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With a scream, I stab and slash until my arm aches and I’m panting. Feathers from the pillows cover me and the floor, the mattress has gaping holes in it, and the bedding is covered in blood and ripped to shreds.
It looks like I feel and makes me smile.
I’m laughing when the door opens. Hiding the glass in the back pocket of my shorts, I step away, my eyes narrowed. Ryder strolls inside. He looks around at the mess, and his arched eyebrow and the slight dipping of his perfect lips are the only signs of his displeasure.
I’m a panting, sweaty mess, and he’s standing there in a suit like a goddamn model. I hate him, and not just because he kidnapped me and locked me in his creepy clean apartment.
“Well, I see you’re making yourself comfortable,” he comments, his voice smooth and low. Like a good shot of Jack. Does anything ruffle this man? I want to run over there and wipe my blood all over his perfect suit just to see what he would do.
“Let me go,” I demand, but he ignores me. Bending down, he picks up a pillowcase and holds it in the air with one finger, showing off the material that’s cut to ribbons.
“Your father sold you, you are ours now.” His tone is so matter-of-fact that I want to explode again.
“I’m a human! You can’t just sell another person!” I scream.
“It seems we can.” He shrugs, dropping the pillowcase. “Your anger at the situation or disbelief will not make it any less real, I assure you. Your father did sell you to us, and you’re now ours. I suggest you find a way to deal with that.”
Deal with that?
Oh, this motherfucker.
Gripping the glass in my back pocket, I storm closer, getting in this face. “Let me go or I swear I’ll—”
“You’ll what?” He smirks, those ice-filled eyes finally thawing a bit to show a challenge there.
A dare.
The glass digs into my skin, cutting it anew as I whip out my hand and slice it towards his unprotected face. He blinks, his hand grabbing mine before the glass is an inch away from his cheek. He tightens his grip, making me gasp as it grinds my bones together, pain sparking through me. “You are ours, Roxxane. If we want to lock you up, we will. If we want to punish you for being a brat, we will. If we want to fuck you…” He leans closer, pressing into the glass, and a bead of blood bubbles on his cheek as he lowers his voice. “We will. If we want to kill you…we will, and there is nothing you can do about it. Deal with it, love, or you might find yourself in a worse place than this.”
Leaning back, he snaps my wrist to the side, making my fingers spasm and release the glass which he pockets. I stare at him as fear and something I don’t want to name fills me, watching that drop of blood racing down his cheek. He pulls out a handkerchief and stops it before it can reach his suit, wiping it away like he didn’t just lean into glass to make a point.
“I can see you’re in a bad mood, so I’ll leave you to think on what I said.” He turns, and I race forward, but I’m too slow. The door slams shut, and the deafening click of a lock slamming into place has me screaming at the wood as I batter my injured hand against it.
When no one comes back, I cut up more of the pillow and bind my hand to stop the bleeding before looking around. It was petty, but I seriously do feel better. Sighing, I lie near the window, staring out at the city as the sky starts to darken.
I used to live in this town, loved exploring it and seeing it grow. That was before I realised the darkness that hides beneath all the glass and glamour. And the Vipers? They are one of the worst.
When you’re a kid, they tell you stories of monsters hiding under your bed or in the dark. They don’t tell you of the very real human ones. Those who prey on people weaker than them, or even the monsters that hide within ourselves.
Rich or poor, it doesn’t matter, humans are still monsters. They hide behind pretty faces, loved ones, blood. Yet they are all the same. They all want you for something, the difference is…how far they’re willing to go to get it.
It seems the Vipers will go all the way.
And it’s all because of my piece of shit father. Is it not enough he ruined my childhood? That I’ve spent every day of my life paying for his mistakes? No, now my future is taken away too.
Feeling sorry for myself, I close my eyes and try to rest my aching head. I’m a fighter, a survivor, always have been and always will be. I can get through this, I’ve survived worse before. Just because I’m locked up in a penthouse doesn’t mean I’m not locked up…
The door slams open, waking me. It’s late, really late, and dark. My stomach is hurting from not eating for almost two days, aside from those leftover bits of bread I found.
It’s late.
That only means one thing.
I cover my mouth, trying to slow my breathing so he won’t hear. My heart pounds so loudly, I want to cry. I hear his dragging footsteps as he stumbles up the stairs. Please, please let him forget I’m here.
Let this night be the night he carries on walking.
It’s not. He stops outside my door. I watch from my bed as his shadow blocks the light at the crack in the bottom before his big hand turns the handle and swings it open. He stands there for a moment, peering in at me. His silhouette is all I can see, so I can’t see his face or his expression. I know my mum’s passed out, she injected herself before I went to bed, so she’ll be out until morning. It’s just me and him. And he knows it.
