The smile slipped from his lips and the look of rage was back in his eyes. "You don't like my little gift to you? You don't like being able to watch you and Will go at it like rabbits while I have you here... Pinned... Helpless and exposed all to myself..."
Chris had moved behind Paige. Not being able to see him was almost worse than being able to see the crazed look in his eyes. She trembled as she waited to see what he had planned. Fear choked her voice and made the tears that were gathering in her eyes spill onto her cheeks. Turning her head she caught sight of Bella on the floor cradling her face, blood covered her hands but in her eyes Paige could see a type of gratitude.
The first strike made Paige freeze. The sound of the riding crop cutting through the air didn't register in her head until it bit into the soft skin of her thighs. She didn't cry out. The pain was too intense and it stole all the air from her lungs.
But the second strike brought a fresh bout of tears rolling down her face. Paige's voice cracked as she cried out. The sound making Chris laugh as he brought the riding crop down hard across her ass.
Paige struggled against her shackles but it was useless she couldn't escape the blows he started to rain down on her. The backs of her legs and ass being reduced to a throbbing mass of pure pain. He paused for a minute and Paige collapsed forward onto the horse. Her breathing was hard and laboured, interspersed with tears and sobs of pain.
"Did you like that?" Chris asked, as he trailed the tip of the crop up the inside of her thighs to her panties. "Was it good for you? Because I certainly enjoyed it."
"Go to hell you bastard..." Paige let the words drip from her lips with each sob of pain that escaped her. She didn't care anymore. Will wasn't going to be able to find her and the sooner she got all of this over and done with, the better. Chris would do what he wanted to her. He would use and abuse her. Paige knew he was probably going to rape her and there was nothing she could do anymore... As far as she was concerned the sooner he did all of that and then killed her the better it would be... At least then she wouldn't hurt anymore.
Chris moved up behind her and dug his fingers into the inflamed skin of her ass. Paige hissed in pain and tried to breathe through the pain but it was useless. He pushed his body against hers and dug his fingers in further.
"You won't be calling me a bastard by the time I'm finished with you... You'll be calling me Master like all the worthless whores before you..."
Paige waited to feel the next blow that he would land on her. But instead there was a heavy crack and a small sigh from Chris. He slumped across her and slid slowly to the floor. He still held the riding crop in his hands but his eyes were closed. And Paige could just make out the trickle of blood that ran across his forehead and into his eyes.
"I'm so sorry..." Bella babbled as she climbed up beside the horse and slowly began undoing to shackles. "I don't know why I did it... But I couldn't take anymore and I didn't want him to hurt you... I didn't want to watch as he destroyed you... I couldn't..."
Bella dropped to the floor and quickly undid the shackles that held Paige's ankles to the horse.
She was free... With limbs that trembled like a newborn lambs Paige climbed down onto the floor. She stepped over Chris and stared down at him. Hatred washed over her. She contemplated picking up the riding crop that he still held in his hands and beating him with it.
Bella tugged on her hand. "We need to get out of here... I don't know long how long he'll be down for... I don't think I hit him hard enough..." As though to emphasise her point, Bella stared at the heavy paperweight on the floor beside the fallen Chris.
Knowing what she was thinking, Paige took her hand and towed her towards the door. "How do we get out of here?" She asked. Her thighs and ass stung like she had fallen in a bed of nettles.
"The fastest exit is out through the room with all the glass walls... That is where the girls go to be looked over by potential buyers... I've never been on the other side but I know the exit is out beyond there somewhere..." Bella's voice was laced with fear as she pulled the door open and grabbed Paige by the arm.
"What are you doing?" Paige attempted to struggle but immediately caught sight of the guards at the far end of the corridor.
"Chris wants her taken to be sold on... She's no good for him..." Bella's voice didn't crack but Paige froze beside her.
If the guards didn't buy it then they were in even bigger trouble.
One of the guards frowned as he stepped towards them. "You sure? You weren't in there for very long... What didn't he like?"
Bella frowned at him and spun Paige around, displaying the red angry welts that covered her legs and behind. "Chris got bored... He wants her sold on and he knows that she can't be too damaged..."
Bella turned Paige back around and handed her over to the guards. The guard simply nodded and took Paige by the arm and marched her down the hall towards the doors at the end. Paige glanced back over her shoulder and watched as Bella stood by the doors to Chris's office. She started to struggle.
"Wait, why isn't she coming too?"
"It's better if I stay here and tend to Chris... Make sure he has everything he needs..." Bella called after Paige.
Paige stopped struggling. Either Bella was indeed suffering from Stockholm syndrome or she had just sacrificed herself in order to help Paige escape. After everything that had happened Paige couldn't help but think that it was a type of sacrifice... They both knew what would happen once Chris came around but it was what Bella had chosen... Perhaps if Paige got out she would be able to go back and rescue her... Bring help... But at that moment in time Paige knew the only way to help Bella was by cracking the case completely and getting Chris locked up...
***
They entered the mirrored room and there was a girl already standing in the centre of the floor. She was on a small platform and she wore nothing but the collar around her neck and the high heels on her feet.
One of the guards spoke to one of the men standing to one side as the girl was slowly spun in a circle on the podium. A green light went on and someone hurried up to help her down to the side and out a little door.
Paige's stomach flipped. What was she doing here? It wasn't as though she had a plan. Get sold to someone and hope that they were nice enough to let her go back to Will? The guards returned back to Paige with another man who held a walkie talkie in his hands.
"It seems you're popular even before they get you on the podium... A private sale went through the minute you stepped through the doors..." The guard jerked her by the arm and started to lead her towards the small door that she had watched the other girl disappear out of.
Paige trembled. It was the moment of truth. If she saw an exit then she would have one chance to make her break for it. Nervous butterflies fluttered in her stomach making her feel even sicker than before. What if Chris was awake? What if came running after her screaming blue murder? What would happen then...
The door swung open and Paige could see a long corridor beyond it. But it was the person standing in the corridor that made her knees weak and her head spin. He watched her with dark eyes and a face strained with worry.
Paige wanted to run to him. She wanted to throw herself into his arms and wrap herself up in Will's body. But her legs chose that exact moment to give out. She hung there on the guards arm as her body crumpled to the floor. Her world went black as her eyes rolled back in her head and all the air rushed out of her lungs.
***
Paige's eyes fluttered open. She stared around at her surroundings. They were much the same as all the other rooms and corridors she had been in, whilst captured by Chris. Panic threatened to crawl out of her throat as she realised that she was still inside his compound. Seeing Will had been a dream. A mirage. The last ditch attempt of her desperate mind to appease her.
Strong arms tightened around her waist and shoulders as Paige lifted her face and stared up at the man who was carrying her through the hall. The look on Will's face was fierce. Paige shiver
ed as she stared up at his features. He was so angry it radiated out of him.
He glanced down at her and noticed that she was awake. His features immediately softened and he paused his long strides down the corridor.
"You're awake..."
Paige nodded. She was afraid to open her mouth in case by talking to him she would make him simply disappear. She didn't think she could handle it if he simply disappeared like the mirage she was sure he was.
"Are you ok?" Will asked, the concern in his eyes was too much for Paige. Tears slid from the corners of her eyes and down her cheeks.
She buried her face in against his chest, drinking in the scent of him. Although not much time had passed since she had seen him. Paige was desperate to reacquaint herself with every inch of him. She wanted his arms around her, his body pressed tight to hers as he held her, with her face buried in against him.
Warm sunlight streamed down on Paige as Will stepped out through the doors with her and into an open parking lot. She carefully lifted her face and stared around at her surroundings. She honestly had no idea where she was anymore. There was no sign of the house or the gardens that she had seen when she first stumbled up here. A car sat idling on the tarmac and Will helped Paige in across the seats before climbing in after her.
Once in the car he drew her back onto his lap and the car moved away. He was silent for a few moments and Paige was just happy to sit there safe in the circle of his arms. She didn't know if she ever wanted to talk about what had happened but she knew she would have to at some point.
After all Bella was still in there along with the other terrified girls and they needed to be released. Paige knew she was lucky to get out of there. Lucky to escape with her life and her body more or less intact.
The car pulled up at the condo and Will helped Paige from the car. He never uttered a word to her as he scooped her up in his arms and carried her up the steps and into the house. Aidan appeared in the hall.
Paige's stomach did a flip as she caught sight of him. She wanted to hate. Wanted to strangle him or slap him or any manner of other things that she could do to him. Instead as Will sat her down on the floor and Aidan sauntered over to their side Paige looked up into his face and uttered the faithful words.
"I met Bella..."
Aidan's face crumpled. Paige watched as his eyes filled with pain and anguish. He balled his hands into fists as he struggled to regain his composure. Will's gaze darted between them. Unsure of what was actually going on.
"You told me you didn't know where they were keeping the women..."
Paige nodded. "Yeah I met her after you deserted me in there..."
Will stiffened beside her, the grip he had on Paige's hand tightened and he drew her back in against his body.
"How did you meet him in there, Paige?" His voice was filled with barely contained rage and it was all directed at Aidan.
"Aidan appeared out of nowhere in there right after I had made my first escape attempt... I thought he was there to get me out but instead he told me we needed more information and he left me there... I tried to follow him but Chris's guards caught up to me... That was before Chris got to me..." Paige's voice broke and she buried her face back in against Will.
He wrapped his strong arms around her. His arms like bands of steel around her shoulders as he let her release all of her emotions.
"You bastard... You knew where she was in there... You found her and you let the monster get his hands on her knowing what he would do..."
Will released Paige and moved her behind him as he drew back his fist and punched Aidan square in the face. Aidan wasn't expecting the move and was sent reeling backwards. Will moved after him, his fists lifted as he prepared to punch him again.
Aidan recovered quickly and took his own swipe at Will but Will ducked and propelled his body into Aidan sending them both crashing backwards onto the floor.
"Stop it! Both of you just stop it!" Paige screamed on the top of her lungs. She was far too exhausted to watch their crap.
The two men immediately stopped and Will rolled off Aidan. He stood and walked back to where Paige stood. He cupped her face in his hands and tilted her head up to gaze at him.
She folded her arms across her chest in an attempt to not give in to her feelings for him. Fighting with Aidan was pointless. As far as Paige was concerned the look of despair on his face when she had mentioned Bella had told her everything she needed to know.
Aidan made his way over to the couple. "Look I'm sorry about what I had to do... But I had to know how many girls he had in there... And I was hoping you would find Bella... I never thought she could have survived but I had hoped..."
Paige lifted her hand and dismissed his words. "Look, I don't want to talk about any of it right now... I just want to go to bed..."
Aidan nodded, before adding. "But you'll talk about it tomorrow?"
Will growled and turned on the other man. "I want you out of here tonight... I don't care where you go or what you do. I want you gone."
Will wrapped his arms around Paige and escorted her to the bottom step.
"You'd have done the same as me... You don't know how important all of this is..."
They ignored him and climbed the stairs together. Will started to lead Paige towards the bedroom they had shared the first time but she remembered the tape Chris had shown her and she stalled.
"I don't think I can... I mean... Chris has this place filled with cameras..."
Will shook his head. "No after you disappeared Aidan and the other guards went through the room with a fine tooth comb. They found the camera and got rid of the others in the house... You have nothing to worry about..." He took Paige's hand gently in his and led her to another room. "But if it makes you feel any better we can use this room instead.
Paige simply nodded and let Will lead her into the other bedroom. It was just as spacious as the one before. The large king size bed dominated the room and Will scooped her up into his arms and lifted her onto the bed. She lay on her side as he climbed up behind her. His hands slowly smoothing over her hot fevered skin and the red welts that covered her legs and ass.
His hands caressed a particularly tender spot and Paige hissed a quick sucking in of breath as she squeezed her eyes shut.
"I'm sorry I didn't keep you safe." His hands moved to the clasp of the collar around her neck and he quickly unbuckled it. The heavy stiff leather making the collar drop onto the pillow as soon as it was released. Paige grabbed it in her hands and flung it as far away across the room as she could.
Her neck felt strange. It was a nice strange but the empty feeling worried her. Will curled his body in tight against hers. His arms drawing her body in against his as he pressed his lips to the exposed length of the back of her neck.
"I should never have left you..." He punctuated each word with a small delicate press of his lips against her neck.
Paige buried her face in the pillow. "No I should never have told you to leave... I didn't really want you to go but I was... I was stupidly angry... It just all spun out of control..."
Will tightened his grip on her and Paige felt herself relaxing a little. It felt right to be in his arms. To have his body pressed against hers. It was exactly what she had wanted when Chris had held her hostage. All she had wanted was to get back to Will... To tell him how she felt. At the time it had felt like an unreal goal. Something that she would never achieve, but here she was... Safe in his arms...
"When I found out you were gone... Well at first I didn't really assume the worst and that was stupid of me. Where Chris is concerned I should always assume the worst but I just thought maybe you had taken a walk and then I came up to the room and found the collar discarded on the floor in the corner... I knew... I could feel it... But I didn't know if I would ever get you back... I had no way of getting in there to you... If I did I would have come for you sooner... I made it into the compound and sat through all of the auctions hoping against hope that I would see you or, well I dunn
o. I'm not sure what I was thinking but when I saw that guard drag you in there..."
Will shivered and tightened his grip momentarily.
"I was so relieved and angry... I could have killed Chris but I can't believe that he let you go?"
Paige shut her eyes for a moment and let the tears roll down her cheeks. She didn't really want to have to talk about it. Spill all of the gory details about she had witnessed and what had happened. But she knew she would have to do it at some point.
"He didn't let me go..."
Will leaned up on his elbow and gazed down at Paige.
"I don't understand... He had to have let you go for them to even think about auctioning you off..."
Paige shook her head. "No, when he had me in his office..." Paige's voice broke and she started again. "When he was doing what he did to me... The other woman... Aidan's Bella, well she was there and she hit him. Hit him over the head with an office paper weight and then helped me get to the auction room. She said it was the best chance I had at an exit... I didn't know you were going to be there but I had a plan for whoever bought me... I was going to run... No matter what happened I was going to escape..."
Paige's voice broke entirely and the tears spilled hot and heavy down her face.
Will cradled her in his arms and rocked her gently back and forth "Sssh, love, you're safe now. You're here with me."
Paige pulled out of his grip and turned to face him. She scrubbed the tears away with the back of her hand and studied his face carefully.
"But how long will I be safe for? There is no way Chris is going to just give up... He isn't going to stop, Will... He's never going to stop."
Will tugged her in against his body and pressed his lips against her hair. "We're leaving first thing in the morning. I can't risk being here with you now, not after what happened. Paige if I had known what might happen... I would never have brought you here..."
Desired by the Billionaire 4 (Loved By Him) Page 3