by Sosie Frost
And now the Bennetts were the ones to offer me a chance to rest?
Unbelievable.
And worse, I almost fell for it.
“Stop it.” I pulled away from Nicholas. “You’re creeping me out.”
Reed stood, wiping the butter from his hands on his jogging pants. Max wasn’t in a suit either. They wore workout clothes. Their shirts stretched over barrel chests, trim waists, and powerful forms. For a moment—a split second of weakness and oxygen deprivation—I wondered what Nicholas looked like beneath his regal suits.
“What’s wrong?” Reed jerked a thumb toward the popcorn. He grinned. His dimple tugged so effortlessly. “We got junior mints too.”
“This!” I said. “All of this.”
“We’re just trying to help. Give you a place to recover.”
“Yeah, stop it. Christ.” My lungs seized. “Tie me up in the basement. Chain me to a wall. Don’t do this.”
Nicholas hesitated. “Do what?”
I couldn’t believe I was saying it.
“Don’t act like you’re my brothers.”
Enough was enough. I reached for the door before I lost the strength to deny the salty beckoning of the popcorn. Max’s words burned through me.
“Get in that chair, tuck in, and fucking rest,” he said. “We’re not playing.”
Neither was I. “I’ll be fine without your help.”
“You walk out of this room, and our father will make your life a living hell.”
“He already has.”
Max’s revelation laced with poison. “He’ll make us fuck you even if you aren’t fertile.”
The hair on my neck rose. I turned, pretending the words hadn’t twisted my stomach.
“What did you say?”
“Get in your pajamas and rest. If you think you’re strong enough to fight, then fight and suffer the consequences. He will punish you for the hospital, and you won’t like what he’s planning, ovulating or not.”
Reed no longer looked at me. He rubbed his face, massaging the lingering scars over his jaw and cheek. “The sicker you act, the safer you are.”
I wasn’t about to display any weakness before a Bennett, but the cough answered for me.
“He wants us to rape you.” Max spoke the word so casually, as if it were already written in stone and predestined. I trembled when I realized it probably was. “But no one is going to murder you. If you look like you can’t handle it…” He held his arms out. His muscles tensed, dangerously strong and completely inescapable. “We won’t touch you. Use some common sense.”
Nicholas said nothing, but his promise burrowed deep in my mind.
He wouldn’t hurt me.
Nicholas was many things—ruthless, ambitious. But was he a man of his word?
Reed waved the Xbox controller again. Max brandished a number of blue-ray videos.
Though my insides turned on me, slithering in the cold fear of what I knew would happen but hadn’t been brave enough to imagine.
They would take me.
They would try to breed a Bennett son into me.
I nearly died in Nicholas’s arms, and, if I was going to recover, I couldn’t risk the added stress of whatever depravity they planned for my virginity. I grabbed a title from Max’s collection at random.
Reed called me forward. “What’d you pick?”
I held the movie up with a trembling hand. He grinned. He must have known he was charming.
“Diehard. Love it.” He tossed me my pajamas and pointed to the powder room behind the screen. “Change in there. We’ll take care of you.”
Take care of me?
Nicholas nudged me when I didn’t move. His mocha words breathed heat into me.
“Do you need help changing?” He whispered.
The goose bumps returned. I shook my head. “I think I remember how it works, thanks.”
Nicholas didn’t like my tone. He moved behind me, seizing my arms and pinning me against him. I didn’t have the strength to fight, but I regained my pride far quicker than my energy.
“Now what do you want?” I hissed.
“Sarah, you’re our guest.” His voice rumbled in places that weren’t fair for him to strike. Max perked an eyebrow. “More important than a guest, actually. Do you know what you are?”
“An enemy.”
“Hardly. You’re a gift.”
“I don’t give Bennetts charity.”
“Not willingly.” His grip tightened. “But we’ll take it nevertheless.”
“Of course you will.”
“But now that you’re in our custody, we’ll do whatever it takes to keep you safe, protected, and healthy.” He paused. “I won’t guarantee happy. That’s up to you.”
“Don’t count on it.”
“You’re in our possession, Sarah. You are a possession.”
“For now.”
His voice dizzied me. I hated the betraying tingles that revealed too much. My cheeks flushed as pink as my pajamas. He didn’t release me, even as his brothers watched.
How was I supposed to fight a man like this?
Nicholas spoke of lust and ownership and captivity as though it were an offered romance. Everything he vowed to do was a crime, but yet every time he threatened me with a hint of his intentions, my defenses shattered.
Thoughts and feelings and desires rippled through what remained of my rationality.
His was a different breed of cruelty.
Nicholas deliberately teased me. He whispered with velvet promises laced in blood and wielded the menace of his passion like a blade to my neck. Part of me longed for the moment he finally decided to slice.
But I expected Bennett trickery. I braced for beatings and tried to forget the humiliations.
But movies? Popcorn? A pledge to ensure my safety?
Something didn’t add up.
My eyebrow perked.
Not all the Bennetts were thrilled with Darius’s plan.
Reed didn’t touch me. Max hadn’t approved.
Only Nicholas dared to act. He eagerly waited to take me, fuck me, breed me. He murmured those sordid words into my ear just to watch as his stare unraveled my barest threads.
I didn’t realize it before.
My step-brothers were monsters, but what if I could twist my newfound family from my captors into my rescuers?
Nicholas already agreed to search for the evidence I needed to prove my father was murdered. What would I get out of Reed and Max?
I obeyed them without a protest, changing and returning to the theater just in time to offer them a pitiful little cough. Reed lunged over his seat to get me another blanket. Max fumbled with a bottle of water. Nicholas ripped open the prescription bag to find my inhaler.
I hid my excitement with another sad cough. They leapt to my aid.
These men, my step-brothers, weren’t just my future rapists.
They would be my allies.
Even if they didn’t know it yet.
They didn’t hurt me. At all.
For five days, I recovered and just…hung out with my step-brothers. Between their trips to the city and appointments, jobs and company events, they’d catch a movie with me, play a game, or sneak me desserts.
It was like it a perfectly normal…family.
They didn’t touch me. No one threatened me. I wasn’t scared.
No one kissed me, despite the dreams that woke me in a frustrated heat.
I camped out on a leather recliner, hidden away in Max’s theater sanctuary. One of my step-brothers managed to baby-sit me at all hours, either so I didn’t escape or to keep an eye on my asthma.
Nicholas, of course, ran the company. He worked in and out of the estate, but Nicholas was the only one who lived with Darius in the mansion. Reed and Max, under orders from their father, had returned from their homes only to breed me.
Charming.
They all worked for the Bennett Corporation, though Max wasn’t meant to join the company. Max was military, o
r had been, until whatever happened to his leg became too much of a detriment to serve. I didn’t ask if it was a combat injury. He wasn’t forthcoming with many details save for relentlessly mocking my skill at Call of Duty.
And Reed? God help me, Reed might have been my third brother. He worked the family’s charity as the Director of Operations—a general saint in a family of demons. I liked him, even when he slaughtered me at Mario Kart and mocked me for going in reverse around the finish line.
“Just ask, and I’ll give you a thirty second head start,” he said.
Freaking Mario bopped me with a red shell. I threw the controller as the Princess avatar cried just inches from the finish as the race mercy ended.
Reed hopped over his recliner and made a sandwich from the platter stashed upstairs so I wouldn’t hobble to the kitchen.
So I wouldn’t cross Darius’s path.
He held up the salami. I shook my head. Turkey. I scrunched my nose. He tossed a pepperoncini at me. I ducked. It slammed against one of the recliners and slid in a sticky mess down the back.
“Oh, Max is gonna be pissed,” I said.
“I’ll buy him a new chair. What do you want to eat?”
No more sandwiches. My step-brothers were carnivores. I hadn’t seen a floret of broccoli in a week.
“Ever been to Cherrywood Valley?” I shrugged. “You know, when you aren’t kidnapping me?”
“Sometimes.”
“We have a farmer’s market set up on Tuesdays and Thursdays. There’s a restaurant that takes whatever produce is left over and grills it up. It’s delicious.”
He stared at the platter. “I can’t take you home, Sarah.”
I hadn’t asked him that yet. “Are you sure?”
“Don’t make this harder on yourself.”
“I’d like to get out of the house.”
“Turn your face blue again. That worked last time.”
No thanks.
I stiffened as a silken voice chuckled from the doorway. Nicholas’s amusement squeezed everything inside me, but enough of my strength returned that I could finally meet his stare.
“Are you bored already, Ms. Atwood?” He asked.
“So what if I am?”
“Then we can go to work.”
“We?”
Nicholas motioned for me to follow. Reed tossed me a blanket. I wrapped it over me if only because my peppermint striped fuzzy pants and chemise didn’t offer me an edge against Nicholas’s suit.
My steps slowed as he led me to the study. I clutched the blanket. He did it on purpose—taking me to the same room where his father humiliated me. I had been completely exposed to him here. Bare. Vulnerable.
I wasn’t ready to relive it. I recovered, but my breathing wasn’t clear yet, and I slept fourteen hours a day. I’d still be admitted in the hospital if the Bennetts hadn’t demanded my release.
My stay in their care had been relatively peaceful, but that didn’t mean I was safe.
They counted the days. So did I. I hated that time of the month, but I never thought there’d be something worse than it—a time when everything I knew about life, men, and love would be forever destroyed.
My laptop waited in the study. He pointed to a spare chair and claimed the seat before my computer.
“You’ve got to be kidding,” I said.
“We have emails to answer and a bit of work to do.”
“Get off my computer.”
“I like the desktop.” He studied the photo I saved—a picture of Mike, Josiah, and I doing handstands next to a crumbling scarecrow. “You have a lovely smile.”
“Get off my computer.”
Nicholas ignored me. “First thing. Sign this.”
He pushed my course add/drop forms toward me.
Was beating me to a pulp not a good enough torture for a Bennett?
“I don’t like it either,” he said. “But, even if you weren’t in this situation, your family’s tragedy and the company are too much to handle. You figured this might happen, or you wouldn’t have carried these with you.”
“I can do it.”
He raised an eyebrow. “You’re the acting CEO of a billion dollar company. Education is important, but it isn’t necessary now.”
“But I’m not majoring in business.”
“You aren’t passing either.”
I would have hated it more if he weren’t right. I wouldn’t pass with so many incompletes and missed assignments.
“Sarah, we won’t let you leave the estate until you have our son,” Nicholas said. My stomach still lurched every time they said it. “You won’t be going to college anytime soon.”
My hand thudded heavy against the paper. I poked a hole through the flourish I added to Atwood.
Just another sacrifice. I blinked frustrated tears.
Nicholas placed the document in a folder labeled Broughton University. His attention focused on the screen. He scanned the emails with a harsh sigh.
“Did your father micromanage his company?”
“Why would I tell you that?”
He pushed away from the computer. “I should be at my office, working on my own projects. Instead, I’m behind so I might stabilize a rival company. I’d take more care with my tone.”
“Oh bullshit,” I said. “This isn’t for me. This is a cover-up so no one realizes that I’ve been kidnapped.”
“You’re right.”
“I’ll return to the theater now, thank you.”
He studied the emails. “You are involved in entirely too many corporate affairs. Where are your Vice-Presidents?” He scrolled through an email chain. “Your father and brothers wouldn’t have dealt with this many minute details. No wonder you’re behind on your coursework.”
I seethed as he typed out email after email.
“What are you doing?” I demanded.
“Delegating.”
“Well, stop it!”
Nicholas read one email more carefully. “Your attorney received a letter from an investor in Josmik Holdings. He says, I might have something for us.”
I didn’t react. Nicholas arched an eyebrow.
“Any idea what that’s about?” He asked.
He wished. Darius hired a private investigator to dig up dirt on my brothers’ investment. The Bennetts wanted the same information I needed. Too bad I had nothing to give.
I shrugged. “Just one of the dozens of fires my brothers started that we’ve been putting out.”
If he doubted me, he didn’t show it. He closed the laptop.
“You won’t like this next order of business.”
“This takeover has been a blast so far.”
He handed me another document. I didn’t finish the first paragraph before I crumpled it and threw it at him.
“A leave of absence?”
“Undue strain from your asthma attack. Doctor recommended.”
“I’ll never sign it.”
“My father knows that.”
A chill sprinted over my spine, despite the pleasant fire crackling from the hearth.
“What’s he holding over me?”
“Your medication.”
Of course was.
“He’ll try to scare you. More attacks, less recovery time. Multiple illnesses will weaken your Board’s confidence.” Nicholas didn’t soften his voice. He didn’t have to. His every word squeezed my chest like another attack. “Either you willingly take the leave and let your VPs do their job, or you’ll lose their respect and money.”
“I can live without the inhaler.”
“Sarah, even your father took a leave of absence when he was diagnosed—”
“Don’t.” I hissed through clenched teeth. “Don’t you talk about him.”
I stood, brushing my hands through my hair. I didn’t have a lot of options. Making a run for it didn’t end well last time, but at least I’d try to escape the worst decision before I lost all control of my life.
Was it worth it?
Lea
ving school? Abandoning the company?
Sacrificing my body?
Was it worth destroying everything so I could take down a man who deserved to experience every misfortune that befell my family?
Yes.
Because it’s what Dad would have made me do.
“Sue him.” My father spoke through a mouthful of mashed potatoes. He shoveled another bite before pointing his fork. “They insulted the Atwoods. Call Anthony. We’ll set up a defamation suit.”
Josiah reluctantly shrugged. “Just let it slide. We won’t take a hit from a local paper.”
“If they insulted our product, they insulted us. Nothing is more important than our name, son. Our farm, our company, our crops—it’s all part of our blood. And we protect our blood, you hear?”
“Yeah. I got it.”
Dad threw his fork down. “We’ll do it now. Get up.”
“We haven’t even cut the cake.” Josiah stood anyway.
“She’s turned fifteen. She’ll be fine.”
Mike joined him, mussing my hair. “Catch you later, Sprout.”
Dad shouted from his office. They wished me a happy birthday before following.
I was actually sixteen.
My father worked so hard, he accidentally forgot to care for anything but his job.
He would have made me cut out Darius’s heart by now.
How was I supposed to avenge him if I had to leave everything behind?
My father deserved justice. I deserved a life. But the responsibility that fell to me was the very thing my father never planned for me to have.
He wanted a male heir to preserve the Atwood legacy.
So did the Bennetts.
“Sarah.” Nicholas’s baritone soothed me, a comfort I didn’t want. “You’ve worked hard. No one will deny that.”
“I didn’t have a choice.”
Nicholas stood before me. Too close, but I didn’t give an inch. My breathing quickened. It only teased me with the crisp, sharp scent of him.
“I wish I had better news for you,” he said.
“Let me guess. I don’t have a choice now either?”
He shook his head. A shiver grazed me. I didn’t know if it was good or bad.