The Devil's CrownPart Two - Monica James Page 0,40

free.

He walks us toward the bed, shoving me face-first onto the mattress. “It’s okay. It’s not your mouth I want.”

Panicked, I try to scamper away, but Santo laughs, clearly aroused by the chase. He comes up behind me and lifts my short nightgown. He cups my ass, humming in approval before he tears off my underwear.

It’s all happening so quickly. I don’t want this.

When I hear him unfasten his belt, panic sets in, and I cry out, afraid as I look over my shoulder. “Please, Santo, not yet. I—”

“You what?” he snaps, his angry erection tenting from the front of his gray slacks. “You’re just a cocktease? Is that it? Maybe I’ll keep you locked in here after all.”

Alek’s face flashes before me, and I’m reminded of what happens if I don’t comply. If I remain locked in this room, there will be no one to warn Alek of Santo’s plans. Yes, I know he won’t come alone—he’ll have Saint, Pavel, Max, and maybe Willow.

This also means they too are at risk of being harmed.

I’m the only one who can protect them. And I can’t do that in here. But not like this.

Santo presses his knee into my lower back, pinning me down as I attempt to recoil away from him. He only presses down harder as I fight desperately.

“No!” I cry out, flailing, but he doesn’t listen.

“No? So, you’re a liar? Is that it? You’re playing me and my son? If I find out that you are, I will kill you and everyone you love,” he warns, and it’s not an empty threat.

Does he know about Alek and me? If he does, he will make sure Alek and the people Alek loves pay with their lives.

So with hollowed tears, I surrender. I stop fighting and turn back around, offering myself to Santo as I lift my hips. He doesn’t need an invitation and drops his pants as he mounts me from behind. When his weight presses down on me, I go to another place.

It’s quiet here. There is no violence, no pain.

When Santo spits in his hands and lubricates my entrance, I squeeze my eyes shut and think of Alek. I think of the way he makes me feel. Of how his touches are filled with nothing but love and tenderness. He is seen as a monster, but he isn’t.

He is everything to me, which is why I’m doing this.

The bed begins to rock as Santo ruts into me, his grunts echo his ecstasy while my hollowed cries resonate my pain. Every part of me demands I fight him, but what happens when I do? I only wanted to make things better, but this is what happens when I think I can outsmart the Macrillos.

As Santo’s pleasured grunts fill the room, I grip the sheets beneath my fingers, burying my face into the mattress, hoping to suffocate myself so I no longer have to feel him inside me. He latches onto the back of my neck, forcing my face farther into the bed.

“La tua fica è il paradiso,” he grunts, commending me for feeling like heaven. To me, however, this is hell.

I don’t bother gasping for air. I want to die. But I can’t because staying alive isn’t just for Alek; it’s for me as well. A murderous rage I’ve never experienced before fills me. Once this is over with…I’m going to return the favor. Santo wants to take without permission, so I will do the same.

However, only his life as penance will do.

No matter how many showers I’ve had, I can still feel him slithering inside me. I can feel his hands clawing me, punishing me with what he believes is love.

Gripping the bowl, I dry-heave into the toilet, hoping to expel some of this disgust inside me, but nothing helps. It only makes me feel worse.

Santo finished in under a minute, then he wiped his seed from my lower back, kissed my shoulder, and promised to see me tonight as he left the room. The door remained unlocked—although, I wish it wasn’t. Being locked away suddenly didn’t seem so bad.

It kept the monsters away.

Unrolling some toilet paper, I wipe my mouth and toss it into the bowl. I flush the toilet and come to a shaky stand. I’m sore down there because Santo wasn’t gentle. Everything hurts. But I need to focus because there is no way I’m going to spend another night in this house.

I hunt through the lavish garments in my walk-in closet and pick