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Melina's fingers lace around mine as she pulls me to the bed, pushing me down. The girl sits behind me, her hand wrapping around my bicep as Melina unbuckles my belt. My heart's beating faster than before as she slips down my jeans and boxers, my cock springing out. Fuck, I'm so hard.

Her mouth finds me, tongue flicking against the tip as she sucks the precum away. I run my hand through her hair, holding her in place as she welcomes my cock in her mouth, sliding her lips up and down my shaft. Fuck, she feels so good. It always feels so good. This is why I need her. The girl beside me doesn't stop moaning, and I can't stop watching as she rubs her pussy with the vibrator.

I close my eyes, wanting the feeling to last as pleasure builds. It's so wrong to enjoy this, to enjoy her mouth, to want to fuck her cunt the way I do, but it's the only way to feel something that doesn't hurt. I can feel it building, the orgasm I'm chasing as I fuck her mouth, thrusting my cock deeper until her spit dribbles down my shaft.

This is it. I feel it, the way my heartbeat's faster. The way she sucks harder. My hand grips a little tighter.

But then Amora's face flashes behind my closed lids. The way she looked at me from that balcony before she pulled away, reminding me she's another girl I couldn't save. Another choice I was too scared to fucking make.

"Stop." The word comes out before I've decided to say it. I push Melina back, her face shocked as I stumble off the bed, chest heaving.

She's still there, even now. Behind my eyes, refusing to leave. The voice from the van joined her, too. Both girls are haunting me like the screams in my nightmares, but I'm awake. This doesn't happen when I'm awake.

I drag my hand through my hair, jaw tight.

I'm so fucked.

"Ace?" she questions, wiping her mouth. She tries to come closer, but I push my hand out to stop her, dragging my jeans up with the other. I don't wait, I run out of the playroom. I can hear her calling after me, but I don't turn around.

The hallway is cold after the heat of her room. I lean back against the wall, head dropping, eyes closing. My chest is heaving. Not from the exertion, but from something else entirely. Something I can't name and don't want to. I push off the wall. I need a shower. I need to scrub tonight off my skin and sleep for a week, and wake up remembering who I am and what I'm not.

But instead, I'm standing in a corridor in the dark, thinking about a girl I delivered to the devil himself, and I can't stop.

Chapter Nineteen

Amora

Every inch of me is screaming but no sound slips out.

My insides burn at the touch of his fingertips as he wraps them around my waist, my body alight as his hands spread across my breasts, moving so slow towards my neck, my heartbeat coming to a still as he wraps his hands around my throat. But I never lose sight of Ace from across the balconies.

Help me, Ace. Save me, I beg in my mind, every word itching to fall from my mouth no matter how hard I bite down. His eyes flicker for a second, dropping to Vincent's hands, watching as he claims me. My feet move without permission as I'm pulled back into his chest and through the threshold of the chambers he has me in. Ace isn't coming, why would he? I'm a random girl he'd been instructed to bring here.

"Did you enjoy the little spectacle you caused downstairs, Amora?" His words are hot in my ear, the room spinning as he turns me fast, his eyes peering into my soul as he towers over me. The air thick with a tension I don't want to name. I don't think there are even words to.

"I didn't—" I can't find the words, but I don't get a chance. His finger slowly moves to cover my lips, a small hush escaping his own.

"I know, my love, you wouldn't run from me. I know what he tried, what he wanted. What they all fucking want." His thumb slides across my lower lip as his tongue grazes against his teeth. The words are stuck in my throat. I wanted to tell him I ran, that he killed an innocent man for something I did, but I can't force them out. Because selfishly, John is dead. Why join him?

"But now they know, don't they?" He pulls me closer into him until our chests touch. Our eyes never move; I can't pull my gaze away, it's almost like I'm paralysed under his stare.

"Know?" I swallow as I question, my heart fluttering inside my chest.

"What happens if they touch what belongs to me." Every word drips with possession. I still don't know the lie he's been fed or what the purpose was for, but all Melina has done is feed further into his obsession.

"Get on your knees." His command comes calm, collected. I stare back in horror, almost questioning what he said once more just to confirm the words.

"Vincent…" His name rolls off my tongue, eyes shaking against his gaze.

"I said get on your fucking knees."

I drop, face searching the pattern on the carpet as the bristles dig into my knees. My palms extended on my thighs as I wait for his next command, praying it won't be what I think.

"You're so beautiful to look at, Amora. I can't stop myself from drinking you in every single fucking time you're standing before me." He circles around me, his hand gently pressing on the top of my head, thumb playing with my curls.

I don't speak. I don't know if it's fear or if I'm slowly becoming conditioned. Either way, a silence floods the room that leaves me more unsettled than his words.

"I want to know what hides in the corners of your mind, my love. What deep, dark depravities you have hiding in the shadows."