I’d considered that he might be a plant by them, but not that he actually was one of them.
“I’m the youngest of our family,” he continues to tell me. “The only one who hasn’t already been married off.” He leers at me, and his gaze rakes down my body. “The one who needs a wife.”
Understanding dawns. When one cartel clan takes over another’s territory and business, it’s all too common for the unwed daughters to be forcibly married into that family. Now, that daughter is me.¡Híjole!I’m going to become Ledger Sanchez’s wife and be forced to be a part of the family that slaughtered mine.
“I’ll die before I marry you.”
“Not. Going. To. Happen.” He leans over me and punctuates each word with a jab of his finger to my ribs, hard and painful.
I groan, wishing I could curl into a ball to protect myself, but I’m still tied to this goddamn chair.
I still don’t fully understand how he got me out of the compound. He couldn’t have done it on his own, and from the look of the two big, silent men still standing in the background, he didn’t. They don’t look like cartel men, though.
The cartels are powerful back home, but here, on American soil, I’m not so sure. Would they have been able to break into a biker compound without help? Would they even risk it? The one percenter clubs are feared, and Jack’s chapter might not be huge, but the overall size of the network he can call on across the country is pretty damn big. I did some mild Googling about the man and his lifestyle a while ago. It might have been a bit obsessive of me, but it means I know they havehundreds of bikers who would help from affiliated chapters across the United States.
Thinking about Jack makes my heart ache and my breath feel as if it’s coming through a straw. I miss the compound already and wish I was back there.
Will Jack and the others realize I’m gone? Will they be going crazy to get me back, or will they be relieved that the person causing all the stress in the compound is finally out of their hands?
I want to believe they’ll come looking for me, but then I think of something else. If Ledger is smart, he’ll have also cleared my belongings out of the room. If he did, there’s a good chance Jack and the others won’t know I’ve been taken. They’ll think I’ve done what I’d been threatening all along and run to my family’s safehouse.
The horror of that realization sinks in.
It will mean no one is looking for me. I’m in this on my own.
I’ve taken the Riders’ protection of me for granted. I fought them about it, but they were only trying to help. Now I’m getting to experience what it would really be like if I were on my own, and I regret every time I fought with Jack when he was being protective. I should have cherished that care, and now I miss it the way you miss the sun on your skin when it goes behind a big, ugly cloud.
Ledger bends over me and grabs the chair. With me still in it, he hauls it back upright. The sudden movement gives me whiplash. His strength would be impressive, if not for the fact he’ll be using it against me.
“You’re going to be my wife and join our family,” he announces. “It’s non-negotiable, and I will have so muchpleasure in taking what is mine, but that’s not the only reason I’m keeping you here. You have information that my family needs.”
Shards of ice skitter through my veins. “I’ll never tell you anything!”
“We’ll see about that. You can make this easy and come right out and tell me the location of your family’s safehouse, or you can hold off as long as you can and give me the excuse to have some fun with you.” He paces around my chair again. “Honestly, I don’t care if you hold out on me a little, let me enjoy myself, because by the end, you will tell me where that safehouse is. In fact, you’ll be begging to spill your secrets.”
I clench my jaw. “I’ll die first.”
He laughs. “You do seem fond of threatening to die on me. Let me repeat, I won’t let that happen. You’re going to be my bride, remember? My sweet, innocent Camile.”
Should I tell him that I’m no longer as sweet and innocent as he thinks? I’m tempted to let him know that I had two different men’s cocks inside me last night. That I screamed with pleasure as I came. I’m tempted to throw it at him just to see the look on his face, but doing so will be a death sentence. I’ve grown up aware of how my value resides in my virginity. It’s completely fucked up, but in our society, it’s true. That stupid piece of flesh, that can get broken in ways other than sex, is still used to determine a daughter’s worth in many of the most traditional families within the cartels, much the same as it still is in some of the Italian mafia families.
If I tell him, he’ll most likely reject me. It’s not that IwantLedger to make me his wife, but if he thinks that’s off the table, he’ll torture me to try to get the information from me, and, when he realizes that’s not going tohappen, he’ll kill me. Hopefully, if he thinks I’ll be his wife, he’ll not hurt me in a way I’ll never recover from—at least not physically.
I remember on the night of the date, how he’d seemed perfectly happy to take me against my will. I guess in his mind, losing my virginity to him through violence doesn’t count, which means there’s a good chance he’ll still feel the same way now. The possibility fills me with horror.
He leans close, so his cheek grazes mine, and lowers his voice. “I can’t wait to get inside your pussy. Don’t think I’m going to be gentle about it either. I like to fuck hard and rough. I’m not sure I’m even going to be able to wait until we’re husband and wife, but then I guess you’ve figured that out anyway from our last encounter.”
I cringe away from him. “Don’t touch me! You make me sick.”
“Say that again, because I like it. I like you hating me and being sickened by me. I’m not bothered at all about whether you desire me. I don’t care about making it good for you. You’re nothing but a thing to me, and I’ll do whatever I want, my soon-to-be wife. When we’re married, your body belongs to me, and I will use it any way I please, whenever and wherever the desire takes me. You will never get to say no to me, do you understand? If you try, I’ll make it ten times worse. I’ll fuck your pussy and your ass and your mouth, until you’re nothing more than my cum-filled bitch, and then I’ll do it all over again. And don’t think I’ll be faithful to you either. I’ll happily go out and fuck some other whore, then come back to you and make you suck my dick while it’s still covered in her, and you’ll thank me for it. You’ll be my slut behind doors, while on the outside, whenwe’re in public, you will be the adoring wife who smiles and is polite and says all the right things. And if I even see you look at another man, he’ll be dead, and you won’t sit down for a month.”
Fresh tears roll down my cheeks because I know every word he says is true.
Ledger hasn’t finished. “I’d hoped to take you back to Mexico before we are married, so we can perform the ceremony with my family present, just as it should be. But don’t be mistaken in thinking that I won’t marry you here, if I must. If it looks like you’re going to be trouble and I won’t make it into Mexico on time with you, then I have contacts here who can wed us on American soil.”
My voice is a whisper. “I’ll never be your wife. I’ve already told you, I’ll kill myself first.”
I repeat my threat, but it sounds empty and hollow even to my own ears. I don’t want to die, but I would spend every moment trying to get away, or planning and plotting for a way to end him, and escape.
