“Enjoy your beauty rest?” he sneers at me.

  I ignore his question and quickly gauge the status of my bandaged left hand. The gauze that Jake wrapped around my palm and wrist is tinted red with the residual blood that seeped through, but the gauze is still in place.

  After making sure that my white dress is still covering me sufficiently, I pull back the sheets and swing my legs over the side of the bed. I stand up and move toward the door, but before I can get within a few feet of it, the guard is up out of the chair and blocking my way.

  His mouth turns up in a devious smile as he says, “I think you owe me something for sitting here watching you snore all afternoon instead of being outside drinking with the guys.”

  My hands automatically ball into fists, seething rage pulsing through me in response to the man’s remarks. My left palm burns with pain as a result, but I’m so grateful to still have use of the hand that it doesn’t even bother me.

  “I owe you a nice jab to the face,” I counter, “but I don’t want to risk bruising my only good hand.”

  He belts out a laugh, then advances toward me. “I’d love to see you try.”

  With nowhere else to go, I shuffle backward away from the man and gauge my options, since I am cornered in the room. My back hits the wall at the same time that I hear heavy footsteps downstairs. The man slams his hands on the walls to cage me in on each side, his malicious face coming within inches of mine until his head suddenly turns back at the sound of the swinging door at the bottom of the stairwell.

  He steps away from me as the footsteps quickly move up the stairs. I remain completely still in the corner as Xavier appears in the doorway and takes in the scene around him.

  “What the fuck is going on up here?” he demands, looking at me only briefly before his eyes narrow on the guard. “She is not up for grabs.” He strides toward him angrily. “No one touches her but me. Do you understand?”

  The guard looks ready to argue this point, but he does eventually give in and nod.

  “Now get the fuck out of here,” Xavier commands, keeping his full attention and furious gaze on the guard until he disappears down the stairs.

  For the briefest moment, I feel the familiar surging warmth within my chest that I felt each time that Silas stepped in to save me or help me during our time together. When my savior in this moment turns around, though, my heart becomes consumed with anger and hatred instead.

  “Are you okay?” Xavier asks with genuine concern as he looks me over carefully, ironic because he’ll only find the wounds that he inflicted on me.

  His worry is intriguing, though, as if somewhere deep inside, he actually cares about my well-being despite all that he has done to defile and torture me. I decide to use it to my advantage, to see just how much he actually cares.

  “I’m okay,” I breathe out with relief before meeting Xavier’s gaze and whispering, “Thank you for stopping him.”

  The concern in his expression turns into warmth and relief. He steps forward and pulls me against his chest, encasing me within his arms. I grip him desperately in return, giving in to the strange need that he has to be my protector.

  “I thought I could trust my men to keep their hands to themselves,” he says with frustration. “Clearly I was wrong. I’ll have to keep you with me at all times.”

  I have to shrug off the shiver I feel building inside me at the thought of never leaving Xavier’s sight again. Managing to hold back that reaction, I ask, “Will you keep me safe?”

  Xavier pulls back from me with a surprised expression. “What do you mean?”

  “Safety. Protection. That’s what I need. That’s what Silas was always able to provide for me.” My throat clenches at the mention of Silas’ name, but I manage to keep my emotions in check. “Will you take care of me the same way?”

  Seeming a little thrown off by my question, Xavier hesitates before pulling me against him again and placing a kiss on the top of my head. “I will protect you.”

  I remain within his embrace while I try to process this development in my forced relationship with Xavier. The impenetrable walls built up around him appear to be cracking slightly, just enough to weaken them so that I might tear them down completely.

  When Xavier pulls away from me this time, he slides his hands down each of my arms until they connect with my hands between us. He focuses on my bandaged left hand, running his thumb gently across the middle of my palm where the blood seeped through the gauze.

  I manage to slip my bandaged hand out from his hold, tucking it away behind me with the genuine shame I feel at having my palm cut open again. Xavier doesn’t let me get away with the move so easily, though; he reaches forward and grabs my hand again, bringing it up his lips this time and placing a soft kiss over the gauze.

  “This wasn’t your fault,” he says quietly, keeping my hand within inches of his mouth so that he can kiss it again. “Silas made me do this to you.”

  I nod in agreement with Xavier, even though I know that my carved-up palm is solely Xavier’s fault.

  “Let me make it up to you,” he offers before guiding me by the hand over to the bed.

  I feel the sudden need to cry at the thought that this is how Xavier plans to apologize for what he did to me, but my eyes remain dry even as Xavier helps me sit down on the mattress.

  Before my back can even make it to the bedsheet, Xavier has pulled my white dress over my head, putting my exposed breasts within inches of his face. He can’t seem to help himself as he takes my nipple between his lips and pulls it into his mouth to flick it repeatedly with his tongue.

  Xavier slips his hand down over my pussy, rubbing me and probing gently inside me. His lips slowly work their way from my breast down past my stomach until they find my throbbing clit, prompting a soft moan to escape me.

  When he fills me with two of his fingers and pumps them in and out of me, I forget my hellish situation for a moment and simply enjoy the euphoric feeling of this pleasure. I quickly become overwhelmed by it, and soon my body is pulsing, my muscles contracting with the force of my orgasm.

  Licking his lips, Xavier moves his eyes up my naked body to my face. He grins widely as he takes in my reddened cheeks and heavy breathing, looking extremely satisfied that he was successful in what he set out to do.

  While my needs have been met and my head is clear, Xavier appears to be having much the opposite experience. He looks hungry with need and desire as he slowly crawls up the bed while hovering over me. When he reaches the level of my breasts, he stops to straddle me and presses my breasts together so that he can bury his face into them.

  I know where this is leading. I know he’ll strip down and plunge his cock inside me soon enough. As he sits up over me to begin the steps toward this inevitable outcome, taking off his shirt and unbuttoning his pants, I wonder how many more times I can handle willingly letting him bury his cock inside me.

  Desperate for a mental escape from this reality, I turn my head just enough to find Silas’ metal art sculpture hanging on the wall above the bed. Seeing the twisted and broken pieces of metal causes something warm to stir within my chest.

  It also causes an idea to spark within my mind.

  By the time I turn my attention back to Xavier, he’s already naked and rubbing his hardened cock against my thigh, inching it closer to the space between my legs. When he reaches over to the nightstand drawer and pulls out a condom, I grab it from his hand to stop him.

  “Let me drive,” I suggest innocently. “I owe it to you for protecting me earlier.”

  Xavier looks surprised, but more than willing to comply with my request. He collapses to his side on the bed and watches me readjust my position so that I’m sitting up on my knees in the middle of the bed.

  “Lie down,” I instruct at the same time that I move one of the pillows closer to the middle of the bed for him.

  The playful gleam in Xavier’s eyes only broadens as he settles into the position I’ve suggested.

  My heart rate quickens rapidly now as I realize that I need Xavier to be more distracted than usual while I do this. Riding him on top like this is not something new or special to him. It won’t allow me the element of surprise that I need.

  I know there is only one thing I can do without raising too much suspicion. It’s a risk on multiple levels, but it feels like I have no choice but to take it.

  After tossing the condom package down to the floor, I raise my hips up and drop myself down onto Xavier’s bare cock, taking him fully inside me. He gasps out as he reaches the farthest depth of warm penetration within me.

  “What are you doing?” he barely manages to ask while I rise up and then plunge down on top of him again.

  “I’m fucking you bare,” I respond before slowly increasing the speed of my thrusts against him. “How long has it been since you fucked a woman like this?”

  Xavier doesn’t even respond. He appears too overwhelmed with this new feeling that I’m creating inside him to answer my question.

  “I can’t have children,” I admit truthfully, terrified to be revealing my secret to him.

  “You’re lying,” Xavier accuses me while he continues to enjoy my movements on top of him.

  “Silas and I tried for over a year,” I explain. “Not even Joseph could get me pregnant. There’s an abnormality in my womb that prevents me from conceiving a child.”

  Xavier’s eyes suddenly light up, his expression filled with pure elation.

  “You know what this means?” I ask breathlessly as I ride him even more wildly. “No more condoms. No more restrictions on what we can do. No matter how many times we fuck each other bare, I’ll never get pregnant.”

  My revelation causes Xavier’s expression to become ravenous, prompting him to grab my hips to pump his cock up into me to meet each of my forceful thrusts.

  “Come inside me, Xavier,” I demand. “Take what you’ve earned, and fill me with your seed.”

  He closes his eyes and gasps out at the same moment I feel his cock pulse and warmth spread within me. While he basks in the euphoria of coming inside me with no barrier between us, I make my move and push up from him to reach forward, grasping on to each side of the flat metal art sculpture above the bed and yanking it with all of my strength from its attachment to the wall.

  Xavier opens his eyes in recovery from his orgasm just in time to see me drop the sharp edges of the sculpture down onto his neck. There is no gasp or cry from his lips; only a pitiful gurgling sound accompanied by the metallic smell of blood.

  I press down on the sculpture with as much force as my trembling body can manage while Xavier tries to move and thrash his body beneath me, eyes wide and bulging with fear. I feel the wetness and pain from the wound reopening on my palm, but I push through it and hold my makeshift weapon firmly in place. It doesn’t take long before the fight in Xavier’s limbs and body starts to subside.

  Tears of hatred and anguish stream down my cheeks while I hold my position until the final gurgled breath leaves Xavier’s lips. It’s not until his body goes completely limp beneath me that I dare to remove the twisted metal sculpture from his neck. Rather than dropping it to the floor, I carefully move it behind me to the end of the bed to avoid making too much noise. Then I look at Xavier’s face.

  His pale, lifeless face.

  A sob of both terror and relief bubbles up from within my chest at seeing the results of my victory. This man can’t fuck my body or mind anymore. He’ll never physically or emotionally torture my family again. We are free from his hold forever, though I know he’ll always haunt me in my dreams.

  He haunts me even now as his cum drips down between my legs.

  I quietly shuffle off of the bed and grab a discarded towel from the floor. When I’ve cleaned myself up as best I can, I stop moving at the realization that I have no idea what to do next. Xavier is no longer a threat, but I have a lot of work left to do before this ordeal will truly be over for me and my family.

  21

  After a few deep breaths, I manage to regain enough control of my emotions to start evaluating my situation and formulating a plan. Gauging the time by how low the sun is in the sky, I expect it’s almost dinnertime by now. Jake will likely be in the kitchen preparing the meal. He’ll have a guard nearby, but there shouldn’t be anyone else in the house. The other men usually wait outside for their food to be served.

  When I sneak over to the back windows and peer down at the backyard, I confirm the presence of Xavier’s men scattered across the patio as I expected, still drinking their way through our liquor supply.

  I quietly move to the dresser and sift through it to grab some clothes. The slight tremble of my hands persists while I throw on a t-shirt and slip on my underwear and jeans.

  Once I’m dressed, I dig in Xavier’s discarded clothes on the floor for any weapons I can use, finding some success when I pull out a small switchblade from the back pocket of his pants.

  Knowing that my close-quarters combat skills aren’t as good as my firearm abilities, I’ll have to rely on distraction and the element of surprise to help me in what’s coming next. I need Jake by my side, which means I need to find a way to take out his guard first.

  I pocket the switchblade and quietly cross the wood floors to move the bloodied metal art sculpture off of the bed, relocating it near the back corner of the room so that it’s mostly hidden behind the black leather chair.

  When I turn back around to face Xavier’s lifeless, naked body sprawled across the bed, I have to resist the urge to vomit. I try to avert my eyes from him as much as possible while I carefully roll him over to his stomach. The comforter that was bunched up at the foot of the bed remains free of any blood stains, so I use it to cover Xavier’s body so that only the top of his head is visible.

  Stepping back toward the door and evaluating the room around me, I’m relieved to see that it’s not at all obvious what just happened in this space. Other than the twisted metal art sculpture missing from the wall, nothing has changed in the room. No blood is visible on the bed, and Xavier looks like he could just be sleeping beneath the covers.

  It’s time to go downstairs.

  My heart races as I take the switchblade out of my pocket and open it, keeping it ready at my side as I quietly step down the staircase dimly lit by the LED light above. When I reach the door at the bottom and slowly push it open, I’m confused at feeling resistance from the other side.

  A few rushed footsteps follow, and I quickly realize that someone was there listening in on the other side of the door. Having already made my presence known to whoever it was, I decide to peek through the opening of the door. My entire body jumps at the sight of the guard who was watching me sleep earlier.

  “Jesus Christ,” I breathe out automatically as I hide the switchblade behind me, “you scared me.”

  “You’re the one who snuck up on me,” he retorts with frustration.

  I stare at him incredulously. “You’re the one creeping around outside the staircase to my bedroom.”

  “Xavier’s bedroom,” he corrects me, unfazed by my accusation. “I was hoping to listen in on round two.”

  “Round two?” I repeat questioningly before realizing the opportunity presented to me that I need to pursue. “We were just about to get started, but I talked Xavier into mixing it up a bit this time. I was scared, but also intrigued by your advance earlier.” I open the door just a little bit wider and assume as enticing a position against the doorframe as I can manage right now. “I’ve never had a threesome before, but I want to try it out, and Xavier agreed.”

  The guard’s eyes perk up with excitement before they fall from my face to my chest. “I thought he said—”

  “He knows he was being greedy,” I interject. “He loves to make me happy, so he’s willing to bend the rules for me this one time.”

  The guard still seems skeptical, so I take my invitation a step further and lift my shirt until the bottom of my breast is showing from underneath. The move is enough for him to stride forward and shove his hand up under my shirt to grab my breast. He moans slightly as he kneads it within his grasp.

  “Xavier was right,” he says quietly before leaning in to move his mouth within inches of my ear. “You really are a whore, aren’t you?”

  I smile playfully in response before stepping back into the stairwell. “Why don’t you come upstairs and find out?”

  As I turn to ascend the stairs, I swiftly move the switchblade to my front and clutch it against me where the guard can’t see it. I desperately try to keep my breathing and heart rate under control as I walk up the stairs, but my organs feel about ready to explode inside my chest from the anxiety pulsing through me.

  When I walk through the doorway at the top of the stairs, I step to the side in front of the closet to allow the man to walk fully into the room. He steps in and looks from me to the bed, his face twisting in confusion when he sees Xavier lying there.

  “You can’t seriously be sleeping already,” the guard calls to him in a tease.

  The lack of response causes the guard to become more alert, and he quickly runs forward to the side of the bed. When he reaches down to pull back the comforter, I quietly bolt across the room and jump onto his back. He throws his upper body back in response to try to eject me, but I manage to hold on, covering his mouth and pulling his head back in the same motion with my bandaged left hand while pressing the knife blade forcefully across his neck with my right hand.

  The familiar metallic smell of blood envelopes my nostrils just before he reaches behind him to get a grip on my shirt and launch me over his shoulder. I bounce off of the bed and go careening onto the floor, causing the switchblade to become dislodged from my grasp in the process.

  In the moment it takes me to reorient myself to my surroundings, I realize that the guard has pulled his handgun. He aims it me unsteadily in his right hand while he holds his left hand to his gurgling neck in a hopeless attempt to stop the flow of blood pouring out of him.

  I scramble to my feet to move for the gun, but before I get very far, the guard appears overcome by his injury and collapses forward onto the bed. He stares at the gun with panic in his eyes, surely realizing as I am right now that he would need to use his left hand to pull back the slide to load a bullet in the chamber.