“Do you like this?” he asks me darkly, moving his finger in and out of me. “I know you’re not innocent. You’re not the good girl I once thought you could be.”
“Leo,” I sob. As his finger thrusts into me, his thumb finds my nub and presses down.
“Is that what you wanted? Wanted to use me for your own needs? To help your father? I shouldn’t even be showing you any kind of pleasure.”
“Please.” I grip his jacket with all my strength. My hips have a mind of their own as they buck into his hand.
The moment he flicks my nub I lose myself to an orgasm. My legs give out and I slump against him. Leo catches me.
When he pulls his finger from me, I see that it’s covered in blood. His eyes widen.
“Please,” I whimper, lost in my pain and pleasure.
Leo lets me go and I stumble back. I watch in confusion as he storms out of the basement.
He didn’t lock me inside the cage. But I’m too caught up in the pain between my legs and the pleasure coursing through my body to realize this. All I can do is slump to the floor and cry.
Chapter Eight
Leo
The blood on my finger is a haunting sight. It speaks to the fact that Emma is a virgin, which means she was honest about one thing.
What else has she been honest about?
Everything? Nothing?
Fuck. I don’t know and it’s eating me up inside.
I rush into the nearest bathroom and wash my hands. Wash away the shame that’s filling me up. Am I torturing a completely innocent woman?
But I know what I saw when Alessandro laid eyes on Emma. She is his daughter. So either she really has never met himbefore and he was never a part of her life or she’s been lying to me about it. I really don’t know.
Fuck.
I stumble away from the sink, running my hand over my face. What am I going to do? Emma is steadfast in her story that she doesn’t know anything but I know people can break. Will I have to hurt her even more to get her to do that? Can I even get myself to hurt her more? I gave her a blanket because I didn’t want her to be cold at night. I can’t get myself to truly hurt her in the ways I would with someone else to get the information I need.
This would all be so much easier if she didn’t have such an open, sweet face. Her innocence, to some degree, is real. The blood I washed away is evidence of that.
I need to get answers and I’m not ready to do what I have to do to get them.
Emma
After I finish crying, I realize that Leo never locked me back in the cage. My legs move up the stairs to the door that leads to the rest of the house. When I try the doorknob, I learn that it’s unlocked.
I can escape.
With a gasp, I tiptoe out into the hallway. Leo is nowhere in sight. The house is dark and quiet. But that’s dangerous because he might hear me and put me right back in that cage. I was heldas a prisoner all my life by my mother and it will kill me if I have to spend the rest of my life as a prisoner to Leo.
I have to leave. But the second that thought hits me, it also dawns on me that I still have nowhere to go. I left my mother to find freedom. My own father is a mafia man who’s a stranger. I can’t trust him, especially if he’s anything like Leo. I don’t have any money. I can’t risk going upstairs to the room Leo gave me and taking the clothes he bought for me. I only have what’s on my back right now – the silky lavender dress that doesn’t offer my body any sort of protection.
I have nothing and yet, in this moment, I can have my freedom. I can go to the police. Ask for help. Resources. Anything.
I tiptoe to the front door and when no one comes to stop me, I leave. The crisp air of the night hits me in the face, making me shiver. My bare feet are instantly cold.
But I can’t stop. I take off running down the street.
I only make it down the road when a car pulls up beside me. A man is revealed on the other side when the window is rolled down. The man in question has bland features. Nothing to make him stand out in a crowd.
