This Darkest Man

by West, Sinden

  I stared at him for a moment. “What would I have to do?”

  “Nothing. For now. But let’s get this straight. I own you, Matilda. I control every facet of your life. It’s important that you accept that. You owe me for not completely destroying your life, do you understand?”

  I sucked in a breath. If he hadn’t sounded so calm I would have sworn that he was crazy. “Yes,” I whispered.

  “Say it.”

  I bit my lip and twisted my hands together. “You own me.” The words were bitter on my tongue, but they gave him a satisfied, smug look.

  “That’s right. Come on. It’s time for you to come to your new home.” He held out a hand, beckoning me forward, and reluctantly I crawled out of the cage on my hands and knees. I was determined to do it on my own, but he grasped my hand in a firm grip and pulled me to my feet. It was even more galling when my stiff legs nearly gave way on me and he caught me around the waist. “I’m sending you to the country house. Margaret will look after you.”

  I struggled against his hold. “She’s horrible.”

  He smiled. “Yes, she’s an ex-dominatrix. That’s why she’s perfect for the job.” His tone was jovial, like he was teasing. But I knew that he wasn’t.

  I wasn’t given back my clothes. Instead, he wrapped his jacket around me and led me outside where I was bundled into the back of his car. Before he could close the door, I cried out, “Wait! I need my things.”

  He just held my gaze and gave me that mocking smile that I was getting so used to. “Mattie, you should know by now that I will provide everything that I think you need or deserve. I’ve always been good at looking after my toys.”

  And with that, the car door slammed shut and I was driven off to whatever fate Daniel thought that I should have.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  I ran as soon as the driver let me out. Daniel’s house loomed dark against the landscape and I felt like I was running the wrong way. Margaret greeted me at the door after I had sprinted barefoot across the cobbles, clutching the jacket to my naked form and desperate for warmth. She wore her dark, long dress and her hair was again scraped back into a severe bun.

  “It’s late,” she complained. “Hurry up. I’ve got better things to do.” She led me up the familiar staircase and to the same room that I had stayed in before. The doors to the antique armoire stood open, and I saw that they were filled with clothes. As I took a step closer, I saw that they were my clothes. Daniel had evidently had someone help themselves to my apartment while I was gone. The sight of them didn’t give me any comfort, instead they served as a reminder that his control was ongoing, to even the smallest of things.

  Margaret must have left and closed the door behind her, because when I turned she was gone. In the bathroom I found my toiletries, and after I showered I slid in between the cold sheets, my thoughts were preoccupied with Josh.

  It hadn’t been all bad. When I had struggled with a subject, he had stayed up all night tutoring me. He would bring me flowers for random reasons, and he could make me laugh until I cried. Part of the reason he ended up like he was was due to his family. His parents were so demanding that they wouldn’t accept failure. He had spoken of being forced as a child to sit for hours at a desk and not being allowed to leave until he had memorized whatever the lesson was. That poor child had grown into an arrogant adult, but wasn’t going ahead with Daniel’s plan just as bad as anything Josh had done? And how far would Daniel go to destroy Josh?

  Sleep did not come easily to me. Guilt for what I had done, and for what I was about to do, weighed heavily upon me. It trapped me, just as I was trapped in this house now under Daniel’s rule.

  Over the next few days, my meals were served to me in my room by an unsmiling Margaret. She barely spoke and that was fine by me. After a while, I was going crazy and ventured out of the room. No one stopped me. The servants I came across gave me a slight nod of acknowledgement and stayed silent as they carried on with their duties. Eventually, I stopped blushing at the memory that they had all seen me naked and well and truly screwed on the dining room table.

  I began to explore. The house was a collection of rooms of odd sizes, narrow corridors and staircases. It was a maze in itself. The main rooms and staircase were spacious and grand as befitted a house of this size, but beyond that it was if the house was built to house servants and hide them away. The family that built this place must have been far more entitled and arrogant than my own. I should have been lucky that Daniel hadn’t relegated me to one of these rooms that were no bigger than a closet. There was an energy in those rooms, a sadness that felt as if it were etched into the walls and carried the despair of the poor souls who resided there. I could hear whispers, but it wasn’t as strong as in the farmhouse. These people weren’t buried in the walls; they had just lived a miserable existence here.

  The other difference was the complete sadness. That hadn’t been the entire energy that I had felt at the farmhouse. There had been happiness there too. Perhaps the joy poor Mae had felt with her lover surpassed her terrible grave. Maybe it made it all worth it in the end.

  I backed out of the room slowly. I felt like I was intruding on the intensity in the room; I didn’t belong there. I hit something hard behind me that made me emit a small scream as I turned.

  Daniel stood there, not looking impressed. “You shouldn’t be here. It’s dangerous. This wing is going to be torn down eventually.”

  I walked past him. “You’re here.”

  “Yes,” he said as he followed. “Looking for you. Who gave you permission to wander around?”

  “You can’t control everything, Daniel.”

  His hand caught my wrist, turning me to face him, which I did with a scowl. “I think you know that I can, Matilda.” Again, he had that intensity in his eyes that made me want to shrink back, but I didn’t. I lifted my chin to meet his eyes.

  “Really? Can you control how you feel about me?” It was a risk and foolish, I knew that, but how he had acted at the farmhouse, that couldn’t have been acting. Not all the time.

  He pulled me closer as he stared down at me, his lips so close that I was sure he would kiss me. “I think you’re the one who can’t control what she feels, Mattie,” he said in a low voice. His other hands touched my back, sliding down to cup my ass. “I give you a little bit of attention and you’re panting after me like a dog. Even worse, I treat you badly and you just keep coming back for more.” I couldn’t tear my eyes away from his cruel smile for a moment as his words sunk in, but then I pushed away from him roughly.

  He let go of my wrist with ease and I rubbed it even though it didn’t hurt. “I hope someone treats you this way one day, Daniel.”

  His smile didn’t falter. “It’s unlikely. No one ever gets the best of me.”

  I shook my head at him before walking away.

  Margaret came to my room later to announce that dinner would be served in the dining room. Great, another evening of humiliation. I closed my book and sighed. “And what ridiculous outfit will I be required to wear this evening.”

  Her eyes darted to the armoire. “Just wear your own hideous clothes,” she said snootily before leaving. “Dinner’s at seven. Don’t be late,” she called before closing the door.

  I didn’t bother to dress up and just wore jeans and a plain sweater. There was no one here to look nice for. Daniel apparently thought the same, because he was dressed casually as well. It almost hurt when I saw him dressed like that, because it reminded me of Clay and the kindness that he could show. I associated the evil Daniel Hellman with designer suits and it was easier to accept the cruelty of his nature when he was clad like that.

  His eyes flicked to me quickly as I sat at the huge polished table. “You’re late.”

  “Sorry,” I said sarcastically. “I just couldn’t bring myself to come any earlier to enjoy your fantastic company and whatever you have planned for tonight.”

  He rolled his eyes. “Relax, Matilda. I’m not in the mood to
play. It’s been a long week at work and I just want to unwind. This is what this place is for me.”

  “Really?” I reached for the glass of wine that he poured for me. “It’s so depressing here. It has a bad feel to it. Bad things have happened here”

  He frowned. “Luckily I don’t buy into all that psychic mumbo jumbo, and I sure as hell don’t believe in ghosts like you do.”

  I let out a slight laugh at that. “Don’t you? You seemed pretty freaked out at the farmhouse,” I said smugly.

  He caught my eye. “Someone was fucking with you.”

  I laughed again. “Yeah. You. Anyway, are you seriously telling me that you’ve never heard anything weird here in the night?” I sipped my wine and watched for his reaction.

  He leaned back in his chair. “It’s an old house and part of it is in desperate need of remodeling. Everything that happens here is easily explained by common sense.”

  I ran my fingers down the stem of my wine glass. “I wonder what will happen to them when you tear down that area. Do you think they’ll find peace?”

  It was his turn to let out a laugh. “I doubt that many people ever find peace, Mattie.”

  I stared at my glass for a second before turning my gaze to him. “What about you? Do you do the things you do to find peace? Will you be happy when Josh and I are both completely ruined?”

  “I’ll just have to wait and see, won’t I?” We held each other’s gaze, then the doors opened and the servants entered with our dinner. We ate in silence. The food should have been delicious but everything left a sour taste in my mouth. I only finished part of the meal before I lay my cutlery on the plate to indicate that I had finished.

  Daniel eyed my plate. “You should eat more. You need to keep up your strength.”

  I placed my napkin on the table. “I don’t need strength to do what you want me to do. I just need no conscience. Besides, I thought you liked me weak. Everything that you’ve done so far has broken me.”

  He smirked. “You’re being very dramatic. If I had really broken you, you’d know about it. I would have let another bidder win you at the auction and left you there until they had enough of you. That, sweetheart, would be enough to break someone like you.”

  “Then why didn’t you?” I snapped out.

  He sighed. “Because, Matilda, I enjoy playing with you. You’re entertainment and I don’t have to worry about your precious feelings. I don’t have to waste time or energy wooing you or manipulating you. You do my bidding without question. I like that in a woman.”

  I shook my head at him. “Why do you have to be such a prick? Why can’t you be nice like you were in the beginning? It wasn’t just an act. It couldn’t have been!” I got to my feet. I hated losing control in front of him and I left the room, ignoring him as he called after me. I hurried up the stairs and into the security of the bedroom, where I threw off my clothes and climbed into bed. It was easier that coping with my misery. The oblivion of sleep would make everything better. But it didn’t come and I just lay in the dark, curled up and my mind racing.

  I didn’t turn when I heard the creak of the door or the footsteps. I knew who it was who stood over me and swept a hand gently along my face. “Are you crying?” he asked softly.

  I didn’t answer him, nor did I open my eyes. Not even when I felt the bed dip beside me and he began to run his lips along my bare shoulder and I couldn’t help but shiver at his touch.

  “Is this what you want, Mattie?” he asked softly in between kisses. “To show you kindness?” Gently he rolled me over and I didn’t resist as he positioned me on my stomach.

  “Are you capable of it?” I asked in a small voice.

  “Let me show you.”

  His hands went to my ass and I felt his mouth on one cheek, biting softly and I could help but arch up in response to that. He laughed softy, and then his hands moved to gently spread apart my cheeks and I gasped as I felt his tongue in between, lapping at my anus in such an intrusive and intimate way. It felt so intense that I tried to pull away, but his hands held me firm. Small gasps came from me as I shuddered under his touch and I struggled to get my hand down so I could stroke myself while he worked that magic with his tongue. My fingers delved deep into my pussy, feeling my slickness as I bucked against them, closer and closer to cumming.

  A sharp crack on my bottom made me cry out in surprise, along with disappointment at the removal of Daniel’s tongue. Swiftly I was turned onto my back to be faced with him.

  “No, no, no, no, bad girl. I didn’t say you could touch yourself, did I?” I shook my head, my pussy screaming out for my fingers to be back inside it. But he was guiding that hand up to my mouth. “Taste yourself,” he ordered, pushing my fingers into my open mouth. Obediently, I began to suck on my own juices as he pushed the fingers in and out. “That merits a punishment, Mattie.”

  I couldn’t speak because of the fingers being forced to fuck my mouth, but all I really wanted to say was that him not fucking me and giving me release at that very second was punishment in itself. Even in the dark, I could tell that he was smiling. “No cumming tonight for you, Matilda.”

  I resisted the urge to scowl, content in the knowledge that as soon as he was gone, I would be bringing myself to climax, time and time again. But he was Daniel, and he wasn’t stupid. As usual, he was dressed and I was naked. Once again, all the power was with him. He took off his belt while I watched; still sucking my fingers even though he no longer ordered me to. He must have been happy at that, because he smiled before taking that hand from my mouth and pulling it up to the headboard before he firmly twisted the leather belt around it and lashed it to the frame. I didn’t even try to resist, not even when he found my scarves and my other hand was firmly bound above my head. He followed suit with my legs, spreading them wide so there would be no kind of satisfaction for me.

  The last thing he did was to give a light chuckle and kiss me on the cheek, before leaving me bound and horny as hell in the darkness.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  It was Margaret who woke me in the morning as she brought in my breakfast tray. She gave a sadistic, smug smile as she saw my predicament but at least she released my stiff limbs from their bondage. It was funny how I didn’t even care about being naked or humiliated in front of her anymore, it had happened so many times. Throughout the night, I kept hoping that Daniel would come back and put me out of my misery, but he never did. So I got to lie there in the dark and try to think of things other than sex.

  I rushed to the bathroom once I was free. My bladder had been screaming at me since early morning but I had managed to hold on. The humiliation of wetting the bed would have been too much to handle. While I was sitting on the toilet, Margaret marched in and turned the shower on. Seriously, nothing fazed this woman.

  “You had better hurry up. You’re going back to the city soon,” she said as she placed a clean towel on the rail.

  “What for?”

  She didn’t answer and just walked out, probably knowing how infuriating it was not to have questions answered. When I was bathed, dressed and fed, I walked down to the entrance way where Daniel was waiting, texting on his phone. He gave me an annoyed look.

  “What took you so long?”

  “Sorry, I was a little tied up.” I gave him a stunning smile as I walked past him and through the open door to where the driver waited. If he wanted confirmation that the night had been utter torture for me, I wasn’t going to give him that satisfaction.

  He didn’t speak to me during the entire ride back to the city. Instead he spent the time on the phone, barking orders at his poor assistant on the other end. He was strictly business, even though it was the weekend. I was glad that he didn’t speak to me. I just stayed on the far side of the seat, away from him and stared at the scenery passing us by.

  When we finally came to a stop, it was outside a hotel which was no doubt part of Daniel’s empire. I stared up at it as I stepped out of the car, its thousand windows reflecting th
e light of the day. “Hurry up,” Daniel grasped my arm and pulled me along. Inside the lobby, employees greeted and bowed and scraped in front of him. He, being the prick that he was, barely acknowledged them as he pulled me toward the elevator.

  We ended up on the top floor where Daniel’s private penthouse suite resided. “Is this where you live in the city?” I asked him as pulled out his phone again.

  “Go find a bedroom. Your stylist will be here in a moment,” he barked at me as he answered his phone and turned away from me. I made a face and went to explore. Enormous windows showed the city and made me feel slightly sick when I stood and looked down. There was no bad energy here though, everything was new and ultramodern. But it was cold with black glass tables and leather furniture. No doubt it was supposed to be masculine and scream bachelor pad, but it was the type of place that could never be called a home. I imagined Daniel bringing his women back here and screwing them, before dismissing them coldly. I hated to admit that it brought forth a spark of jealousy within me. That was another thing to dislike about him.

  The bedroom I chose was small in comparison to the grandeur of the place, but still opulent with velvet furnishings and warm wood. I ran my hand over the bed, it looked so inviting and soft that I could have fallen asleep there and then, but a knock on the door interrupted me.

  I was confronted with three model-like women. “Ms. Larsen? We’re here to get you ready,” one said as she barged in. They all carried cases, which they set down before they began to order me around. One did hair, the other make-up, and the last was a personal stylist who rolled in a rack filled with outfits before she began to inspect my body shape.

  My hair was twisted into submission by heat and product. The end result was some complicated chignon-type thing that made me look older and far more refined. Next, the make-up artist got to work, painting my skin with foundation and covering all my flaws. My eyes were surrounded with smoky kohl and my lids painted a metallic gray. The end result was, of course, a stranger. Last was the outfit. The stylist ordered me to strip and I did so without even blushing. Nakedness in front of others was now almost second nature to me, as was obeying orders.