Page 19 of The Bodyguard Undone

“Tie her up,” he commands his guards. I’m hooked onto one of the chains dangling from the ceiling, a mirror image of the way Kayne is restrained.

I’m too weak to hold my head up.

Roger moves behind me. I can’t see what he’s doing, but he rips the dress off my back and then the strike of a whip eats into my skin.

I experience it like trauma to my soul. I take myself out of the situation. I don’t give it the time of my thoughts. I don’t count the number of whips that breaks into my skin. The strikes land with a clumsy, cruel hand and I can hear Roger’s heavy breathing behind me as if he’s overexerted himself.

I don’t take stock of the pain. I don’t give him what doesn’t belong to him.

“Now.” He reaches for his gun and then tells his guards to remove the ball gag from Kayne’s mouth. “A question for you, Mr. Big Shot Bodyguard. It’s a yes or no answer.” He’s standing between Kayne and me.

The last time he had asked Kayne a yes or no question it had cost him his two biggest fighters and a night of humiliation.

This time I think the answer is going to mean death for one of us.

His head bobs from side to side.

“So this is how we’re going to play this. One question. Yes or no.”

Roger is drawing out the time. His hand creeps into my hair. He jerks me toward the table, pulling so hard I wonder if my arms will slip out of their sockets so he can pour himself a glass of water.

He gulps it down as if he knows he’s won. His victory drink.

There were always only going to be two people left. He’s going to be one of them.

“Good. Now for the question. I think it’s a good one. I think it’s an excellent one. I should have led with this one from the first night.” He licks his lips and sniffs my hair.

“Here is the question, Langley. Answer wisely.” He stalls again then points the gun at my head, then at Kayne. “I will stop hurting her. I will let her go back to her palace. But it’s a matter of your life for hers. What’s it going to be. Yes? Or no?”

Chapter Eight

Kayne

I shift my mind away from what’s happening before me. I imagine Thompson at my mercy. In a cell just like this one. I imagine my future vengeance. It’s the only thing keeping me sane.

The fact that I can’t react, can’t save her destroys me and I know I will never get back from this place again. Nothing is ever going to be the same again.

A man dared to beat her up in front of me while I am chained with metal cuffs that electrocutes me. Not only that, he would simultaneously send the same charge through Sophia.

Sophia.

She was strong and good, but her body was mine to protect. She wouldn’t be able to withstand a tenth of the surge.

I’m supposed to protect her.

That’s what I’m going to do.

“Here is the question, Langley. Answer wisely.” He waves his gun between Sophia and me. “I will stop hurting her. I will let her go back to her palace. But it’s a matter of your life for hers. What’s it going to be. Yes? Or no?”

“Yes.” That’s the only answer.

“No,” Sophia shouts but she’s barely holding onto her own consciousness. “No. No. Roger, please. Don’t. Please, no.” She’s swaying from the ceiling, balancing on the tips of her toes. Blood on her face. Blood drips down onto the pink carpet from her back where Roger had taken a whip to her.

I don’t hear her pleas. I don’t look at her.

“Ah, the man has spoken. Is that your final answer?”

“Kayne. You can’t… leave me on this earth alone. You can’t… Kayne. Don’t.”

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