Unbound (Bound and Bared Book 1)

by Christine Monroe

  “Look at me.” His eyes found mine. The raw pain I saw was almost a living thing. A field of razor wire out to rip him apart from the inside out.

  "You are the best thing ever to happen to me. I won't let you leave me behind. Get used to having a backup, Val Knight."

  “You will do what I say the whole time, Miranda.”

  “Don’t I always?”

  Miranda leaned up and kissed me. I hated that I was lying to her, but I would not let her come with me. I wouldn't put her in danger. I knew she would march into hell beside me, and that became one more reason to keep her safe. No one had ever worried about me until her. Up until now, I had no one to live for, then Miranda made a deal with the devil, but she had been the one to steal his heart when he hadn't been looking. She had given me her heart, but she had my soul. Every black piece, every scar, I handed them over the day she had walked through my door. I just hadn't realized it until now.

  My plan might have worked. Then again when you let rage rule you tend to make mistakes. This had been a fucking mistake. Another punch struck hard. I rocked back my body absorbing the blow with deadly precision. I had forgotten what it felt like to be the one in cuffs, the feeling of being helpless to stop what others were doing to you. I tried to focus on the pain. It had always been my only friend. The one thing I could count on when everything else failed. Now my head had become filled with thoughts of Miranda. I couldn't die here. There would be nothing to stop to him. Connor Price would kill everything I held dear. As much as spending the next life forever with Miranda sounded wonderful I was far from ready. We deserved this lifetime and the next.

  "I thought you would have been smarter Mr. Knight. It seems my daughter has turned you into a love sick puppy. Don't get me wrong it's quite amusing. The king of Bound and Bared reduced to nothing more than my personal whipping boy. After I am done with you, I will make sure to thank Miranda for this wonderful gift."

  I wished I could reply, but the fucker had gagged me. I guess he hadn't wanted to hear all the things I had to say.

  "I'm sure I don't have to tell you how money buys you information with a simple phone call. I did some digging. I was curious about you. Needless to say, I wasn't disappointed with the results."

  I inwardly cringed. The thought of this monster knowing anything about me was enough to make my skin crawl. There were enough dirty secrets to destroy me, and I prepared to hear them all not knowing which ones he had learned.

  "It's a pity that I don't have enough time to go over everything. I have a deadline to keep, and it's far more important than you Mr. Knight."

  He stepped closer to me as his men backed away. It seemed like this was a job he wanted to do himself. His eyes glistened with the sheer joy he was getting out of having me hang here unable to fight back or escape his games. His body moved around mine, standing behind me so I no longer could see him and what intended to do.

  Cold fingers grasped the waistband of my jeans. I froze, not taking long to figure out what he had learned about me. I knew what he planned to use against me, suddenly I struggled for breath. Everything faded to black, the sensation of his touch calling my demons from the dark.

  "They said they didn't find any bodies. You left no piece of them behind. That requires a special kind of hate. The kind that's personal. The kind that reveals the monster they created without even knowing what they had done. For me, I was born this way. The dark, depraved thing that rested within was twisted in my very DNA. I discovered it the first time I heard a woman scream. The first time the pain I had inflicted made me so hard I practically came at the sight of what I had done. Then there is the kind of monsters like yourself. How long did you think that maybe your mother would change her mind and find you? How many nights did you dream of freedom only to have them remind you that there was no escape?"

  His hand pushed inside my jeans. His fingers sliding themselves around to the front. I felt his breath against my ear as his fingers gripped my cock.

  “How many times did they fuck you before you liked it?”

  He stroked my cock, and his fingers were like phantoms from my past. I told myself that I hadn’t liked the way they had hurt me. That it was only natural for your body to respond. That had been the truth in the beginning but by the end, everything had gone wrong and twisted inside my head. My body couldn't find pleasure without pain. My soul couldn't feel right until I was hurting. It was fucked up to want the things that made me this way, fucked up to do to others what they had done to me.

  Nausea rolled through me as every bit of my skin crawled from his touch. The gag held tight, all the air from my lungs suddenly missing. I threw my weight forward desperate to get free, my battered body screaming within the chains.

  Laughter rang in my ear the last sound I would hear before a gun went off, his touch the last thing I had felt before the bullet ripped through me. Pain exploded as I sagged in the chains, no longer my friend it had come to drag me into a never ending darkness, a place where Miranda couldn't follow. I had failed. I was dying. I gasped for one last breath and then I was gone.

  Chapter Fifty-Two

  He left me behind. I had fallen asleep in Val's bed. His arms around me. The sting of what we did in his office still lingering on my skin. I woke up to nothing but space. I heard a knock on the door and didn't want to talk. I had no desire to play nice.

  "Go away," I said through the closed door. I was in no mood to hear Val's excuse; the excuse he didn't even have the balls to tell me himself. He had sent Selena instead.

  “Miranda, just listen.” Selena’s voice stayed calm and soft as she tried to get me to open the door.

  “Don’t. I don’t want to hear what he told you to tell me.”

  “Good because I wasn’t going to.”

  That one sentence got me out of bed, wrapping a sheet around me I opened the door to find Selena standing there with a man I hadn’t seen before. He smiled when he saw me, the type of smile I was sure had woman falling at his feet. I wrapped the sheet tighter around me.

  “You could have told me you brought company.” I eyed Selena as I tried not to look at the company she had brought to my door.

  Selena shrugged. "You didn't give me a chance."

  The man pushed past her and held out his hand. His eyes danced with amusement. At least someone seemed happy.

  “I can’t. I’m kind of holding a sheet at the moment. I don’t want to drop it.”

  “I wouldn’t mind.” His eyebrows wiggled as smirked.

  Selena turned and glared. "You do have a death wish don't you, Thorn?"

  “So do you. How do you think V is going to react when we let his girl come with us? He wanted her here for a reason.”

  "What is going on, Selena? Kind of lost here."

  “Get dressed and I’ll tell you everything, okay?”

  “Or you could stay that way.” Thorn winked at me.

  "I'll get dressed." I shut the door and threw on the easiest thing I found. Once dressed, I stepped out into the hallway. They both looked at me, the humor from before had faded. I felt my heart drop as a sick feeling settled in my stomach. Something was wrong. I felt it "Tell me."

  “Val was supposed to check in by now. He’s never late. Something must have gone wrong.”

  I opened my mouth, but a scream tore through the hall cutting me off. My feet raced up the stairs, Selena and Thorn right behind me. I saw my sisters. Their faces etched with horror. I followed their eyes and learned why.

  Everything went still. I saw the body on the floor. It couldn't be him. Don't let it be him. Oh god, it was him.

  It was Val’s lifeless body lying on the dirty floor. My knees gave out, and I hit the floor beside him. I didn’t hear anything. I reached for him, hoping I would find any sign he was still with me.

  A faint, weak pulse met my fingers. I still didn't dare take a breath.

  "Don't leave me. Don't leave me." My words on repeat as I reached out needing to feel his heartbeat.

  Somethin
g touched my shoulder. A hand. “Help’s coming, Miranda.”

  I no longer could recognize who the voice belonged to. The walls had closed in, and all I could see was him. The color red was everywhere making a sickening stain on the floor, taking what belonged to me. Val Knight was mine, his heart, his soul, his body all mine. Death couldn't have him, not now when I had only just found him. I had become locked in a battle with death itself. It hung over him wanting to steal him away, but I would not let him.

  “He can’t have you. Wake up, Val. You hear me? You are mine. You have always been mine.”

  “Let go, Miranda.” Selena’s voice echoed somewhere behind me. I could barely make out the sound over the frantic pounding of my heart.

  I shook my head, refusing to move as I tightened my hold on Val’s lifeless fingers.

  “Thorn, I need you.”

  I felt arms go around me, and someone lifted me off of the floor. My fingers tried to keep their desperate grip on Val's, but I couldn't hold on. I screamed. The sound inhuman, it was the sound of my soul dying, trying to follow him into the dark.

  Chapter Fifty-Three

  I don't remember much of my past, not because I can't, because I don't want to. They say your life flashes before your eyes. I had hoped that would turn out to be a lie. So much of my life I didn't want to see, but once again hope failed me. The moment the gunshot rang out, it burned through me and dragged back to my past. Every scar spilt open. My ghosts came calling as I went under.

  The knock came hard and loud. I flinched at the sound. My mother turned and smiled. For a brief moment, I saw the woman she might have been. The mother I had longed for. She held out her hand, and I couldn't stop myself from reaching out to take it. I put my hand in hers. Maybe this was all over. All the pain. All the violence. I wore her hatred on my body. All I had ever wanted had been her love.

  I had taught myself how to exist here. Thirteen years of living in fear. I survived on hope. A fragile breath that led me to believe things could be different. Then, came a knock on the door. In a second any illusion of love or trust vanished before my eyes. I learned there were no such things. Only lies that cut ever deeper as you realized they didn't exist. When that door opened, I knew. I knew my life wasn't going to change. I would only be tossed from one nightmare into another. One I couldn't begin to imagine.

  "When I look at you do you know what I see? All the time and years I spent wasting my life taking care of you. All the years your fucking father stole from me the night he forced me to the ground and took what wasn't his." My mother's parting words rang hollow in my ears. She pulled me toward the door and handed me over.

  “It was a pleasure doing business with you.” Those were the words that sealed my fate

  I don't remember names or faces. Monsters no longer have them when you meet them in the dark. I became nothing more than a deal on the table. I only survived by letting something stronger than me take over. I used the pain like a drug. Rage became my only love. Then the day came when I turned the tables. Violence had been my lullabies, and I used it to destroy them. When I killed them, they begged for mercy. They became cowards with their last breaths.

  I did whatever I needed to do to make sure I would never be at anyone’s mercy ever again. I started by making money and with money I bred power. Power kept you at the top of the food chain. Power gave you freedom. I hadn’t learned to play nice. I had been a step away from letting myself become the thing I hated. Any slip and everything I worked for would be gone. Rules. Control. They wrapped around me, keeping me sane. I opened my club so I could always look but never touch. A well-crafted method of torture designed to mock me so I would always remember why I had to stay in control.

  Then, she walked in.

  Her voice was the one that pulled me from the clutches of my past. All the ghosts fading back to where they belonged. The pain hit, and with it, I knew I was still alive. Being dead couldn't hurt this bad. My eyes opened. I expected to see an angel. Instead, I got Thorn.

  “Fuck. It’s you.” My eyes threatened to close as a wave of pain struck.

  "Nope, open up those eyes of yours. I want you to see me trying to save your miserable life. Maybe then I will get a birthday card next year."

  "FUCK YOU." I coughed, and more pain surged through my system.

  "There he is. Welcome back to the land of the living, V. Well, you aren't safe from dying quite yet so you may want to hold off from celebrating."

  “How bad?” Every word hurt. My jaw didn’t seem to want to work. I gritted them out, needing to know how bad the damage was.

  “When the gunshot is the least of someone’s worries you know they are in trouble. You look like you picked a fight with a freight train. At this point, I would say the train won.”

  "That good huh?" I tasted blood, metallic on my tongue and I honestly wondered why I had survived. Then, I heard her. She screamed like she was dying like her very soul was ripped from her body. Then there was nothing but silence.

  “Where is she? Is she okay?” I tried to turn my head, but Thorn stopped me.

  “Do you want to die? Hold still.”

  I tried to rise. Miranda was in pain, and I would use my last breath trying to get to her.

  “Miranda.” I try to force my body to respond, the action causing waves of pain to course through every part of me.

  "If this is love, fucking kill me," Thorn said. "Shut up and stay still. If it makes you feel better, she is fine. She wouldn't let anyone get close. We had to take her from you. She didn't take it very well."

  “I want her. Now.” My voice came out ragged but the undercurrent let Thorn I meant business. I refused to die on my fucking bar floor without Miranda by my side. If my end had come, then I wanted hers to be the last face I saw.

  “Let her go.” Thorn’s voice rang out across the room. “He needs her.”

  I heard the rush of footsteps. Felt her body fell next to mine.

  “Val.”

  My name. Miranda said it like it was her very heartbeat, the very air she breathed. She gave me a safe place to fall. Someone to belong to. I had become hers and it the simple way she said name had the could change me. I wondered what a lifetime of belonging to her would do. I intended to find out. I wasn’t going to die, not today, not when I had finally found my queen.

  “Hold his hand and don’t get in my way,” Thorn said.

  My eyes clouded over as I nodded. Val kept his eyes on me. We stood on the thin ice, and any crack could send us under. I became afraid to breathe, terrified I would fracture the hope we were resting on.

  I had become so focused on Val I didn't notice Sam joining me on the floor. Staring at Val, she bit her lip as her blue eyes watered, threatening to spill over. Reaching out she took his other hand.

  "Don't die," Sam whispered as she held his hand a little tighter.

  “Don’t worry. I am not planning on it.” Val managed to smile weakly.

  “Val needs to go to a hospital,” I said.

  Thorn smiled. “You don’t think I can play doctor?”

  Selena stepped closer. "Thorn has to do for now. I am sure your father thinks Val is dead. It is better we keep it that way. We don't know who we can trust, Miranda."

  Selena looked at Thorn. “Is he safe to move?”

  “He’s as good as he’s going to get.”

  I let go of Val’s hand. I felt empty without it. I had to trust Selena and Thorn knew what they were doing. I hated the feeling of not being able to do anything but watch. Val kept his eyes on mine me, fighting to stay with me.

  “Don’t worry, beautiful. I’ve been through worse.”

  “Time to get your ass off the floor, V,” Thorn said.

  I stepped back so Thorn could get Val off the floor. I saw him wince in pain as Thorn tried his best to be careful. I followed behind them, each step shooting more hate into my veins. My father almost killed the man I love. My hands stained red, Val's blood etched into every line. I had almost lost him. I wasn't going
to let my father get another chance. Once I knew Val would be okay, I would end this. If my father believed Val was dead, I had a small window to deliver justice. After all, I was my father's daughter.

  Chapter Fifty-Four

  "He's resting. I gave him some pain killer meds. He will be out for a while.” Thorn put his back against the wall. He made me feel safe and on edge all at the same time. He smiled. The simple act made him wicked. I was pretty sure he needed to be stamped with a warning label.

  Thorn pushed his body from the wall. Stepping closer he invaded my space like he had a right to be there. Yep, this guy needed a warning label.

  "What are you doing?" I took a step back, tilting my head so I could peer up at him. I refused to look away. If Thorn wanted to intimidate me, he would find I wasn't such a sweet girl after all.

  “I am taking a closer look at the girl Val almost died for. I am wondering if you are worth it. Are you worth his life, Miranda? Are you worth every mark your father carved into his skin? Are you worth the bullet resting next to his heart?”

  I stepped closer, reclaiming my first step and adding another. I was so close I could hear his heartbeat, smell the antiseptic he had used to treat Val. It mingled with something else, a scent I only could assume was his own. It did nothing, the only scent I craved was Val’s. I wanted to shove Thorn out of my way, climb into bed with Val and curl up beside him, but I knew Thorn expected an answer.

  "You want to know if I am worth everything they did to him? No, I am not worth every ounce of pain they inflicted because of me, I am not worth the bullet sitting next to his heart. Am I worth his life? I would give mine for his without a second thought. But know that I plan to repay them tenfold for what they did to him. He is mine. I will do whatever it takes to keep him safe. I am grateful for what you did Thorn, but I don't give a fuck what you think about me."