I scoff, shaking my head at Lane and lean my head against the headboard.
“How the hell can I pull myself together when Ellie is with a psychopath? They fuck with their prey, Lane. Shadow is going to taunt Ellie, and you know it.”
“I know what kind of man he is; we all do. You need to trust us. We won’t sit on our hands when our brother and the woman he loves needs us. I harbor guilt inside me too, Logan. The worry is pecking at my skin. It’s eating at all of us. You were shot for fuck’s sake, you are grieving, and you are frightened. You push me on this, and I’ll push harder. We are here, so fucking deal with it.”
Torture. It’s happening at the speed of light. It’s going to rob me of the last shred of sanity if I have to lay here. Fuck that shit.
Holding his hands up, Seth strolls in and takes a seat beside me, stretching his legs out in front of him.
“I get you don’t know which way to go right now. I get you’re the big brother, and you have this obligation to protect us, but goddamn it, Logan, we are a team. Fucking blood. You want to take anger out on something, then take it up with getting rest so you can think clearly. I happened to call Lane to find out what was going on between you and Ellie. He tried telling me things were okay. I think the asshole forgot we don’t keep secrets, knew he was lying straight away. Save whatever else it is you have to say for another time. I’m not going anywhere until my family is back together. I’m here, so for once in your life, you will let us help you. You will let us protect you, and you will lean on us. There’s no room for negotiation. Now, do you want to hear what’s been happening or not? I’m in the mood to draw blood, and the sooner we fill you in, the quicker I can.”
Chapter 5
Ellie
The room spins, the walls expand, making me feel small. I can hardly keep my eyes open to take in what kind of prison I’m in. That’s where I am, what I’d become. A prisoner to a man determined to ruin me.
Desperation sticks to the humid air and a reeking skunky smell lodges in my throat. Tears burn in the back of my eyes. I feel like a mere hollow shell of who I used to be. A hard covering over a woman whose heart is broken, yet filled with the love of a man who needs me as much as I need him.
My right eye is swollen shut and leaking. My nose feels full of dried blood, and I suspect my lips are at least ten times larger than usual.
Worse than anything, I’m so incredibly thirsty that my tongue feels like it’s taking up my entire mouth.
I want to peel back the layers and crawl out of my skin because whatever Shadow gave me, not only left my mind a wandering mess, it’s worn off, leaving me in excruciating pain, and my skin is itching like crazy.
“Oh, God, what did you give me, Shadow? I’m going insane. I’ve got to get out of here.”
Twisting, rotating, and pulling, I use the muscles in my arms to try wrenching and tugging my wrists out of the rope. I yelp when I feel my skin splitting wide open. Droplets of blood falling down my arms. I continue wiggling my wrists back and forth as much as I can. Before long, my blood is flowing down my neck, and my stomach is cramping like I’m going to start my period, which is impossible since I just lost my baby.
My soul cries — cruelty and loathing and hate, so much of it over the brutality that was being carried out by the hands of a crazy man.
Cold and heartless and cruel.
Little white bubbles float in front of my eyes as I give up and give in to the burn. I try to calm down by taking deep breaths and shed my left eye open to a semi-dark room. I need to focus on something, anything besides the way my skin feels like little tiny insects are crawling all over me. With each blink, I’m able to make out a more unobstructed view.
We’re in a man’s bedroom. I’d guess it to be the man who helped Shadow because he doesn’t have a dime to his name to afford the lavish wooden furniture or the expensive suits hanging in the closet. The ocean is barely visible from the open sliding door. We have to be in Galveston still. I don’t know why I sense we are, I just do.
Think, Ellie. You need to forget about the pain, forget about what you’ve lost, and figure a way out of here.
I’m a victim, and I’ll end up another statistic if I don’t make a plan to escape. A cold case that my family may never solve.
I’m not afraid to die. I’m scared of the torture, of the agony Shadow is going to put me through. I’m terrified of him touching me again.
Wiggling my toes, I feel soft carpet at the tips. I smell the brine coming off the ocean, and there’s a slight warm breeze caressing my flesh.
Pieces. I have to start putting them together.
Shaking my head as if it’ll clear the residue of the drug that’s scrambling my brain, I slowly start to remember things.
Everything locks into place. Whitney, Sadie, and Shadow. They were working together. That’s what Logan wanted to tell me on the beach. Not that it would have mattered because we had no idea Shadow escaped or lied about his release date.
It’s the latter of that I’m sure.
Keeping my head down, I do my best to try to get a feel for a sense of direction, but when my arms go numb, no longer in pain like they were a few minutes ago, and my skin won’t stop itching. The panic comes back and threatens to swallow me. I attempt to wiggle my fingers; they feel detached from my hands.
If this is how I’m going to die, then I wish they’d get it over with, so I don’t have to think about those I love. So I don’t have to feel the loss of my child in my chest. Take me so I can live in peace with my parents.
The only thing that runs through my mind now is how your life does flash before your eyes when you think you’re going to die. A tiny glimpse of what could have been. What was and what’s to come.
I see more of my life flitter across my brain and sink into my chest than my heart can handle. Scars and wounds of those left behind that would never heal if both Logan and I were to die.
It starts as a spark, a memory that flares inside my mind as it pushes every notable moment to the front of my brain.
Family. Logan, Lexi, our baby.
Rape.
All of them, plus a future filled with happiness flicker and flow. So many memories crash, and ignite, turning into a bright blue burning flame in front of my face.
Sucking in a breath and screwing my eyes shut as if it would make the sharp pain searing through my abdomen go away, I breathe in and out until it subsides.
The robust smell from a minute ago hits my nose, notes of musk, earth, and skunk. Someone’s in the room and smoking a joint.
“Want some? It’ll take away the pain.” That voice belongs to Shadow’s friend. Oh, God.
Popping open my eyes, I see him sitting on the edge of the bed; the joint tucked between his thumb and index finger as he holds it out for me to take.
Seething hatred and burning ire shoot out of my eye, wishing it were that easy to kill him.
“You?” I try moving my hands again to slap the smug look of satisfaction off his face, only to wince when the rope burns my skin.
“Yes, me.” He shrugs as if he isn’t a culprit that came into my home and wrecked my world. “You can’t reach it. Silly me, I forgot.”
I turn my attention to the floor and count to ten before veering it back at him with a glare.
“I wouldn’t accept it from you if I could. It’s probably laced with whatever the hell Shadow gave me.” Or worse, some kind of sex enhanced drug. I wouldn’t put it past either one of them.
Snarky bastard. I should have known it would be him.
This time there isn’t a ski mask covering his face. No wonder he wore one though, he’s local and more likely didn’t want to be seen.
Cole Bates. Shadow’s creepy friend from when we were younger. I remember him well — the rich jock who never had to work a day in his life. The boy everyone bought their drugs from because he had the money to get the good stuff. Or so the rumor-mills said. The last I heard he was living off the trust fund his father left him afte
r he died. I hated Cole then; I want to scratch his beady little lust-filled eyes out now and bash his skull in. Cover these walls with his blood.
He appears to look like the average man. Tall, dark and handsome, and no one would notice otherwise if it weren’t for the sickening look as he strips me naked with his eyes. It makes my insides tremor with disgust.
“I don’t want a damn thing from you except for you to die right along with your whacked out friend. Both of you are crazy. Certifiably and you have no clue what my family will do once they get their hands on you. Stupid, that’s what you are.”
“Wow, you need something besides drugs to shut up that mouth. I have the perfect thing to shove down your throat. I think you’re lying about wanting something from me, Ellie. You want me to untie you; you want to use the bathroom, take a shower. You want food and water; you want to get the fuck out of here. You’ve been hanging by your arms for over twenty-four hours. That bladder has to be ready to combust. The muscles in your arms have to be aching. Shall I go on?”
Ignoring his goad, I internally gasp that an entire day has gone by. Light-headedness spins my brain — a vise clamps down on my heart. My loved ones have to be going out of their minds. They have to have found Logan by now.
Chuckling, Cole takes a hit, lowers his face, puts the joint out in an ashtray and places it on the nightstand next to the bed. I hope the stuff fries his brain cells to a crisp.
I want all those things he said. At the moment I have to pee so badly I’d be more comfortable if I let it dribble down my legs. Eventually, I probably will because I won’t beg the two of them for anything.
“Shadow wanted to know when you woke. It seems he still doesn’t have patience when it comes to getting what he wants from you.” He shrugs again, lips stretching into a heartless smile.
If I didn’t already believe Cole was as psychotic as Shadow, I do after his implying words that he knew back then what happened to me and didn’t step forward.
Makes me hate the man all the more.
My muscles constrict. My heart starts pounding when Cole gets up from the bed, adjusts his crotch, and stands before me. His slimy hand comes up, and grips hold of my chin. “Yeah, my dick still works after that knee to my balls. You’ll pay for that. I would have saved you years ago if you had given me the time of day. There’s no saving you now.”
I expect him to hit me, so I brace for the blow. When he just stands there, I decide to test how loyal he is to Shadow.
“Wow, you sound like Shadow. Is he your idol, Cole? Is that why you helped him? Or maybe you’re a rapist like he is — two little peas in a pod. Did Daddy bail you out of jail too? We’ll see who gets saved and who doesn’t. You have no clue what will happen to you once I’m found.” I repeat the last for my benefit. I have to rely on hope because honestly, Shadow isn’t going to let me hang here for long before he makes truth out of his promises.
Cole looks up at my hands, tilts his head slowly as he drops his gaze back down and settles on my lips.
I try to jerk my head away from his hold as he steps closer and grinds himself into me.
Nausea. It swirls.
I’m entirely at these men’s mercy, and I hate it so bad. Hate that they have this kind of power over me, and there is nothing I can do to save myself.
He laughs and God it’s as nightmarish as Shadows.
“Ellie, it’s you who doesn’t have a clue. I’m in this to help a friend settle a score. I couldn’t care less what Shadow does with you once he gets what he wants, and I fuck you as I’ve always wanted.” He speaks calmly, eyes hard as steel as he inspects my face. “You grew to be even more beautiful than you were. I didn’t think that was possible; those women did a number on you, didn’t they?”
Keeping my face steady, he bunches my dress to my hips. Pain lances through my arms when he drops his hold on my face, takes several steps backward, forcing me to stretch as taut as I can. I try to kick, all it does is jerk my shoulders out of joint, making me internally cry out in indescribable pain.
“I’d be nice to me if I were you. I’m the one in this threesome who will let you shower and use the bathroom. I have what you want, what will keep your mind from flipping the hell out, from pissing all over yourself until we’re ready to send your boyfriend a nice little video. Don’t think for one minute when we’re ready; I won’t collect. It won’t be with a thank you; it’ll be with this body.”
My heart thuds wildly. Cole just gave it away that Logan isn’t dead. I’m clinging to those words like a lifeline to help me get through this torture.
Hope. I’m holding it in the palm of my numb hand. I have to because God help me if they both were to rape me, not only will it destroy me, it will be what does kill Logan if he watches. He won’t survive.
“Fuck you and Shadow.” My stomach sinks. Panic slams into my ribs, sealing off my air supply as the thought of what he and Shadow want to do kinks my stomach into knots.
His brows raise, black as night eyes glare at me, holding a terrifying promise.
“Sweetheart, you will be fucking us both soon. It’s my understanding Logan loves to watch as much as he loves to fuck women who belong to someone else. You aren’t mine to keep, and that’s a damn shame. Speaking of watching, do you know how hard it was for Shadow to stand in the window and watch you on the beach while Logan slept? He was going out of his mind between wanting to kill Logan before he took you. I told him to kill the man, then go get you, to forget about his vendetta, but he’s got it in his head that Logan needs to suffer.”
My heart bleeds. Suffering is worse than anything. It can surface with sudden, brutal ferocity, sweep you away in engulfing despair, and stir in the depths with malevolent force.
“No, please don’t.” My body trembles in utter horror as Cole pulls a syringe out of his pants pocket. Whatever is in that syringe isn’t good for me, I know it isn’t. I try lifting my legs to kick. I can’t move them, they feel like dead weight.
Ignoring my plea, Cole draws his arm back, his fist connecting with my stomach, knocking the air out of me in a fit of coughs. Before I can catch my breath, and just as bile shoots up my throat, a prick to my thigh has me floating through nothing but blackness.
* * *
“Has she woken yet?” a familiar voice asks close to my ear.
Panic blares, and everything inside me goes cold. It threatens to rip me in two as Shadow nips my ear and licks the outer shell. I strain until my lungs threaten to burst to breathe the same as I was while I was out, to not let him see the vibrations behind my lids as my eyes twitch, to keep calm even though dread wants to speed up and choke me. Mostly, from him, but also I have a feeling that whatever they are giving me, I’m allergic to because the fire coating my skin is driving me out of my mind.
Shadow begins to rub the palm of a hand across my neck, slowly. I feel sick from his touch, my insides cringing. He’s taunting me, tempting me.
“Briefly, she’s pretty banged up, Shadow. I gave her a small dose of the sedative. Maybe we should give her a larger one, take her down and let her heal before we make the video.”
No, I can’t handle any more. That, plus, I will fight until I take my last breath before I let them do what I can’t make my mind wrap around.
“Not yet. She’s had enough. My girl is awake; I know she is. She’s terrified to look at me, as she should be. She’ll come around begging soon enough.” Every word he said sends a pointed shard of ice through my heart.
Begging won’t do me a bit of good. Shadow will do what he wants. He wants me weak. I might be helpless, but I refuse to be anything except the strong woman I am in front of him.
Logan.
I’m floating to the bottom without him. The man breathed life into me, and no matter what Shadow or Cole do to me, they will never erase him from my mind or heart.
“I had plans in motion to kill Logan before he fucked me over by taking my money. I was going to search harder than I did for you before I was locked up, and what d
o you know, you were right under my nose all along. That pisses me off to the extreme, Ellie. What angers me more is I never wanted to kill you, now because you let the man I hate more than anything inside of you, you’ve left me no choice.”
The sureness in his voice slices me, adding another scar to the many I’d suffered because of him over the years.
“Do you know how long I waited for you? How badly I missed you? I spent a long time behind bars thinking about you, Ellie. I turned down fucking Sadie, to save myself for you. I had free pussy right in my face after not having it for years. I did that for you. She blew me, but that doesn’t count. What you did with Logan that’s what counts, and both of you are going to pay. You owe me, bitch, and I’m going to collect. Money, you and the whereabouts of my sister are what I want, and to drive Logan crazy. Open those eyes and let me see that gratitude for not killing Logan.”
The amusement in his voice makes me want to puke.
Through a swirl of nauseating fear comes my father’s voice. “You are a strong woman, sweetheart. Stay alive. Don’t let him see your fear.”
Shadow continues massaging the stiff muscles in my neck, as every spot of my soul cries out for someone to help me.
Oh, God. Please let someone find me. Please give me the strength to hang on.
Bile.
It climbs up my throat, the acid burning my tongue as Shadow’s rough hand leaves my neck, skimming between my breasts and palming one before grazing down my stomach. He pauses briefly before sliding his hands down my sides, my legs, and wraps his hands around my ankles, yanking my legs apart.
Please, God, not again. My mind is spinning. It’s confusing; it’s shaking, it’s on the edge of curling in on itself.
“I am not yours. You can do with me what you want, beat me, rape me, abuse me, but I will never beg you for anything. Not even to spare my life.” My eyes fly open, and I glare down at Shadow. Everything about him shoots an impulse to vomit.
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