My vision went black. Pain ebbed away as my soul tried to run.
“I love you, Q. I love your ruthlessness and strength. I love knowing you’ll always come for me.” Shit. Tears pricked my eyes. I’d broken a promise. I would no longer be there for Tess. I wouldn’t be there to rescue her.
Be happy you fixed her mind. Before…before I was stupid enough to let this happen.
“You still with me, Mercer?” A white hot jolt seized my muscles. I turned into a plank of human flesh as Dante electrified me with extreme volts from a Taser.
My jaw locked, bones hummed. Every inch of me stood to f**king attention.
Lynx stopped the current passing through my body, trailing a fingertip around my waist to my back. “Don’t pass out. You do and you won’t wake up.”
I wasn’t weak but the sound of passing out was entirely too tempting.
The next strike came from behind. The baseball bat struck my lower back, lighting up a different sort of pain—a radiating sensation-stealing pain.
I screamed.
I wasn’t proud I screamed. I hated that he’d hurt me enough to earn it but f**k—it devastated my willpower. All feeling to my freezing legs above suddenly disappeared. The heat from the gunshot was gone. The tingles from the electric shock existed no more. He’d either traumatised my spine or crippled me.
The thought of not being able to stand beside Tess to marry her, or walk beside her as we grew old tore my heart into pieces.
It doesn’t matter. You’re about to die anyway.
Incredibly, the thought granted peace. Dante could do whatever the hell he pleased because ultimately it didn’t matter. I would still end up in the same place.
I lost the will to tense. What was the point? It would only prolong it.
The next swing slammed into my kidneys like a bulldozer. Agony blazed in my groin and lower belly. Lynx prowled around, dragging a hand along my quivering body. I tried to twist away, moaning at the spreading pain. I wanted to curse him—but again—what was the f**king point?
He chuckled, sounding evil in the cold black dungeon. “I’m thinking we need to get rid of this tattoo.” His hand slapped over the ink, trailing down to the ‘T’ branded over my heart. He clucked his tongue. “What the hell is this?” He shoved me with the tip of the baseball bat. I swung backward, creaking in the chains.
That is the one good thing in my life. The one redemption. My one untarnished love. Tess. She would always be the key to whatever heaven I entered.
I swallowed back my sadness—I’d never see her again. See her smile. Hear her laugh. I’d done everything I could to protect her. I just hoped she wouldn’t switch herself off again. She couldn’t live a life removed from emotion. I’d tried to teach her that—but I wouldn’t be there to enforce it.
Lynx shoved me again, spinning me around. I closed my eyes, suffering a rush of nausea. “Answer me, Mercer.”
I kept my lips pursed. He’d torn a scream from me but he wouldn’t get another.
He huffed. “Well, it doesn’t matter. Whatever it is, soon it will be in pieces on the floor.” He spun me again, stepping away and dropping the baseball bat. “Let’s loosen him up. I want him screaming.”
A man stopped my pendulum swing, slapping me to a halt. He smiled, his face hideous upside down. “Say goodbye, f**kwit.”
I sucked in a breath as he placed a heavy towel over my face. Shit. It blocked out everything. My warm breathing was trapped in the material. My hands clenched, hating the iciness of fear spiking my heart.
“I’m never afraid when I’m with you. Because I trust you.”
Tess filled my mind, giving me something to latch onto. I couldn’t see past the black towel, but I didn’t need to. I didn’t want to look at anything but the woman I wanted to marry.
My stomach clenched at the thought of anyone else making her happy. I couldn’t bear the idea of her falling for another or marrying someone completely unworthy. My forehead furrowed, loving the memories of her and hating them, too. Knowing I’d never see her again hurt more than anything Lynx could do.
I’d never see my perfect esclave again.
Je t'aime, Tess.
Fuck, I wanted this over with. I wanted to stop thinking and just…go.
I made a vow not to scream. I wouldn’t die a pu**y. I wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of tearing my life from an unwilling body. I’d brought this on myself—I’d been too proud—too cocky, and I would pay the worst kind of price.
“Do it,” Lynx ordered.
Water poured onto my face, seeping through the towel. My heartbeat thundered in my ears as liquid saturated the material, suffocating me drop by drop.
Waterboarding.
I’d seen it done. I’d witnessed a few women die from such a simple but very effective method of torturing.
The towel went from dry to soaked instantly, clinging like a heavy film over my mouth and nose. The weight of the material increased, smothering my face, giving me nowhere to turn or hide.
My mouth gaped, sucking at non-existent oxygen, breathing in wet towel and nothing else.
Don’t panic. Just let it happen.
It was fine to order myself to do something—entirely different when my body took over. Survival instincts kicked in. I thrashed, trying to dislodge the never ending stream of water.
My stomach clenched, overriding the numbness in my spine and bruises on every inch. I hurled upright, doing everything in my power to free my nose.
But it was no use.
Goddammit, let me breathe!
Time ceased to have meaning as the trickle became a downpour, no longer stealing my breath but forcing a torrent of water down my throat—drowning me in more ways than one.
“More. Give him more,” Dante demanded.
The water level increased until I gave up trying to breathe. It was pointless. Holding what little oxygen I had, I counted the seconds until I died.
One second.
Two seconds.
Another wash of liquid tickled my throat, running in rivulets over my hair.
Three seconds.
Four seconds.
There was no point being brave. I was about to die.
My heart chased the last breath around my lungs.
Five seconds.
Six seconds.
My body absorbed the final dregs of oxygen—nothing remained. My body was master now—not my mind. Death throes took me hostage. Muscles jerked, hurtling me toward death, desperately fighting the restraints.
I would’ve given every cent I owned to have one last breath. One inhale of sweet, sweet oxygen. Even Tess couldn’t distract me from the all-consuming need for air.