shooting up my arms that mingled with the stinging burn on my cheek. My head throbbed from the pulsing pain. One, two, three drops of blood from my busted lip dripped to the floor as I struggled to lift my head. A few shakes of my head took some of the ringing out of my damaged ear as I forced myself to overcome the pain. It didn’t work, but I endured it.

Sorio had put me through so much pain over the years that I was sure that I could endure more than I should have been able to. His black shadow on the floor moved closer before the heat of his body revealed him standing over me. He placed rough fingers under my chin and jerked my face up. For a second, it appeared, surprise flickered across his evil gaze. If so, it was due to my lack of tears or fear.

I refused to give Sorio the satisfaction. The satisfaction he’d enjoy in seeing me crumble before him. The satisfaction he took in making me beg for his mercy. I didn’t care what he did, and I refused to give him what he wanted. He’d taken enough from me already.

“I see that new boyfriend has been teaching you how to be a woman. Let’s see how much of a woman you will be when I get through with you. When I take that tight pussy again.” His threatening words hissed out like poisonous gas was being released into the air.

“Sid, George, Pablo, Alvero, come in here!” he demanded in a roaring voice that sounded over the hum of machines and the shuffle of feet.

“I’ve got a special treat for you this morning,” he informed as the four men entered the area. The men gathered around me, circling like a pack of hungry wolves that hadn’t eaten in weeks.

“She’s a pretty one, boss,” one of the men stated as his dirty fingers stroked my hair. I jerked my head away from his hand that smelled strongly of the chemicals he’d been mixing.

“I’ve never had one this brown. They say the juice is sweeter from the darker berries,” another commented as he grinned down at me. My roving gaze landed on his hand as it tightened around the bulge in his pants. Their actions suggested that they’d done this with Sorio before.

Another traced my left breast with his finger, causing me to recoil in disgust as his tongue sliced over his lips.

“Don’t touch me,” I protested. When I slapped his hand away, a boisterous laugh escaped him. Fear hammered through my body but thinking of Ansel and how he’d urged me to be strong helped me to control it.

Sorio stood before me, the grin on his face wide and smug as he enjoyed his dominating position. His men pawed at me from every direction. Smacking their hands away and yelling for them to stop was useless. However, my cries of protest refused to be silenced, and my instinct to defend myself had surfaced with an abiding strength I’d never felt before.

“I like this long hair,” one announced before pulling my hair, making me yelp in pain.

“Calm down, boys, I get the first taste,” Sorio announced through the sinister smirk as his evil gaze remained locked on mine.

Even as my cousin threatened me with the one thing that had broken me the most, I refused to give him the satisfaction he craved. He liked me scared and helpless, but I wasn’t the same Regina anymore. Was I scared? Shitless. Was I afraid? Deathly. Was I going to let Sorio see it? Hell, no!

The time I’d spent around the Knox men and witnessing how fiercely they fought for family inspired me to be more like them. Ansel would come for me. He’d promised that he would, and I believed him. Even if he didn’t find me before my cousin unleashed the hell he’d planned, the idea of Ansel coming for me was enough to keep me strong.

Even if Sorio and his men raped me a thousand times, I’d endure the punishment to deny him what he wanted most.

He reached down and jerked my arm with a brutal grip before he yanked me to my feet. “What the fuck is wrong with you? Don’t you hear me talking to you?”

He shook me, tossing my body around to snap me into the reality he wanted me in. The laughter of the men surrounding me sparked my anger and heightened my resolve to tap into every bit of strength I owned.

When I didn’t answer Sorio, he ripped my shirt open, exposing my bra. He taunted, but I no longer paid attention to his abusive words or angry shouts. Instead, the sound of Ansel’s voice rang loud in my head.

“I need you to be Gina. That badass bitch that’s not afraid to look a man in the eyes and take his fucking life.”

My cousin’s face was pinched with genuine confusion when his gaze met mine. He no longer saw the woman he’d broken, and I no longer saw a devil. I glanced into the face of a man who preyed on the weak by imposing his will. I’d found what I’d never allowed myself to see before. Sorio was nothing but a man who hid behind our family name and did horrible things to people in the name of Dominquez.

“How are you alive?” I uttered. The question surprised him as much as it surprised me when it fell from my mouth.

He released my arm, and I rubbed it to dull the pain that his bruising grip left behind. There was no doubt he’d use the moment as his opportunity to taunt me.

“You are supposed to be smart, Doctor.”

The way he punctuated the word doctor, let me know that he hated the fact that I’d earned the title. I had something to be proud of, and all he had was our family name.

“With your medical education and degrees, I can’t believe you hadn’t figured the shit out.” He paced in front of me as I kept my back to the wall. His hand rested behind his back like a professor about to school a student. His chest poked out high as a sinister grin lingered on his lips. The men stood a few paces back, awaiting the order from their master when it was time to attack.

“Figured what out?” I inquired. If I could keep Sorio talking, maybe it would give Ansel time to pinpoint my location. I clung fiercely to the hope that Ansel would find me. He may not love me, but I knew he cared about me a heck of a lot more than he admitted to me.

“The Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde routine?” Sorio stated while wiggling his eyebrows. “You never wondered why one moment, I’d sit and try to have a civil dinner or lunch with you, and the next I was beating the shit out of you? Or the times when I’d try to clean you up after I’d beaten the fuck out of you?”

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