My feet reeled backward, faster and faster. “No!” I screamed. “I’ll never be like you. I’ll never touch a girl like you!”
My father laughed. It started as a chuckle but grew and grew until it felt as if the entire room shook with corruption. “You’re wrong, boy. You have my blood in your veins. You’ll grow up needing exactly what I need. And there’s nothing you can do to f**king stop it.”
Hitting the blonde so hard she fell onto her knees, he held out his hand again. “Now, come. Take your place as my son and heir. Come and play with your subjects like a good Mercer boy. I’ll even let you f**k one of them.”
I ran.
I ran away from my father. I ran away from any hope at having a mentor in my life. I ran to my mother, only to find she’d drunk herself into a stupor.
I found out later she drank to drown out the screams. She committed suicide by alcohol all to forget what her husband did down the hall. Leaving her son to fend for himself.
The memory shattered, and I stumbled to the side. I’d never had a flashback—such an intense recollection come to life. I f**king hated it.
But the glacial disgust and hatred I’d felt that day lodged itself in my chest, granting me a defence against the dark whispers in my head. I didn’t need to make an oath not to hurt Tess. Sheer repugnance of what lineage I’d come from would do that.
Tess kept her chin down, either accepting her fate or acting like the docile prisoner. I didn’t trust her one bit. Not after her strength in the hotel. Fuck she was wild. And beautiful, so mouth-wateringly beautiful.
She’d fought me like I’d always wished to be fought. With the abandonment of sheer survival. She would’ve gladly taken my life—or given up her own in order to win.
Was she strong enough to survive this? Was I strong enough to step into the role as trafficking ass**le and come out on the other side intact?
The questions were irrelevant. I had to be.
I am.
“Come,” I growled, tugging on the binds.
Tess’s head snapped up, eyes blazing grey fire. “Just kill me. I’m done playing your games. You had your fun and now I refuse.”
Hearing her strength mixed with equal terror made my heart shoot out of my chest and splat against her feet.
I wanted to caress her cheek and murmur, ‘Don’t be strong. Don’t fight. It will be easier to hit rock bottom if you just let yourself slide.’
But Tess would never just give up. She might want to. She might think she had. But she didn’t know herself like I did.
She would never stop fighting. And I needed to teach her how, so I could build her up again.
Forgive me.
Gritting my teeth, I cuffed her around the side of the head. My c**k thickened, throbbed.
She narrowed her eyes. “Don’t touch me!”
It was pain she hated. Pain was the catalyst in this mess. I had to use pain against her.
Fuck! I struck her again, this time hard enough to knock her to her knees. She swayed but shook her head, snarling, “Back to your old tricks? Back to beating up women because that’s the only way you get off? You’re sick!” She spat on the floor, her saliva mixed with a small tinge of blood. “Just sell me already, at least a new master will know how to f**k.”
Her tirade tore my chest open. How dark was her mind? How much blackness did she keep hidden in that angelic face?
Squatting on my haunches, I grabbed her chin, glaring into her eyes. “Do you want to be f**ked? Is that it? You want a master who will abuse you and give no shit to your happiness or humanity?”
Tess tore her face out of my hold, hissing, “I have a master. And he’s good and kind and the only man I would gladly give my body to for his pleasure. But you keep stealing me from him, so I’m done. Do you understand? I’m done being stolen and drugged and hurt. Sell me! I want to be sold. I never want to see you again!”
I couldn’t swallow. I couldn’t breathe.
I wanted to stop this terrible f**king idea.
“Tess…” I murmured.
Her eyes practically popped out of her head. “How do you know my name? No!” Wracking sobs clawed up her throat; the crack in her ferocity gave me a spark of faith. It was working.
God, f**king forgive me for what I’m about to do.
Slapping her cheek, I growled, “That’s right. We know your name. Tess Snow. Tess. Tess. Tess.”
She shoved me, but her arms were weak. I shoved back. She sprawled onto her side, before cowering into a ball.
Standing upright, I said, “We know you let your master string you up and taste your blood. We know you let him suffocate you to the point of death. We also know you love giving f**king blowjobs—apparently you have quite the talent.”
Fuck, I’m scum. Why was I doing this? It was so, so wrong.
Nudging her balled body with my foot, I added, “So, Tess….are you sure you want to be sold. Knowing you’ll survive only on the cum from men forcing themselves on you? Do you want to spend your life strung up and at their mercy?”
Just like the poor women who served my father.
“Answer me, Tess Snow. You’re not so f**king innocent now.”
Every word I uttered whipped Tess worse than any cat o’ nine tails. I broke down her defences, throwing back memories she no doubt thought as treasured and totally private. I ripped her mind open, flipping it back with scorn.
Grabbing her by the hair, I hauled her to her feet. She clutched my fingers, trying to control the burn in her scalp, but I shook her instead. “Tell me! Do you wish to be sold? Or do you wish to be free?”
She hiccupped, her face flushed with tears. “Free. I want to be free. Let me go. Please. I’ll do anything. Anything.”
“Wrong answer.”
“But you said—”
I couldn’t suck in a decent breath—I felt lightheaded, high, and sick to my f**king stomach. My c**k rippled with pr**cum. I had to close my eyes from the misplaced rush of pleasure.
“I know what I f**king said. I asked if you wanted to be free or be sold. I didn’t ask for anything in return. Did I ask you to suck my cock? Did I ask to f**k you in return for your freedom?”
I wobbled on my feet, too enraptured with the mental images of forcing her to do just that. I’d blow right down her throat with one lick of her tongue.
Her head hung, hiding her feverish face with tangled blonde curls. Between ragged pants she said, “I don’t know what you want from me!”
“I don’t want anything!” I roared. I want you to take back your destiny. Take it. Admit you want your freedom. Don’t offer anything in return. Just take it.