“No.” Snowden’s attention shifted to Forest. “He hasn’t given himself…yet.”
With a snap of his fingers, Snowden’s men went to work. They yanked Forest out of my arms and set him back on his knees.
Forest folded over until his forehead touched the ground. His deep sobs sliced through my heart.
“You’re a soulless bastard.” My words came out barely above a whisper.
Snowden’s expression hardened. He came to me, and before I could register what he intended, he slapped my cheek.
Hard.
My head whipped to the side, and my teeth cut the inside of my cheek. The force of his slap spun me, and I stumbled, nearly falling to the ground.
But I recovered.
I stood my ground, and my gaze landed on Forest.
He straightened his spine and sat back on his knees. Tears streaked his face, but there was no emotion left in his expression. His vacant eyes stared through and past me.
“I’ll do whatever you want, but don’t touch the girl.” His low rumble slammed into me.
I placed a hand over my belly because I didn’t recognize the man staring back at me.
My tender, sweet Forest was gone.
Chapter Fifteen
Forest
In the blink of an eye, the world as I knew it ended.
Skye was dead.
My sister was…dead.
My nephew…dead.
Xavier’s men…dead.
They were all dead.
A piece of me went with her into her watery grave where it mourned her loss amongst a drowning scream.
As for the rest of me?
Something inside of me broke.
Death swam inside of me.
Despair clawed its way to the surface, seeking and finding purchase in the present.
Hope faded away until it disappeared.
All those emotions I’d locked away meant nothing.
Snowden reached right in and ripped out my heart. He gutted my soul and scraped away my humanity.
My gaze cut left, and Snowden followed the path of my eyes to Sara.
Rubbing his hands together, he gave a sharp nod. One of the men took out a knife.
Snowden killed Skye, and now he would kill Sara. I felt it in my bones. I couldn’t save Skye. I lured her to her death. I was responsible for what happened to Skye, my men, and her son.
Me.
I killed them.
My gut churned, and I turned my attention back to Snowden. I wasn’t brave enough to watch him violate Sara. The knife went to Sara’s hip, slid under the fabric of her panties, and cut them away.
Snowden went to her.
He gripped her chin, pinching painfully by the way her eyes widened, and her tears flowed.
Her distress leaped across the distance and arrowed directly to my heart. That’s where her pain lodged, with a sharp tearing inside my chest.
My angel closed her eyes, and faint breaths fluttered out of her mouth.
He wrapped a hand in her hair and jerked her head back. Tracing the fullness of her lips with his thumb, he watched for my reaction.
Anger built within me, but I knew better than to react. It would only make things worse.
Snowden’s eyes pinched, and he slid his finger beneath her remaining bra strap. Slipping it over her shoulder, he watched me like a hawk as he bared her breasts.
I didn’t move.
“Do you think she’ll enjoy this?” He glanced at his men and gave a low, throaty chuckle. “I know they would like to sample her flesh. What do you think, boy? Should I let them spread her legs? Or maybe, spread her ass cheeks and fuck her there? What do you think? What would your girl like best?”
A sharp gasp slipped from her lips as he placed his heavy hand over her midsection. Breaths pulsed in and out of her, growing faster and faster as panic rimmed her eyes.
Snowden gave another nod, and the men forced my angel to her knees. Sara’s body crumpled. Her bare knees scraped against the rough ground, and she bit back a cry.
We wouldn’t survive this.
There was no way.
“Get your fucking hands off her,” I shouted. “You want me. Name it, and it’s yours, but don’t touch the girl.”
Don’t ruin my angel.
Snowden lifted his hands off Sara. Her sobs split the air. With his hands held palms out, he beamed with victory.
I didn’t blame him.
He’d won.
The fucker had won.
Snowden approached me. Triumph filled his expression. He grabbed at his crotch and gave it a good shake, letting me know he was hard, hungry, and intent on slaking his desire.
“Your surrender boy. I want your willing surrender. No fighting. No resisting. I say jump, and you ask how high on the way up. I tell you to suck, and you swallow me whole. I tell you to bend your knees, you bow your fucking head, and thank me for the privilege. When I want you, you jump at the opportunity and spread your ass cheeks wide.”
All the evil inside of him spewed outward, covering me in his filth. He was a cancer that infected me. A sickness I couldn’t shake. I’d spent a lifetime bringing him down, yet I was the one on my knees.
I wanted to hurt him.
One day, I would kill him.
But I needed to survive this first.
I would survive, or I would die.
What I wouldn’t do was surrender.
Snowden tugged at his belt, freed it from his belt loops, and handed it to the man standing beside him. That one wrapped the buckle around his wrist and folded the belt in half to form a loop. He slapped the thick leather against his palm.
Sara flinched.
I swallowed bile.
“I want you to admit I own you.” Snowden flicked open the top of his fly. The rasp of his zipper cut through the air as he dragged it down. The entire time, he kept his attention on me.
I ignored Snowden.
I couldn’t tear my eyes from Sara’s trembling form. She didn’t deserve this.
Pure and innocent, she’d been brought into a hell of my making. The man not holding the belt pressed between her shoulder blades and forced her torso down until her cheek pressed against the tiles.
Her gaze flicked to me for half a second.
At that moment, the light died inside of her. Her gaze turned glassy, unseeing, as she retreated inside of herself.
Her body went limp.
Snowden fumbled with his pants, and my attention shifted back to him. He pulled out his engorged cock and fisted the shaft.
“No teeth. Scrape me…bite me…” He thrust his index finger toward Sara. “She pays. Ten strikes of that belt…each time. I know you remember how I like it.”
A shudder ran down my spine. My stomach churned, and I fought against the urge to hurl.
There is light in the darkest places.
Skye’s words returned to me, and my attention shifted back to Sara. I no longer believed Skye’s words.
I had fallen into the darkest pit of hell and dragged an innocent angel down with me.
Memories flooded my mind. Long days at the office when Sara brought in food, making sure I ate.
She took care of me.
I remembered all the mornings when she kicked my ass off the couch because I refused to go home after working through the night.
She brought clothes for me, so I had something clean to wear as I stayed for another day before she physically kicked me out of the office.
The little frustrated sounds she made when I forgot to shake hands or ask something personal when meeting with clients flitted through my mind.
She was always on me about the little things. Things I didn’t care about, but she said made a world of difference when dealing with people.
She teased me, took care of me.
Sara made life more comfortable.
A breath of fresh air, she never failed to bring a smile to my face, or erase one of my many scowls. I laughed with her and experienced the world d
ifferently through her eyes.
When all I saw was black and white, Sara would breeze by and show me a world full of a kaleidoscope of color.
She frustrated me. Nagged me all the damn time.
I lost track of the number of times I fired her. Anyone but her would have walked away a hundred times.
Not Sara.
I could be a demanding boss, but she stuck with me.
I never asked her why, and over time, I grew accustomed to her presence.
To her smiles.
Her exasperated sighs.
Her fussing over me.
The softness of her laughter.
Snowden came at me with a smile showing his full teeth.
My insides seized as revulsion ripped through me. I closed my eyes to escape this degradation, but he tapped my cheek.
“Welcome home.”
I gave a shake of my head. “Let her up. Cover her, and you can have me.”
No matter if I escaped this alive, or faded out in death, this would change me forever.
“That easily? I’m a little disappointed. I expected more of a fight. Maybe you’ve missed me more than I thought?”
My eyes pinched against the pain. “You gave your word you wouldn’t touch her. Honor that, and I’ll do whatever you say.”
I left unsaid what would happen if he didn’t. Snowden didn’t care if I sucked his cock or let him fuck me in the ass. That wasn’t what he wanted.
He wanted to break me. My suffering was what got him off.
“I see you breaking already.” Snowden’s taunt filled the air. “Open up. Take me in. Do a good job, and I’ll let her up.”
Hope withered within me. How could I save her when there was no escape?
You wait. You wait for your friends to save you.
That’s all I could do. And until they did, until Xavier and his team found us, I would do whatever it took to protect Sara and save her from the worst this monster had to offer.
Snowden had degraded me when I was a boy. He beat me to within an inch of my life more times than I thought possible. I’d endured his unwanted invasion before. I would endure it again.
It was only a body.
I could give him my body.
Of all the horrors I’d survived, I would survive this one too. I’d take the pain, stuff it down deep where it would fester and grow. Somehow, I would use my self-loathing and grow stronger from the pain.
I opened my mouth and closed my eyes, but Snowden’s low tsk, tsk, tsk had me opening my eyes again. The fucker wouldn’t let me escape this horror by hiding inside my head. He wanted me to be an active participant in his victory.
My fingers curled into fists behind my back. If they’d been free, I would have strangled the life out of the bastard.
I would do it real slow too.
Strangle him until his face turned blue, then I would let up. Let the bastard gag. Watch his face turn beet red. Then I would do it all again.
Each time, I’d increase the pressure until his larynx finally caved beneath my fingers. I’d leave him to suffocate while I watched the light go out in his eyes.
Instead, he watched the light wither inside of me as he shoved his cock in my face.
The first threads of my sanity unraveled as the violation began.
Chapter Sixteen
Sara
I couldn't watch. The best thing I could do for Forest was to turn my head, but I couldn't silence the sounds.
The satisfied grunts coming from Snowden, the knowing chuckles of my guards, or that final horrific shout which had to be Snowden's release, I tried to block it all out. I kept my eyes squeezed shut, but it didn't help because my imagination filled in all the gut-wrenching details.
But then, it ended.
Snowden came with a roar. He praised Forest on doing such an excellent job with an affectionate slap to Forest's cheek.
Naked and afraid, I was thankful for the lingering heat of the tropics, but the bugs had come out. Mosquitoes buzzed me and bit my flesh. I would be covered in welts if I didn't get inside.
Snowden's men had their hands on me again. They lifted me to my feet, where I stumbled between them. Kneeling for so long, my legs fell asleep.
I did open my eyes. I had to.
When I looked at Forest, he turned away, hanging his head in shame. I didn't blame him.
I'd been witness to the ultimate degradation, but I feared Snowden had only begun.
Snowden tugged at his shirt and pulled it over his head. Before I realized what he was doing, he tossed it to me.
"As promised, my boy. For a job well done. No scraping of your teeth, the girl gets to wear clothes."
The shirt reeked of Snowden's vile scent. I didn't want to put it on, but I was wise enough not to fall on my sword over a stinky shirt.
Forest watched as I shrugged on the shirt. I slid it over my body and covered my nakedness. It hung halfway to my knees.
"I think we're going to have fun." Snowden tucked his now flaccid cock back into his pants. "Now, to make our exit." He gripped Forest's chin and bent down. "How do you think we should leave? I don't want your friends following us."
Forest said nothing.
Snowden raised his hand and pointed at me.
The man holding Snowden's belt reared back and struck my leg. The force of the blow lifted me off my feet. I stumbled forward and fell to my knees.
I couldn't help the blood-curdling scream as my entire world erupted in pain.
"When I ask a question, you answer. Do you not understand our arrangement? Or do you like watching her suffer."
"What is it you want?" Forest ground out the words.
I didn't know how he was holding it together. Not after Snowden…
A shiver rippled down my spine. I didn't want to think about what Forest endured.
"How do you think we should leave?" Snowden gazed down at Forest. "They have eyes in the sky, but I don't want them tracking us."
"Leave the way we came in." Forest gave a noncommittal shrug.
"And here I thought we understood each other." He turned to the man who wasn't holding the belt. "Dan, hold the girl down."
Dan came at me, and I scooted away with a shriek.
"Don't you fucking touch her." Forest's roar had the man stopping in his tracks.
"No one will touch her, my boy, but you need to help us get out of here. You know your team. You know how they think. They will follow us, and that isn't something I want. You and me, the girl and my men, we're going to disappear."
Disappear?
If there was one thing Snowden excelled at, it was at being impossible to find. But if we disappeared, how would Forest's team rescue us?
Then I realized that was the point.
I huddled on the ground while Snowden badgered Forest until Forest gave Snowden what he wanted.
The wealth Snowden commanded astounded me. Within half an hour, he dispatched two helicopters. Like the helicopter which had carried Skye, they landed in the garden.
My heart shattered when I realized I hadn't mourned Skye's death. Her son's death. Or the deaths of the men who had stood by Forest's side.
There had been no time to process what had happened, but the pain of their loss knifed through me. I found it impossible to breathe and curled on the ground in a fetal position.
If only I could rewind time.
What brought me out of my catatonic state was the deep rumble of Forest's voice.
"Sara…" The warmth of his fingers fluttered over my temple.
My eyes fluttered open and met his tortured gaze.
"Forest…"
"The helicopters are almost here. I need you to be strong. You need to get up."
"Skye?"
The tightness of his expression told me not to pursue that line of questioning. We would mourn our losses later.
With his uncharacteristic help, I managed to make it to my feet. A glance at Snowden showed him zipping his pants and threading the buckle back through
his belt loops.
Forest released me and tugged at his pants.
I closed my eyes, squeezing out the pain because when I collapsed on the ground, the fly of Forest's pants hadn't been undone.
How long had I been out?
What had happened to Forest?
Those were questions I shouldn't ask. The smile on Snowden's face told me everything I needed to know.
Snowden wore one of my guard's shirts. I still had his shirt covering me. My skin itched from numerous insect bites, and a thin sheen of perspiration covered my skin.
Forest wouldn't meet my eye as he tugged his pants over his hips and closed the zipper.
A few minutes later, the sound of a helicopter cut through the darkness—not one helicopter, but rather two.
What happened next confused me. Men spilled out from the helicopters and raced toward our position. They surrounded us, and we all walked back to the helicopters as a group.
The men moved in and around us, weaving in a chaotic pattern I didn't understand. We walked with them. Snowden's guards pushed me. Forest followed Snowden's lead.
Then we separated into two groups. We piled into one of the helicopters and left the island behind.
When we landed, the odd shuffling of people happened again. This time, there were three vans that we piled into. Each time we went under a bridge, our strange caravan would stop. The shuffling of people would happen again.
Then the three vans split up.
Once again, under the overpasses, we repeated the odd procedure. Two cars met us, and we swapped back.
At the next overpass, we lost the van.
This continued several times until I finally realized what was happening.
Mitzy's drone had to still be in play, but there was no way she could follow all the cars.
We were lost in the shuffle.
Snowden was a fucking genius.
I glanced at Forest, who sat meekly beside Snowden in the SUV.
This wasn't Snowden's brilliance.
Forest had been forced to orchestrate our abduction. There was no way for his men to follow us.
We were officially lost.
After a train ride, a boat ride, and a plane ride, we had one final leg before we finally stopped.
Forest's Fall (Captive Hearts Book 3) Page 13