“Not yet. I wanted to tell you about her first.”
“I don’t want her,” I said simply. “Make sure she doesn’t end up in the wrong hands, though. I hate to see a pretty girl get ruined beyond repair.”
“But you haven’t even seen the pictures,” Savage argued. “She’s perfect for you! I’ve kept her aside just so I could show you.”
“I’m not interested,” I repeated, getting up from my seat. “Now, if that’s all, I need to get going. I’ll be in touch in a week’s time regarding the deal.”
“Alright,” Savage replied, furrowing his brows as he stared at me leaving the room.
When I’d almost shut the door, he called out after me, my last name heavy on his lips.
“Yes?” I asked tersely, looking at him over my shoulder.
“Don’t damage her,” he told me roughly. “Don’t scar her. Don’t make her bleed. Don’t torture her.”
“Why’s that?” I grinned. “I can do whatever I want, you are aware of that?”
“Don’t fucking hurt her,” he begged. “Just… don’t. Swear on it, Knight.”
I kept eye contact long enough for him to see my vicious smile.
“I swear on her pretty body,” I told him, and closed the door behind me, my thoughts full of breaking my promise.
I returned home to fucking chaos.
Carolina looked nervous as fuck when I walked in, wringing her arms in front of her body.
“Miss Evangeline,” she said in hushed tones. “She’s acting crazy, I… I don’t know how to help her. She’s acting like a crazy person!”
“Calm down,” I said, letting her have my jacket and my briefcase. “I’ll deal with her bratty fucking ass. What’s she done now?”
“Trashed her room,” she said, her hands shivering as she took my stuff. “It’s a mess…”
“I’ll go up there now,” I told her, my mouth set in a thin line.
I was fucking pissed. I gave her everything, and she was fucking ruining it. I was really going to have to punish her, as badly as I wanted to skip it… There was something inside her, clawing its way out. A little girl inside a bigger girl, so fucking bruised and broken her older version could barely hide the pieces. She was hiding some kind of trauma, and I’d managed to bring it out in her several times now, hating myself for it.
But the truth of the matter was, I had to make her submit. I had to make her kneel – there was no way around it. Evangeline had to be mine fully and completely, and I wasn’t going to stop before it happened, even if it meant breaking her down to dust.
I was about to leave the front hall when Carolina grabbed my arm and gently tugged on my sleeve.
“Please,” she said softly. “Don’t hurt her.”
“You overstep,” I snarled at her, and she pulled her hand back as if I’d burned her.
We stared at each other for a long second before I tore my eyes away and ran up the stairs.
I heard her before I saw her, crazed little screams, huffs and puffs coming from her library room.
The fucking mess she’d made shocked me as I walked in.
She’d torn out the pages of every book or so it seemed, littering the floor with paper until there wasn’t a spot of the floor not covered in white and black ink. And my pretty little toy sat, stark fucking naked, in the middle of it, hugging her knees to her chest and muttering something to herself, her hair a mess and her eyes wild when she looked at me.
She panicked right away, scrambling to her knees and crawling into the farthest corner from me. She was fucking terrified of me, and I almost hated it.
“Evangeline,” I growled. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
“Shut up shut up shut up,” she muttered, pressing her palms over her ears. “Let me go. Let me go. I don’t want you. I don’t want this. Let me go.”
I’d really fucking done it. Broken my little toy. Her messy fucking parts were all over the room.
I leaned down and picked up one of the torn pages from the books she made me think she loved so much.
“Why did you do this?” I asked her, trying hard not to get angrier than I was. “Why’d you ruin your library, Evangeline?”
“Words,” she whispered. “Words words words. They make me feel safe, Daddy.”
Her eyes found mine and she looked tiny and vulnerable in that position. So fucking vulnerable I wanted to protect her with everything I had.
But I was the worst thing that could’ve happened to her. How was I going to keep myself from her? I wanted her too much. I’d never wanted anything more.
“You feel safe when you read?” I asked her, and she nodded, holding her knees with her arms. “You feel safe in another world, little girl?”
She kept nodding. So fucking broken.
“That’s too fucking bad,” I snarled at her, losing control. “Because this is my world, and monsters run free here, Evangeline.”
She gasped when I showed her the page and tore it down the middle.
“You’re my fucking property,” I growled. “You’re my toy. My little girl. My fucking slut. And I’m going to do whatever the fuck I want to with that body of yours. Say yes, Daddy.”
“Yes, Daddy,” she replied robotically.
“Tell me you’re my property,” I said.
“I’m your property.” Her voice was on the verge of tears.
“Yes, you fucking are. And I’m going to do what I want with you, and to you, toy. Come here.” I motioned for her, and she crawled to me on arms and legs so shaky she practically collapsed at my feet once she reached me. “I’m going to hurt you now, Evangeline.”
Her eyes were glued to the floor, but I forced her to look up.
“Say thank you, Daddy,” I said, and my voice was surprisingly gentle.
“Thank you,” she whispered, her bottom lip jutting out and trembling so temptingly. “Daddy…”
Fourteen
Evangeline
He advanced on me like a wolf stalking its prey.
I felt the fear in my blood, pumping through my body and putting every cell on high alert. My body knew danger was coming and I trembled with the anticipation.
The slap I was almost eagerly anticipating never came, and my poor, confused head was left screaming at me in held-back rage. I wanted him to hit me. I wanted him to react. I wanted him to deserve the hate that coursed through me because of him.
Yet I still recoiled when his hand reached for me. I was expecting a hit, but instead he stroked my cheek so gently I wanted to lean against his hand and whimper against his fingers. I kept looking down as he kneeled next to me on the floor, amidst the pages of the books I’d ruined forever.
Such a stupid thing to do… I loved books, but I felt so completely out of control when my panic attack happened I could barely even remember it.
“Don’t hurt me,” I whispered on an instinct, and he held my face with his fingers on my cheeks. He made me look at him, and my tears spilled over my cheeks, down to my lips and dripped down my chin. “Don’t hurt me, please, I’m so scared. Please.”
“Shut up,” he said, but his voice was surprisingly gentle. “Stupid little girl. Stupid Angel. Fucking stupid, Evangeline.”
I sobbed but he wouldn’t let me move as his lips came closer to mine. I froze up. Completely froze on the spot, the only thing moving was my bottom lip, trembling with fear.
He bit down on it, his teeth digging into my sensitive skin and making me whimper against his mouth. He groaned, moving his hand to the back of my head, letting it rest on the nape of my neck and pulling me in.
And then he kissed me, and I felt myself falling in love with a monster.
He didn’t kiss like he fucked, and I had a feeling he’d decided to make a change just for me.
He kissed me sweetly, almost innocently, until I gasped against his lips and deepened my first kiss. And then he did it hungrily, with his lust and mine mixing together, so palpable around us I could taste it. He bit my lips and made
me his with a single kiss that only lasted seconds, but I wanted it to go on forever.
“Be good for me, Angel,” he muttered against my mouth, and I moved closer to him desperately, so needy for another taste, another lick. Even another bite from him… Anything.
“I will,” I stuttered. “I’ll be better, please. Please a little bit more.”
“No,” he groaned against my lips as I tried to kiss him clumsily. I didn’t have a fucking clue what I was doing, and the only thing I knew was that I wanted to taste him some more. So I kept trying, kept trying to kiss him and make him keep going for me, because I needed it so very badly.
He took hold of my hands and clasped them over my back, pulling me off him. When I looked into his eyes they seemed so dark they were almost black, and I knew he wanted me as badly as I fucking wanted him.
“Enough,” he scolded me gently, and my lips parted desperately for him. “Enough now, Evangeline. You’re going to bed now, little girl.”
I tried to protest, but he didn’t want to hear it, pressing a finger firmly against my lips to shut me up.
“Go to bed,” he said, and pulled me up to my shaky legs. “You need to get some rest, little girl. I’ll come find you in the morning, I promise.”
I stared at him, once again waiting for my punishment. But when I didn’t move, he merely smacked my ass, making me gasp out loud.
“Evangeline,” he said roughly. “Bed. Fucking. Now.”
And I practically ran out of the room despite my legs being shaky. They carried me all the way to the room with the cage, and I crawled into it with my heart beating loudly. I left the door open this time, because I secretly wanted him to come and drag me out by my hair. Either punish me or comfort me some more, anything, just so I could get another kiss.
But he never came, and I ended up lying on my back, staring at the bars above me. It felt weird, and I felt alone, but in a way, it was comforting.
That is, until I fell asleep…
The little girl’s daddy wasn’t her daddy anymore.
No, it seemed like another man was living inside the man who used to hold her close, kiss her chubby cheeks and throw her in the air while she squealed with delight. The little girl couldn’t fully understand what had happened. Where had her daddy gone? And who stole his body, who was the impostor that dragged himself through their house, made the little girl cry, and screamed at her mommy at the top of his voice?
It surely wasn’t the man who raised her, and it upset the little girl so very much.
And then one day, her mommy told her she’d have to find a job, and her daddy would be the one staying home with her. She sat the little girl down and explained everything, and then she told her she was going to work a shift at the bar in town. The little girl had never been in there – her parents never allowed it, and called it seedy. She didn’t understand why her mommy had to leave for work there, it didn’t make any sense. And when her mom left her with the shell that used to be her daddy, the little girl cried her eyes out.
She cried so much she upset her mom, and she left in tears too. This made Daddy angry, and he put her in her bedroom, telling her not to come out, no matter what happened.
The little girl tried so very hard to be good. She cried herself to sleep, but woke up what felt like minutes later. She couldn’t rest when her family was breaking apart like that. She had to go check on her daddy and make sure he was alright.
She went downstairs, and what greeted her was complete, deafening silence. She lingered on the stairs, her foot a few inches away from the floor. She was afraid to step into the living room, and later, she would regret not listening to what Daddy had told her. She should’ve been a good girl and stayed in her room.
Because little girls should always listen to their daddies.
Daddy knows best, after all, and the little girl was about to learn just that.
She walked into the room, and the first thing she saw were her father’s feet. They looked a little weird, because they weren’t touching the floor. Instead, they were a few inches above it.
She ran up to her daddy. He was hanging from the ceiling and it looked like he was sleeping.
She hugged her daddy’s knees and told him she was sorry for being a bad girl and coming out of her room when she wasn’t supposed to. She hoped Daddy would be able to forgive her for being a bad little girl.
But Daddy didn’t say a word, and as she hugged him, he swayed from side to side, but his hands never moved.
She looked up at him, confused.
“Daddy, what’s wrong?” she asked in her small voice, but now she felt scared because Daddy wasn’t responding. She shook him by his knees and Daddy still didn’t say a word. His eyes were wide open and his mouth was slack, but he still didn’t reply.
The little girl thought maybe her daddy was ignoring her, so she decided to cheer him up. She brought down all her favorite toys and set them around in a circle around her daddy’s dangling feet. She talked to him as she played, tugging on his trousers every so often to get his attention. But still, not a word from Daddy.
With all her teddies lined up in a circle, the little girl realized something was very wrong.
She needed help, so she ran out of the house, stopping tentatively on the lawn. She wasn’t supposed to leave the house alone, but the front yard was empty. She held her bunny in her hand as she went outside.
There was something that caught her eye though, and she looked at the white garage door.
Big, bright red letters stared her in the eye. She didn’t really know how to read yet, though Mommy had been doing her best to teach her. She stared at the letters and tried to make them out.
C-R-I-M-E… No, C-R-I-M-I-N-A-L. And there was another word, but that one she didn’t understand. What was a bastard? She had no idea.
Her mommy came home then, and the little girl ran up to her on the street when she saw her.
“Mommy, Daddy won’t talk to me,” she sobbed. “Daddy’s hanging from the ceiling, and he doesn’t want to talk to me. What did I do wrong, Mommy?”
Her mother clasped a hand over her mouth, and looked towards the house. And then she ran inside, leaving her little girl alone on the road.
She sat down in the middle of it, putting her favorite teddy, a little bunny, in her lap. And she waited for someone to come and get her, and to explain why Daddy’s feet weren’t touching the ground.
I woke up screaming. But the sounds were muffled, because I’d learned not to wake anyone up when I was having my nightmares.
I crawled out of the cage, my body covered in sweat, my palms on the floor. I tried to force myself to breathe normally, but I fucking couldn’t. I was gasping for breath, doing my best to get it to my lungs, but desperately failing.
I wanted him. I wanted Daddy.
Leaving the room, I had to hold on to the doorframe so I wouldn’t topple over. I walked down the hallway with my bare feet brushing the floor, so scared of overstepping, my heart pounded when I thought about how angry this would make him. But I still kept walking, on and on and on until I reached the door I knew led to his bedroom.
I opened the door and it creaked as it gave way. He shot up, leaning on his elbows as he stared at me.
“What’s wrong?” he asked in a gruff, still half-asleep voice.
“Daddy.” I choked on the word, and I practically ran inside.
Crawling into bed next to him, I prayed he wouldn’t be angry with me, and I hoped he wouldn’t kick me out. I needed him so very badly in that moment, and I cuddled as close as I possibly could, clutching his body like it was my lifeline, the only thing connecting me to the real world.
“Shh, little girl,” he muttered as I started to sob. He kissed the top of my hair and pulled me closer, until I lay sprawled on his chest. My sobs quieted, and I hung to him closely.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered. “I know I shouldn’t be here, I just can’t help it…”
“You know you need to work to be in my b
ed,” he grunted, and my body tensed. “Good girls do as they’re told, and you’ve been so very bad, Evangeline.”
I shook all over as he took his hands off me, so scared he would toss me aside just like everyone else had.
“If you want to sleep in my bed, you’ll have to earn it,” he told me, his fingers stroking my back. “But not tonight, Angel. Tonight, you get what you need the most.”
He pulled me closer and I exhaled a breath of relief as he held onto my shaking body and made it all better.
He didn’t let go of me that whole night, and for the first time, my nightmares were subdued.
Fifteen
Carter
Waking up next to her shouldn’t have felt as natural as it did.
She tossed and turned in her sleep, but at least she didn’t wake up screaming again. I was familiar with her sleeping pattern by then, and I felt like a sick fuck knowing I’d seen her wake up several times from a bad nightmare. I still hadn’t asked her what they were all about, and I wasn’t planning on doing it anytime soon. I wanted her to come to me and tell me herself.
I had trouble leaving her in the morning, her small, lithe body causing my heart to swell as I got dressed for work. There was no way around it, I had another important meeting regarding the merger with Van Der Meer, and I couldn’t be late, even though I wanted to say fuck it all and just stay in bed with my pretty toy.
I was not looking forward to the meeting, knowing my father would be there again, as well as a bunch of needy, fucking spineless investors. So, when my phone rang on the way to work, I was even more annoyed to see my mother’s number flash across the screen.
It wasn’t that I didn’t love her. I did, in my own way, even though she was really just a glorified trophy wife and acted like one, too. But she wanted to make things better between Dad and me, and I couldn’t blame her for trying, even though it seemed like an impossible task.
“Yeah?” I barked into the phone. “I’m on my way to work, Mom, I can’t really chat right now.”
Vengeance: A Dark Billionaire Romance (Empire Sin) Page 10