Malice (Dahlia Saga Book 1)

by Natalie Bennett

  "Morgana," Julian purred, suddenly behind me. I tensed and tried to pull away, but I was stuck. Some type of twine-like material cut painfully into my wrist the moment I moved.

  He ignored my obvious discomfort and distress, calmly brushing loose strands of hair away from my face, and then kissing my cheek. I turned my head and aimed daggers at him with my eyes. A genial smile was all he gave me in return.

  "While I would love to sit and draw this out, we don't have time. The show must go on. Let’s get a few basics out of the way." He reached up and untied my gag. I opened and closed my mouth a few times to loosen my jaw, licking my lips. "You're home now. If you think you're going to escape, you won't. If you try and outsmart me, you'll discover I'm smarter. And if you ever think about trying to fuck me, I'll fuck you back twice as hard."

  "Why are you doing this to me? What did I do?" I fought back the tears and forced my voice to remain level, refusing to fall apart in front of him.

  "They always ask why." He sat down in the chair beside me with a sigh. "No. That's not right; you aren't them." He leaned back, rubbing his fingers across his lips. "I told you. You're mine. I don't know how much clearer I can make this. Should I spell it out on a Scrabble board? Tattoo my name on your ass in bold font?"

  He flashed his perfect white teeth, but all his geniality fell vanished when I did nothing but glare. "Oh, come on. I'm not that bad. I can give you whatever your heart desires. Just don't try and leave me, and do exactly what I say."

  "Is there a reason why I should do this? Or is my undying love for you supposed to be motivation? What the hell do you want from me?”"

  “What do I want from you?” He leaned forward, bringing his palms together in prayer position.

  "I want to fuck you. Hurt you. Break you. All at once." He watched me, seeming to contemplate something before continuing."I kill people Morgana. Not because I'm deranged or psychotic, but because some people don't deserve to live." I waited for a smile, a punchline, something that told me he wasn't serious.

  There wasn't one.

  My emotions couldn't be tamed. My heart was pounding so hard it hurt. Julian sat, looking as gorgeous as ever, calm and collected.

  "You're insane. A...psycopath."

  "I just told you I wasn't a psychopath. I'm not a serial killer, either. Stop being so fucking dramatic."

  "Let me go, Jules. Why do you want me here?" His cheeks puffed out before he exhaled deeply, scrubbing a hand over his brow.

  "I don't have the patience to deal with this. I don’t like to repeat myself or talk in circles. You aren't leaving. End of fucking story. Now, if I untie you, are you going to be a good girl?"

  "Eat shit and die,” I snapped.

  He raised his brows and let loose a throaty laugh.

  "I just want you to know that you're wracking up quite a list of punishments. I have a reason for everything I do. Unfortunately, you haven't earned the right to ask me about them." His phone beeped and he glanced down at the screen. Whatever he saw must have been good news because when he looked at me again there was another full-blown smile on his face.

  "Maybe this will help you fall into line." He got up from the table and left me alone for all of five minutes. I heard a small feminine yelp of pain, and then he came back.

  Luca, his brother, was behind him, leading a girl in by her forearm. She had her head down so her dark hair curtained her face.

  "Bailey, look up." Julian gripped her chin and tilted her head back. The void look in her brown eyes was disturbing. She stared at me for a full minute before a small sob rattled in her chest. That’s when I noticed her necklace—half a heart.

  Nothing about this woman was familiar, but that necklace…a weight settled in the pit of my stomach. That had to be my sister’s. Otherwise, why show me this person?

  Luca looked at me with a cruel smirk.

  "If you’re good, this girl can live. I might even tell you why she’s wearing the other half of your pendant.”

  I had so many questions that all began with Why? Anger trumped every prior emotion I had felt up until this point. He’d betrayed not only me, but my family.

  "You sick, twisted sonofabitch. What did you do to my sister? Where’s Penny?" I pulled at my restraints as hard as I could.

  He shook his head at me in mock disappointment. "I could tell him to snap her neck right now, and you wouldn't be able to stop him. Her death would be on your hands. As for your sister. Penny is in a much more compromised position. If you want answers, want your sister to live, I suggest you get your shit together and start listening."

  It wasn’t hard to keep my mouth shut after that. I stared at the man standing in front of me trying to figure out who he was. He looked like my Julian, but he sure as hell didn’t behave the same.

  “See, that wasn’t so hard was it?”

  I shook my head, choosing to remain silent.

  His intense stare roamed over my bruised body from head to toe, and then he reached down to where my hands were bound. Removing a small knife from his pocket, he cut the restraint off of me.

  “Get up and follow me.” His dismissive tone left no room for arguing. He whispered something in his brother's ear before turning on his heel.

  Knowing I had no other choice, I stood up and hurried after him like an obedient dog. Julian didn't acknowledge me as we walked through the dark house. Even when he opened the front door and stepped outside, not once did he look back to make sure I was behind him.

  The sound of crickets assaulted my ears, I took a good look around at all the trees that surrounded this property.

  If I made a run for it, I knew there would be nowhere to go. Chateau Dahlia was almost two hours away from my house, and further than that from town.

  We walked around the side of the house, and without any warning he turned and grabbed a fistful of my hair. "I don’t appreciate the way you just behaved in front of my brother, so I want you to tell me you will do whatever I ask of you from here on out. No questions. No objections."

  The grip he had on my head made the tiny hairs along my scalp burn. “Let go of me!” I screamed at him, shoving at his hand.

  "I knew you’d be stubborn about this.” He clucked his tongue and dragged me forward. We passed a large stable and approached a shed.

  His free hand flung the door open, and then he shoved me inside. I tripped over air and my knees hit a hardwood floor. The door slammed shut, locking us in total darkness.

  "Take your clothes off." The sinister notes creeping into his voice chilled me to the core.

  "Jules—"

  " Do you think I'm doing this for my amusement? That I kept your sister alive for my enjoyment? There are human lives resting in your hands, and you are being as stubborn as you can."

  My throat constricted, a steady stream of tears streaming down my cheeks. I couldn’t think of one reason why he was doing this to me. It had to be more than just my attempt to end things. I didn’t want anyone to die because of me regardless of what I had done for him to treat me like this.

  It was becoming clearer and clearer that begging, pleading, crying would get me nowhere with him. Squeezing my eyes shut, I removed my clothes with shaking hands all the way down to my bra and underwear.

  "Don't move, and don't turn around."

  There was a soft rustling sound behind me that had my pulse quickening.

  The leather connected with my skin a split second after he gave that warning. I yelped at the unexpected hit and sharp sting.

  There wasn't a moment’s reprieve.

  The blows came simultaneously. They weren't measured, timed, or strategically placed. My shoulders to my calves were all targets.With every hit, the skin became more tender, more raw, more painful. I grit my teeth, choking on tears, crying out as I sank to the dusty floor and covered my head.

  Something else was mixed with the pain. It embarrassed and angered me. I told myself that my mind only made it seem like it was there.

  When Julian finally stopp
ed, my skin was torn in some places; welts covered the rest. I couldn't push myself up. I wanted to curl up in a ball and sleep this all away.

  "I don't want it to be like this...you mean too much to me. I just can't….I’m sorry, Dollface."

  The soothing tone of his voice, and hearing the nickname only he called me had me breaking down in sobs. Ugly, loud chest heaving sobs.

  My head spun in so many directions that I began to wonder if my mind was distorting my reality. Could the man I loved really be so heartless? A killer? Julian's hands landed on my hips, pressing down on fresh welts. I hissed in pain, trying to wriggle away, discovering he’d removed layers of his own clothing.

  "No, no, no,” I hiccuped the mantra, knowing I was in no position to fight him off. It was more than just what was clearly coming, that had me going into a state of silent panic. He’d easily discovered a way to take ownership of my body—making it hurt.

  Concise clarity came on the heels of the endorphins sending a euphoric high pumping through my veins. This was why he’d push me a little more every time things got rough when we were in bed. I never broke, never objected or asked him to stop.

  Calling me a masochist seemed to tame of a word. The more something hurt the more I longed for to feel it, and what he did paled drastically in comparison to my cutters knife.

  The pain was my pleasure, the pleasure was my pain. It was something I could never rationalize, but needed to feel sane. It stopped my head from spinning. I never understood how vicious mood swings could be affected by my altered sense of pain, but they were.

  "Shhh, I know you want this. Don't fight me." Julian reached down and cupped my pussy, feeling my obvious arousal. "You’re soaking my fingers," he soughed, pulling my ass up so his dick was level with my entrance.

  I braced myself as the head of his cock eased inside me inch by inch. When he was fully seated, he stilled. His warm breath skated over my back, making me shudder. The need for him to move became stronger the longer he didn't. Shame and desire waged war in my chest, and in my heart.

  I I knew right then that I was a terribly fucked up person. I think I’d always known. There was a list of shit that went on in my head—a list that would make people gasp and throw holy water on me if they ever found out what was on it.

  "Tell me you want me to fuck you." His voice was hoarse and husky.

  I wanted to turn and claw his face off. He’d kidnapped me, beaten me with a belt, and now he had his dick deep I nside my pussy on the dirty floor of a shed.

  “Tell me nicely,” he rasped, pulling out just to ease back in.

  Squeezing my eyes shut, as if that would block out what I was doing, I dropped my forehead to the floor with a soft thud. "Please...fuck me."

  His hand tangled in my hair and yanked my head back up as he withdrew, slamming into me with a much harsher thrust that time. My walls contracted around his thick cock. He reached between my legs and began to roll the little nub of nerves, faster and faster, the same way he was fucking me.

  "Julian," I half sobbed, half moaned. The wooden floor ground into my knees and rubbed my elbows raw. My ass jiggled from the force of his thrusts.

  An intense burn worked its way up my spine and spread through my lower stomach, down to my core.

  I tried to fight off the pleasure, to force myself not to let him give this to me, but he knew me too well. An annoyed sound left his mouth. I was flipped over, crying out as the grimy floor met with my damaged back.

  Julian was between my legs, forcing his cock inside me before I could attempt to escape. Every movement made the welts rub against the wood. He returned one hand to my clit and wrapped the other around my throat.

  "You're a dirty whore," he grumbled, putting pressure on my neck. "Come for me."

  The pleasure won. The fire inside me exploded with a fierce intensity. My cries and heavy pants reverberated around us. He continued to rub my clit and choke me, pushing me right into another climax as he continued fucking me. I was still trying to clear my head when he thrust a final time and brought his mouth down to mine.

  His tongue dominated mine, his cock jerking as it emptied inside me. I was stuck in a daze when he moved away from me to grab his things.

  He left me naked on the floor with his come dripping between my legs, his marks on my back, and the scent of him rubbed into my skin.

  I'd never felt as small as I did then.

  Chapter Thirteen

  I’d been crawling around in the dark, searching for a way out for hours, or maybe days. I had no way of telling time.

  When I found what I thought was a door I attempted to open it, leaving me with a few bloodied nails and splinters lodged beneath my skin. Perspiration beaded between my breasts and trickled over my welts.

  This was agony.

  I propped myself against a wall with my right shoulder, solely concentrating on breathing.

  I ignored the pain that was no longer pleasurable. The hunger making me want to curl into a ball, my painfully full bladder, and the sheen of dust that had me ready to rip my skin off. I simply inhaled. Exhaled. Repeated.

  When a fuzzy white light suddenly came on, I thought I was dreaming. I'd felt my way around this box of a shed from top to bottom and hadn’t felt anything remotely like what appeared to be a small screen.

  I squinted as my eyes adjusted, and the picture became clearer. It was some type of examination room. A man was inside setting up something on a side-table. When he was done, another man entered, dragging a naked male behind him.

  It took both men to strap the third one down. As they exited, one flipped the light switch on the wall, bathing the room in a red glow. When nothing else happened after a few minutes, I edged closer to the screen.

  The person restrained struggled, yelling around the gag in his mouth. Two new people entered the room once he seemed to tire a bit.

  I was almost positive the man in the navy tux was Porter, Julian's brother. The woman wasn’t recognizable, and the medical masks and gloves didn’t remotely go with what their flashy attire.

  They had a quiet conversation with one another. Porter nodded and walked across the room to the side-table. The woman approached the restrained man and removed his gag, smacking him across the face as soon as he began to beg.

  My eyes darted between the two of them. Porter returned to her side with some type of container held carefully in his gloved hands. when the brunette bent down and picked up a hooked rod from somewhere off screen. She then used it to lift the man’s flaccid penis.

  Porter raised the container, hovering it a few inches about the limp member.

  "Please, no!"

  The plea blasted through the screen’s tiny speaker. Of course, it was ignored.

  Porter tilted the container and liquid spilled out. The howl of pain that followed froze the blood in my veins. I'd never heard a human being make the kind of sounds this man was.

  I watched in sick, fascinated horror as an acidic liquid eroded his penis before my widened eyes. I gaped at the monitor, not believing any of what I was seeing could be real.

  The screen abruptly shut off, leaving me in the dark for a few seconds before it cut back on, showcasing a different room entirely. This one looked more like something you would see in an insane asylum. There was one rounded window far too high to look out of, and slate gray walls.

  A thin, skeletal looking woman with ragged hair paced the length of the room, wearing a nightgown that had seen much better days. Her neck was wrapped in a thick gauze like bandage, leading me to believe she’d tried to hurt herself.

  Her feet came to a complete stop, and she tilted her head to the side as if she’d heard something.

  Slowly, she began to turn towards the camera at the same time it zoomed in.

  As soon as I saw her, I swear my heart stopped. Everything about her was different, but one thing I would never forget is my sister’s face.

  I sought out the time stamp in the corner of the screen. Was that...today? Yesterday? I wa
ited with bated breath to get another glimpse, but the shed remained dark.

  Pulling my knees to my chest, I tried to make sense of what was going on. What if none of this was even real?

  Why would Julian do this? What did he have to gain from any of it? I wasn't sure those answers mattered anymore. All I wanted was to go home with my sister.

  Chapter Fourteen

  How did I get here?

  I stared up at a dimmed chandelier, trying to remember when I left the shed.

  I couldn’t.

  I had no recollection of me getting up and walking out of that tiny building. I didn’t even know where the door was to do so. Obviously, someone had moved me, though.

  Beneath me was one of the most comfortable mattresses I'd ever been on, and a silk sheet was drawn up to my chin.

  I brought my hands from under it and saw they were bandaged, clean, and didn't hurt near as much now that the splinters were gone. Upon further inspection, my whole body had been tended to and cleaned.

  Why couldn’t I remember any of this happening?

  "How are you feeling?"

  The soft voice had me jumping out of my skin. Pressing a gauzed palm to my chest, I looked over at the mousey brunette Julian called Bailey. She was dressed comfortably in jeans and a t-shirt, and her hair was pulled into a ponytail.

  She was sitting on the far side of the room in a large armchair, diagonal from a large fireplace. I studied her face, noting she looked a little more alive than the last time I'd seen her. My sister’s necklace was still around her neck.

  "How did you get my--."

  “Wait.” She cut me off and stood up, proceeding to pick up a round pitcher of water from an end table.

  She walked over to the side of the bed and wordlessly poured it into a glass I hadn’t noticed was on the nightstand, offering it to me when she finished. I took it from her, bringing it to my mouth for a small sip, and then another. The liquid was refreshingly cool and quenched a thirst I didn’t realize I had.

  "I know you're confused, and you have questions. The only thing I’m permitted to tell you is that Penny, your sister, she isn’t who you remember. Her mind is gone.” Bailey took a step back and faced me head on. “Whatever happens from here on out will be based on the choices you make. Our lives all depend on it, so please don't make Mr. Andreou angry.”