her away from this cave, somewhere safe, someplace where she cannot be used against me when Maxim realizes what’s happening.
I once killed a man just to prove to her that I’d never take her by force. And now that’s exactly what I’m going to do.
But I must get this over with quickly.
With my free hand, I trace her bottom lip. My thumb slips inside her mouth, and I yank her jaw down before slipping myself inside her.
I take every inch of her throat and watch her body stiffen as she realizes she can’t breathe. Both hands hold her head in a vice.
Her stiff body begins to shake uncontrollably.
She was pushing before, but now her hands are thumping against me.
She bites down, hard, and I wince in pain.
“Trust me,” I mouth the words with my head down, hoping nobody will be able to see them—except her.
Something flashes in her eyes. She knows it’s me. She stops fighting for a second, but it doesn’t matter because her body will fight all by itself soon enough.
She won’t be able to stop it.
I look up at the roof of the tent. Better than looking down at her.
Panic mode sets in, and I grit my teeth as she tries to bite down again. As she tries to get her knees out from under her, tries to stand up, tries to run away.
I start to crouch down, taking her head with me, cock feeling like it’s about to fall off as the strength leaves her body and she shakes and convulses.
Only when my head is at such an angle that nobody could see my lips moving, seconds before the fight goes out of her completely, do I speak.
“I’m sorry, my sweet little girl. It’ll all be over soon.”
Her eyes flick up to meet mine, and a moment later, the lights behind them go out.
40
Sapphire
I wake up in a vehicle, blankets wrapped around me and a seatbelt holding me into the passenger seat.
The first thing I do is check who is driving.
“You… you saved me?”
The masked face looks down at me, and I hear the sound of his hollow laugh through the thick layer of metal. He rests his elbow on the window ledge and trains his eyes back on the road. “Saved you? No, my sweet naive girl. I merely found out you have something which belongs to me and decided that I would very much like to have it back in my possession.”
“I know you don’t mean that,” I tell him.
Another laugh. “Perhaps. Perhaps you know too much for your own good.”
I try to sit up and the seat belt locks. Baron lets out a sigh before reaching over and pulling on it slowly. “Do you ever take notice of anything I teach you?”
“Excuse me for not thinking clearly. I appear to have been unconscious for quite some time.” I use the same passive tone he uses with me.
He chuckles. “A necessary evil, I assure you.”
“What happened?” I ask him as I look around into the back seats and find them empty.
“Oh, you don’t remember? I held you down and fucked your throat rather violently,” he says as casually as if he were describing the scenery of the roadside.
I remember all of that. And I remember the way he looked while he did it. I turn around to face him. Why is he still wearing the mask?
I’m about to ask him, but it’s as if he sensed the question on my lips because he cuts me off. “After that, I took you to the room assigned to the winner. I imagine I would have been shot in the head there—no thanks to you and your wagging tongue for telling them about my games—and that is when Andrei and my men stormed the entrance, killing and maiming as they saw fit.”
“What? What about Ruby? And where is Scout?” I hold my hand against my mouth. “Denim?”
Regardless of any part Denim has had to play in all this, he’s always been like a father to me.
“Those three, specifically, are fine,” Baron replies. “Ruby is with the other girls. They will work for me now. Scout, the little shit, wanted to ride home on his scrambler. I offered Denim a job with me, and he accepted. I thought you might want to keep him.”
“Thank you.”
He waves his hand away.
“What about Maxim?”
I watch him as his fingers grip tighter on the steering wheel. “Maxim escaped.”
“He has tunnels,” I tell him. “I could have shown you, if I wasn’t…”
Baron tuts.