The ground beneath my feet shuddered as I realized how this would play out.
“Your men had better be on that helicopter in two minutes, or pretty Sara here dies.” He put a knife to her throat. “It’s time to bow to your Master.”
I would never call that man master, but I would go to my knees.
“And how do I know you won’t hurt her?”
“You don’t, but you know me as a man of my word, and I promise you this.”
I wasn’t going to like whatever he said next.
“And that is?”
“Simple. Whatever I want, whatever I ask, you do it. You do it with a smile on your face, with your head bowed, and with Master spilling from your lips. You belong to me, Forest. You serve me. You do that, and no harm will come to the girl. I won’t touch her. My men won’t touch her. The only one who fucks her will be you. But…” Snowden lifted a cautionary finger. “The first time you fight me, the first time you resist or refuse to follow a command, the girl will pay. You could only save one. You made your choice, but I promise if you do as you’re told, no one will touch the girl.”
My cheeks heated as fury built within me. I was going to kill the bastard, but first, I would bide my time. He wanted me, and I knew what that meant. I understood what I would endure.
But could I trust a monster to keep his word?
“Your word means nothing.”
He pressed the knife against Sara’s throat, and a bead of dark crimson appeared. “I could kill her, but I’m going to keep her if only to ensure your continued good behavior. The girl can even stay with you. I don’t care.”
If she stayed with me, then maybe I could somehow protect her. It was impossible to believe anything Snowden said, but there was something I knew beyond a doubt.
He wanted me.
He wanted me willing and compliant.
“Your two minutes begins now. Say goodbye to your men.” He arched a brow.
My gut churned with the vileness that was Snowden. I came here to take down a monster and close a chapter on my life. Instead, I was reopening my worst nightmare.
With a deep inhale, I took all the goodness in my life, all the laughter and light, and locked it in the darkest corner of my mind.
Snowden would never have that piece of me.
“Go.” I turned to Ben.
“Forest…” His mouth gaped, but I shook my head.
“It’s the only way.”
“But…” An agonized expression stretched across his face.
I gave a sharp nod. There was no time to argue the inevitable.
“Keep Skye safe.”
“We’ll find a way.” Ben clamped his hand on my shoulder.
I didn’t doubt Ben would find a way to free me. What I doubted was what would be left when they did.
I had no illusions about what Snowden planned.
“Ninety-seconds.” Snowden let his voice snap. He was a man of his word. I understood that and what it meant. We didn’t have time to dick around.
I gave Ben a shove and handed him my weapon.
“Go.”
My nannies exchanged horrified expressions, but they understood.
This battle had been lost.
Ben, Mel, Bay, and Chad loped away, devouring the ground with their long strides. They raced to make it to the helicopter, leaving me behind.
I closed my eyes and took my last breath of freedom.
The rotors spun up, and the blades cut through the air.
Wind buffeted me as they took off.
With a final glance, I saw Skye peering out of the open side of the helicopter.
She clutched Zach to her chest. As the helicopter angled away, the words she used to tell me when the darkness overcame me echoed in my mind.
There is light in the darkest places, and hope is as limitless as the summer sky.
I guess we would see.
I turned to face Snowden.
He arched his brows and pointed to the ground.
I went to my knees.
Chapter Fourteen
Sara
When I watched Forest fall, something died inside of me.
Behind me, Snowden gave a low, throaty chuckle. The sound was ominous and foul. His smug laughter curled around me and filled me with despair.
“Do you see that, my dear. Your boyfriend knows when he’s been bested.” He eased the knife from my neck.
“You’re a monster.” It wasn’t wise to speak. I knew this, yet I felt a need to say something.
“Some have called me that. To him, I’ll become everything.”
“Why? Why do you have to do this to him?”
“Because he’s the only one who never broke beneath me. He endured and survived, never admitting defeat.”
“So, you’ll destroy him? For what purpose?”
“To prove what he already knows.” Snowden glanced at me, giving me a long moment to look into his eyes. “Isn’t that what monsters do?”
His guarded expression slipped for a moment. In that sliver of time, a profound sadness simmered in Snowden’s gaze. He stared down at Forest with ravenous hunger, but something else was there as well. If I didn’t know better, I would call it adoration.
The hardened planes of his face emanated strength and brutality. His long, aquiline nose radiated superiority, but his full lips parted with hungry need.
“You should be careful about how you speak to me. I’ve given my word not to touch you, but that doesn’t mean I won’t hurt you.”
The arch of his eyebrows lifted with the only warning he would give. I couldn’t help but swallow against the bile rising in my throat.
“I don’t believe you’ll keep your word.” I practically spat at him. “You’re cruel, inhuman, and despicable.”
“I’m cruel, very human, but I cleave to my honor. I can be very creative, however. Watch your tone.”
His piercing glare cut off my breath. My heart skipped with the fear surging in my veins. My near nakedness made me feel vulnerable, but I sensed some truth in what he said.
Snowden wouldn’t touch me, but he planned on using me to hurt Forest. I could get terribly lost in the horrors he promised, but I vowed to remain strong.
For Forest.
I couldn’t let this man use me against him.
With a blink, I crawled my way out of the intensity of Snowden’s gaze.
“Now, you understand.” He spoke as if I understood some profound truth, but my mind reeled with the impossibility of this entire situation. He canted his head to the side and took a long time admiring my near-naked state.
“Or you will.” He pointed down to Forest. “He’ll suffer every time you disobey. You’ll be by my side, fetching and carrying, serving and pleasing, doing whatever I demand. Fail to please me, and it won’t be you who pays, but rather him.”
My chest squeezed with the vileness radiating off this man.
He leaned toward me. “There are many ways to torture a man. Do you want to be the source of his pain? Or, do you want to be the only comfort he’s allowed? And I will allow that. I’ll allow it because you’re precious to him, and it gives me something to take away.”
My eyes widened, not sure I understood.
“That’s right, my dear. Please me, and I reward him. He’ll need someone to take care of him. Forest thinks to endure what I have planned, but I’ll break him. Are you strong enough to do what it takes to be there when it’s time to put him back together again?”
“You plan to use us against each other.” I finally understood.
“I plan to use you to help each other, but don’t worry. I’ll keep my word. I won’t touch you. I’ll keep you safe as a bird locked in a gilded cage. But if he falters, I’ll rip you from the cage.”
Somehow, I managed to suck in a breath. I felt as if I had run a marathon. I was breathless, and my heart raced.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me…” He glanced at Forest, who knelt in the middle of the courtyard. “Forest and I nee
d to get reacquainted.”
I didn’t want to know what that meant, but when Snowden grabbed at his crotch, I couldn’t help but notice the long, hard length of his arousal. The man intended to…
No. No. No!
I couldn’t watch, but Snowden’s men gripped my arms and forced me to follow them. We gathered under a trellis covered in sweeping vines that blotted out the night sky.
I understood why.
The canopy provided Snowden protection from the guns circling overhead. The helicopter had yet to leave.
Given a chance, Forest’s men would take Snowden out.
That gave me hope because it was only a matter of time. But could they see beneath the thick vegetation? Snowden kept me close, and I understood the reasoning behind that as well.
I was his human shield.
Forest’s men couldn’t see to target Snowden and keeping me close, confused any infrared they may have. The men beside me were huge, but Snowden wasn’t much larger than me.
“It’s nice, isn’t it?” Snowden stopped a few steps in front of where Forest knelt out in the open. He wasn’t speaking to me, but rather to Forest.
“You on your knees…It feels like old times.” Snowden stretched his arms over his head, interlocking his fingers and cracking his knuckles. “Like we’re finally right where we belong.”
Forest glared at Snowden and rocked back on his heels. Deep breaths huffed out of his chest.
He barely controlled his anger. His muscles bunched, and I could see him getting ready to charge Snowden. But then his gaze cut to me. With a sweep of his eyes, he took me in, head to toe.
I felt more exposed beneath Forest’s gaze than I had with Snowden, and I didn’t know why. Snowden showed no interest in me. Forest? It wasn’t interest but rather pain.
I stood to the side of Snowden, a step behind, where his men bracketed me. They no longer touched me, but their presence wasn’t something I could ignore.
A madman, Snowden’s promise not to harm me wasn’t something I placed any faith in. There would be pain, degradation, and rape. I could feel it settling in the air between us.
“Cuff him.” Snowden pointed at Forest.
A big man, surely Forest could take Snowden and his men out, but he turned his eyes to me, and I knew he would do nothing to jeopardize my safety.
Didn’t he know this was just a fucked-up game?
I wasn’t safe.
Forest couldn’t keep me safe.
Forest obediently placed his hands behind his back and allowed Snowden’s men to bind his wrists.
The lights from the helicopter flashed in the night as it circled us. I knew Forest’s men worked to get a line on Snowden, a shot they could take without placing me in danger.
At least little Zach would be safe.
Snowden must have tracked my gaze because he looked up into the sky.
The helicopter should have gone by now. I could only imagine what was going through the minds of everyone on board.
Oddly, Snowden didn’t look the least bit worried. A malignant and anticipatory smile spread across his face.
What were we missing?
Right now, Skye would be clutching her son tight to her chest. The terror of his abduction slowly easing as she checked for injuries. Zach was bruised, but Snowden hadn’t harmed him.
Xavier’s men had to be fuming. How powerless did they feel? Safe up there while Forest knelt on the ground down here.
I could feel their tenseness, the lock of their jaws as they stared down the scopes of their rifles. The frustration they felt ate at me because I wanted them to find that shot.
I also wanted them to hurry up and fly away. They didn’t need to see Forest like this.
“Bring him here.” Snowden took a step back while his men lifted Forest off his knees and practically dragged him under the edge of the protective canopy of lush vegetation.
They forced Forest back to his knees and returned to their positions on either side of me. Standing over Forest, Snowden propped his hands on his hips.
“I want your surrender, boy.”
“I’m on my fucking knees. I’d say you have it.”
“I see the fire in your eyes. You have it in that head of yours to fight me.”
He was right about that.
Forest’s eyes churned with fury. First chance he had, all that anger would be unleashed on Snowden. I didn’t want to be around when that happened.
“I’m going to break you, tear you apart so badly that you’ll beg for me to stop. Your wounds will remain raw and open, oozing with your misery. You’ll never be able to close them. I hold this power over you. You’ll embrace it, and even though you’ll want to kill me, you’ll love me instead. I bring order to the chaos in your head. You’ll serve me, please me, and you’ll do anything for me. I’ll always be with you, swimming in that head of yours.”
“You have me on my knees.” Forest ground out the words. “But that’s all you’ll ever get from me.”
“Oh, you’re going to give me so much more. I’m going to rip out your heart, and then I’m going to feed it to you while you beg for my kindness.”
My attention shifted between the two men.
How much worse could things get?
There had to be an endgame to Snowden’s drawn-out speech. It was torturous to watch, nearly impossible to endure because I knew this was only the beginning. Snowden had something up his sleeve.
What would my role be in all of this?
Snowden intended to use me to keep Forest in line. I knew this, but how?
Forest wasn’t like ordinary men. His mind didn’t work like normal people.
I didn’t think Snowden truly understood what kind of gift that could be. And to Forest, I was nothing. Snowden got that wrong. Forest didn’t love me. He wouldn’t go to his knees for me as he had done for Skye.
Theirs was a love so profound it made my heart ache. I was glad he had someone in his life to love and who loved him back, but the love of a foster sister was nothing compared to that of a lover, and Forest didn’t have that.
He never would.
I didn’t know what my future held, but I prayed Forest found a man with the strength to love him. He deserved to know what real love felt like.
“I’m going to start by taking something precious from you. Consider it your first lesson in obedience. Pay attention, boy. I can do anything I want. Take anything I want. You can’t stop it. And you can’t stop me; but obey me, and you can prevent those you care about from getting hurt.”
Snowden pointed to the helicopter.
“Your friends seem unwilling to leave us to our reunion. Let’s take care of that, shall we?”
He gave a signal
I glanced around, looking for who it was meant for. The men standing beside me didn’t budge.
A loud pop sounded.
A low whoosh followed.
The sky brightened, and I peeked around the thick canopy.
A trail of fire shot from one of the towers.
They’d fired a rocket.
Forest saw it. He watched with me, paralyzed with fear.
My heart leaped to my throat, and I choked on a scream.
Canting hard to the side, chaff shot out from the helicopter. Countermeasures against a rocket mortar, they were meant to confuse the heat-seeking guidance, but they were too close.
Light flashed.
The tail rudder exploded.
Without a stabilizing force, the helicopter spun out of control. It lost altitude, spewing smoke as it spiraled downward.
They were going to crash.
Forest surged to his feet. Head down, hands tied behind his back, and he charged Snowden.
Expecting the attack, Snowden stepped to the side. The men standing beside me leaped into action. They tackled Forest, taking him to the ground. Forest landed with a thud on his shoulder.
His agonized cry pierced the air.
The helicopter spun out of sight as the pilot fough
t the inevitable.
They were going down.
I couldn’t stop watching. The tail rotor sputtered. Thick black smoke billowed out from the cabin.
I waited for the explosion, and the flames which would follow, but heard nothing beyond Forest’s roar.
Snowden brushed the dirt off his suit. He knelt before Forest, placing his face close.
“She’s dead, my boy. Elsbeth is dead. Her brat is dead. Everyone you love is gone. That’s the price for defiance. I told you to send them away. Their deaths are yours to bear.”
Forest’s roar turned into soul-breaking sobs.
My heart broke, and I rushed to his side. I didn’t care what the men would do. All I knew was that I had to be there for Forest. To hold him, touch him, comfort him in some small way.
Snowden didn’t flinch when I took Forest in my arms. He allowed the contact, almost as if he wanted to watch what we would do.
I felt his eyes on us as he studied our interaction.
I probably gave him all the ammunition he needed to use against Forest and destroy what was left of the man I loved.
Forest buried his head against my chest while misery poured out of him. His entire body shook with his sobs.
Slowly, I rocked him. His entire body stilled.
“You bastard!” I screamed at Snowden. “He did everything you wanted. You promised to let Zach go. You didn’t need to…to…” I couldn’t say kill them. I couldn’t admit he had killed Skye and Zach and all the men on board.
I knew this man was evil but failed to understand what that meant.
“I let the brat go, but they didn’t leave. Actions have consequences.” He shrugged. “This is your first lesson, girl. As long as Elsbeth was out there, he would fight to get back to her. Now, he has nothing out there to fight for.” Snowden’s hard gaze tunneled into me. “He has only you, and you’re right here with me. He won’t leave me as long as I have you.”
There was no compassion in the darkness of his gaze.
No humanity.
Nothing redeemable.
Snowden’s voice softened. “Imagine all the fun the three of us are going to have together.”
“You didn’t have to do that. Forest surrendered. He gave himself to you.”
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