to the way the moonlight glints off his skin. Soft, overhead light bathes everything on the terrace in a gentle, orange glow. The hue reflects off his eyes—he’s on fire.
“There are so many things I deliberately haven’t taken from you, Ada-Maria,” he tells me. “Yet.”
He releases my throat, and I writhe to pull myself upright. But he doesn’t fully withdraw, forcing me to balance awkwardly, practically sitting on the railing while he blocks me in with his sheer bulk.
“Do you want to know why I put that feeding tube down your throat myself?” His eyes trace the line of my throat, skimming over my breasts to fixate on my heaving stomach. “Do you?”
His tone is persistent, though I’m too stunned by the abrupt change in subject to come up with a fitting answer. “W-What?—”
“I wanted you to have meat on that ass so that when I take you there, I’ll have something to grab onto.”
I blink, shocked by the coarse, blunt word usage as much as I am by his tone. Real emotion breaks through the level baritone, rousing a fear I’ve never felt before. He isn’t angry or trying to scare me. He is dead serious.
“I needed you stronger,” he adds, sliding his fingers against my jaw before cupping my entire cheek against his palm. “The things I have planned for you, Ada… You’ll need all the strength you can get.”
My mind goes blank as my fear builds to the point that I can taste it—fire, salt, and blood.
“First, you offer to save me,” I croak. “And now, you threaten to hurt me.”
“Don’t sound so surprised.” He drags his gaze up to mine, and I find his eyes devoid of a hint of sympathy or guilt. “I am a man of many talents,” he confesses. “However, I never said that you wouldn’t enjoy what I plan to do you. Oh no, Ada, I think you’ll enjoy them very, very much. So much so that we can put your little theory to the test. How good of an actress are you?”
He laughs, leaning in so that his face is directly beside mine, his eyes on my throat.
“One could say I’ve become a connoisseur of the sounds made by Ada-Maria Pavalos over the years, and I have to admit that if you were faking, your acting skills have grown remarkably from over a month ago.”
Was that the last time he watched some sordid recording of me?
I don’t feed into his narrative outright. Instead, I meet his gaze and choke down the crippling unease warning me not to tangle with him. I should keep my mouth shut, or better yet, run.
Instead, I say, “What you think you heard, you’ll never hear again. At least not in person. If you’re still planning on selling me after all, then maybe you’ll get lucky while I’m with my buyer. He might even let you watch.”
His eyes narrow, and a jolt of alarm shoots down my spine. Careful, Ada. You’re on fragile ground. “I don’t think you’ll enjoy making the sounds he’ll wring from you, Ada-Maria.”
He. The way he voices that word carries such vitriol that I know he’s not referring to some nameless man in general. No, he has someone specific in mind.
Licking my lips, I hazard a guess, “Jaguar?”
“You…” Voice rumbling, he lowers his head, and his hair falls forward, shrouding his expression from view. “I think you’ll want to be very careful with what you say next...”
I shiver, but I’m too tired to fight. The longer I maintain this precarious balance, the less fearful I feel. Why not just let him push me over? At least I’ll be in control of my life for those final few seconds. No one can manipulate me anymore.
And yet, I can’t resist one last jab, aiming to get under his skin any way I can.
“I’ll ask him to record it for you,” I murmur, arching my back, so that my mouth is near his ear this time. “And I’ll make whatever damn sounds he asks me to.”
He lunges.
A scream builds in my throat, but I don’t even have the chance to voice it before he withdraws his support from me completely. I slip as my fingers lose their grip on the railing. In a heart-stopping jolt, I pitch backward.
At the same time, his hands latch onto my hips, anchoring me down. Rather than push me over, he sinks to his knees, wrenching my thighs apart.
A new kind of fear has me croaking, “D-Don’t!”
Not that he heeds the