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Chapter15
ARIEL
Five daysinto Alice’s stay in our basement, Kane sent for her things, ordering one of the men on his payroll to clean out her dorm. He put her shit into one of the guest rooms, and James has been chomping at the bit to give them to her, but Kane set a rule saying that she can only have what she asks for—and so far, that hasn’t been much of anything beyond a shower and occasionally food.
A couple of days after Kane let her out, I got bored and started rummaging around in her boxes and found a stack of books.
The one I’m currently devouring is the one James picked out for her birthday gift two years ago—well-read with a dried rose pressed between the pages. It’s about a man-wasp hybrid that fucks his human almost to death on his massive stinger. I’m right at the part where he fills her with an egg sac, which is entirely scientifically incorrect but disturbingly sexy. I’d seen Alice flick her bean more than once while she had one of these books in her hand, and I’m starting to wonder how much depravity and humiliation I can use on her to get her off.
She seems scared and naïve, and apart from the orgasm she’d been given from James, none of us has actually touched her. She’s under our roof as a prisoner, and I’ve seen how willing she is, but she’s still our sweet little virgin.
My mouth waters to be the one to take that from her. I want to see it in her eyes when she realizes she can never go back—that she trusted that moment to a psychopath and three other men who don’t know the meaning of mercy.
Rubbing my hand over my dick, I turn the page, then look up when there’s a knock at my door. From the rapid, perfunctory sound, I know it’s Kane. Phoenix is soft, and James is flirty, and Alice hasn’t yet been brave enough to venture back in here since listening to James fuck me sideways.
I have a little button that’ll flash a red light at the door to answer, but I don’t bother. Kane has no problem barging in on any of us whether we’re sleeping, jerking off, taking a shit—there’s no shame and no privacy when it comes to his presence. Stretching my legs out, I let the book flop to my side as he walks in, and I can tell by the look on his face things are changing.
“She’s not his daughter.”
I don’t even need to ask.
He grabs my desk chair, rolling it close to the bed, then sinks down and rests his forearms over his thighs. He looks oddly defeated, which isn’t something I’m used to seeing on his face, and it makes me want to shove a knife into his hand and force him to hurt something until he feels like he has control back.
Instead, I sit there and wait. If my forced silence has done anything for me, it’s taught me the value of patience and listening—even if I’m still not very good at it.
“She’s his brother-in-law’s daughter, which I think is why he thought he could still sell her off—even if the truth was discovered.” Kane runs his fingers around his mouth, then scratches at his beard before finally looking up and making eye contact with me. “She’s useful to him, not precious.”
I snort. ‘We knew that a long time ago.’ And that’s not a lie. He doesn’t need me to remind him that just a few months into watching her after we got surveillance in her dorm, it became obvious that Romano only cared about making sure that Alice was alive. And it was obvious from her behavior that she hadn’t known much kindness from him for a long time—if ever. ‘Why does that change things?’
“He’s selling her virginity,” Kane says after a beat. “About three years ago, Rhys uncovered the file Romano was keeping on her. Something about it seemed off, but it didn’t make sense until now.”
My heart beats hard in my throat, though I’m not surprised. But it still makes my stomach twist because I might be a psychopath and a sick fucker, but that’s over my line. ‘Give her another two days with us, and it won’t be a problem.’
Kane meets my gaze, and I know he’s got a plan. “Prepare the playroom for her. I just told Phoenix to start recording the video feed.”
Ice fills my veins because we only ever use the playroom for two things—and I don’t think he means to have any one of us kill her. But she doesn’t know about any of this. I might do a lot of things for Kane, but assault isn’t one of them. Ask me to put a bullet in her, to slit her throat, to bury a knife in her gut. Ask me to knock her out and let her die in her sleep without ever knowing that it’s coming.
It’s yes to every single one of those things.
But not this.
Kane sees the look on my face, and he leans in close. “She’ll have a choice.”
‘Between what?’ I demand with a scoff. My stomach’s twisted, and I realize it’s because I’m pissed. In spite of the fact that I play a good game, most of the time, all I feel inside is apathy, so this is a strange sensation.
Kane rises before I can hop off the bed, and he grabs me by the throat, his thumb digging against my Adam’s apple before he tightens his grip. He tugs me forward until my feet are planted, then shoves his knee between my legs. “I have enough on my plate right now, Ariel. If you make me teach you a fucking lesson today, you’re not going to like it.”
He knows how to punish us all, of course. Deprivation of all kinds. Touch, taste, sound, smell, sight. I’ve more than once been locked in a dark room, bound and gagged to keep me from being able to hurt myself and give myself the things I want.
And Kane always has a reason, but he also has a hair-trigger temper, and I can see he’s reaching the end of his patience.
The other thing I’ve been taught over the years is to know when to push it, and right now, that’s not it.
‘What do you want me to do?’ I sign as the edges of my vision start to grey.
“That’s better, sweet thing,” he growls, then kisses me as he hauls me to my feet by my neck. His grip softens, and then he leans in and runs his teeth over my thick scars, making me shudder. “Get Alice to the playroom.”
She’s never seen it, and whatever state she goes in, it won’t be the same state she comes out. ‘I’m going to make her come before I take her down there,’ I tell him, defiance in my fingers.
