“Kai.”
Looking over my shoulder, Stan leans against the doorway with a grim look on his face. “Luca wants to see you in his office.”
“It’ll have to wait. We’re almost done in here.” I brush him off and grab the water bottle from the ground next to me as I turn back to Dahlia. Twisting off the cap, I gently hand it to her.
“He wants to see you.” Stan speaks louder. “Now.”
I don’t turn back to face him, keeping my eyes on Dahlia as she guzzles the bottle of water. Pulling it away from her lips, she wipes her mouth with the back of her hand and glances over at me.
“Come on.” I grab the bottle of water from her and grab her arm.
“She stays,” Stan commands. “He wants to see you alone.”
“Like fucking hell,” I scoff, pulling Dahlia to her feet with me. “She comes with me.”
“Just go,” she tells me quietly. “I’ll be fine.”
I slowly survey the room, seeing Darren and Baxter collecting their bags to leave. “Go shower and I’ll be right back.”
She nods, slowly turning away from me, walking toward the bathroom. “If anything happens to her, there will be hell to pay,” I warn Stan as I watch her until she’s out of the room.
“There are cameras everywhere, you entitled little piece of shit. We want her alive just as much as you.” He narrows his eyes at me with a sinister smile playing on his lips. “Hide it all you want... I can smell weakness and you fucking reek.”
“Fuck you, Stan,” I growl, pushing past him through the doorway and walk down the hall to my father’s office.
His back is turned to me as I enter and stop just inside the door. He slowly spins around in his chair, smiling at me.
“Kai.” He nods as I glare at him. “Sit.”
“I’ll stand.”
He leans forward, picking up a glass of scotch and slowly sips it. “How’s our girl?” he asks, setting his glass back on his desk.
I cringe internally and stare him down as I fight the urge to lunge across the desk and rip his larynx straight from his throat.
She’s not our fucking girl.
“She’s not ready.”
My father frowns before letting out a deep-throated laugh. “Oh, but she is.”
Cutting my eyes at him, I cross my arms over my chest defensively. “She needs more time.”
“She does, or you do?” he questions as he arches an eyebrow. “I’m not fucking blind, Kai, and I’ve given you more than enough time to have her ready. Time’s up, son.”
I can’t react. He reads people better than anyone I know and he’s the man who has raised me. He trained me to be cold, to show no emotion, no fear.
Yet here I am, so conflicted internally, so powerless.
“One more week and she’ll be ready,” I assure him, trying to buy any time that I can, knowing that there will never be enough time.
They are going to completely destroy her.
And I might have to let them.
A few moments pass as he silently sizes me up with narrowed eyes. “Fine,” he agrees as he directs his attention to his computer screen in front of him.
“I’ll give you one more week.” He smirks at the screen before looking back at me. “You might want to get back to the weight room.”
My arms drop to my sides and my hands curl into fists as I feel my stomach drop. Cocking my head to the side, I clench my jaw as my eyebrows pinch together. My father’s smile grows wider as he sees the change in my facial expression and my demeanor, just from the vague sentence he offers me.
“You’re dismissed.” He nods without another word.
The feeling in my gut throws my body into overdrive, but I conceal it, exiting the room slower than my legs want. As soon as I slip through the door, I sprint down the hallway back to the weight room.
It’s empty when I shove the door open. I run my hand through my hair in a haste, sucking in a deep breath and then I hear her. A muffled scream comes from the bathroom, followed by a loud banging sound.
Dahlia.
Dahlia
ALONE IN THE BATHROOM, I grab a clean towel and turn on the shower. Stripping out of my sweaty clothes, I step into the hot steam and ease my way into the stream of water.
Tipping my head back, I let it run down through my hair, soaking my head and running down over the sore muscles of my body. I wash away the sweat, letting the hot water seep through my pores as I get lost in my head.
Kai confuses me more than anyone else ever has. He hasn’t gone soft on me for the past month and has pushed me so hard. For what, he hasn’t told me, and I can’t seem to understand why he won’t share it with me. I can’t ask questions though, despite how badly I yearn to know.
I shouldn’t be afraid of him, but I am. I trust him, but I shouldn’t.
Nothing makes sense here.
No one makes sense here.
All I want is to go home, to resume my normal life, to be with my parents and the people I know and am comfortable with, but there’s no end in sight for being here.
Kai, despite how cold he is, is the only thing that brings me comfort. Something about him calls to me, it soothes me, even if it does entice a certain level of fear. Something about him makes me feel safe, like he’ll protect me.
I shouldn’t trust him, but he’s all I have.
I finish up washing my hair and body, losing track of time and getting lost in the steam that matches the fog inside my mind. The universe will never give me the answers that I long to know.
Turning off the water, I wring out my hair and reach outside of the shower, grabbing a towel. Wrapping it around my body, I step out and find myself standing face to face with Darren as he stands across the room leaning against the wall.
Freezing in place, I stare at him with my eyes wide. “What are you doing in here?”
A slow smile creeps onto his lips as he looks me up and down in nothing but a towel, lingering on my exposed legs before traveling up to my chest. His eyes pause, focused on the skin showing just above the top of my towel.
“I came to check to make sure you were okay in here.” He smiles as his eyes meet mine. “You’ve been in here for quite some time now.”
“Where’s Kai?” I ask without hesitation.
He’s my lifeline, I need him.
“Kai’s busy right now.”
Holding the towel tighter, I take a step back against the shower door, watching Darren’s eyes travel up and down the length of my body again as he takes a step closer to me.
I swallow nervously. “Thanks for the memo. I just need to finish up in here and I’m sure he’ll be back soon.”
Darren lets out a soft chuckle as he continues to come closer until my back is against the shower door. “Kai won’t be back anytime soon,” he says, reaching out, grabbing the top of my towel from my hand. He rips it from my body, letting it fall to the ground.
A gasp slips from my lips as my body is left fully exposed. Quickly, I throw my arms across my chest to cover my breast, not thinking about what else he can see.
He laughs and reaches out, grabbing around my wrists and rips my arms away from my body. “Dahlia, you’re a fucking fool,” he laughs, pulling me near him. I fight against him, trying to pull my arms free from him.
Please, no. I don’t want him to see me.
He spins me with him and slams me against the row of cabinets. “Everybody is gonna see your body soon enough, so you better get used to it.” He smirks, pressing up against me. I feel the hardness in his pants pressing against my stomach. “Kai’s promised that first taste, but that’s not going to happen now; not with me in control here.”
I quickly try to look past him, trying to push him away from me. “Get your hands off of me, Darren.”
“I love a good fight, princess. It just gets my dick harder.” He smirks, digging the tips of his fingers into my skin. “Kai isn’t here to protect you now and I can do whatever the fuck I want with you. Eventually, you’ll b
e passed around just like the rest of them and everyone will get a taste of that sweet pussy, only this time I’m going to take what’s his first.”
My stomach falls to the floor at his words and my heart races, fueled strictly from fear. Darren pins me against the wall, using his weight to hold me there as he reaches down with his free hand and pulls down the fly of his pants.
Please, no. God, no. This can’t be fucking happening right now, not after everything I’ve been through.
Being held captive here has been more than enough, but this is much worse.
Struggling against him, he struggles with his zipper and I make my move, trying to break free from him. He pauses, looking up at me with wild eyes and backhands me across the face. The blow catches me off guard and my skin burns from the contact as my vision goes blurry. “Stop fucking moving,” he demands, slamming me back against the door.
Darren drops his attention back to his pants and my head throbs as I try to regain composure. The adrenaline quickly brings me out of the fog and brings everything back into focus. He begins to shimmy his pants down just as I manage to get one hand free and drive my fingertips into his eye.
“You fucking bitch!” he yells, stumbling backward as he grabs his face. His weight releases me and my feet slip on the wet floor as I fall onto the slick tiles.
Abandoning the towel and ignoring my nakedness, I scramble to my feet and make a dash for the bathroom door. My fingertips just barely graze the handle and I’m jerked back roughly. Darren wraps his hand around my hair and rips me toward him as my feet slide out from underneath me. My knees hit the floor hard, scraping off the top layer of skin
“You’re gonna pay for this shit now,” he barks and drags me back onto my feet.
Everything hurts. My head throbs, my knees ache as blood begins to run down my shins and my scalp burns as Darren wraps his hands around my hair even tighter.
His fist reaches for the back of my head as he pushes me forward against the sink. My hands move fast, digging my nails into any inch of his skin as I try to get him off of me. The edge of the countertop roughly cuts into the middle of my bare stomach.
“When I’m done with you, you’re gonna be a fucking corpse,” he growls in my ear. “If Kai’s lucky, you might still be warm.”
Swinging my arm around, my small fist hits the side of Darren’s face, but I’m not strong enough to do any damage. My efforts only drive his violence up a notch.
He grips my head harder, lifting me onto my toes and slams my head into the mirror in front of us. A scream slips from my lips as the glass splinters like a spider web from the dent my head leaves. Darren quickly pulls me back before throwing me forward again.
“You.”
Bam. The glass shatters.
“Stupid.”
Bam. Shards of broken glass dig into my skin.
“Fucking.”
Bam. Drops of blood fall into the sink.
“Bitch.”
My ears are ringing, drowning everything out and nothing is as it seems. The room is too bright, but nothing has a shape. Everything is out of focus and the colors all blend together, forming a fluorescent collage that burns my eyes.
And then Darren is gone. His hands are ripped from me and I collapse onto the hard ground, landing on shards from the shattered mirror. Lying on my side, I draw my knees close to my body, feeling nothing and everything at the same time.
I float like a buoy in the ocean to the rhythm of the unrelenting waves as the world around me moves in slow motion. Everything begins to fade as I get caught in the undertow and it sweeps me away.
Kai
STRADDLING DARREN’S waist, I drive my fists into every inch of his skin that I can. Blood drains from his nose as I destroy the rest of his face. The sickening sound of bones breaking fills the room.
I see nothing but red and when I’m done with him, that’s all he will be.
Darren never had a chance to fight back after I caught him with Dahlia. The force from when I tackled him had him stunned after his head hit the ground.
He never had a chance once I had my hands on him.
My surroundings dissipated quickly, and he was all I saw, and he wasn’t getting away with this. Fuck the weakness and fuck their rules. He touched Dahlia and no one touches what is mine.
With a ragged breath, I sit back and stare down at him, watching his chest rise and fall unevenly. His face is a bloodied mess, his eyes are swollen shut and he gargles on blood with every breath.
He doesn’t deserve it, the easy way out, but I can’t let him walk out of this room alive. I can’t let him leave this room alive.
Reaching beside me, I grab the biggest shard of glass and feel it cut into the palm of my hand as I grip it tightly.
No one has shown up yet, but I know they’re watching. They are watching and waiting to see what I’m going to do.
I do what I want without a second thought.
Fuck the consequences.
The glass cuts through his skin with ease as I swiftly slash it across his throat. The gurgling grows louder and shriller as his body jerks as he chokes on his own blood. It spills from his body and pools on the white tiled floor around him.
It doesn’t take long for all of his blood to drain from his arteries and veins. His breathing ceases, his heart stops and I stand up, leaving his lifeless body on the floor.
Staring down at him, I freeze at the sound of shallow breathing echoing throughout the room. The red fades as I remember we’re not alone.
Dahlia.
Spinning on my heel, I rush over to her crumpled body on the floor. Her breathing is ragged and she’s unconscious, but she’s alive. The questions in my mind seem insignificant, but they scream at me, demanding answers.
It’s unclear what all Darren did, but I think I stopped it quick enough before anything else could happen. He got her good, with the bruises forming on her face and her arms and the blood sticking to her knees.
Whatever he did, he got what he deserved.
Grabbing a towel, I cover her and scoop her small body into my arms. She moans as her head rolls back against my arm and her eyes slightly crack open.
“Close your eyes, bambolina,” I murmur, carrying her toward the door. “You’re safe now.”
She blinks up at me a few times before letting her eyes fall shut. She’s still too out of it to have any clue what is going on.
Supporting her with one arm, I reach for the doorknob just as it turns from the other side. The door is pulled open in a rush and Stan stands there with a smirk on his face.
“What happened to your sweet little princess?” he mocks as he saunters through the doorway. He stops when he sees Darren on the floor. “Shit, Kai, you actually killed him.”
“I should fucking kill you too,” I growl over my shoulder and hold Dahlia closer.
Stan chuckles, looking up at me. “I’d like to see you try.”
Spinning around, I open my mouth just as a heavy hand falls onto my shoulder and turns me away from Stan. My father stands in front of me, unfazed by the activity. “Take her to her room and clean both of you up,” he orders as his eyes fall to my hands.
“Stan, clean up this mess and take the body downstairs,” my father instructs Stan as he continues to stare me down.
“You’re kidding,” Stan scoffs from behind me. “That little prick made this fucking mess, he should be the one cleaning it.”
He cuts his eyes to Stan. “The boy was on his way out. Kai did us a favor by making this mess.”
Stan mumbles to himself under his breath, but he follows my father’s orders like the puppet that he is.
With a quick nod, I move to slip past my father when his hand snakes around my arm. “If anything close to this happens again, I’ll have her head and you’ll be the one chopping it off. Capiche?”
His cold eyes are dark as they bore holes into mine. He knows what she has become to me. I just put it all on display for everyone here to see.
“C
apiche,” I agree, pulling my arm from his grip and slip out of the room.
I went straight to my room with Dahlia, locking the door behind us and gently put her down on the plush king-sized bed in the center of the room. She looks so small, so fragile and broken as her naked skin peeks through the openings of the towel. The bruises scattered on her body are stark in contrast with the white comforter underneath her.
Leaving her for a moment, I step into my personal bathroom and grab some wet washcloths and bandages. Dahlia stays unconscious as I tend to her wounds and clean her up. I try to keep her as covered as possible with the towel, resisting the urge to admire her naked body.
Now isn’t the time or the place, but I am just a seventeen-year-old kid with wild hormones. I’ve seen more pussies than I can remember, and I’ve fucked more girls than I’ve fucked my own hand. But I can appreciate a nice body regardless of what I’ve done.
I can appreciate her because of what she’s done for me, to me. And because I appreciate her, I respect her enough to not gawk at her tits and ass as I get a raging hard-on.
The towel isn’t cutting it anymore and I have none of her clothes in my room. Grabbing a pair of boxers and a black t-shirt from my dresser, I carefully slip them onto her body. She’s weightless as I lift her up and slide her under the covers and lay her head on a pillow.
Staring past the bruises on her face, her innocence is still there and untainted. He didn’t take that from her.
I gently brush the honey-colored curls from her face and push off from the bed to go to the bathroom. Her small hand slips out of the covers and wraps around my wrist, stopping me.
I glance down at her, falling into the bright green pools as she stares up at me. “Please, don’t leave me,” she whispers, timidly. The fear in her voice hits a nerve inside and my brow furrows. Before, I wanted her to have the fear, I needed her to feel the fear.
Now, I want every motherfucker dead who fills her with fear.
Taking a hold of her hand, I remove it from my wrist and step back from her. Her face falls slightly as she watches me move away until I’m out of her line of sight.
Entangled Chaos (Entangled Duet Book 1) Page 4