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I sink to the sofa since I don’t think I can make through this conversation standing.
“Why am I here?” I force myself to ask, already knowing the answer, but I need to establish connection with him.
Lester appraises me. His eyes glint with dark approval while he sips dark liquid with ice from a crystal glass.
“I already told you.” He smirks, staring at me with his dark brown eyes that remind me of dark pits full of malice. “You fascinate me, and when a man like me finds something like you, he plucks it off the streets to fulfill his basic instincts.” His sadistic words maim me to the seat. Satisfied with the glint of fear on my face, he leans back, dissecting me like an insect.
By sheer willpower, I hold back my burning need to scream and run. “I have children, Mr. Belington. I’m a mother. I’m sure you could find young, willing beauties to fulfill your decadent desires.”
“But you, Cassandra, are a very unique jewel—broken, then mended back and finally polished to radiating perfection. Women like you aren’t easy to find or to make. I can’t wait to see you in a capable Master’s hands.”
I gasp. “Make?”
He throws his head back and laughs, filling the air with dread.
“Of all the things you ask me this? What will it take to really scare you, Cassandra?”
I stay silent, not willing to offer free information about my weaknesses. Lester’s narcissistic gaze becomes smug as all the color bleeds out of my face and my legs tingle.
“Very well, let’s play your way. We specialize in a very unique trade.”
My jaw locks in place and my nostrils flare as a sting nips my nose, but I don’t dare to blink.
“Our clients pay huge money for their custom-made toys. We polish an unpolished stone until it’s exactly the way they want it to be.”
“You mean you break them.” Words with a cutting edge slip through my lips before I can bind them.
“To make a pleasure toy, you must break one’s inhibitions, reshape her instincts, teach her of respect and submission.” He digs his penetrating gaze into mine, and I feel a vortex sucking me in. Even my soul curls inward so it could shield from this monster’s claws. “You’re a most prized possession in this place, so many will be fighting to get their hands on you, to own you.”
For a while, I sit there gasping like a fish without water, trying to pull back a tsunami of emotions bombarding my rupturing walls. Lester leisurely sips his drink as if I’m his personal entertainment station. With sickening revulsion, I realize the bastard feeds on my terror, already anticipating what he will do to me. Dread coils inside of me like a snake, slowly unmaking my restraints.
“I have huge plans for you. Don’t worry, we won’t devalue your worth,” he adds and my calm demeanor slips a little bit more.
“Why me?” I blink, surprised, then I muster the strength to ask. He casts his dark gaze toward me, arching his thick eyebrow in question. “You and Darren are business partners. Why risk it?”
His wicked laugh grates on my nerve endings, but I stop myself from kicking him in the throat just to stop that awful sound. The violent need smolders inside of me, decimating my stupor to ashes. And with that inner strength flaming under my skin, I sit straighter and my focus returns.
“You still don’t get it, do you, Cassandra? They don’t care what happens to you. They believe you killed their son. Why would they want you back? You’re just a hindrance to their perfect life.”
I blink, trying to get rid of the haze coating my eyesight as pain like a dull knife slices me. He might be right. After everything that happened to us, as a family, we are lost and broken.
“Did you think they’ll come to save you?” He sneers as I struggle with the truth.
“Perhaps not Helen or Darren, but I have people who love me.” My chin trembles, but I sink my teeth into my bottom lip to stop it, holding onto faith with sheer willpower. He knows what he’s doing. He wants me to feel helpless and alone.
“Oh, yes, Leif and Lucas. Those boys were rebels since they started to walk.” He pauses, evaluating me before he delivers a punch to my guts. “Lucas has been summoned on a mission and won’t be around for a month or two. When he returns, it will be too late. And Leif has to protect his little daughter Maya and his wife. It takes little effort to make a man uneasy with their safety.”
My pulse pounds like a hammer against my skull. Black spots dot my vision, but I manage to blink them away, drawing a massive gulp of air into my burning lungs. I dig my nails into the sofa cushion to ask him what bothers me the most.
&nbs
p; “And Mark, do you believe he’ll just walk away?” I clear my throat as my heart fills up with the hope that there is another man who will not stop until he finds me.
“Oh, Cassandra.”
My blood chills as I see the gleam of depraved hunger in his dark gaze, consuming all the light from me.
“But he’s a star of the show. He’ll watch his beloved woman be claimed by a Master, and then be remade into a true piece of art.”
