“I held on for you to find me. You came even when I didn’t think you would. Hold on, Q. I’m coming.”
Tess’s voice was angelic, cutting through my panic. I wanted to tell her I couldn’t. There was no point in her coming to find me. I wouldn’t be there when Franco’s team arrived. I no longer knew the timeframe after being unconscious.
But I didn’t need to know. I ran out of time the moment I refused to accept a blowjob from a slave.
Air. Please give me air.
My body danced in its chains, slowly growing weaker as blackness inched over my brain.
Then I got my wish.
The towel left my face, and I threw all dignity to the dogs. I gulped and gulped, sucking in air as if I was starving—which I was. Starved of the simplest thing a human required to live.
Then, I screamed.
The f**king cocksucker made me scream. I had no choice. I couldn’t contain the pain.
The agony came from my shin bone. Using the rapidly depleting muscles in my stomach, I curled upward, fixing onto the blood dripping from my sliced flesh. It trickled down my skin, running toward my groin.
Lynx stood beside me with a knife. The blade smeared with crimson. “We’re going to begin a game. Every breath must be paid by a cut.” His face moulded into the true devil. He cut me again, just below the first. I bit my lip against the sharpness—refusing to scream again.
“Every breath has a price. And when we get to here—”
Everything in me froze to ice. The tip of his knife wedged beneath my flaccid cock, raising the heavy organ from my stomach. Shit, shit. No, don’t.
The sharp blade exploded my heart with horror. Fuck, let me die.
“When we’ve used up your legs for payment…this comes next. I don’t expect you’ll survive much longer after that.” He twisted the blade, letting my c**k slap against my stomach. Lynx pressed the serrated edge against my balls, deliberately dragging the knife lower and lower, right to the base—right where he would eunuch me and let me bleed to f**king death.
My head pounded—the need to replace air to my oxygen-depraved body forgotten. The beast inside turned feral—wanting so damn much for freedom to mutilate him in the same way.
I wouldn’t have the opportunity to pay him back. I wouldn’t be able to take payment for what he would steal.
“You know why I’ll take this as my final trophy, Mercer?”
I didn’t say a word. I didn’t need to—he was high on whatever sick power trip he existed on.
“I gave you the opportunity to use it. If you’d blown down that girl’s throat I would’ve let you keep it. If you’d f**ked her in front of me, I would’ve let you walk away without torture. And if you’d killed her—like I know your sadistic tendencies make you want to—I would’ve forgotten this whole thing. Shit, I would’ve stood by you and assured the rest of the men who want a piece of you that you’re one of us. That the lies you told were for the media and not to the men you pretended to be like.”
Leaning forward, he whispered in my ear, “If only you’d played along—see how you could’ve survived?” Swirling the knife around an inked sparrow, he muttered, “Now you’ve pissed me off and I won’t be happy just taking your life. You think you’ll be free when you’re dead?” He shrugged.” You will be I suppose, but know this. I’m not done with you yet. I’m going to chase your little slave. I’m going to take her. I’m going to f**k her. And then I’m going to kill her just like I killed you.”
No!
“Don’t you f**king touch her. You have me. Do whatever the hell you want but leave her the f**k alone!”
Rage. Blinding, suffocating rage. I couldn’t do it. He’d stolen the luxury of slipping into death. He’d taken away my will to die, replacing it with the terror of knowing I could do nothing to stop him.
Tess!
“Do you hear me? You stay the f**k away from her.”
I couldn’t let them take her again. I didn’t care that Franco would never let her out of his sight. He had his orders. If he didn’t find me in time, his loyalty was to her. He would give his life to protect hers—just as he did for me.
Lynx laughed. “You aren’t in the position to tell me what I can and can’t do. You’re going to die, Mercer, but at least you won’t be alone in hell for long. She’ll be joining you soon enough.” The knife pricked my c**k again. “Pity for you, you won’t have a dick to use when you see her again.”
“Ne pas la toucher. Vous ne pouvez pas la toucher.” Don't touch her. You can't touch her.
“Speaking in French doesn’t work on a Spaniard, idiot.” He removed the blade. “Cover him.”
I sucked in gulp of air as the wet towel descended over my face. My heart bucked with terror. I had to warn Franco, Frederick. I had to get Tess to safety. She wouldn’t die because of me. She wouldn’t!
“Begin,” Dante ordered.
The cascade started anew, drowning me with the aid of a simple cloth.
My lungs turned to fire. Seconds flew toward minutes as more and more water cascaded. I forced myself not to suck in the towel, desperate for breath.
Unconsciousness tried to claim me but I fought it. I couldn’t. Tess!
But no matter how hard I held on, my brain shut down, body jerked; I died with every pour.
My life didn’t exist apart from the black water-world. My thoughts scrambled. Tess. Air. Tess. Air.
I wanted both in equal measure. I wanted to run. I wanted to be free.
Tess morphed into being. Her gorgeous blonde curls, her all seeing blue-grey eyes. A halo of light appeared behind her, fading her from view as my heart threw itself toward its last beat.
Tess, run. Please.
Her presence never left me as a wave of heavy water splashed over me. I toppled on the edge, gasping, choking. Lynx overestimated my lung capacity—hurtling me toward death.
The last torrent of liquid was my demise.
Don’t give up. You can’t. I owed it to Tess to stay alive. I had to protect her. I had to be there for her always.
“Come with me, Q. Let go. It’s better this way.” The illusion grabbed me by the hands, dragging me forward. I didn’t want to go, but I had no choice.
My body gave up. Suffocated of air it shut down—snipping my life-force free from pain.
The agony faded, inch by inch, ache by ache, until I felt nothing.
Nothing but weightlessness…nothingness.