The Scotch Series: The Complete Series (Scotch #1-3) - Penelope Sky Page 0,290

take me because I wanted to get away from the body. I wanted to get away from the smell of death. This imprisonment was making me realize just how weak I really was. I always thought I was strong like steel, but now I understood the truth.

I’d never really been tested until now.

When we returned to the mansion, Bones followed me to my room. With every step closer, I feared what would happen next. He’d left me in peace for nearly a week now. Did I have a false sense of security from being spared for so long?

He walked in behind me and removed his clothes, shedding each article onto the floor.

The fear crept in.

Maybe my plan didn’t work at all. Maybe it just made him more obsessed with me. Made him want to hurt me even more.

He came behind me and pulled my jacket off, tossing it on the floor along with his things. Then he unzipped my dress and yanked that off viciously, not caring how expensive it must have been. Money didn’t mean anything when you had enough of it.

He grabbed me by the neck and threw me hard on the bed.

We were back to normal.

He climbed on top of me and smacked me hard in the ass. But it didn’t have the painful bite all the others had. It stung, but not unbearably so. His large hand yanked my underwear off then he shoved himself inside me.

I lay on my stomach and tried to remain calm. The more I fought, the more it hurt.

Bones thrust inside me but not in the violent way he’d done before. If anything, his strokes were gentle. He rocked into me like waves hitting the shore of a lake. He pressed his chest into my back and rested his face in the crook of my neck. He breathed in my scent and moaned as he buried his dick in me.

It was the tamest sex we’d ever had.

I still didn’t want it. That was clear by how dry I was. I couldn’t mask my repulsion of being taken against my will. His long dick was inside me, and I hated every second of the intrusion. But it was different, somehow.

It was bearable.

I wasn’t slapped with a belt or punched in the face. I wasn’t fucked in the ass or the mouth. I was taken gently, with fragility. I was a warm body to get off to, but I wasn’t a punching bag.

He’d never treated me this well.

Did I succeed? Did I make him look at me in a different way? Would I be shoved around less? Would my existence be more tolerable? If I waited long enough, could I convince him to let me go?

The thoughts swirling in my head distracted me from my current position. I didn’t focus on the way he grunted every time he shoved himself inside me. I didn’t pay attention to the sweat of his chest as it rubbed against my back. All I thought about was freedom—and how close it was.

69

Crow

I left the path through the olive trees and turned to the dirt road leading up to the house. My chest heaved with the exertion, and the muscles in my legs twitched from the flow of blood.

My morning run was always exactly the same. I waited until the sun barely crested over the hill, blanketing the valley with intermittent sunlight. The grapes on the vines glinted with juice, and the dew on the leaves sparkled. The air had a hint of morning frost, which burned every time it entered my lungs.

I pulled my hood down as I slowed to a walk. The three-story house made of cobblestones looked glorious under the Tuscan sun. The ancient windows hinted at a different time, and the ivy stretching from the ground to the roof on the eastern side made it a masterpiece in the middle of nowhere.

The only time I left my home was for work. There was simply nowhere else I wanted to be.

I came around to the front entrance then ascended the steps leading to the double doors. One of my guards emerged out of nowhere and handed me a cold bottle of water. I took it with a quick nod then walked inside.

“How was your run, sir?” Lars, my butler, greeted me by the door.

“Good.” I took a large drink of water before I stretched my legs.

“Master Cane is here to see you. He’s in the tea room.”

Irritation sprang out of me instantly. “What does he