Page 44 of The Heart of a Villain

Jim’s reflection appears in the water next to me, sending tremors all over my system while fear envelops me whole, chaining me to the spot because I’m too shocked to do anything else.

In all these years, he’s never gotten this close to me.

He stands behind me as his lips curve into a horrible grin, his face one that promises me unbearable suffering.

I scream when he wraps his hand around my neck, dragging me upward. “Caught you, fucker.” His maniacal laughter echoes through the space, coating my sanctuary in despicable energy and dumping me in a burning fire of regret. “Like I said. Sooner or later, you will pay for all the disrespect you showed me.”

Finally snapping out of my shock, I struggle in his hold, trying to free myself when his grip on me just tightens.

“Let me go,” I mutter. Despite the situation, I welcome the vibration in my throat that stayed silent for so long, and relief washes over me. At least I haven’t forgotten how to talk. Talking to their animals doesn’t count as sometimes I felt all these conversations were only in my head anyway. “Let me go!” I kick him in the knees and manage to pick up a rock, hitting him hard in the groin. He hisses in pain, his fingers locking around my neck so hard he cuts off my oxygen supply.

He pulls me up closer to sneer in my face. “You little fucker. You’re still brave after all this time.” He shakes me as I put my hands on his elbow, trying to slap it away, wanting to free myself. My face has probably turned red, yet I fight him, swinging my legs once again, but he blocks it. “The time has come to teach you a lesson.” He pulls his arm back and then slams his fist into my face, the cracking sound ringing in the air as agonizing pain fills my entire system while blood pours from my broken nose.

He throws me on the ground, and I gulp for breath, although every intake of it brings nothing but anguish, and tears fill my eyes, imagining the damage he has done to me.

And then I feel his hands on my clothes as he grabs my shirt and rips it in two, and panic consumes me. I cry out, although it only comes off as a whisper, “No!” My nails dig into the ground, scraping at it as I crawl forward, but he grips my hips with one hand while sliding down my pants with the other.

“All these years of humiliation and my own men laughing at me.” He hits me hard on the back, making me fall on my chest, and my chin connects with the ground, my yell trapping inside my throat while my head goes dizzy. Yet I stay conscious, terrified of what might happen next. “Until finally I set up a perfect decoy for you, and you fell for it.” He grips my hair, fisting it so harshly I wince. “Now your cries of pain will fill the island so even they can hear it.”

No.

No, no, no.

He cannot do this to me. He can’t hurt me like this. I won’t be able to survive this too.

The sound of his zipper coming down echoes in the air, pulling me out of my terrified stupor. I find the last bits of my strength while ignoring my pain, and I lean on one shoulder while grabbing the knife I found in the bushes that I hid on my belt.

Something slick connects with my ass, and I almost vomit on the ground and half-turn. I swing my arm up and then plunge it down, piercing the knife right into his dick and cutting it off. It drops on the ground while his agonized scream has the power to awaken the dead.

“You fucking bastard!” But instead of stopping, I swing the knife again, grinning at the blood pouring from the wound, and then stab it at his groin again before he catches my hand and twists it hard, breaking it for sure.

With the onslaught of sensations and adrenaline, I don’t even feel the pain and instead focus on the pleasure slowly sliding through my veins at the sights of him suffering so much as he gets up, covering the spot where his dick was once attached. “You fucking asshole.”

“Jim, the fuck is happening here? I gave you time, but—Oh, fuck.”

I swing my head to the side to see his best friend emerging from the trees along with four other men, their dogs barking and growling at me while they hold them on their leashes.

“Oh fuck!” he mutters again, running to his friend and taking off his shirt, plastering it against Jim’s groin, which only makes him cry out more.

“He cut off your dick!” He focuses his stare on me and then kicks me so hard in the stomach bile rises in my throat, and I can no longer control the vomit from spilling out, barely breathing. “I told you to shoot this fucker a long time ago.” A distinct sound of someone removing the safety from a gun reaches my ears, but I’m too dazed to pay attention to anything. “Let’s end it.”

“No!” Jim grits out through his teeth, and then shouts at his men, “What are you watching? Help me out and get me to the mansion. I need a doctor! Check if one of the whores has a medical degree.” They rush to him but not before he looks at me. “You will not have an easy death for this, fucker. You will regret the day you were born,” he promises me, and then tells his friend, “Torture him as much as you want. I don’t care what you do. Just make sure he suffers but doesn’t die.”

“Oh, I’ll make sure of that,” he says as their men let Jim throw his arms around their shoulders, and they drag him to the mansion. His friend kicks me hard again and then covers my mouth, making me choke on the bile that burns my insides. I jerk when he then pinches my broken nose and grins. “You made a mistake, boy. You could have been his toy, but now? Now, you will be mine. And that’s a much worse fate.”

As I gaze into his eyes, I make another vow despite the pain all over me.

I will make him pay too, and when the time comes to kill him, he will know only agony that doesn’t end no matter how much he begs.

I’m Villain Rush, right?

Villains survive in every circumstance because we have something heroes and princesses don’t.

A complete lack of rules or a moral code.

Nothing short of their bodies soaked in blood will satisfy the craving awakening in me, and when he takes his hand away, I spit on him, which earns me another kick, this time to my head, and I’m finally knocked unconscious.

Oblivion gives me reprieve from this cruel fate of mine for a moment in time.

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