She gave me a small smile. “I have good news,” she murmured, her thumb caressing the backs of my hands. “I was bought by one of Bennett’s guys; Bruce.”
Why in the actual fuck is that good news? I wanted to say, but I didn’t.
I glanced over to the doorway, where Bennett still stood, watching me, his arms folded across his chest. Savannah’s voice pulled me away from him, and my eyes fell on her lit-up face.
“I don’t have to be abused anymore,” she said with a content sigh. “Bruce was the only guy who didn’t hurt me when he spent time with me, and now he’s bought me for himself.”
Good for you. I’m glad you’ll get out of here while I continue suffering in a place I don’t belong.
“He said once the war is over, I’ll be able to live in his townhouse with him,” she continued. “But for now, I have to stay inside the house where it’s safer.”
It’s actually because you can’t run away. You left one prison only to be locked away in another.
“Bennett even says I can see you every day now,” she said, looking over her shoulder at him.
I didn’t bother looking over at him. I could feel his eyes on me even without making direct eye contact, which sent dread through my body.
Savannah squeezed my hands, her eyes filling up with tears. “Please talk to me, Vanessa,” she whispered. “I just want to know if you’re okay.”
Exactly what I thought.
I pulled my hands from hers and wrapped my arms around myself, dropping my eyes down to my lap.
“That’s probably enough for tonight, Savannah,” Bennett’s low voice murmured from the door.
She sighed and placed a soft kiss on my forehead before she got off the bed, leaving behind her floral perfume. Bennett murmured something to someone in the hall—probably Bruce—before he closed the door and locked it.
“Is there anything you’d like to say?” he asked, his voice making me flinch.
My entire body trembled as he stalked toward me, but I drew into myself, taking the backseat in my own mind and squeezing my eyes shut. I heard my voice tell him thank you, but I knew I couldn’t speak. It was my pilot at work again, while I sat in a corner of the plane with my hands over my ears and holding my breath. I didn't want to hear his voice or smell his intoxicating cologne. I wanted him to leave me alone, to stop touching me, to stop controlling me.
Please just leave me alone. I broke like you wanted me to; just leave me alone.
“Look at me,” he commanded, putting a finger under my chin and tilting my head up.
“He can’t hurt you in here,” my alter ego reminded me.
But he can. He already has hurt me so many times.
“Not while I’m here.”
I couldn’t see her anymore since taking her hand in the Retribution room, but I still heard her in my head, constantly reminding me that she’d protect me. But even with her there, it didn’t make me less afraid. It didn’t make me tremble less when Bennett was around. I flinched when his grip on my chin tightened.
“Look at me, Aurora,” he said again, but unlike his grip, his tone dropped to a murmur.
He was such a confusing contradiction, his actions betraying his words. His grip reminded me of what he could do to me if I didn’t obey, but his words made him appear harmless. After what I’d already gone through, I didn’t want to take my chances.
I slowly slid my eyes up his form. I noticed how his dress shirt fit smoothly over his tight chest and biceps, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows. The second hand on his silver watch ticked softly, reminding me of the lack of seconds I had to obey before his firm grip turned into a painful slap.
I can’t look at him, I screamed in my head.
“I’m right here. He won’t hurt you in here,” she whispered again.
I forced myself to look at him, unable to stop my body from trembling. His eyes flashed with something unfamiliar, but it was gone before I could fully process it in my mind.
“You may not talk right now, but you’ll moan for me,” he murmured.
Please don’t make me.
“I promise he won’t,” my alter ego whispered. “You won’t feel anything.”
And she was right. I watched as he put his hand in the middle of my chest to push me back onto the bed before reaching down to lift my nightgown. I stared up at the ceiling and braced myself, flinching when I felt the pressure of his fingers between my legs. That was all it was, pressure, not pleasure, which still allowed me to be silent.
He nudged my legs apart, his weight shifting against the bed as he used it for support to get on his knees. I squeaked in fear when he jerked me to the edge of the bed.
Please don’t.
Tears burned my eyes as his head lowered between my legs, but I didn’t dare look down. My alter ego had been right when she said I wouldn’t feel anything. The only thing that told me what he was doing was the familiar way his growing facial hair tickled my inner thighs.
“Are you sure you don’t want to feel him?” she asked me. “Stephanie wasn’t kidding when she told me about this guy. He has a rapid-fire tongue that would make any normal person moan like a porn star.”
No, I don’t. Please don’t make me.
“Fine, suit yourself,” she said with a shrug.
I wasn’t sure how long Bennett continued. I’d cleared my mind and kept my eyes on the ceiling, only noticing the change when he appeared in my vision. He leaned down to kiss me, but I didn’t kiss him back. He grunted and groaned in my ear, but I couldn't focus on him.
His body tensed as he became frustrated with my silence, but he didn't stop what he was doing. I just continued staring at the ceiling, not wanting to feel anything, not wanting to hear him, and not wanting to exist.
There was something I wanted that I couldn't quite put my finger on, something dark to fill the now empty void within me. Was that what Bennett felt like after losing Stephanie? A shell of his former self?
I didn't feel like the same woman I was when I'd walked in. My previous confidence had been stripped away, leaving the old me paralyzed in fear at the thought of another punishment. The person I had become felt dangerous, angry, and wanted revenge.
"I want to hear you moan for me, gorgeous," he murmured in my ear as he kissed along my neck.
"He's going to be so disappointed tonight then," my alter ego whispered before she cackled, the sound so loud off the corners of my mind that I physically cringed.
I just wanted him to be done so he could leave, and I could go to bed. When I'd taken my alter ego's hand, I thought I'd be asleep while she did whatever she needed to do. But she seemed to only control certain things. I could still hear and see Bennett, which was the hardest part. I didn't want to be present at all, but she'd said it was necessary for my rebirth, that I couldn't hide from him forever if I wanted to destroy him.
I just didn't know if I had it in me anymore to destroy him without him destroying the rest of me in the process.
He grabbed my face and kissed me, the passion coming from him catching me off guard. It took me back to when we were at the safe house, how tender and passionate he'd been when showing me the pleasure he gave to his good pets. But I couldn't be pulled back into that cycle with him. It didn't change the fact that he'd broken me in ways I didn't think would ever heal and that he was still the monster I knew and hated. The monster I knew and feared.
"Give me your voice," he whispered, his hips pumping harder against me.
I won't.
"Let me hear you, gorgeous."
No.
He repeated himself over and over until he finally came, looking down at me in confusion and frustration. Along with not getting my voice, he didn't elicit an orgasm from me as he usually did. He panted above me, his skin shiny with a sheen of sweat. I met his gaze briefly before quickly looking away. After a few moments, he sighed and moved away from me, padding into the bathroom. I rolled over onto my side when I heard the shower running, my back facing the bathr
oom.
"That wasn't so bad, was it?" my alter ego asked.
I frowned. He used me and discarded me like the whore he thinks I am.
"Well, I think he knows that you're Stephanie's sister by now. I think it's time to execute my plan."
We can't kill him.
"Who said anything about killing him? Had you communicated with Stephanie longer instead of being a whiny little bitch, you would've known the way to destroy Bennett is through is heart."
I can't bring myself to do that.
"We will do it together. You just have to trust me."
It wasn't like I had much of a choice if I wanted to survive him in my current state. I sighed and closed my eyes, forcing myself to fall asleep before Bennett returned to bed.
The next morning after breakfast, Bennett came into the bedroom with clothes in his hands.
"I need you to get in the shower and get dressed. I have a lot of things to do today, and I'm taking you along with me," he said and walked back out.
I blinked a couple of times, trying to make sure I'd heard him correctly. He'd never taken me on any of his business-related trips aside from the meeting that put us in such a fucked-up situation.
I picked up the clothes, which were nothing but a pair of distressed skinny jeans and a white shirt. He'd included a pair of black lacy panties and matching bra, and I fought the urge to roll my eyes. He hadn't said much after his failed attempt of getting me to moan for him the night before, which was fine with me. I wasn't sure what he had up his sleeve since he was taking me out of the house, but it made me nervous, not relieved like he probably thought it would.
I got out of bed and headed into the bathroom. As I showered, I thought about Savannah and everything she'd told me. She belonged to Bruce, which I wasn't sure was a good thing. Still, I figured it was better than her being abused by random men in the bunker, especially after what I'd witnessed when her session was broadcasted live on the dark web.
She'd said that he hadn't hurt her and seemed excited to be in his possession, so all I could do was trust that he'd take care of her. Now that I didn't have her to worry about, I needed to figure out my own situation.
Whether I belonged here or not, Bennett wouldn't let me go willingly. The sheer thought of being trapped here forever made me draw further into myself, helplessness consuming me.
"Don't be so weak," my alter ego scolded. "I told you to trust me."
With a sigh, I turned the shower off and stepped out, patting my body dry with the plush towels Bennett had placed in the bathroom. I quickly got dressed, the material almost feeling foreign on my skin. The lack of shoes told me I wasn't leaving the house, so I sat on the bed and waited for Bennett to return to figure out what he wanted me to do next.
Bennett gestured for me to come out of the bedroom as he stood in the doorway. I cautiously walked out, wrapping my arms around myself as I looked at Saint and Nyxin, who stood outside my door. They nodded to me in acknowledgment before they headed for the staircase. Bennett put his hand on the small of my back, making my skin crawl as he guided me down the stairs. The moment I saw we were headed back to the bunker, my heart quickened in my chest. I wrapped my arms tighter around myself, trying to even out my breathing, but I suddenly felt as if I were suffocating.
"Relax," Bennett said next to me. "We're going somewhere else."
He sounded so far away, my vision tunneling as we moved closer to the Retribution room. I'm going to be punished again. He's going to punish me for not moaning, I thought, panicking more with every step.
"He's not. He wouldn't be touching you the way he is if you were going to be punished," she said.
I'd completely forgotten he was so close to me because my panic overshadowed everything else. His arm snaked around my waist, pressing me closer to his body as we walked past the rooms he'd tormented me in the week prior.
We reached a wall at the end of the hall, and Bennett pressed what looked like a white spot of paint, a keypad appearing. He punched in a code, and the heavy wall opened into another hall, the cheerful sounds of children greeting us. He guided me toward an open room that was full of playing children.
What the hell are innocent children doing in a hellhole like this?
"Uncle Benny's here!" a little girl shrieked, rushing over to him and colliding into his leg. Other small children rushed over to him, hugging any part of him they could touch. He chuckled and picked the little girl up with a grunt.
"You're getting heavy, little girl," he said.
"That's because I'm almost four," she said proudly.
"Yes, you are," he said, chucking her under the chin before looking at the other children. "Are you having fun?"
"Yes!" they all said in unison.
"Do you guys need anything? More toys? More video games?"
"I want a Viking sword!" a blond boy shouted as he jumped up and down.
Bennett chuckled. "That sounds a bit dangerous, buddy," he said.
It was weird seeing him like this. The Bennett I knew was ruthless and didn't hesitate to hurt anyone who crossed him or didn't bend to his rules. I supposed everyone had different facets of themselves; Bennett's was just hard to figure out unless he was put in a situation where he'd have to switch.
"I want my daddy," the little girl in his arms said and frowned. "Is he going to come today?"
"Daddy's right here, baby girl," Saint said from behind us.
The little girl lit up and practically jumped into his arms when he stopped beside Bennett. I watched as he hugged her tight, and the part of me that still felt something was a little sad.
I missed my father sometimes, too, and I felt a little guilty that I'd blamed him for the current state of my life when he didn't even sign me over. I could still remember the day he took me to the train station. I remembered the sadness in his eyes when he looked at me and how he held me a little tighter and a little longer when he gave me that last hug.
I'd spent so many years being mad at him for sending me away when he was only trying to protect me from the madness that came from the Moreno family, a madness he knew all too well.
"I'm sorry to have to cut the reunion short, but I need to have a meeting with you guys about the 'appointment' tonight," Bennett murmured to Saint.
Saint nodded and whispered something to his daughter, my heart breaking for her when her face fell.
"Okay," she said, her voice laced with sadness.
He hugged her tight again before putting her down on her feet, kissing her forehead, and walking back out of the room. Bennett looked at me.
"Stay here with the kids for a few minutes. I'll be back to get you when I finish this meeting," he said.
I nodded in response, keeping my eyes low. My alter ego hissed in my mind.
"Kids are not for me," she said.
The little girl stared at the door her daddy disappeared through before she let out a small sigh, walking back over to the corner where she had played originally by herself.
I could handle children. They were innocent souls sucked into a fucked-up world due to their parent working for a maniac. Seeing how sad the little girl was after her daddy had to run off to do Bennett's bidding, I figured that if I used my voice for something, it could at least be to comfort a child who didn't ask for this life.
I walked across the room and settled down on the floor next to her. Silent tears rolled down her cheeks as she played with dolls, pausing every now and then to wipe her face with the back of her hands.
"Hi," I murmured.
She looked at me and sniffled. "Hi," she said, her voice soft.
"Is it okay if I play with you?" I asked. She nodded and passed me a doll, which I took before sitting down. "What's your name?"
"Giselle," she said and looked at me for a long moment. "You have hair like my mommy did."
"Is your mommy here with you?" I asked as I looked around. It didn't seem as if anyone's mother was here. The women who tended to them seemed detached, as if taking care of
them was more of a job. None of them acted as if they'd given birth to any of the children in here.
"My mommy's in heaven," she said softly, bouncing her doll around.
"I'm sorry to hear that," I murmured.
We played dolls for a little while, getting lost in her imagination and the stories she'd come up with. She was at least smiling and laughing again, which made my heart warm. As I played with her, my eyes swept around to the other children in the room.
If she was Saint's daughter, I assumed the rest of the children belonged to the other men in Bennett's group. They must have been here so they would be safe during the war. But despite the madness that happened outside of those walls, the children seemed relatively content. Some of them watched television, played on iPads, or played with toys or each other.
"Hey! I don't know your name," the little girl said, startling me a bit.
I gave her a small smile. "My name is Aurora," I said.
"You have a Disney princess name," she said. I watched her as she stood and ran her hand along my top of my head. "Your hair feels like mommy's hair. Are you sick?"
"No," I said and shook my head. "I just wanted to get a haircut."
"Gag," my alter ego said. "Lying to kids to preserve their innocence is lame. You should tell her that her dickhead 'uncle' Bennett cut it off because he wanted to be an asshole."
Shut up. I said I would handle the children; you can handle everything else, I scolded.
"You don't have to tell me twice," she said and went quiet.
"It's a pretty haircut," she said and smiled, sitting down next to me.
I returned her smile and looked at her curly hair pushed back with a white headband, my mind flashing back to when I was a child. Stephanie used to always wear her hair like that, her curly blond hair pushed back with a white headband. Any time she didn't wear one, she'd constantly push her curly locks out of her face while we played or colored until she'd get frustrated and put it back on.
"Thank you," I finally said, giving her a small smile.
Rules of Bennett: The Complete Collection Page 34