by Julia Sykes
Reed’s eyes found mine again, and his resolve hardened. He knew he didn’t have any other options.
“I’m sorry,” the apology hitched in my throat.
“It’s okay,” he assured me, his voice carefully controlled. “I’m going to get you out of this, Katie.”
Frank laughed. “I might be older than you, but that means I have thirty years of experience on you. And you won’t be the first man I’ve beaten to death.” His grin was sharp. “It’s my favorite way to kill. I’m very good at it.”
My heart pounded against my ribcage, and for a moment, I considered screaming at Reed to run. But if he chose to leave, I would be left alone with Frank. He would take me somewhere else. I knew how good he was at hiding. Reed would never find me again.
He descended the stairs slowly, watching Frank, calculating his next move. As soon as he reached the bottom, Frank flung Kathy away from him and dropped the knife.
“I don’t need a weapon to kill you, boy,” he sneered.
With that as his only warning, Frank launched himself at Reed. Reed barely moved in time to ensure that the first blow glanced off his jaw. Frank was as fast and experienced as he had claimed, and he fought with murderous intent. As Reed dodged away, I saw something shift in his eyes, wariness morphing to resigned determination. I knew Frank wasn’t the only one who planned to kill.
Reed went on the offensive, catching Frank solidly in the gut. He doubled up, and Reed brought his knee up under his chin. Frank dropped and rolled away, narrowly avoiding Reed’s kick at his ribs. He swept Reed’s legs out from under him, and then the two men were grappling on the ground, each fighting for dominance.
Reed broke away and managed to get to his feet. Before he could kick Frank while he was down, Frank was upright as well. But he didn’t have time to deflect Reed’s vicious blow, and the sickening crunch of Frank’s nose breaking made me shudder. Even after all he had done to me, it pained me to see my father figure being hurt. It was fucked up, but part of me couldn’t stop thinking of him as my dad.
Reed spun him around, and his hands braced on either side of Frank’s head. He was half a second away from snapping his neck.
“Stop!” I shrieked. “Reed, don’t!” I couldn’t bear to watch the man I loved kill my father. The dark flames of Reed’s eyes found mine. He was high on adrenaline and bloodlust, but he paused. “If you love me, don’t kill him.”
His hatred melted to something so fervent it made my heart skip a beat. His grip on Frank eased.
There was a scream beside me, and suddenly Kathy blurred past me. Something silver arced through the air, and Frank grunted when she came to a stop before him.
The handle of the knife stuck out from his chest, Kathy’s hand wrapped around it.
Reed backed away in surprise, and Kathy caught Frank’s falling body. She slowly lowered him to the ground, cradling him to her chest.
“I’m sorry, Master. I’m so sorry.” Tears streamed down her face to splash on his. “I couldn’t let you hurt anyone else. You should have hurt me. You shouldn’t have sent me away.”
Frank wheezed in a breath, his eyes wide with surprise and a hint of wonder. He lifted a shaking hand to her face. “My brave little pet. I…” He coughed, and blood painted his lips red. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” she forced out through her heaving sobs. “But I have to let you go. Goodbye, Master.”
“Kathy…” Her name rattled from his chest, and his hand dropped. The reddish light seeped from his eyes, leaving them a dull amber.
She screamed out her agony and pulled him closer, rocking his lifeless body in her arms.
Chapter 19
“I know you’ve been through a lot, but I need you to explain what happened from your point of view, Kathy,” Dex spoke gently.
“Kathleen,” she corrected. Her eyes were red-rimmed, but there was a new confidence in the set of her shoulders, as though a great weight had been lifted from her. “I was Kathleen before he took me.” He was no longer spoken with reverence, only sadness.
“Okay, Kathleen. Can you tell me what happened?”
I watched through the one-way mirror as Kathy – no, Kathleen – went through the details of how she had located Frank’s farm and the terrible events that unfolded in the basement the day before. Reed stood at my side, his arm tightening around my waist as he listened.
“You don’t have to be here, Katie,” he told me. “Let me take you home.”
And where is home? My tainted apartment? Your hotel room?
“No. I need to hear this. Look at her, Reed. How is she okay? How is she better? I have to know.” I have to know how she’s sitting there and talking as though her entire world isn’t crumbling down around her. Then maybe I can imitate it.
“What can we do for you now, Kathleen?” Dex asked kindly when she had finished. “We have a therapist you can talk to.”
“I’d like that. Maybe I’ll actually try to let them help me this time. I held on to him for so long,” her lips twisted with grief. “But I have a family now. A husband and two sons. They’ve never really had all of me. I never lived the life I wanted, because Master – because Franklin took it from me.” Her back straightened. “I think I’ll go back to school and get the final credits I need to start a career in marketing. That’s what I wanted, before. It’s time for me to move on and finally live my life.”
Dex smiled at her. “That’s very brave of you, Kathleen.”
She flinched at the compliment brave, but her expression quickly cleared. “Thank you, Agent Scott.”
With that, Dex ushered her out of the debriefing room. As she passed me in the hall, her deep green eyes locked on me. They were soft, sympathetic, but she didn’t offer any words of comfort. She knew from experience that they would be useless. I had to figure out my own way to piece myself back together, just as she had.
“I have some new intel, if you’re ready to hear it,” Dex told me gently.
I lifted my chin, struggling to find my cold professional façade. I ignored Reed’s frown. “Yes, I want to hear it.”
“Just like Frank told you, the fingerprint on the shell casing wasn’t actually Parnell’s. It belonged to a gang-related case. Colton found the evidence against Parnell that had been lost. It looks like Frank hacked the CPD’s database and messed with the records so it seemed to be missing. He wanted Parnell to serve as a distraction. Now we’ll be able to put him behind bars, so that’s a win.”
“That’s a win,” I repeated in a hollow voice.
Dex eyed me carefully, but he continued. “We ran Frank’s DNA. It didn’t match what he had on file with the Bureau. He seems to have changed that in the database as well. We don’t know whose he used, but when we ran his, there was a hit in the system. Frank was Carl Martel’s biological father. I didn’t say anything to Kathleen, but we checked it against her DNA, and it looks like she’s the mother.”
“She abandoned Martel as a baby,” I concluded.
“Can you blame her?” Dex asked quietly.
“No, I guess not. Are you going to tell her?”
“I didn’t think she had to know. She’s been through so much. She doesn’t need Martel’s crimes on her conscience as well.” He shook off the darkness that had entered his eyes. “We aren’t sure when or how Martel found Frank, but it seems that Frank worked with him because he was his son by Kathleen. It matches up with the reports from Lydia Chase about how The Mentor spoke to Martel.”
“Frank, not ‘The Mentor,’” I said dully. “Frank was The Mentor.”
Dex reached for me, but his eyes fell to Reed’s hand where it was curled around my hip. His hand curled to a fist, and he withdrew it slowly. The flash of anger in his clenched jaw quickly faded to resignation. The sight of it made my heart hurt.
His pale blue eyes met Reed’s dark ones. “Get her home. She doesn’t need to be here.” Reed nodded his agreement and started to turn to leave. “And Miller,” Dex added. “You take care of he
r.” The depth of emotion in his voice let me know that he was talking about more than just looking after me because of what had happened with Frank. Dex was letting me go and giving Reed his approval.
“Thanks, Dex,” I whispered, peeking up at him cautiously.
His eyes blazed and his fingers furled and unfurled, but he gave me a single, sharp nod. Then he turned and walked away from me. I sensed that he wasn’t walking away forever, though. We could heal the rift between us; Dex had proved that much through his approval of Reed. He just needed time. The knowledge filled me with relief that briefly flooded the gaping chasm in my chest.
Reed gave me a gentle squeeze. “Come on. Let’s go home.”
The black hole where my heart had been yawned open once again. “And where is that?”
“With me,” he said firmly. “We’ll find a place to live, but I’m your home. And you’re mine, Katie.”
As much as I wanted to believe that, I couldn’t trust it.
“I used to think Frank was my home,” I choked out. Tears threatened, and I scrambled for my professional front. I didn’t want to fall apart. I didn’t want to face the hurt.
Reed pulled me into the debriefing room and lowered the blinds for privacy. As soon as he switched off the microphone, he wrapped his arms around me.
“You don’t have to hold it in. It’s okay. Cry, Katie.” It was an order.
I couldn’t resist him. The floodgates opened. “He was my father,” I gasped out when the first tears fell. “How could he… do that… to me?” I forced out the words between sobs.
“The man you knew wasn’t the real Franklin Dawes. He manipulated everyone around him, you most of all, because he actually cared about you.”
“He didn’t care about me. He made me what he wanted me to be.” Anger bubbled up, and I swiped at the wetness on my cheeks. “And I let him. I did everything he wanted me to do because I’m submissive. He made me everything I am.”
Reed’s hands closed around my shoulders, and he held me away from him so he could capture my eyes with his.
“Don’t do that, Katie,” he commanded. “Don’t let him win. Yes, he manipulated you. He took advantage of your good heart. But that doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with you. The person you tried to be to make him proud wasn’t really you. You constantly struggled to deal with the terrible things you’ve had to face in your job. Don’t let him take your greatest assets from you and make them his. You are smart and brave, Katie. That’s in your nature. He didn’t make you that way. But it’s also in your nature to help, not to hunt. You’ve been successful at a job you hate because of your dedication to helping the victims, not because you get any satisfaction out of taking down criminals.”
I longed for what he was saying to be true, but there was still an uglier truth about my nature that Reed hadn’t dared to address. “I would have let him hurt me,” the words were barely audible, but they left my lips nonetheless. “And I would have liked it. He told me I was perfect for him, and he was right.”
“You are perfect, Katie. You’re perfect for me. I love you for who you are, not who you tried to be to make him happy. And don’t you dare say you would have liked it when he hurt you. We discussed this when we first met. There’s a difference between abuse and BDSM. You enjoy the pain I give you because you trust me. It allows you release. What he wanted to do to you…” His features drew taut with a flash of fury, but he quickly smoothed it away. “You would never want that. Not of your own free will.”
I was beginning to believe his fierce declaration, but my mind caught on one thing in particular. “You love me?”
His brows rose, as though he was surprised at my wonder. “Of course I do. Have I not said that yet?”
Despite everything, a shaky laugh popped out of me. “No, you haven’t. I love you too, by the way.”
“I know you do.”
I rolled my eyes at him, my anguish melting away in the wake of his easy humor. “This is very romantic,” I managed a hint of sarcasm.
“Would you prefer if I got down on one knee?”
My breath caught. “Wait. What? This isn’t a proposal, Reed. Is it?” I added, a touch hopeful.
He laughed, that rich sound I loved so much. “Do you want it to be? I don’t have a ring or anything yet.”
“Yet?” Incredulity didn’t fully douse my giddiness. “Isn’t this all a bit soon? We haven’t known each other very long.”
He shrugged. “I’ll wait and do it properly, then. I might not have known you long, but I know you. You’re everything I want, Katie. It doesn’t matter to me if we get a ring today or five years from now. I’ve known I wanted you to be with me forever since the day I asked you to be my sub. I wouldn’t have asked otherwise. Did you not realize that?”
I threw up my hands in happy exasperation. “How would I know that’s what you meant? I thought it barely meant I was your girlfriend.”
He shook his head at me, chuckling. “Didn’t those BDSM romance novels teach you anything? You called me Master. That means you’re mine. I’ll get you a collar and a ring if that makes things clearer for you.”
I tried my best not to flinch at the title Master, but Reed read my sudden discomfiture. His fingers traced my jawline, coming to rest beneath my chin so that I had no choice but to look up at him.
“I understand that everything you went through is still fresh for you, but I am your Master, and you’ll address me properly when it’s appropriate. You remember how I told you I might be firm with you outside the bedroom? This is one of those times. I know this is what you want, and I won’t allow what happened to scare you off.”
My heart twisted. I wasn’t sure if I could ever hear the word Master again without shuddering, much less let it leave my own lips.
“I don’t know if I can, Reed.”
His lips thinned, and he spoke to me sternly. “You can and you will. But I’ll give you time.”
“Thank you,” I said, even as I doubted him. But there was one thing I had absolutely zero doubts about. “I love you, Reed. And I think I would like that ring. And the collar,” the last was a shy admission.
He grinned. “Then it’s a good thing I’ve already picked out both of them.”
“You didn’t,” I said in disbelief.
“I did. I’ll never lie to you, Katie. You know how I feel about lying. So you know I’m telling the truth when I say I love you more than I’ve ever loved anything.”
His mouth came down on mine, gently coaxing at first, then turning rougher when I responded. My lips tugged up against his as joy obliterated the last of my grief. As his tongue plundered my mouth, I melted for him, and I knew he had well and truly mastered my body and my heart. One day, I would be able to tell him that properly. But for now, a ring and a collar would do.
Epilogue
Reed
Three Weeks Later
Katie’s pale skin was stunning, contrasting beautifully with the slim black collar that encircled her throat. She practically glowed in the dim light of the private room at Decadence, my favorite New York BDSM club. The owner had reserved this room for us at my request. With its stone wall façade and grey tiled floor, it was meant to resemble a dungeon. I had chosen it because it was a close semblance to Frank’s basement, including the bondage apparatuses.
I could feel her fear quivering off her. It got the feral part of me hard, but my more savage desires were tempered by concern. I was intentionally calling forth her fear so that I could eradicate it, but watching her growing terror didn’t please me in any way. Erotic trepidation was one thing; true horror was another.
Her arms were chained above her, pulling her body taut so that she was forced up onto the balls of her feet. Despite her fear, she still looked sexy as hell stretched out for me like that, vulnerable to whatever I wanted to do to her. In this position, her fate was entirely dependent upon my whims. She had to trust that I wouldn’t do anything to truly hurt her. She had to trust me completely. I got off on
my power over her, but I loved her for that trust.
As much as I loved her, I still needed something more from her. I needed it because I loved her. It was an essential part of me that needed to be fulfilled, and I knew she wanted to give it to me. She was just scared. I had allowed her the time I promised her, but it had been long enough. She was still haunted by what had happened in that basement, so I was going to replace those memories with something more powerful.
I brushed her hair off her shoulders, and she jolted at the light contact. It wasn’t a pleasurable little jump. I suppressed the urge to growl out my anger at the man who had done this to her. My anger wouldn’t help her now.
Control. I took a deep breath and found it again.
I slipped the blindfold over her eyes. The chains rattled over her low whine.
“Reed, please don’t. I don’t want this.”
The sound of her distress almost broke my resolve. Almost. “We’ve talked about lying, Katie. You’re lying to both of us right now. I know how hard you come when I tie you up and blindfold you. You’re letting something ugly get in the way of what you want. And I won’t tolerate that.”
I pressed my chest to her back, and my hands found her breasts. Despite her protests, her nipples were peaked and ready for my torment. I pinched them to remind her of who was in charge. The way her hips rolled against me as she squirmed made my cock strain against my leathers. I wanted to free myself and plunge into her wet heat right then, but she wasn’t ready for that yet. There was more I needed to do to make her forget she had ever been afraid of what we shared.
I nipped at her earlobe, enjoying the way she shivered in response. “I’m going to hurt you, Katie.” She stiffened, and I pinched her nipples again to call her back to me. The pain I gave her tied us together. She needed the release it gave her, and I needed to see her complete abandon under my hands. Until she accepted that she longed for it, there would always be a barrier between us. “I’m going to hurt you, and you’re going to accept it. You’re going to enjoy it. And then you’ll thank me for it. You’ll thank your Master for giving you what you need.”