by Bella J
She glanced down at the floor, then back up at me, and I could see the ripples of doubt swirling around in the ocean of her eyes, but there was something else too that wasn’t there two seconds a go—a fire, a burning determination.
“I don’t know…I don’t know why he would have lied to me.” She stepped closer with what seemed like newfound courage, and my stomach twisted as a bout of desire shot up my spine. What the fuck?
“But now that I’ve met his twin brother, I’m thinking that he was protecting me.”
I too gave another step closer, bringing our faces a breath from each other. “Protecting you from what?”
She lifted her chin, her gaze etched on mine. “From you.”
I continued to stare at her, and when she bit her bottom lip my gaze dropped to her mouth. Whether it was her show of boldness, or the fact that she thought she needed protection from me, but right at that moment my cock swelled, pressing hard against the zipper of my pants. How I would have loved to tie her to that fucking bed and show her exactly just how much protection she needed from me. The Linscott blood in her was too weak to handle the darkness I would unleash on her body. The pain and the pleasure would crack her wide open. God, what I wouldn’t do to be able to show her exactly what and who I am, to see her weak body come undone under my power. But unfortunately that wasn’t part of the plan, and I needed to goddamn focus on what I came here to do.
“Well then,” I locked my gaze on hers, “I’d say my brother was one smart man.”
“He was,” she replied, still not backing down an inch. “He was smart enough to not want to tell anyone about his supposed twin brother. Why do you think that is, Castello? What reason would your brother have to try and exclude you from his world?” She cocked her head to the side. “To hide you from me?”
I couldn’t answer that. Her courage, the way she used her truth, twisting it so that it was a slap in my face was one fucking smart move. She was trying to rattle me, to fuck with my head, but there was no way I would allow that. I’ve been preparing for this war with her for so long, my mind was a fucking fortress.
Deciding that there was still more than enough time to go to battle, I stepped back. “Are you hungry, donna?”
She didn’t answer, but the way she licked her lips told me she was.
“Bring it in,” I ordered over my shoulder, and Vico appeared in the door with a tray.
Tatum’s glare moved from me to Vico, and instantly the fire she had in her eyes a second ago was gone, replaced with fear. She was afraid of him, and I didn’t blame her. My little brother did look like one mean motherfucker with his broad shoulders, and long black hair tied at the back of his neck. I bet seeing me and my brother standing next to each other tripled the amount of fear that possessed her.
Vico placed the tray on the bed and stepped in beside me. The way he stared at Tatum like she was the prey didn’t go unnoticed by me. I could just imagine what kind of savage thoughts were going through his mind right now.
“Tatum, this is my little brother, Vico. Vico, this is our guest, Miss Linscott.”
Vico held out his hand, but Tatum stepped back, pressing her back against the wall.
Vico snorted. “Don’t be afraid, Miss Linscott. I won’t hurt you…much.”
I kept my gaze locked on her, watching her chest rise and fall. “Don’t be rude, shake his hand, Tatum.”
She didn’t move.
“I said don’t be rude.” I raised my voice causing her to flinch, but she still didn’t attempt to take Vico’s hand.
Without warning Vico launched himself forward, grabbing Tatum around the throat, bringing his face a few inches from hers. “I knew you were a cunt without a spine.” He tightened his grip, and she groaned, closing her eyes as more tears slipped down her face. “Tonight, when you go on your knees and pray, you better thank God that Castello has been put in charge of you. If it was me, you would have been battered and bruised within an inch of your life by now.” He leaned closer to her ear, letting his cheek touch hers. “And you would have been utterly used”—he licked up the side of her face—“and completely fucked.”
Tatum sobbed, and Vico pressed her head harder against the wall. If I was a good man I would have stopped him. I would have torn him away from her and probably knocked his teeth out, but I’m not a good man. In fact, I loved seeing the fear in her eyes, witnessing as it ate away at her soul.
I straightened my jacket. “Vico, that’s enough. You’re going to make the poor woman piss herself.”
Vico let go of her throat and stepped back, and we both watched as Tatum fell to her knees coughing and gagging while she continued to cry. The sight was beautiful.
I turned to Vico. “Leave.”
“What?” He shot me a questioning look.
“I said leave.”
“Are you fucking kidding me? I was just starting to enjoy it.”
“I don’t give a fuck. I said leave. Now.”
Vico glowered at me, silently cursing my existence. “You will not have all the fun with this one, brother.”
“This is not about fun, brother. If you think fun is part of the fucking plan, think again.” I could no longer hide my annoyance. “Now leave before I make you.”
He straightened his shoulders and I got his message loud and clear. He would not let this slide, but he didn’t have a choice…for now. I’m the Boss, I hold the power, and he fucking knew that.
“Fine.” He walked toward the door before turning and glancing at Tatum still crying on the floor. “But before this is all over, I want my piece of her.” He looked at me. “Promise me, brother, you will let me exact my own revenge before this is done. He was my brother, too.”
I didn’t respond, but I knew Vico would want his own payment before this was over. My little brother was wired that way, selfish and in need to feel like he had power too.
“Promise me,” he repeated, and I nodded my head.
“I promise. You will get your revenge.”
He lowered his head in respect. “Thank you, brother.” And then he walked out, leaving me alone with the poor sobbing girl.
“For God’s sake, get up, Tatum.”
She didn’t.
I crouched down, grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet. “I said get up!”
“Please don’t do this.” Her eyes were bloodshot from all the crying, her hair sticking to her damn face.
“It’s already done, little mouse. Your fate has been decided. You sealed it the day you pushed your filthy claws into my brother.”
“Please—”
I grabbed her other arm, tightened my grip and pulled her against my chest. “If you knew how much I enjoyed it when a woman begged, you wouldn’t be saying please so much, little mouse.”
She pulled her face away from mine as far as she could, whimpering while tears still staining her cheeks.
“Now, eat.” I shoved her toward the bed where the tray stood with an old loaf of stale bread, and a glass of water. This wasn’t a fucking five star hotel, especially for her. All she deserved was scraps and old food which the pigs won’t even fucking eat.
Tatum fell beside the bed, wiping her eyes with the back of her hands. Vico was right, she had no goddamn spine. I thought I saw a glimmer of some fight in her earlier, but I was wrong. She was nothing more than a spineless, lying slut who needed to be taught a lesson before her final payment.
“Eat your food. You’ll need your strength for what’s ahead.”
She got up on her knees, leaning with her side against the bed. “What are you going to do to me?”
“That’s for me to know, and for you to find out, little mouse. Now, I said eat.”
She glanced at the tray, and immediately went for the glass of water. But as she took that first gulp, she spat it out in a spray of disgust. I smiled, knowing all too well what Vico had done.
“What’s the matter? You don’t like it?”
The glass fell from her hand, the liquid spillin
g on the floor. “It’s water and vinegar.” She wiped her mouth.
“I know. And you just spilled it, wasting the only form of hydration you had.”
“Castello, please—”
“Let’s get one thing straight.” I crouched down right in front of her, bringing me at eye level to her. “You will not address me by my name, do you understand me? You’ll address me as sir, and nothing else. You are nothing here, no one. As of now you are stripped of all your basic human rights, and you belong to me. You are my puppet, and I will do with you as I please.”
I got up and straightened. “If I return, you better have finished that goddamn loaf of bread, or there will be hell to pay.”
Tatum glanced at the bread, before looking at me. For a brief second I saw a flash of the fight she had earlier before Vico came in. It burned with anger behind her blue irises, and that’s the moment I realized that I was going to enjoy every goddamn minute of breaking her.
6
TATUM
My throat was dry, and even though I felt sick to my stomach, my body craved food. There’s no telling how long I’ve been here, when I last had something to eat or drink. But when Vico placed the tray with bread, and what I now know was water and vinegar on the bed, eating or drinking was the last thing on my mind. The second I laid eyes on Vico, my skull prickled with warning. Castello had darkness burning in his eyes, but Vico? There was something sinister stirring in him, and it made my skin crawl.
Oh God.
What the hell was happening?
What am I going to do? How am I going to survive this—whatever this is?
Wiping away the remnants of tears off my cheeks, I stared at the stale loaf of bread. What I really wanted was water, but when I tasted that God awful vinegar, the gulp I took burned down my throat. Unfortunately that small taste of water had only intensified my thirst, and now I was even willing to see how much of the disgusting water-vinegar mix my body would tolerate before I would throw up.
I glanced down at the liquid I had spilled all over the floor. Without thinking I crouched forward, pressed my dirty hair back and started licking the vinegar-water off the floor like a fucking dog. I couldn’t stop myself. It’s like all natural instincts had set in, and if licking water off the floor was what I needed to do to give my body what it needed, then so be it.
The taste was disgusting. The sharp tang of the vinegar stung the inside of my mouth, all the way down my throat. But I didn’t care. I tried to concentrate on the little taste of water I did manage to get every now and then.
After licking up every drop I could find, I sat back leaning against the bed and stared at the roof. The psycho was probably watching, loving the sight of me crawling on the floor like a fucking pet. This was exactly what he wanted to see, me on my knees.
While biting the inside of my mouth, I thought about the look in Castello’s eyes when he stared at me, how the hate pulsed with thick, hot rage behind his dark irises. He thought I killed his brother, but that’s not true. He wanted revenge against me for something I didn’t do. How the fuck was I supposed to get out of this, survive, when this man had nothing but resolve written all over his face?
I could feel more tears threatening to show how weak I felt at that moment, but I bit on my tongue, pushing them back. Enough tears had been expelled from my body and soul ever since the day I thought Carlo had left me. With every tear my body shed after Carlo was gone, I hated him more and more. His absence in my life made me weak, made me want to crawl back into that hole I had been in for years after I finally managed the strength to get out of it. I had promised myself that I would never allow anything to force me back into that dark place where pain was my friend. But when Carlo just disappeared I couldn’t take it. It was a different kind of pain to what I was used to. It wasn’t the kind of pain I liked, which was why I took to drinking. Alcohol was the only way to numb the craving, to control the urge to let the pain seep out of my veins.
I never wanted to be that person again, that person who was too weak to handle the pain, who needed it expelled from their body to get some relief.
Being weak was not who I was.
I eyed the bread, remembering his warning of what would happen if I didn’t eat it. Part of me knew I needed to eat to regain my strength, but another part of me refused. He wanted me strong so that I would be able to endure whatever it was he had planned. Castello wanted me to eat, which was incentive enough for me not to. How stupid would I be if I obeyed everything he said, enabling him on this twisted vendetta of his against me?
The way I saw it, I had two choices. Either I did what he said, hoping like hell someone would find me before it was too late—or I fight him. I wasn’t completely clueless. I knew the window of being able to find a kidnapped woman in this country wasn’t open for long. The longer I sat there, the slimmer my chances got of being found—and I’m not even sure exactly how long I’ve been here for. So my only other option was to fight. To fight him around every corner, to show him that I wasn’t this weak little mouse that he thought I was.
My mom used to tell me what a strong-willed child I was. No one was able to debate with me, to sway me when I already had my mind made up—which was why my mom didn’t even try to stop me when I decided to go to New York. She knew that no matter what any of them did, I wouldn’t stay.
So where’s that woman now? The strong-willed, courageous woman whose only goal was to prove to everyone that she could stand on her own two feet?
I needed to pull my shit together and show Castello that I won’t be easily broken. That I won’t play the part of the helpless victim, in turn giving him exactly what he wanted. I saw it in his eyes, his need for power—and because I seemed to be the root of his need for revenge, he needed that power to come from me.
Well fuck him. I won’t give it to him.
I grabbed the hardened loaf of bread and climbed to my feet. My stomach growled, and every instinct inside me was telling me to eat the bread, no matter how old it was. But I wouldn’t. I would no longer be the scared little mouse.
I tore off a piece of the tattered rag that hung just above my knees, swallowed hard, closed my eyes and reached down to where I knew the finger was. The second I felt it between my fingers through the fabric, I gagged and groaned. I quickly wrapped the cloth around the finger, grabbed the box it came in and stuffed it back inside.
A rush of air expelled from my lungs, and my body went numb as I sat down on the bed. Everything was still so surreal, like I would wake up in my bed in my apartment at any moment now. Wishful thinking.
With the bread in my hands I started to break it into tiny pieces, placed it inside the box with the finger, put the lid on and carried it over to the wall where I knew the hidden door was. After placing the box on the floor I glanced around the room, knowing that he was probably watching me.
I climbed on the bed, my stomach still rumbling, urging me to grab the box and eat the bread. But I kept on hearing my mom’s voice over and over and over again in my head.
“You are the most strong-willed girl I have ever known…”
Her voice gave me the strength I needed. Not the goddamn two week old loaf of bread, or the God-awful vinegar-water. And if hearing her voice inside my head wasn’t enough, the fact that the bread was in there with a human finger was reason enough for me not to want to eat that damn bread. No, I won’t eat.
Castello needed me to be physically strong so that he could torture me, and break me, extract the revenge he needed from me without me wilting away before he had his fill. I’ll be strong alright, but not in the way he expected of me. If I wanted to win this war, I needed to fight him with his own weapon…me.
7
CASTELLO
I leaned back in the chair, watching Tatum on the thirty-two inch monitor. I had a state of the art security system installed once my mind was made up about what I wanted to do.
Wanted…needed…had no fucking choice. Same damn thing.
It’s been ho
urs since she tore up the bread and placed it with the finger in the gift box. I had to admit, I did not think she would have the guts to go near that finger, let alone pick it up. But yet again, Tatum managed to surprise me by proving me wrong.
After placing the box in front of the door she got onto the bed and hadn’t moved since. She just sat there against the headboard with her legs pulled up, leaning her head back, or on her arms. She didn’t even cry anymore, and I noticed that her body had stopped shaking.
The entire time I watched her I kept on wondering if I had been wrong about her. When I put this plan in motion, I thought for sure I had this woman all figured out. She was the creative type who easily lost herself to the depths of her mind. For months I had her followed, and all she did was work at the art studio by day, and bury herself in a bottle of scotch at night while her mind took her to places that involved colors, and paint, and everything bizarre. There were a few nights she spent with friends, only having a drink or two. But when she got home she cracked open the bottle and consumed her weight in alcohol. From where I stood, she already seemed broken, which was supposed to make my job real easy.
But maybe I was wrong.
More time went by. Every now and then she would glance at the box in front of the door, but then look away.
She had to be hungry. She hadn’t eaten in days. All she had was the vinegar-water she licked up from the floor.
God, that was a show to witness, seeing her on her hands and knees licking up every drop she could find like a thirsty little kitten. While I watched her on the monitor, I found myself wanting to be inside that room, to hear the sound of her tongue lapping up every drop, to hear her moan as the liquid coated her dry throat. The twisted son of a bitch in me even got hard watching her crawl around like a pet. My cock swelled, the monster roared, and my blackened soul wanted so much more. I wanted to see her sit at my feet. I wanted to hear her sweet whimpers as I stroked my fingers through her hair, brushing my hand along her naked shoulders. I would touch her, caress her…hurt her until finally she would beg me to give her the release her body craved.