CONTENTS

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

About the Author

1

T  rey

I CAN’T BELIEVE THIS. I can’t fucking believe this. I reread the email five times and I still can’t believe the words that are typed in it. It’s been two hours since we sent the most recent video and just like yesterday, he hasn’t responded to us personally.

He has, however, talked to his security team and some hired private investigators. I’ve been monitoring all his emails and phone calls, but this last one has my mind in absolute disarray. I’ve never doubted a decision so much in my life. Jessa doesn’t deserve this, and yet there is no fucking way around it.

“You look like you’re about to puke.” Wes comes up beside me.

“Probably because I feel like it.” I push the computer toward him so he can read the email too. His eyes scan the screen and it only takes him a minute to realize exactly what I’ve realized.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” he yells, frustration coating his words.

“What?” Declan stands in the doorframe giving us a baffled look. He still shocks me with his ninja skills, on how he appears almost out of thin air.

“Richards just sent out an email to his security to switch the mission from search and rescue to search and kill…including his daughter.”

Declan looks unimpressed, unfazed. “He could be bluffing. Maybe he knows we’re tapping his emails. He could have sent this on purpose to throw us off.”

I shake my head. No, that’s not what this is. “Throw us off from what? He isn’t answering our emails, even though he is clearly getting them…” I’m interrupted by a flashing light on my screen, telling me Richards has an incoming call.

“The head of his security is calling.” I grab the laptop from Wes and turn the volume up. Richards’ voice booms through the speakers a moment later.

“Hello.” Richards’ voice is emotionless, far too emotionless for a man that had his daughter kidnapped.

“Sir, it’s Harrold. I just got your email and I wanted to be certain that I understand this right.” The man on the other line sounds unsure and he clears his throat before speaking. “You want us to take everyone out? Even Jessa?”

“Yes, that is exactly what I want,” Richards says almost annoyed that he has to spell it out for him. “I can’t give these thugs what they want. It would cost me my career, everything I’ve worked for, and even if you can bring her back now, she’s already damaged goods and I don’t want to deal with that.” His voice is so cold and detached, as if he is talking about a useless object instead of his own blood child. “It would be better for everybody if you just ended her life, understood?”

“Understood.”

“Good, give me a call when you get the job done.”

The call disconnects a moment later and I think I might actually puke. I don’t know what is worse, all the things we’ve done to Jessa, who is an innocent in all of this, or the fact that we did all of it for nothing. We thought this was going to be an easy slice of revenge for destroying our lives, for killing our family, and now it turns out all we did was destroy someone else’s life. We wanted revenge, but this is anything but that.

“What the fuck are we going to do now?” Wes asks the same question that I’m thinking.

“He might be just saying all of this shit, because he thinks we’ll let her go if we hear it,” Declan says. “Don’t forget, he might be an asshole, but he isn’t fucking stupid. He must know we’re keeping tabs on him. Think about it. He could be acting.”

“And what if he’s not?” Wes chimes in.

“Well, we can’t let her go either way,” I point out the obvious. “She knows where we live, not to mention all the other shit she knows about us… plus the things we’ve done to her. I sigh. This entire thing is a cluster fuck. Yes, she’s great to look at, and even better to touch, but we can’t just keep her here for that…can we?

“Fuck, even if we did let her go, someone else is going to kill her now,” Declan interrupts. “She knows way too much. You should have listened to me to begin with. I knew this was going to be a mistake.” He stomps off to his room, slamming the door shut behind him like a toddler that’s been told no. I want to be angry at his reaction, but maybe he’s right. For the first time, I’m actually starting to agree with Declan, killing her right away would have been the best thing to do.

Probably the kindest for her as well. But we didn’t, and now she’s here being held as a prisoner. I switch the screen to the camera feed and look at her small blanket-covered body curled up on the floor, her legs to her chest, her blonde hair a messy halo of beauty.

“I’m going to bed,” Wes mumbles and heads to his room. I close my laptop and go to my own room feeling disgusted with myself. Slipping out of my clothes I take a cold shower, thinking I might be able to somehow wash myself clean, to get rid of the nasty feeling coating my skin, but of course it wouldn’t be that easy. You can’t wash away the things I’ve done, the demons that haunt me.

After the shower, I dry off and lie down in bed, but I can’t sleep, and it’s not from the lack of trying. I’m beat. Frustrated, I check the time, and realize I’ve been in bed for over an hour and somehow, I’m nowhere closer to going to sleep. I slam my fists down on the sheets in defeat. It’s her, it has to be. I can’t sleep because I’m consumed with thoughts of her.

Pulling on a pair of shorts, I walk out to the elevator and push the level three button. I don’t even think about what I’m doing. The elevator descends two levels and the door slides open with a ding that echoes loudly through the empty hallway. I walk to the end of the corridor and open the cell door. I don’t even know why I’m here. I’m sure she would prefer being left alone to being near one of us. But on the off chance she would rather sleep upstairs, I’m going to give her the option.

She’s still curled up on the floor, the same way she was when I checked the feed last. She doesn’t move when I take a step closer, and like a lion hunting the antelope, I want to yell, tell her to be afraid. Only when I crouch down right next to her sleeping form, do her eyes flutter open.

Surprisingly, she doesn’t look at me as if she’s afraid like I had anticipated. Her eyes are full of a number of emotions, but sadness reflects far more than fright.

“You want to come and sleep upstairs?” I ask.

Her eyes light up briefly, but it’s enough to know that she wants to even before she whispers, “Yes.”

At her word, I slide my arms under her and pick her up, blanket and all. I carry her down the hall and into the elevator, where I put her down and make her stand so I can put the code in and scan in my fingerprint. When we get to the fifth level, I pick her back up and carry her to Wes’s room.

He stirs in bed as soon as I open his door and step inside, but looking at his face, even in the dim light, I know he wasn’t asleep. He doesn’t say anything, just slides over to one side of the bed when I deposit her into the middle of the mattress, and I’m thankful for that. I don’t have it in me to argue tonight, not after that email, or the video. I slide in next to her and cover us both up with the blanket.

Jessa snuggles into the blanket between my brother and me. She must really hate being in the cell if she prefers to sleep here with us, her enemies. I look at her out of the corner of my eye. She actually looks comfortable and it doesn’t take long for her breathing to even out, and shortly after that when I’m certain she’s fallen back asleep, I do too. All while wondering how the hell we’re going to continue doing this to an innocent in this evil war.

BLINKING my eyes open the next morning and the first thing I see is a set of big blue eyes staring back at me. Jessa is on her side, her hands tucked under her pillow, watching me like a hawk. I’m not sure what to think about her watching me sleep. At first, I think it’s fucked up, but then I realize that there isn’t anything else she could be doing. It’s not like she can get up and start making breakfast. She’s not a normal guest in this house. She’s our captive, our enemy, the one thing standing between us and the information we seek.

What a fucking mess.

“Thank you,” she whispers, and I shake my head letting the emotions inside me linger. It doesn’t matter which way I look at this, she’s innocent, and though she’s done nothing wrong, she’s paying for her father’s sins, his crimes. We can’t let her go, but we can’t keep her either. Her fate’s already been sealed, when all of this is over, she’s as good as dead.

“Don’t thank us yet, we haven’t even gotten to the best part of our plan.” My stomach churns as I look over at Wes who is now sitting up in bed. Jessa’s previously peaceful demeanor has now turned into panic and strangely it turns me on to see a spark of fear in her eyes, even though the thought of actually hurting her has me in knots. She’s so fucking innocent, so sweet, it makes me want to dirty her up, to taint her.

With one hand Wes reaches out and grabs her by the hip and rolls her so she’s lying on her back, her big eyes taking both of us in.

“Take off your shirt,” I order. Her fingers don’t even hesitate as she grips the hem of the plain white tee, half sitting up so she can pull it off over her head. Maybe she doesn’t deserve to be treated the way we’ve treated her, but it doesn’t mean I don’t want to fuck her any less. She’s a tiny little temptress, caught in a cage with three rabid animals, and it’s time we tasted her, claimed her.

“What are you going to do to me?” There’s a slight tremble to her voice, but if she’s consumed with fear, she’s not very convincing. I know she likes when my brothers and I take from her, her drenched pussy is merely the first sign of it. She might not understand why her body feels the way it does, but she wants us and right now that’s all that matters.

“I think it’s time we get rid of the dangling cherry between your thighs.” Her eyes go wide at my words, but when I lift my hand to cover her breast, she doesn’t flinch or jerk away. Her skin is so soft and warm, I could touch her all day and maybe I will.

Wes gives me a look that tells me he is on board with my plan and reaches out, trailing his hand over her other breast, flicking her hardened nipple with his finger. I take in her features, still waiting for the moment she asks us to stop, for the fear to spark in her blue eyes.

Instead her pink tongue darts out over her plump bottom lip, and she looks up at me, batting those long eyelashes of hers. I try and tell myself she has no idea what she’s asking for, but I know damn well she does. I bite back a groan watching her, thinking about how good that tongue will feel on my cock.

“You like what we did to you yesterday morning?” I ask, even though I already know the answer.

“Yes,” she whispers, her cheeks heating.

“Good, because we’re about to do something else you’re going to like,” Wes tells her before he leans over and takes her diamond hard nipple into his mouth. I move my hand lazily down her body, my fingers dancing over her flat belly and down between her thighs.

Her white teeth sink into her bottom lip in a seductive manner and I feel the pre-cum bead the tip of my cock. She’s playing a dangerous game here, and if she thinks she’ll win she’s going to be sorely mistaken. I grin as my fingers slip between her velvet folds, and I find her already drenched with need.

“Declan had your mouth first, I’ll have your pussy first, and we’ll let Wes have your ass first,” I tell her while sinking two fingers into her tight channel. Her eyes go wide when I mention her ass. “Don’t worry, we won’t claim your ass today.”

Her body relaxes as she moans and squirms under our touch but doesn’t give me any indication that she doesn’t want this. I wonder if she’ll try and stop me soon once she realizes I won’t be stopping until I’ve made her virgin pussy mine. The thought turns me on even more, taking from her, possessing her in a way no one else ever has.

I start pumping my fingers in and out of her. Her slick arousal coating them, making it so they glide in with ease. My gaze drops down to her pussy, her little clit is swollen even before I put pressure on it with my thumb. Fuck, so responsive, so fucking perfect, our little virgin slut. She spreads her legs for me without my command, confirming once again how badly she wants this, wants us.

“You really like us using you, don’t you? You like how we use your body however we want to?”

“Yes…” she whimpers as I add a third finger, stretching her to accommodate my large cock. It’s going to be a tight fit, but she’ll come to love the pleasure and pain that I give her.

“Eventually we’ll fuck you all together. Three of us at the same time. Wes in your ass, me in your pussy, and Declan in your throat. You want that, don’t you?” I whisper, rubbing slow circles against her clit, while Wes bites at her hardened nipple. One of her hands moves to the back of Wes’s head holding him in place against her breast and I see the smooth grin pull at his lips against her skin. He’s enjoying this as much as I am.

“Such a bad fucking girl. Our dirty little virgin. Our filthy princess,” I growl, sinking into her deeper, harder, wanting to hurt her, but give her pleasure at the same time.

“Oh god…” she moans loudly, the noise vibrating off of the walls. “I’m… I’m coming…” she pants, her back arching off the bed. Wes places a hand against her chest, holding her in place as her body shakes, her tight channel squeezing the fuck out of my thick digits. I stare down at her pink folds that are glistening with arousal. Her pussy gushes that sweet cream all over my fingers and I remove them from her pussy, bringing them to her lips.

“Lick ‘em clean, Princess, taste how badly you want my brother and me,” I order, and she does as she’s told, her mouth opening as she sucks the three digits inside, closing her plump lips around them.

She’s still basking in the endorphin release of her climax when we move her body so her head is on the edge of the mattress. Wes moves off the bed and stands right beside it already pumping his cock in his hand.

I spread her legs and run the head of my cock over her overly sensitive clit gathering all her juices before lining myself up with her entrance. She whimpers when I start to ease in, biting at that pretty plump bottom lip to stop the cry of pain from passing it.

Fuck, I wonder why she hasn’t told me to stop yet, though for some fucked up reason I want her to, I want her to beg me to stop, to plead with me. Knowing that I hold all the power over her has me ready to explode. Sucking in a calming breath to stop myself from just sinking all the way into her, from ripping her innocence away, from making her bleed, I let the air fester in my lungs. Hard and rough, that’s how I picture taking her, how I will take her, eventually.

“Once I start fucking you, you’ll start sucking Wes’s dick, got it?” I bite out, keeping my eyes on hers. She nods, and I enter her slowly, the head of my cock pushing just inside. She’s so fucking tight, I almost come before I’m even in all the way. Grabbing onto her hips with both hands I hold her in place as I sink deeper pushing through the thin barrier. She cries out beneath me, but I don’t stop. I keep pushing into her until my balls touch her ass, and I’m seated so deep inside her she’ll never forget how full I made her feel.

Her body shudders once she’s fully penetrated, and against everything inside me, I stay there for a few seconds, giving her a moment to adjust before I pull back out a smidge just to slide back in. I grit my teeth at the pleasure rippling through me, as she looks up at me through hooded eyes, her chest rising and falling at a rapid rate. I can see her pulse thrumming against her throat, and I want to bite her, mark her skin. Unable to hold back a second longer, I pull all the way out and thrust my hips forward. Her eyes squeeze shut and her face scrunches up in a mixture of pain and pleasure, still, she doesn’t ask me to stop. Good girl. I grip her hips, with bruising force, wanting to make certain she feels every glorious inch of my cock.

“Open your mouth, Princess,” Wes orders and I move her up a little more so her head is hanging off the edge of the bed. Wes cradles her head with his hand, turning it sideways to give him perfect access to her mouth.

She parts her lips and Wes doesn’t waste any time. He pumps his cock once and then pushes all the way into her mouth, his balls hitting her chin, the sound of her gagging around his length meets my ears and it damn near makes me explode. Her whole body tenses a moment later including her pussy around my cock. Fuck.

The last ounce of restraint I have evaporates and I start to really fuck her, driving into her heat with deep, hard strokes, while Wes fucks her mouth.

“You’re our filthy little princess, aren’t you?” My voice is deep, dark, possessive, and I thrust into her harder, waiting for her response, all while knowing I won’t get one, not with Wes’s cock deep in her throat. I look up at my brother, his eyes fall closed, his jaw tight, his hand cradling her head possessively, as he continues to thrust into her mouth.

Fuck, this has to be the hottest shit I’ve ever seen.

Leaning over her body, I suck her pink dusky nipple into my mouth and swirl my tongue against the hardened bud a few times before I start to suck the hell out of it. Her hands come up to my shoulders, her sharp fingernail sinking into my skin, and I wonder if this is it, if this is when she pushes me away, when she tells us it’s too much, but as soon as I feel the sharp pain of her nails in my skin, and look into her eyes I know she isn’t pushing me away. No, she’s digging her claws into me so I can’t get away, and suddenly that’s all that matters to me. It’s not about revenge in this moment, not about her father, or our need for something darker, it’s just about us, owning her, worshipping her body.

Growling around her nipple, I bite down on the hard nub, before releasing it to kiss the pain away. She moans around my brother’s cock and I feel her pussy quiver around mine.

“I’m going to come in your pretty mouth…” Wes groans, he’s so far gone, his head is tipped back, his eyes are closed, and I know he’s seconds away from exploding.

“Swallow his cum, Princess, swallow every drop,” I order, thrusting harder, and faster, my cock moving with ease through her arousal, my pre-cum, and her virgin blood.

“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck,” Wes growls, his hips stilling as he comes inside her mouth. I continue my thrusts, swiveling my hips to hit a spot at the back of her channel that I know will send her hurtling over the edge, and as if it’s far too much for her tiny body to handle, she starts to come, her pussy fluttering around my cock, her body shaking, a loud moan of pleasure is muffled by my brother’s softening cock, right before he pulls out of her mouth.

Beautiful. Pure fucking perfection.

Upping my pace, I thrust into her with unbridled need, her pussy strangling my length as aftershocks of pleasure ripple through her womb. My fingers bite into her flesh, and my head tips back as I bask in the feeling of her tight pussy.

“Come inside me…” her tiny command meets my ears and I blink my eyes open, peering down into a pair of blues that captivate me. Her command is one I’ll gladly oblige. It’s then that I feel it. A change. It’s almost as if she’s an equal in our situation now.

“Please come inside me…” She reaches for me, her nails sinking into my bicep and I grit my teeth wanting to hold off my release even for a second longer of being inside her for the first time, but there’s no point. I’m ready, so fucking ready. With one more deep stroke, I press my balls to her ass and empty every drop of sticky warm cum into her womb.

“Fucking fuck…” I growl, pressing into her as hard as I can, willing our bodies to become one. My cock twitches inside her, and I know I’m still coming, filling her tight hole with every single drop of my release. Unable to hold myself up a second longer, I collapse on top of her, pressing her body into the mattress. My pulse thunders in my ears. I’m pretty sure I’ve never come this hard before.

“You did such a good job, Princess.” Wes’s praise meets my ears and I lift my head, watching as he strokes the side of her cheek with his knuckles, the possessive look in his eyes tells me he too feels the change, and without a doubt, I know our situation has gotten ten times more complicated. Worse yet, she nuzzles her face against his fingers, as if they soothe her.

Fuck. We’re screwed.

I slowly push up onto my forearms and ease out of her, making her wince. Wes must have already been to the bathroom because he hands me a warm washcloth when I lean back against the mattress. I take it with a nod, and start to clean her up, my touch is gentle as I examine her, just to make sure I didn’t hurt her. I wipe at her folds, and then her entrance, the white washcloth appearing from between her legs with only a few smears of pink on it.

“You didn’t bleed a lot,” I tell her and catch her curiously looking down at the washcloth in my hand.

“Are you in pain?” Wes asks, pulling on a pair of sleep pants as he sits down on the edge of the bed.

“No…I mean…I don’t know. I’m just a little sore…you know, down there, but I’m not…” she answers shyly. Fuck that. I won’t have her acting shy, not anymore, not after she asked me to come inside her the way she did.

“Don’t act so shy Jessa. You just begged me to come inside you. I think you can handle a conversation like this.” I watch her cheeks turn a bright red.

A gruff laugh escapes Wes’s mouth, and I can’t remember the last time he laughed, or the last time I felt so…relaxed, so okay.

“Okay…” she mumbles and looks between Wes and I once more, a smile pulling at her lips, and fucking Christ that smile is breathtaking. I get off the bed and go into the bathroom to clean myself off. When I come back into the bedroom, I find Jessa missing, and I’m slightly irritated at the thought.

“Where did she go?” I ask Wes, who I find still sitting on the edge of the bed, his eyes burning holes into his hands.

“Declan came in and I asked him to give her a shower. I think we need a little space away from her right now.” It’s clear he’s having a hard time grappling with his emotions, but I won’t push him on it. If he wants to talk to me, he knows I’m here.

“Alright, well I suppose I’ll do some more intel on her father and see if anything has changed.”

“Something did change…maybe not with her father, but with us, between all of us. Claiming her was either the end of us or the start of something great. I guess we’ll find out soon enough.”

I give him a curt nod and leave him alone in his room. He’s right, whatever we just did with her was more than just sex and it changed everything.

2

J essa

DECLAN’S FACE is nothing more than a mask of coldness, and I desperately want to crack him open and find out what makes him tick. I’m completely naked still, having left my shirt behind with Wes and Trey. Wes asked him to take me to shower, something we’ve done once before, but worry consumes me when we start walking toward the elevator. I wince with each step I take, Declan’s strong hand gripping my wrist like a steel shackle.

“Where are we going?” I whisper and chance a glance at him through my long strands of blonde hair.

“You have my brothers wrapped around your little fingers, but not me.” His menacing voice is cold, void of any emotion, much like his face. I shiver, mainly from the chill his demeanor gives me. I want to feel the same closeness with him that I feel with his brothers, but he’s so closed off, so dark, that I wonder if I can even reach him.

He pulls me into the elevator and pushes some buttons, the door sliding closed a moment later and only then do I think maybe I should have screamed, or at the very least tried to run. Something tells me that Declan is about to hurt me or maybe even kill me. The thought has my blood running cold and as if out of instinct my body starts to shake with fear.

“A-are y-you going to k-kill me?” I stutter just when we arrive at level three, and the elevator dings and the doors open.

“Not yet,” Declan pulls me out of the elevator. I trip over my own feet and almost face plant into the floor, but he tugs me up by my arm before I make contact with the concrete. With a frustrated sigh, he grabs me by the waist and lifts to carry me the rest of the way. I’m so confused and consumed with fear that I don’t realize where we’re going until it’s too late.

My eyes widen as we enter the room with the camera set up in it. No! Please no. He throws me onto the bed like I’m a rag doll, and I land with a hard bounce, the air expelling from my lungs with the impact. Pushing up onto my hands and knees I scurry backward toward the corner of the mattress and pray that Trey or Wes will find me before this gets to be too bad.

He walks to the side of the bed he was standing on yesterday when I gave him a blowjob. The camera is still pointing that way when he turns it on. Without even a flicker of emotion in his eyes, he grabs my ankle and pulls me toward him. I briefly consider fighting him, maybe trying to kick him with my free foot but before I get the chance, he grabs my other ankle as well.

Dragging me all the way to the edge of the bed, he flips me over in one swift move so I’m bent over the bed. He keeps one hand on my lower back, pressing me into the mattress while spreading my legs with his knee. I hear him undo his pants and my inner walls clench around nothing but air. I just had sex and I highly doubt he is going to be gentle. Trying to squirm away is futile, and only makes his grip harsher, and his body angrier as he uses his muscled chest to pin me to the mattress.

“Please,” I whimper. All my thought about not begging evaporate, when I feel the smooth head of his obscenely large cock probing my entrance. I gulp, feeling my already sore muscles clench in anticipation. Every single part of me tells me this is wrong, being held down, him forcing himself inside me, but somewhere deep inside, deep inside my heart I know submitting to him is the only way to reach him. I don’t understand how I know this, but I do, and I hold onto that thought as he rips me to shreds.

“That’s right, beg…beg me to stop,” he whispers against the shell of my ear before thrusting inside of me with one deep, impossibly hard thrust. I cry out, mainly from pain, though there is a sliver of pleasure that courses up my spine at the impact, it’s not enough to outweigh the searing pain in my pussy.

“Please… Declan…” I cry out, as he thrusts again.

“Such a fucking slut. You’ve got my brother’s cum inside you and now you’ll have mine too. If you thought you were sore before you’ll be bleeding by the time I’m done with you.” He brushes my hair away from the back of my neck and grips me there, his fingers digging into the tender flesh as he uses me, owns me.

“Please…” The word slips from my lips as tears sting my eyes, but I’m not sure if I’m asking for him to stop, or to keep going. My body wants whatever parts of him he’s willing to give me, but my mind screams that this is wrong, so very wrong.

“No one can save you from me.” He grunts, savagely thrusting into me, the pleasure catching up with the pain with each deep stroke. “Show your daddy what a fucking whore his princess is, show him how your tight little hole takes our cocks. Scream for him to come and save you.”

His hips slam into me, his balls slap against my ass and his filthy words only add to the pleasure. He’s panting now, his thrusts faster, his grip bruising. His body presses me deeper into the mattress and I feel his lips at my ear.

“Come for me, Princess. Give me your pain, your pleasure...I want it...all of it.” I can’t think. I can’t breathe. All I can do is feel, feel his body sliding over mine, feel his hips flexing with each delicious stroke he gives me. I don’t know when it happened, but at some point, the pleasure starts to outweigh the pain and the familiar tingle of warmth forms deep inside in my belly. I’m going to come.

It’s so wrong, and yet so damn right. I don’t understand, and yet I don’t really care to. I find myself moaning into the mattress, my pussy fluttering with his rough thrust. A few more strokes and I’m soaring over the edge into pure darkness. My eyes drift closed for a moment and I feel my walls clench around his thick rod, impaling me over and over again.

I try to turn my face into the mattress, and away from the camera but Declan won’t let me move. He wants me to look into the camera, he wants to show my father the filthy slut I’ve become. He wants to degrade me and remind me that I’m nothing more than their captive, a means to an end.

I bite the inside of my cheek but it’s futile, his grip is hard and I’m tired of fighting, tired of holding back the blinding pleasure. Unable to hold it in a second longer the cry of pleasure rips from my throat as the last ripples of my orgasm zing through my body. I feel nothing, and everything all at once as I stare into the camera, the flashing red light, telling me he’s gotten exactly what he wanted.

Behind me Declan continues to move, his hips are punishing, and I can feel his cock growing thick inside of me. It feels like he’s growing, getting larger. His grip on my neck tightens further, and at this point he’s most likely going to be leaving bruises as he pumps into me one last time, roaring as he empties himself inside my swollen channel.

Like my body is fire and he is gasoline, he pulls out of me and releases his hold on my neck at the same time. Instantly I feel cold and empty. I watch him turn the camera off and pull his pants back up, but I don’t move. I don’t think I can move right now even though there is nothing holding me down anymore. I can’t actually make my limbs move.

Warm cum runs down the inside of my thighs and unlike the way I felt with Trey this really does make me feel like a whore. Tears slip from my eyes, my chest heaves, as a sob catches in my throat. I want Declan to hold me, to take care of me like his brothers did, but he just stands there looking down at me like I’m the one that just degraded him, that broke him. The coldness of the room seeps into my bones, into every pore of my body.

My entire body throbs and before I even get the chance to say a word, the door swings open so quickly it slams against the wall with a loud bang that echoes through the room.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Wes yells, stepping into the room first. Trey is right behind him looking like he is about to kill someone, his gaze is furious, fire flickering in his dark brown depths.

“What the fuck, Declan? What are you doing?” There’s a panic to Trey’s tone that can’t be missed. He cares about me, he has to, why else would he be looking at his own flesh and blood like he is? Hopefully, I cling to that thought.

“I did what needed to be done. You two need to get your heads out of your asses and see what’s going on here. She is still the enemy and you treat her like a fuck buddy, like an actual fucking princess. She’s nothing to us. She and her father are playing you and the sooner you see that, the easier this is going to be.”

Declan’s words hurt, they hurt far worse than any slap or punch ever could. He doesn’t believe me, even after I submitted to him after I let him use my body. Tears stain my cheeks, my lips trembling as I try and hold back the sadness. Looking up at all three men, I can see the conflict in both Trey and Wes’s eyes. And still, Trey comes over to me, taking me into his arms. If I could disappear right now, I would. He lifts me bridal style cradling me to his chest.

“It doesn’t matter anymore, Declan. None of this does. Sending that tape will change nothing. Hurting her doesn’t bring them back, it doesn’t make any of this right.”

Declan’s gaze drops to me, even he can’t hide his emotions right now. He looks conflicted, angry…though I’m not sure who he is angry at… me, his brothers, my father, the situation, maybe all of it?

“We’ll see about that. Send him the fucking tape,” Declan orders, and stomps out of the room. When Wes grabs the SD card from the camera, a sob escapes my lips. I don’t know why I expected things to be different. Why I thought they would care for me more.

“I’m going to take her upstairs and get her into a bath,” Trey tells Wes right before he walks out the door.

“Are you hurt?” Trey leans down, his voice meeting my ears, the sound so soft that for a moment I’m not even sure he spoke.

“I don’t know.” And truthfully, I don’t. I know I’m going to be sore, very sore, but I don’t think he tore me, or anything. If anything, it’s my heart that’s hurting, my mind for thinking that I could reach him.

“You have some blood on your thighs again,” He states, and I lift my eyes to his, see the guilt reflect down on me.

“I’m fine,” I lie, well partially. By the time we make it upstairs, I’m so tired I can barely keep my eyes open. I haven’t eaten anything since lunch yesterday, my stomach rumbling then to remind me of that. I know I need to take a bath, that doing so will help ease the pain between my legs, but I just can’t manage it right now. I’m beyond exhausted. As soon as we reach Wes’s room and Trey sets me down on the bed, I close my eyes. I’m distinctly aware of the sound of running water, but within seconds I’m fading away, sinking into the darkness.

3

T  rey

I STARE at her sleeping form for far longer than necessary. I don’t want to wake her up, but I don’t want to leave her like this either. Getting a clean washcloth, I soak it in some warm soapy water. I clean the apex of her thighs as gently as I can without waking her up, wiping the blood, and the evidence of my brother's betrayal away. Then I wrap her up in a blanket and move her to the center of the bed.

I’m angry...angry at myself, at Declan, but most of all her piece of shit father.

I don’t understand the things I’m feeling, why I want to make sure she’s okay. Declan is right. She is the enemy, but she’s not the enemy by choice and hurting her makes us no better than her father. I’m conflicted, caught between right and wrong, between getting revenge and protecting her from all the bad in the world.

“You’re getting attached,” Wes says as he enters the room, his eyes going straight to Jessa’s sleeping form.

“I’m not attached. I just have a conscience, and all I can picture is Jessa being hurt like our sister…we’re no better…”

“Don’t. Do not compare her circumstances to what our sister went through. We’re nothing like her father, not even close. She’s given food, a bed to sleep on, she’s not dead yet. That’s a thousand times better than what our family ever got, let alone our sister.”

A blood vessel in Wes’s neck bulges and I know he’s angry, livid even. And I get what he’s saying, because he’s not lying, our sister, our family, they didn’t get a quick death, they were tortured, beaten, and raped, but that doesn’t mean I can shut off my humanity. I still feel like shit for what’s happening to her.

“Did he hurt her?” he asks, and even though I know he doesn’t want to admit it I know he feels shame over what happened. Declan has wanted her dead since we kidnapped her and while the dynamics of everything have changed, he’s still hung up on getting even, burying the knife into her father’s chest so to speak.

“I don’t think so, but I don’t know for certain. Watch her while I check on Richards’ surveillance.” I leave the room and go to my own and sit down at my desk. Exhaling I open the laptop and pull up Richards’ email and phone log. He texted his security and called the private investigator to let everybody know that he got another video, but he still makes no attempt to contact us. Which pisses me off further, because just as I said, the video wouldn’t change anything.

Declan hurt her for no reason, and now he’ll have to deal with the guilt that comes with that. I shake my head, trying to wrap my mind around all of this. Richards’ orders are still the same. Find us and eliminate everyone. Fuck. I slam the laptop shut hard enough to break the screen.

Jessa’s useless to us now. He doesn’t care about her, not like we had anticipated. There’s no reason to keep her alive now, no reason to keep this charade going. If we want the flash drive, we’re going to have to go in guns blazing. I rub at my temple, a headache forming. Everything is fucked.

After a few minutes, I get up and find my brothers. We gather in the living room. Declan’s face is masked, but I’ve known him long enough to know he’s feeling something inside that cold exterior.

“It worked, didn’t it?” Declan asks, a stupid grin on his face.

“No asshole, it didn’t.” His face falls as soon as I speak, something close to anger flickering in his depths.

“Fuck,” Wes curses, running a hand through his hair in frustration.

“Yeah, so you hurt her for nothing.” I direct my anger over the situation at Declan.

“I didn’t fucking hurt her. I fucked her, there’s a difference. Plus, she wanted it, and she came, her tight little pussy squeezed painfully around my cock. If she was so hurt, then she wouldn’t have gotten any pleasure, so knock it the fuck off. You aren’t any better than me. We all want the same thing—”

“It didn’t look like she wanted it when we came in,” I cut him off. “We might want the same thing, but I think we have different ideas on how to get it.”

“You’re right,” Wes says in a weird tone. I glance over at him and his face looks like he just had an epiphany. “Maybe we just need a different way to get it.”

Declan and I look at him, waiting for him to elaborate.

“What if we change our tactics? If Jessa is telling us the truth, which I think she is, she has no idea the kind of person her father is. What if we show Jessa what her father is really like? We can show her the messages he sent his security.”

“And what good is that going to do,” Declan asks, once again showing his disapproval.

“Maybe she can help us get to him. Maybe she knows stuff we don’t. If we use her against him in a way other than hurting her, if we show her that we care about her, maybe that will give us the edge we need,” Wes adds, and I have to admit the idea is a good one. We’ve been hurting her since we brought her in, using her fears against her, and clearly, it’s backfired on us.

Declan shakes his head. “No fucking way. I’m not trusting her, absolutely not. Not one single fucking bit. She’s the enemy or have you both forgotten that?”

“Her father is the enemy. If she’s our enemy now, then it’s because of what we did to her.” I stare Declan down, making certain he hears my words.

Declan clenches his fists, his jaw tightening, “I don’t believe for one second that her father doesn’t care about her. Why keep her sheltered? Why have so many fucking guards? It makes zero sense, and although you are my brothers, I can’t agree with you on this.”

“He did care about her until he realized she would most likely be returned to him as damaged goods, or in pieces,” Wes starts, but I cut him off.

“Like he said, he has no time to fix something like that and it doesn’t matter how much he cares about her, he’ll always put himself first. That’s what people like him do. We should have seen this coming. He is a fucking psychopath. We can’t hurt him like he hurt us because he doesn’t love anyone, no one but himself.”

“This wasn’t the fucking plan.”

“She wasn’t ever supposed to be a part of this. We took her on a whim, in hopes that her father would give up the drive sooner.”

“I don’t trust her.” I can hear the anguish in Declan’s voice, and see the sadness in his eyes. He hates her father, probably more than Wes and I combined. Which is understandable, with Declan being the oldest, he always felt responsible for everything. He blames himself for not being able to protect our family, especially our little sister. But I can’t let him head down that dark road where he destroys innocent people. We’re better than her father, and if our sister was still alive, she would be ashamed of what we’ve done to Jessa.

“Well I’m sure she doesn’t trust you now either,” Wes growls at him.

“If we want to do this the easiest way, we win her over, we show her that we aren’t monsters, and instead, show her who the real monster is in all of this. Sever the love she has for her father and she’ll be ours.”

“I’m not going to be any part of this. You both are making a mistake,” Declan yells before stomping to the elevator, going who knows where. Watching him leave sucks, but it’s clear he needs space right now.

“He’ll come around, right?” I question, directed more toward myself than Wes.

“I’m making something to eat for when she wakes up. After everything that happened today, she needs a warm bath, and a good meal,” Wes announces, ignoring my question and heading into the kitchen, while I walk back to his room.

As I cross the threshold, I find she is still sleeping, and in the same position she was when I left her. Her blonde hair is in disarray, her pink lips swollen and her features so peaceful she looks like a damn angel. If there is one thing her father did right in life it was creating her, that’s about fucking it.

I can’t imagine how tired she is, how worn out her body is. I slide into bed next to her careful not to wake her up. I want to hold her in my arms, cuddle her into my side. It’s such a strange thing to want something I’ve never done with a woman before. Then again, I’ve never been with a virgin, not before today, so maybe that’s what got me hooked. Watching her sleep for a while, I listen to her even breathing, watching the steady rise and fall of her chest all while wondering if there is a chance our new plan could work. Does she even know anything that we could use against her father? And if she does, would she ever trust us enough to actually help us, especially now? We’ve hurt her. I know it without even having to ask her, but are the wounds deep? Too deep to be forgiven?

Can my brothers and I convince her to help us, after treating her the way we did?

Questions bombard me at every angle, and I have no answers, at least not right at this second. Time seems to tick by, and after a while, Wes comes walking back into the room.

“She’s still asleep?”

“Yes, and I don’t foresee her waking up anytime soon. I think we should let her sleep, and when she wakes up, we give her a bath, feed her, and show her the emails, maybe even the video of her father hurting our sister.”

He nods his head and asks, “Do you think Declan is right? Are we dumb to trust her? Maybe she has been acting this whole time and even if not, it’s still her father we’re going to try and turn her against. What happens if she doesn’t believe us or leads us into a trap?”

I shrug, keeping my eyes on the blonde angel beside me.

“I don’t think she would be able to outsmart us like that. I do think we need to earn her trust, show her proof, and let her decide on her own. If she doesn’t want to help us then…” I trail off, emotion lodging in my throat. If she doesn’t help us or refuses, then the only option will be death and the thought of killing her disgusts me. My insides knot and my stomach churns at the mere thought. I lift my gaze from Jessa and turn to Wes, seeing the same painful disgust appear in his eyes.

“Are you getting feelings for her?” he asks a second later.

“I don’t know. All I know is that I can’t hurt her like we planned to do. She doesn’t deserve this. I still want the revenge for our family, but I can’t hurt her again.”

“Me too, brother…” Wes announces, and I can see the adoration he has for her. At first, I thought he was being soft on her, but I see it now, probably because I feel it too.

“The only thing we need to do now is win Jessa over and convince Declan that we’ve made the right choice. Then we attack and hit the bastard right where it hurts.”

Silence settles over us, and then Wes asks me the one question I have no answer to.

“And what about after that? What do we do with her once we get the drive? Once we have our revenge?”

It takes me a good two minutes to answer. The silence stretching as I run different scenarios through my head, but keep coming to the same answer.

Finally I answer, “I don’t know. I just don’t fucking know.”

4

J essa

WARMTH. It’s everywhere. My body feels weird, like when you fall asleep by the pool and forget to put sunscreen on. My skin hurts, in fact, my entire body hurts, and I groan loudly as I shift against the sheets. I blink my eyes open and find Trey staring at me, then the events of the past day come rushing back to the surface, plowing through my brain like a freight train.

“Morning.”

“Morning? How long was I asleep?” I ask, my voice croaky. A painful ache forms in my gut, reminding me that I haven’t eaten anything in a really long time.

“Awhile,” Trey mumbles, his eyes still on me. I glance past him, and out the window noticing that it’s still dark outside.

“How do you feel, Princess?” Wes’s voice meets my ears and I roll over, finding him on the other side of me. No wonder I was so warm. I was sandwiched between the two of them all night.

“Like crap.” And I do. Simply breathing hurts, and with every move I make my body aches more. I need a bath or shower, but first I need to eat.

“Hungry?” Trey asks, and I nod my head yes.

“We figured, so I made some food already. Just need to go heat it up for you,” Wes explains as he gets up from the bed and heads out of the room. In a flash, he’s back at the side of the bed with a glass in his hand.

“First, drink this, I’ll heat up the food and bring it to you.” He hands me the glass, and I peer inside to see what it is. Orange juice. I watch him leave the room again while Trey helps me sit up. There’s a slight ache between my thighs that I’m certain I’ll be feeling for a few days. I lean my back against the headboard and sip at the juice. Trey doesn’t say anything and I’m thankful. I not really in the mood or ready to talk about everything that happened yesterday.

A few minutes later Wes reappears with a plate of food in his hand. Trey puts a pillow on my lap and Wes sets the plate on top of it, handing me a fork. I look between the two of them completely perplexed. Their demeanor has changed completely from what it was two days ago, and I can’t help but wonder why.

They’ve gone from wanting to take from me to wanting to take care of me in one night and I feel that something isn’t right about their behavior. Are they really sorry about what Declan did to me? Or are they playing me? I can’t forget that I am their prisoner, no matter how close I feel to them physically. I can’t trust them, not ever.

“Eat some food and then you can take a bath,” Trey interrupts my train of thought. I look down at the steaming omelet with pieces of cheese and ham in it and my mouth starts watering. I spear a bite-size portion of it with my fork and bring it to my mouth. The savory flavor hits my taste buds and I almost moan.

The guys watch me eat in silence and I use that time to form some questions in my mind. When I can’t eat another bite, I hand the plate to Wes who puts it on the nightstand.

“I want to know what’s happening,” I declare. “Why am I really here and why are you not letting me go? My father surely must have contacted you by now.”

Wes and Trey exchange glances before Trey says, “Why don’t you take a bath and then we’ll talk.”

“I don’t want to go back downstairs,” I blurt out, feeling like I need to tell them, in case they plan on taking me back down there. I might not be able to trust them, but I don’t want to be kept in that cell. I’d rather be in the company of them, then be alone with nothing more than my thoughts.

“You won’t be going back downstairs anymore. Things have changed,” Wes answers, giving me a soft smile, something I’ve never seen before. The look on his face is foreign to me. Why is he smiling? Where is the cruelness that I’ve come to know? Confusion like I’ve never felt before builds inside me. I don’t understand what is happening.

“Bath, then we’ll talk,” Trey orders.

I agree, partially because I really want to take a bath and partially because I really don’t have a choice in the matter. They might be being kind to me now, but who is to say their attitudes won’t change. If I push, they may push back and though parts of me enjoyed what happened with Declan yesterday, I’m not ready to experience something like that again. It was too intense, physically and emotionally.

Wes disappears into the bathroom and I hear the water being turned on. A few minutes later he comes and gets me, helping me out of the bed and leading me into the bathroom. My legs are shaky, and my muscles ache with each step I take. Who knew sex could make you feel so exhausted.

The bathtub is already half filled when I step into the hot, bubble-filled water. I submerge my body slowly, enjoying how the warmth soothes my aching muscles as I sink lower into the suds. Wes and Trey watch me cautiously as if I might disappear into thin air or something. It’s strange the way they’re looking at me, the way they’re hovering like a mother hen and honestly it kind of worries me. I push the feelings away at least for now and force myself to enjoy the bath.

I soak in the hot water for a while before I ask for shampoo so I can wash my hair. Trey gets a small bottle and hands it to me. I tip my head back to wet my hair and almost slip under the water.

“You want me to help you? I can wash your hair,” Wes offers.

“Sure.” I don’t want to turn away his kindness. Even if he is being nice for some reason I’m not quite sure of yet. I’ll take whatever I can get at this point.

He comes to kneel next to the tub, sliding an arm under my shoulders so I can lean back without drowning. I get my hair wet and watch as Trey squirts some shampoo into Wes’s palm. He starts washing my hair, massaging my scalp gently, far gentler than expected, sending little jolts of pleasure down my spine. My eyes drift closed, and I relish in the feeling of his fingers threading through my locks, and massaging the tender flesh. It feels so good to be cared for. No one has ever washed my hair, and for some reason, that resonates within me. Wes is being kind, showing compassion, and it scares me as much as it makes me happy.

“Where did Declan go?” I ask as Wes rinses my hair.

“Out. You don’t need to worry about him. He won’t hurt you again.” Trey’s response surprises me, mostly because he thinks Declan hurt me. I think about correcting them, telling them that he didn’t hurt me, at least not like they think. All I wanted was for him to not discard me after sex. I wanted him to hold me instead of pushing me away. I consider that maybe the only reason they are being nice to me right now is because they think Declan hurt me and I don’t want their kindness to end. I decide not to say anything and hear them out on whatever it is they need to tell me first.

Trey helps me out of the bath and wraps my body up in a towel while Wes wraps up my hair in a second one. When we get back to the bedroom, I find a pile of clothes waiting for me on the bed.

“These are going to be big on you, but we don’t have anything else right now. When we make our monthly run, I’ll be sure to get you some things,” Trey tells me, and I wonder how long he expects me to stay here.

“Has my father contacted you?” I repeat my still unanswered question from earlier.

“Why don’t you get dressed, and then we can sit down and talk.” Wes grabs the towel and starts to dry me off, while Trey grabs a T-shirt and pulls it on over my head. I’m too busy being dried and dressed by them to respond, so I simply wait until I’m fully clothed in a T-shirt, and a pair of boxers.

“I’m dressed now. Please tell me what’s going on. You guys are worrying me, even more than normal. I’m so confused. Yesterday it seemed like you guys hated me, and now today you’re different,” I admit, knowing that I sound weak, but I suppose that’s a good thing. If I make them think I’m weak, that I’m submissive, then they’ll never see it coming when I escape, if I can manage it.

“Your father hasn’t responded to us,” Trey starts to explain while ushering me into a large living room area. I’ve only ever seen this space, but was never allowed to use it. He gently pushes me down onto a couch with a laptop on the coffee table in front of me.

“He must not have gotten the messages. Did you really send him those videos? I can’t imagine how he feels after watching those videos, he might be in shock. Yeah, he’s probably in shock. He’s my father, he loves me.” The thought of my father seeing me like that has my stomach churning, then again, the thought of him not responding at all, that’s even more terrifying, because without a response I know I’ll never escape them. They might as well let Declan shoot me.

“Yes, we sent him emails, including the videos,” Trey continues. “I’ve also been monitoring your father’s online activities, as well as all phone conversations. I know for a fact he has gotten the messages, but he is not responding. I’m worried that maybe he doesn’t care for you as much as we had initially thought.”

I shake my head, my fear spiking. “This has to be a mistake. This whole thing is a mistake. Of course he cares about me. I’m his daughter.” I find I’m yelling now, consumed with anger and pain. Nothing makes sense and what he is saying is not giving me any answers, it’s just giving me more questions.

“It’s not a mistake, Jessa. Your father has everybody at his disposal. He is trying to find us and where we are hiding you. He even went as far as to hire a private investigator, but if he was smart, he would know there is no way he’ll ever discover where we are.”

“So, he is looking for me.” I almost sigh. “Just let me go then. I swear I won’t tell him anything. I don’t even know where we are…” Trey shakes his head, and somehow I know there is more to the story than they’re letting on.

“He’s not trying to save you, Jessa. He is just trying to find us. He’s trying to—” Wes’s words cut off mid-sentence.

“What? What’s he doing? Why am I still here?” I’m freaking out more and more with each passing second. I can hear my pulse pounding in my ears, my heart’s beating out of my chest. Am I ever going to escape them? They’re being nice today. But what about tomorrow? Next week? I can’t stay here. I won’t.

“Calm down. You’re going to give yourself a panic attack if you don’t calm down.” I almost laugh. Of all the things that have happened to me, of all the things they’ve done to me, how they’ve used me they’re worried about my mental state now?

“Just tell me.” The words come out on a whisper. I feel defeated already, and I don’t even know what’s happening yet.

“He is sending people to kill us…all of us, including you.”

I let Trey’s words sink in for a moment before I let out a humorless laugh.

“That’s just ridiculous. Stop lying and tell me the truth. You guys are either lying your asses off, hoping I’ll believe you, or you are absolutely delusional. Nothing you say makes sense right now, and I can’t believe that my father would want me dead. I’m his daughter.”

Neither one of them responds, in fact, they look at each other, a silent conversation taking place right before my eyes. Seconds tick by and then Trey flips open the laptop in front of me. Multiple folders are open on the desktop. I take a closer look, even though I don’t want to and find emails sent from my father’s email address confirming all the things they are telling me to be true, but of course I still don’t believe a single word. This has to be a setup. They’re mind fucking me, trying to break me down, now that they’ve broken me physically.

“Sorry, but I’m not that stupid. It’s not that hard to create a fake email,” I tell them completely unimpressed. My response makes them both roll their eyes, and heavy sighs fill the air. They must really think I’m an idiot.

“We knew you’d say that, and we have more proof, so just hold your tongue princess and open your ears,” Wes orders as Trey pulls up another file with a voice recording and presses play. The first voice that comes through the speakers I recognize as my father’s head of security. A man I’ve known since I was a small child. A man that’s protected me, from everything good and bad in the world.

“I just got your email and I wanted to be certain that I understood this right…You want us to take everyone out? Even Jessa?”

I blink, not fully grasping what I’m hearing. My father’s voice fills my ears next, “Yes, that is exactly what I want…” I’ve never heard my father sound so cold and detached. His voice sounds foreign to me, but it’s definitely my father's voice I am listening to, there is no mistaking it. “I can’t give these thugs what they want. It would cost me my career, everything I’ve worked for, and even if you could bring her back now, she is already damaged goods and I don’t want to deal with that.”

The recording ends as fast as it started and Trey closes the laptop, the sound is deafening as the silence between the three of us continues.

“This… it’s a lie…” I shake my head, a damp piece of hair clings to my skin, making me shiver, but I don’t care. About being cold, broken, or even the consequences of what’s to come.

“It’s not. Truly, I wish it was a lie, but we know your father. We know what makes him tick and we thought he loved you enough to want you back. Clearly, he doesn’t, and so things have changed.”

I twist in my seat, afraid of the answer to my next question. “What are you planning to do to me then? Kill me? Use me? Tie me up and leave me in that disgusting room? If I’m no use to you now, then why keep me alive?” Tears sting my eyes. I don’t want to believe that my father would have me killed rather than brought home to him, but there is no denying the voice recording. That was my father’s voice, those were his words. I can lie to myself all I want, but it doesn’t change what I heard.

I try to make sense of the words. Maybe I misinterpreted them, maybe he meant something else. It just can’t be. There must be some kind of explanation. My father told me all my life that I was his only reason to live. Why would he toss me away like garbage? Why would he protect me for so many years only to have his own men kill me? It makes no sense.

Has my life been nothing but a lie?

“We’ve shown you kindness that your father never showed our family. We didn’t beat you, or rape you despite what you think.” Wes speaks, frustration marring his features. “I want to show you a video. I want to show you the man that you think is your father. If you think this is as bad as it can get, then you have no idea. You being here with us now is your only chance at survival.”

“No.” I shake my head and get up from the couch. I’m not sure where I’ll go, but I don’t want to see anything or hear anything else. I need to digest all of this, come up with a logical reason for why this is happening. My father isn’t the man they’re making him out to be. I know it. They’re lying, they have to be.

“I don’t want to hear or see anything else. I just want to leave. Please, just let me go.” Tears form in my eyes. I feel broken, so damn broken like a broken doll, shattering into pieces.

“You can’t leave,” Wes tells me, standing up and moving in on me, as if he’s waiting for the moment when I make a run for it. As if I could escape… I open my mouth to respond, but I’m interrupted by the dinging of the elevator. It opens a moment later and Declan walks into the living room looking like he just ran a marathon.

Sweat drips down his face, and there seems to be a peacefulness in his eyes that I’ve never seen before. The darkness I’ve grown so accustomed to is still there, but he seems as if he’s got a clear head.

“I see your plan is working, she definitely looks like she is on board,” Declan says sarcastically.

On board?

“What plan? What is he talking about? What are you trying to get me to do?” I ask Trey and Wes who are both glaring at their brother.

“Go on, tell her your plan. I’m guessing she didn’t believe that her father wanted her dead?” Anger zings through me, burning fury pulses through my veins. I’ve endured so much at the hands of these three men, and now they’re fucking with my head.

“We were hoping you would help us to get to your father, help us take him down,” Wes admits and my mouth pops open in shock.

“You mean help you kill him? You are asking me to help you kill my father?” How stupid do they think I am? What makes them think I would ever agree to such a thing?

“You don’t know the things your father has done. You have no idea what kind of man he really is,” Trey tells me and all I want to do is cover my ears and stop listening to them.

I want to storm off, hide in my room and slam the door, but there is nowhere to go, nowhere to hide. I’m stuck here with these three men who have complete control over me, and I wonder how I’m ever going to get out of this.

5

T  rey

“I WANT TO LEAVE,” she says, looking me right in the eyes. It’s as if she knows I won’t let anything bad happen to her, and I hate that weakness, hate the hold she has on me. But if she thinks batting her eyes at me is going to get her out of this mess, she’s horribly wrong. I can’t help her, no one can. We’re in this together.

“I’ll put a bullet between your eyes before I allow that.” Declan’s deep voice vibrates through the room.

“You’ve wanted me dead since the moment you kidnapped me, so I suppose you’re going to get your wish, but not before you got your dick wet, right?”

Her blue eyes blaze with fury as she walks over to him. She cranes her neck to look up at him and part of me wants to reach out and grab her, to stop her from pushing him. He’s not on board with keeping her, he doesn’t trust her. All she’s going to do is push him until he breaks and I don’t want to see her get hurt.

“Don’t pretend like you didn’t want it,” Declan says, looking more amused than pissed off, which relaxes me a bit. She can be glad he just worked out. “You think I didn’t hear you moan and feel your pussy clench down on my cock while I was fucking you? Maybe you should watch that video, you can see for yourself what a whore you are…”

With a grunt that sounds more like a war cry, she is on Declan, her small hands clenched into tiny fists pounding on his chest. “I fucking hate you!” she yells at him, pushing against him one last time before he snatches her wrists in one hand.

She keeps wiggling in his hold, but he just kicks her legs out from under her and lowers her to the floor to pin her down. In less than five seconds, she is completely immobilized.

“You can hate me all you want, it doesn’t change anything. Keep telling yourself you didn’t want it. Maybe you’ll start to believe your own lies.” He gets off of her and walks past us. “Keep your pet on a leash or I’ll teach her to behave.”

Thankful that I didn’t have to stop Declan from doing something stupid, I walk over to help her up, but she just shrugs me off. “Don’t touch me,” she says bitterly and something inside of me snaps. I know she’s going through shit right now, trying to digest all of it, but she doesn’t get to shrug me off. Grabbing her by the arm I pull her up roughly.

“I’ll touch you whenever the fuck I want to,” I growl into her face.

She doesn’t believe us anyway so there’s no reason to treat her like an actual princess now. In the end, we can’t have her thinking that we are weak, even if she does come to her senses, we can’t have her expecting mercy from us simply because we told her the truth.

“You don’t have to believe us, but you will respect us. Put your hands on my brother again and I’ll let him have his way with you.” I drag her to the couch and make her sit. She looks up at me defiantly like she wants to fight, but beneath that, I can see the lust filter into her eyes.

“It doesn’t matter if you help us or not the outcome will be the same. You can’t leave so either you die, or you stay here with us. How pleasant or unpleasant your stay will be is going to depend solely on you,” Wes explains to her.

“You can’t just keep me prisoner for the rest of my life. I’m a human, not some fucking animal.”

“Why not? Who is going to stop us? No one knows where we are and no one is going to find us here,” Wes says as I sit down next to her and rest my hand on her bare thigh possessively. I don’t squeeze enough to hurt her but enough to let her know who is in control.

“We thought treating you nice would make this easier, but maybe we were wrong. Maybe we need to keep this simple so you know your place.”

Her head whips in my direction, the fire in her gaze is intoxicating. I want her. I want to hurt her, touch her, consume her.

“And what exactly is my place here?”

“You are ours now, we do whatever we want, use you whenever we want and you’re going to tell us everything you know, whether you want to or not. Do you understand?”

I tighten my grip on her thigh. Her pupils are already dilated, and she is staring at me with her lips pressed tightly together. She’s looking for a fight and I’m about to give her one.

“I asked you a question. Do you understand?” I give her another chance to answer and when she still refuses, I squeeze her thighs even harder, my touch a smidge above bruising. “Answer me or we’re going to have to teach you some manners.”

She keeps scowling, clear defiance in her eyes, acting like a child testing her boundaries. My blood is already boiling, more with need than with anger at this point.

It’s obvious she wants to see what happens when we lose control. Maybe she even likes the idea of us putting her in her place, either way, my cock is more than ready to punish every orifice on her body.

“Fuck you,” she spits, sealing her fate. I glance over at Wes who is already smirking and shaking his head.

“Oh, you will. You’ll fuck all of us.”

“No, I won’t. I’m still sore.” She makes an attempt at prying my hands off her legs, but she’s not strong enough. She’ll never overpower us, never escape. She belongs to us now, forever, until we decide we’re done with her.

“Guess you should’ve thought of that before you decided to mouth off.” I grab one of her wrists, while Wes grabs the other and we pull her up to her feet. I already have the perfect punishment.

“Wes, get the handcuffs and meet us in Declan’s room,” I order, right before I pick her up and throw her over my shoulder. She gives my back a few laughable punches before she gives up. I knock on Declan’s door with my foot and he opens it a second later.

“Hey, can we use your pull-up bar?” I ask Declan who eyes me curiously.

“Sure.” He shrugs and lets me in. Wes is already back with the handcuffs as I step into the room, letting Jessa down beneath the pull-up bar Declan installed in his room.

“W-what…are you doing?” Jessa asks while I move her arms to above her head. Wes has already figured out what I planned and attaches the handcuffs to her wrists before fastening them around the metal bar above her.

I step away and look at our handiwork, admiring her beautiful body. Even stretched out, she has to stand on her tiptoes because the bar is too high. So fragile, so fucking beautiful, and all ours. Her face and neck are flushed and her eyes are wild, but there isn’t a lick of fear in those blues.

She wants this, even if she won’t admit it.

“Are you ready to be punished?”

She shakes her head, but her body betrays her. Her puckered nipples press against the fabric of her shirt, and her pink tongue darts out over her bottom lip as if she’s envisioning us fucking her like this. That can be arranged, Princess.

Declan steps closer, his presence making her tremble. He grabs the hem of her shirt, pulling it up and over her head before tucking it behind her neck so it hangs loosely around her arms. Wes walks around her and pulls the pair of boxers she is wearing down her legs, leaving her completely bare.

She gasps when Wes lands a hard slap against her ass, her head tipping back and her tits jutting out with the impact. Taking one of her diamond hard nipples I roll it between my pointer finger and my thumb. God, her tits are perfect. I pinch the nub just as Wes lands another hard slap against her other creamy white globe.

“Tell me, Princess, how wet is your cunt right now? Wet enough for me to fuck it?”

Declan doesn’t give her time to answer, not that I think she was going to say something anyway, not with her lips caught between her teeth trying pitifully to hide how much she likes this.

Snaking a hand down between her legs, his fingers skim over her pussy and I watch, my cock stiffening painfully, as he slides his fingers between her folds. I can already see the arousal glistening on her folds and his fingers, and I want her. I want her so fucking much. I want that pretty pussy squeezing my cock while my brothers take from her with the same ferociousness.

“Pretty fucking wet,” he confirms, lifting his gaze to hers. I glance over at him, and as if he can sense me staring, he turns his head, and our eyes briefly lock. For the first time, I see the same need I feel reflected back at me in his eyes. He wants her too, just like Wes and I, he’s just so hell bound on killing her he doesn’t let it sink in, let alone show it. And I get it.

Wanting her, wanting the enemy’s daughter, admitting something like that even to your brothers, it would make even the strongest man feel weak.

“I’ll be right back,” Wes suddenly blurts out and disappears from the room.

“Not so full of fire anymore, are ya?” I ask her. She opens her big blue eyes and looks straight at me, while Declan walks around her, taking Wes’s place. His hands trail across the back of her shoulders, and down her spine while I run mine down her sternum, over her breasts, and eventually ending between her thighs.

Declan leans forward, taking her ear between his teeth, and I grin, loving the way her chest rises and falls at the contact.

“Admit you want it, Princess. That you want all three of us. Admit you want the big bad monsters you claim we are.”

“No…” she croaks, but her voice is breathless, filled with pleasure, with need and want.

Her whole body starts to shudder, as if she’s anticipating what’s to come. Grinning I dip two fingers between her folds, grazing her hard clit. Fuck me, she wants this. Why does she fight us so hard, why can’t she let us make this good for her without it being a fucking fight? Is this what she wants? To fight us.

Wes walks back in and I almost laugh as I take notice of the bottle of olive oil he is holding. Jessa looks confused. Our innocent little lamb has no idea what she is in for. That virgin asshole is about to be taken, and soon we’ll have claimed every single hole on her body.

Declan comes back around and stands next to me while Wes takes his place behind her again. He opens the bottle and pours some into his hand before reaching between her legs. A soft gasp passes her lips and her delicate body starts to squirm as if she’s trying to get away, but there is no going back now, nowhere for her to escape. This is happening. She asked for this by spouting off that pretty little mouth. She thinks this is a game, that she has an opinion, that she is someone important, but she hasn’t earned that right yet.

“What are you doing?” There’s a tinge of panic to her words, but I get the feeling it’s more from the unknown then actually being scared of us.

“We told you, we were going to punish you, teach you a lesson and that’s what we are doing…teaching our disobedient princess what happens when she mouths off.”

6

J essa

MY BODY IS BURNING UP, flames licking at my flesh. My feelings, my senses, my thoughts, everything is all messed up. My heart and mind feel as if they’ve been thrown into a blender. What’s right or wrong? I don’t know. Who is the real enemy in all of this? I don’t know. Everything is confusing, and yet I don’t care about finding the answers right now.

All that matters right now is them. I want them to touch me. I want to feel them, their hands on my skin, every inch of it. I want them to claim me, but my pride, or what’s left of it is too big to admit it out loud. Somehow my eyes find their way over to Declan, the enigma of the brothers, the darkest of them and I almost smile seeing the same excitement in his eyes that I saw in the shower. This is what I want from him, what I want from all of them. I don’t just want their bodies, I want their minds too. I want them to want me like I want them.

My eyes fall shut and my head tips back when Wes moves his hand between my legs. His fingers slippery from the oil he poured on them. Two fingers glide into my pussy with a gentleness that is unlike anything I’d ever expect from him, and then I feel him there…at my ass…his thumb starts to massage the puckered hole.

“Ready to lose the last virgin hole on your body?” Trey whispers into my ear, his hot breath fanning against my cheek, as he flicks my hardened nipple with one of his fingers. Pleasure zings through me, it’s red hot, burning, and I want to reach out and grab onto it. I want it to burn me, brand me.

Wes pulls his fingers out of my pussy to give my ass his full attention, and a tiny whimper of disapproval slips from my lips, a moment before Trey takes over my pussy, pushing two fingers deep inside of me, scissoring them, while Wes slowly pushes one thick digit into my ass hole. As much pleasure as I’m feeling I can’t resist the knot of fear unraveling in my belly. I clench up at the foreign feeling.

“Relax, or this is going to hurt,” Wes murmurs against my shoulder and I swallow, gulping down the fear. I want this. I want all three of them, and I want to give myself to them, completely. That’s the only reason I taunted them in the living room.

Pushing against the resistance of the muscles in my asshole, one single finger enters me, there is a sting of pain, but the pleasure in my pussy overrides all of it. Blinking my lids open I find Declan staring at me.

“Please?” I whimper, unsure of what it is that I want. He raises his arms and touches me. He starts to knead my breasts, plucking at the hard nipples. Then I feel Wes in my backside, slowly pumping in and out, finding a rhythm similar to Trey’s fingers which are still stuffed in my pussy.

“You going to be a good girl and come on my fingers?” Trey questions, his lips against the top of my mound. I drop my gaze to his, enjoying the adoration I see in his eyes. He cares for me, truly, deeply, he’s the man I lost my virginity to, and I feel a connection to him.

I feel a second finger being added in my rear and I moan out in pleasure, my body is burning up, my skin hot, every nerve feeling as if it’s being electrocuted.

“Such a dirty fucking slut, taking my brother’s fingers in your ass and in your cunt.”

Oh dear lord. My chest heaves, and all I feel is an all-consuming pleasure. It rips through me as Trey and Wes fuck both my holes with their fingers and Declan plucks at my nipples while talking dirty to me.

Wes adds another finger and I feel impossibly full, as if there is no way anything else can be put inside me.

“Fuck, you’ve got a tight little asshole.” Lust coats Wes’s words and I can feel his body vibrating with need as he readies my ass for his cock.

“I want you to come on my fingers, Princess, squeeze that tight little pussy, let me feel it, give me your sweet cream,” Trey orders, fucking my pussy with his fingers, stroking me so deeply I feel it in my bones. I’m full in the front and the back and it’s all too much, too much stimulation, too much pleasure. Declan bites down on one of my nipples, at the same time Trey pinches my tiny clit and my building orgasm sneaks up on me ripping through my pussy with a vengeance.

I start to shake like a leaf blowing in the wind, and then I feel tears spring from my eyes, the cold dampness sliding down my cheeks. I scream so loud, the noise rings in my ears. There are no words to describe the soul-shattering essence that claws through me, carving out a piece of my heart that I know will forever belong to these men. As I slowly drift back down to earth, I’m aware of something thick and warm pressing against my asshole. Trey’s fingers are no longer inside of me, but that’s okay, because when my eyes finally flutter open, I see him standing directly in front of me, his cock out, and fully erect.

“I’m going to enter you nice and slow, while Wes fucks your ass. It’s going to hurt a little bit, but we aren’t stopping, Princess. You belong to us…your body is ours to use however we want.” Gently I feel Trey probing my entrance, while Wes presses against my puckered asshole. He’s so big, so much bigger than his fingers that I doubt he’s going to fit back there.

With Wes’s hands on my hips, he eases me back a bit, while Trey lifts my legs and sinks into my pussy. At the same time, Wes presses into my ass, the muscles tightening, resisting his entry, but he doesn’t care, he’s going to claim this part of me just as his brothers claimed their parts. Pain slashes through me as Wes sinks into my ass, his length seeming huge. I can’t breathe. I can’t do anything but whimper as they both still inside me.

“Fuck, Princess, you’re squeezing me so tight back here I think I might come now…” His confession soothes me. Knowing I hold some type of power over them tells me I’m not completely weak, or completely at their mercy.

My ass stings, as Wes makes gentle pumps into it with his cock. Trey starts moving again too, and then I realize Declan isn’t touching me anymore. My eyes find him in a millisecond and I almost gasp watching as he strokes his cock roughly, his eyes filled with lust, his teeth sinking into his bottom lip.

Holy fuck.

“How does it feel? How does it feel to have my brothers’ cocks stuffed in your ass and your pussy?” Declan asks, his voice hoarse.

“Full…so full,” I pant, my body moving as they alternate their thrusting, a push and pull taking place with every single piston of their hips. It’s almost like I’m riding a teeter-totter, but their cocks are seats and I’m sliding from side to side.

“Full of cock… full of our cum... ”

“Shit,” Trey growls, his hands sinking into my flesh with bruising force as he fucks me harder. I watch as his eyes roll to the back of his head. Wes’s grip tightens as well, his pace speeding up just a smidge. My pussy throbs and between the fullness in both holes and the friction of their bodies against mine I can’t stop the release from bubbling up inside me. It’s rising with each and every stroke.

“Fuck, I’m coming...I’m fucking coming inside that pretty pussy,” Trey moans, and then I feel him, his sticky warm cum coats my womb. His words set off a chain reaction and in a matter of seconds, I’m coming too.

I’ve become addicted, like a heroin addict I cannot get enough of them, and I know this is just the start. A warmth seeps through my belly and radiates down into my cunt. My pussy flutters and I grip onto the metal bar above my head as I fall apart, my heart racing inside my chest, my skin burning as black dots obscure my vision.

“Shit...fuck me. I want her next,” Declan thunders, and I watch through hooded eyes as he continues to stroke his cock.

“Mmm, your ass is so tight. Tighten your hole. I want to feel you squeeze me, Princess, make me come, suck that cum from my balls. Let me fill your virgin ass with my sticky cum,” Wes orders.

My pussy quivers at his words and two strokes later I feel him emptying every drop of his release inside me.

He pulls out, and I feel his cum dripping down between my ass cheeks and onto the floor, while Trey’s and my own cum drips down between my thighs. Trey drops down to his knees and inserts two fingers into my messy pussy.

“Fuck, Princess, we’ve gotten you all messy.” He grins up at me, his eyes twinkling with amusement as he pushes his cum back into my pussy. Tingles of pleasure resonate through the overly sensitive tissue and I groan both in pleasure and discomfort.

“Ours, all fucking ours.” Wes presses a kiss to my shoulder, and I feel him dip his fingers between my ass cheeks. Then a moment later his sticky cum covers my ass cheeks, his hands rubbing the substance into my skin. He’s claiming me, marking me with his essence.

“Mine next,” Declan growls, prowling forward. Wes and Trey grin, nodding their heads in approval.

“Take good care of her, brother.” Trey licks his lips before he presses a soft kiss to my forehead. My arms are aching from being suspended, my entire body is spent, my mind spinning, my emotions all over the place. I’m both excited and afraid to be alone with Declan again.

My breathing is still out of control when he steps close enough for our bodies to touch. My sensitive nipples press against his muscular chest as he reaches up and unlocks the handcuffs. I lower my arms, a pins and needles sensation radiating from my shoulders and down my arms and back. My knees buckle from the combination of pain and overwhelming exhaustion. If it wasn’t for Declan’s strong arms coming to wrap around me, and holding me up, I would be a puddle on the floor right now.

“My arms,” I cry out, clinging to his chest.

“Don’t worry, you don’t need your arms for what I want from you,” he murmurs into my hair, and I feel this sudden urge to kiss him, but I don’t act on it. I’m far too afraid of being rejected by him or ruining this moment. He carries me to the bed but doesn’t lay me down on it. He just grabs a pillow and throws it on the floor before placing me down on it, making me kneel before him.

“Open up, Princess. Open your mouth wide for me and keep it open,” he orders while burying one of his large hands in my hair, cradling the side of my head. With his other hand, he starts stroking his cock. My eyes flutter closed, but his hand tightens in my hair, shaking my head lightly.

“Open your eyes and look at me while I come all over your face.” Following his command, I force my eyes open and gaze up at him. Our eyes bleed into each other’s as he pumps himself, his strokes are brutal, fierce and a moment later ropes of warm cum hit my face, most of it ending up in my mouth which I kept open for him.

“Stick out your tongue,” he grunts. When I do, he rubs the tip of his cock over it. “Suck it clean.” I close my lips around him and swirl my tongue over his tip, sucking slightly while keeping eyes on him. The salty tang of his release explodes against my taste buds. There is a deep satisfaction that seems to overtake his features, a feeling that I too have come to know in the last twenty-four-hours.

He pulls his cock out of my mouth and I almost collapse, I’m so fucking tired. I close my eyes unable to keep them open any longer. I don’t open them again. Not when he picks me up off the floor and carries me into the bathroom and not even when he makes me stand in the shower while holding me up the entire time.

I’m barely aware of him washing me and rinsing me off before sitting me down on the cold toilet seat so he can wrap me up in a towel and dry my hair. I feel like a life-size doll being cleaned after being played with.

Before I know it, I’m being lifted up again and put down on a soft, incredibly soft bed. Cool sheets caress my skin and a fluffy pillow molds to my head. The bed dips next to me and something warm grazes my arm.

“I should put you back in the cell,” Declan’s voice cuts through the darkness. It caresses something deep inside me, something inside me I haven’t felt before.

“Why don’t you?” I manage to whisper, my brain more than halfway asleep.

“‘Cause I want to fuck you again when you wake up,” he mutters, the words barely hitting my ears.

If I had the energy, I would smile at his comment, but I don’t, so instead I let the darkness wash over me, pulling me into an all-consuming slumber.

7

T  rey

WE GIVE Declan two hours before we come back to his room. It’s mid-morning now and the room is quiet when I open the door and step inside. I’m not sure what I expect to find when I walk in but it’s definitely not for Jessa to be curled up in the bed with Declan sitting next to her, while leaning against the headboard looking out the window like he is deep in thought. He doesn’t look up at us as we enter, not until we are standing right in front of his bed.

“Finally changed your mind about killing her?” I ask, keeping my voice low enough so she won’t wake up.

“It still would be the best choice. The most humane thing to do. Hell, it’s still really our only option in the end,” Declan answers, keeping his voice low like mine.

“We have other options,” Wes cuts in. “We can just keep her.”

Declan rolls his eyes. “Yeah sure, we’ll just keep her…as what, like a pet, or as a sex slave? Sounds like a great fucking life for her.”

“It doesn’t have to be like that,” I tell him, even though I know that it’s only half the truth. How else could it be? This is the only thing there is between us. This sexual power game we’ve been playing. I mean parts of me care for her, and obviously I’m attracted to her, but could we all three grow to feel something more for her someday?

“Please enlighten me, how else do you see this working out then?” Neither Wes nor I have an answer for that question which makes us settle into an uncomfortable silence.

“Maybe we can still get her on board. She didn’t want to believe us yesterday, but we didn’t give it time to sink in. She’s in shock, understandably so. She hasn’t even looked at half of the proof we have,” I point out after a while. “Plus, she already trusts us in some ways, she’s not terrified of us, of our touch, and she wants us to fuck her, she wants to sleep with us up here. I don’t know what the fuck this is going on between us, but you know as much as I do that it’s something.”

“Do you think there could eventually be more than sex between us? Maybe we can get her to actually fall for us?” Wes interrupts the silence, his eyes moving to her sleeping form.

“You’re joking, right?” Declan huffs. “You want to pretend to have her as a girlfriend? Play house with her? She’s the fucking enemy’s daughter. Just because she has a tight cunt and looks innocent doesn’t mean she can be anything more to us.”

I shrug. “I mean, maybe we could actually grow to care for her. I already feel like she belongs to us and from the way you growled mine like an animal, a few hours ago, you know exactly what the fuck I’m talking about.”

“Your cock is doing all of your thinking, brother. There is no other reason you would say what you just said.” Declan shakes his head, annoyance oozing from his pores.

“Well, we need to figure out what we’re going to do with her,” Wes reminds, and I just want to tell him to shut up for a moment.

“It’s simple really...keep her as a warm place to put our cocks until we are done with her.” For some reason, Declan’s voice and his words are grating on my last nerve. “It’s that or kill her, and since you two are so against doing that…”

“Fucking her is nice, but no matter what way we look at it she’s a human with feelings, and she’s innocent in this war against her father. Isn’t that obvious now? He wants her dead as badly as he wants us dead. Any man that cares about his daughter wouldn’t act like this.”

“She isn’t innocent, and he is bluffing.”

“He’s not, and how isn’t she? She didn’t kill…” I grind my teeth together, deciding right now that I’m done with this conversation. I was hoping after what took place earlier, he would come to his senses in some way, but he didn’t.

“Maybe she didn’t pull the trigger. Maybe she didn’t do his dirty deeds. Maybe blood doesn’t cover her hands, but she’s our only revenge against him. She’s our only chance at hurting him.” I shake my head, because he’s just not getting it. He’s too caught up inside his head, too stuck on his need for revenge. Taking a step toward her, I reach for her and pick her up off the bed. She doesn’t even stir. Her head lolls to the side and comes to rest against my chest.

“We need to start taking better care of her, ensuring that she eats at least three full meals a day. If we’re going to keep using her body the way we are, then she needs to be cared for properly.”

“I agree. I’ll go make her something eat, and we can wake her up soon,” Wes announces, slipping from the room without another word.

My gaze lingers on her face for a long moment. So fucking beautiful. To have her, to keep her, to make her ours, completely. It would be a dream, something I didn’t even know I wanted until now. My brothers and I have never been the type to date, to keep a woman to warm our beds, mostly because we never got the chance, but I think Jessa would be a good start for that. She’s submissive enough, and easily handles all three of us at once, now we just need to get her to trust us.

I look up from Jessa’s sleeping form and find Declan staring at her. There’s a tinge of warmth in his dark gaze, and I don’t even know if he realizes it. Since losing our family, he’s been the most closed off, the only one that never talked about the loss.

“It’s okay to want her. I know it doesn’t make sense, but I won’t deny that I want her, I want to keep her, and I don’t want her to die.”

His gaze drops immediately, a coldness encompassing his features. He’s closing himself off, building his walls back up. “Get her the fuck out of here. I don’t want to see her again until it’s time to fuck her.”

My molars grind together in anger and I turn on my heels carrying her out of the room. I take her down the hall and into the living room depositing her on the couch gently. Again, she doesn’t stir, not even a whimper, which bothers me more than I care to admit. Fuck, I’m growing attached, more than attached. I’m concerned.

Wes is doing something in the kitchen, pots and pans, and all kinds of shit are banging around, and I have no idea how she’s still sleeping through the noise. I can barely focus on the shit I’m looking over on my laptop.

By the time Wes comes in with a steaming plate of food she is still out, and my concern for her boils over.

“We should wake her up, she needs to eat and drink something,” Wes says, placing the plate of food down on the end table. I nod in agreement and watch as he gently rubs her shoulder and whispers her name into the shell of her ear.

When she still doesn’t stir, he shakes her a little more and raises his voice an octave. Her eyes open briefly, looking up at him, but they are out of focus and glassy. She mumbles something incoherent and her eyes flutter closed once more. She almost looks high and my first thought is that Declan gave her something. And at this rate, I wouldn’t be shocked if he did.

Slamming the laptop shut I shove up from the couch, fury burning in my veins as I stomp through the apartment and into his room. “Did you fucking drug her?”

Declan is still sitting on his bed in the same fashion we left him, his head snaps up when I burst into his room.

“What?”

“You fucking heard me, did you drug her? What did you give her? We can’t even wake her up. She’s completely out of it, and I’m fucking worried. She needs to eat something.” I feel myself unraveling, the knot of panic twisting and turning. I press a clenched fist to my head, trying to figure out how I got to this fucking point. When did I actually start to care about another person aside from my brothers?

Declan gives me a puzzled look before allowing anger to seep through his features. “I didn’t fucking give her anything, get a grip, man.”

“I have a fucking grip. Come and check her out yourself. You either gave her something, or there is something going on that we aren’t aware of.”

He rolls his eyes, and pushes off the bed, coming to meet me in the doorway. We walk back out into the living room together, to find Wes huddled over her body.

She seems so small, so fragile, and I don’t like the idea of there being something wrong with her. I don’t like the way her being here is making me feel, out of control…needed.

I shake my head at the last word. No. These feeling can’t exist in our lives anymore.

“Shit,” Wes curses, placing his hand on her forehead. “She is burning up.”

In an instant Declan is in front of her, his hands gently cupping her face.

“I need the medical kit from downstairs,” he says, his eyes still void of any and all emotion. He doesn’t give anything away, which doesn’t help the knotting panic residing inside me. Wes springs into action right away, as I watch, he gently brushes a few sticky strands of blonde hair from her forehead. Her skin looks clammy, her face sunken in. He leans in, close to her ear.

“I’m going to need you to wake up, Princess,” he whispers softly against her ear, the complete opposite of what he sounded like ten minutes ago.

“What’s wrong with her?” I ask, my heart rate spiking. I run a hand through my hair, mostly out of habit and partially because I need something to do with my hands since all I’m doing is standing here gawking.

“I don’t know, but she has a fever, probably some kind of infection. You said earlier she hasn’t been eating regularly?” I nod my head in response. “What about drinking, has she been drinking enough water?” I shake my head, feeling sick to my stomach.

He tries a few more times, unsuccessfully, to get her to open her eyes and though she opens her mouth briefly as if she’s going to say something, she makes no effort to open her eyes or even move her limbs.

I go into the bathroom down the hall to get a washcloth and wet it with some cold water. About the same time that I return to the living room, Wes is exiting the elevator, a heavy black bag in his hands.

He places the bag at Declan’s side, and I fold the washcloth, before pressing it to Jessa’s forehead. She doesn’t even react at the contact of the cold washcloth on her heated skin. Declan checks all her vitals and takes her temperature, which ends up being a hundred and two.

“Her vitals are good right now, so all we can do at this point is let her body fight off whatever she has. We just need to make sure we don’t let her temperature rise, keep her hydrated, and she’ll be fine. I’m starting an IV now. Trey, you should try to pull her medical records and make sure she doesn’t have any genetic health issues, or pre-existing conditions”

“How could she have gone from being fine to being so sick in such a short amount of time?” I ask.

“She is stressed and dehydrated. Whatever she caught is hitting her hard because of that. She was already weak, and now with being sick, it’s all just overwhelming her body,” Declan explains. He isn’t an actual doctor, but he is pretty fucking close and certainly the best we have available right now.

“IT’S BEEN TWO DAYS, Declan. She isn’t getting any better.” I try not to yell but seeing her lying in bed pale and sickly for the last two days is making it hard not to. She started coughing yesterday and I can hear the rumble in her chest when she breathes. This isn’t just a cold or the flu.

“We need to take her to a doctor.” I admit, knowing fully what his answer will be.

But Jessa has barely opened her eyes, and the few times she woke up she was so weak and out of it I even had to help her to the bathroom. I’ve never taken care of anyone like this, never had anyone who depended on me aside from my brothers, and though I hate seeing her this way there is something rewarding about being her anchor, about caring for her in this way.

We’ve been trying to keep her fever down, but it keeps spiking and we don’t have any antibiotics here to give her. We all know she needs to see a doctor, but Declan is still not budging and I’m starting to get pissed.

“We can’t risk it. They’re already looking for her and us. I’m not going to let you risk your lives for hers. She’ll lead them right to us. We were going to kill her anyway, so what’s the point?”

“You talk a big ass game about killing her, but are you really willing to have her death on your conscience?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, you know I’ve taken my fair share of lives. What’s another if it saves us.”

Liar!

“This is different, and you know it,” I growl, clenching my fist to stop myself from slugging him. He needs some sense knocked into him. I’m tired of it. Tired of him pretending there isn’t something deeper going on here. Yes, we kidnapped her in hopes of using her, but things have changed.

“She is nothing!” Declan screams in my face, the veins in his forehead bulge with barely restrained rage and I know I’ve struck a nerve.

I stand toe to toe with him, my eyes bleeding into his. “You keep saying that, but it’s almost like you’re trying to convince yourself, more than me or even Wes.”

“We aren’t taking her to a doctor,” he grits out through his teeth.

“You’re right. We aren’t doing shit. I’ll take her myself if you won’t.”

“I’ll break your legs before I let you walk out of here with her!”

“Assholes!” Wes comes in interrupting our screaming match. “She is breathing funny, you need to come and check on her.”

For someone who doesn’t give a shit, Declan starts moving pretty fast, hell, he’s almost running into my bedroom. I’m right on his heels of course, because unlike him I actually fucking care. I watch Declan sit down on the edge of the bed, listening to her chest with the stethoscope.

I don’t know why the fuck he bothers, I can hear her wheezing and uneven breathing from here. Something that looks like worry crosses his features.

“Let’s put some fucking clothes on her,” Declan finally says, and I damn near sigh. “We can’t take her anywhere naked.”

Thank fucking god.

Wes and I start gathering some clothes that she can wear and then we start dressing her. The sweatpants are way too big on her, but it will have to do. I wrap her up in a blanket and pick her up holding her to my chest. Her face is still, her skin pale, even though she’s burning up with a fever. If she had died a few days ago, I wouldn’t have cared one bit, but now, now I don’t even want to fucking think about such a thing happening.

“Grab my laptop, I’ll hack into the hospital’s computer on the way,” I call out to Wes.

Leaving is a risk, but it’s one we’ll have to take if we want to keep her alive.

“I’ll grab a couple weapons on the way out. You know…just in case,” Wes says before we all head toward the elevator. Declan places a hand on my shoulder stopping me before I enter.

“If this ends badly it’s on you,” he warns as if I didn’t already know.

“Yeah, and if she dies, it’s on you. So, I guess we’re even,” I sneer back. I know I can’t be mad at him forever, he’s doing what he thinks is best for us, but it’s not just about us anymore. It’s about her and us. She’s as much a victim to her father’s bullshit as we are, and I’m hoping when all of this is done Declan can see that.

By the time we get to the hospital, we have a well thought out plan as to how we’re going to do this without getting caught. Declan’s agreed on taking her inside, pretending to be her boyfriend, while I stay outside and work on the computer while Wes keeps an eye on the perimeter. It’s not the best plan, but it’s as solid as it’s going to get.

If everything goes according to plan, we’ll be in and out, with a bottle of antibiotics and maybe a breathing treatment in no time. At least that’s all we can hope for. All I know is that I won’t let Jessa die. We didn’t make it through all that we have just to lose her.

8

J essa

MY BODY FEELS as if it’s been raked over hot coals and then ran over by a train. My chest feels tight, every breath that enters my lungs burns. I lift my hands to feel if something heavy is laying on my chest, but my arm is stuck. It takes me forever, to peel my eyes open, but when I finally do, I realize my arm is attached to an IV, tape holding the needle in place.

“Welcome to the land of the living,” a gruff voice greets me. I scan the room, my eyes feeling like someone poured salt into them.

The room is bright and smells of bleach, and antiseptic. It’s mostly quiet besides the low buzzing and beeping of the machines I’m hooked up to.

Slowly my eyes make it to the owner of the voice, and I find Declan lounging uncomfortably in a chair in the corner of the room. I blink a few times to make sure this is all real, before I actually open my mouth to talk. Is it possible this is a dream?

“You brought me to an actual hospital?” My voice sounds rough like I’ve swallowed gravel, my throat feeling similar.

“You can thank Trey for that,” he responds quickly, and the small jab makes my chest hurt for a different reason than the illness coursing through my veins. “I would have let you die,” he adds, his eyes cold, and I don’t know why I’m so hurt by his rejection.

“I don’t believe that.” I try and keep my voice strong.

“Believe what you want. When the doctor comes in for his morning rounds you will tell him that you are better and want to go home now. Even if he wants to keep you longer, you will insist on going, understood?”

“What if I don’t?” I question, wanting to push his buttons the way he pushes mine.

He answers without having to think about it, almost if he has already made a plan. “Then I’ll slit his throat and drag you out of here anyway. Don’t be fucking stupid and do what you’re told. I’m sure you don’t want an innocent man’s blood on your hands.”

I swallow, even though it’s hard to. Declan is all hard edges and anger right now and I still don’t understand why. I want to believe that he wouldn’t actually kill someone just to get me out of here, but I’m not willing to risk someone’s life on it, so instead of pushing him further I just nod my head in agreement.

Rising from his chair, he walks over to me, pushing a button on the side of the bed to raise the back, moving me into a sitting position.

“You need to eat something,” he tells me, pushing the side table with a tray of food over to my bed. My stomach growls as soon as he opens the plate cover and the sweet smell of pancakes tickles my nose. Looking as if he’s solved all the world’s problems he walks across the room and takes his seat once again.

I eat in complete silence, each bite landing in my belly with a heavy thud. It feels like I haven’t eaten in weeks, and even though I know I should slow down, I can’t. I’m too hungry. As I’m shoving the last bite of pancake into my mouth, a soft knock sounds against the door. For a brief second, I feel Declan’s dark gaze on me. There’s a warning that burns through my body, one that tells me if I do anything stupid, he won’t hesitate to hurt someone. The door swings open before I can tell him I won’t do anything and a middle-aged woman in scrubs walks in.

“Good morning.” She gives me a friendly smile. “I’m Brenda, I’ll be your nurse for the day. Susie’s shift just ended, but she filled me in before she left.” I smile back at her, wondering what exactly she got filled in on, but I don’t dare say anything. I have no idea what Declan told the nurses, or doctors or even where Trey and Wes are. I can only assume they’re close by, since I know there is no way they would leave their brother to deal with me by himself.

“I’m glad to see you’re eating. How are you feeling this morning? Susie said your fever finally broke, so the antibiotics are definitely doing their job,” she continues. Out of the corner of my eye, I watch Declan shift in his chair. He looks uncomfortable, worry stricken. Brenda looks over at him and suddenly her face falls, her smile vanishing, something close to recognition flickers in her gaze and I wonder how she could possibly recognize him. Unless of course they’ve met before?

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t see you there.” The words escape her lips quickly. “You must be the boyfriend who brought her in.”

“Yes, and she is feeling great this morning, to answer your question. Aren’t you, babe?” He looks over at me, and even though he is smiling, all of his perfectly straight white teeth showing, his eyes are telling me that I better agree with him, or else.

“Yes, I’m great. I really just want to go back home, you know there isn’t anything like your own bed.” I tell her, forcing a bubble of laughter out.

“Okay…the doctor will be in shortly,” she tells us before checking my vitals and unhooking me from the IV machine. “Do you need help going to the bathroom? The last thing we want is for you to slip and fall.”

“I’ll take her,” Declan interrupts before I can get the first syllable out. “She can’t pee in front of strangers.”

A nervous laugh escapes from her throat and I can’t help but wonder if this is everyone’s reaction to him. Peeking up at him I take in his rugged features once more. Dark eyes, a strong chin, and cheekbones that would make a model jealous. He looks like he was carved from stone. And I haven’t even gotten started on his body. He is so big he makes the chair he is sitting in look breakable. He’s the biggest of the brothers, and though he terrifies me, in more than one way, I feel incredibly safe with him. It’s a conundrum that I still haven’t figured out yet.

Nurse Brenda exits the room with a smile and Declan gets up from the chair and walks over to the bed. “Come on, go use the bathroom and get dressed so we can leave as soon as the doctor comes in.”

As I stand my legs are shaky, and a wave of dizziness slams into me. I grasp onto the railing of the bed and am surprised when I feel Declan’s warm hand gripping my elbow tenderly. Who knew a man like this was capable of such a soft grasp?

“Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet, Princess. We haven’t made it out of here yet. If I have to, I’ll use you as a human shield to save myself and my brothers.” I bite the inside of my cheek to stop myself from responding to him. He’s so cruel, so callous, and dark. One minute he’s kind and caring, and the next he’s threatening to shove me into shark-infested waters. He helps me into the small bathroom off the side of the room.

I use the toilet by myself, but Declan helps me get dressed. Just as I get the T-shirt pulled into place, the doctor walks in. As Declan asked of me, I insist on being released right away. The doctor makes me sign some paperwork, which I sign with a fake name that Declan gave me. Then I’m given a bottle of antibiotics, and a smile, as the doctor tells me he hopes I feel better before he walks out, leaving us all alone.

“Time to go, Princess.” Declan puts my meds in his pocket and puts his arm around me as we walk out. His hold on me is possessive, and I cling to his side with each step we take, still not feeling at one hundred percent. His phone starts to ring as soon as we step out of the room, and I stare at him completely puzzled. When did he get a phone? In all the time I was with them, I never saw any of them using a cell phone. He looks down at the screen of the sleek device and mutters a string of curses.

“What’s wrong?” I ask, panic filling my belly.

“Ready to find out what it’s like to be used as a human shield?” My eyes go wide, and dread clings to my insides. He wouldn’t, would he? Who am I kidding, of course he would. He’s wanted me dead since the moment he laid eyes on me. A scream lodges in my throat and the need to run overwhelms me, but I don’t. That would be a stupid move, something that would surely get me killed.

He must be able to tell what I’m thinking because a moment later a soft chuckle, something I’ve never heard escapes his full lips.

“Just kidding, Princess. I don’t feel like listening to Trey whine that I broke his favorite toy, but we do need to get a move on it. As soon as we get outside, I’m going to toss you over my shoulder. We need to move quick, someone’s alerted your dad’s people.”

My dad’s people? That means...what does it mean? If what Wes, Trey, and Declan were saying is true about my father it means uncertain death for all of us, but if they were lying, it means freedom for me.

Which do I believe? My head is spinning, and bile rises into my throat. My stomach churns and I press a hand to it to get the damn thing to relax. The last thing I need is to be vomiting. I just got out of the hospital.

As we head toward the double sliding glass doors, I become more and more worried. What if they get caught? What if they were right about my father? The thought of being taken from them and thrust back into my old life terrifies me. I might be scared of them, but I’ve come to care for them, and they must care for me in some way too since they took me to the hospital when I was sick, instead of letting me die.

My heart hammers inside my chest so hard it feels like it’s trying to break free from my body. “I’m scared,” I admit, looking up at Declan who gives me an indecipherable look. I expect him to say something like, you should be scared, but he says nothing at all which is almost worse.

Instead, he just pulls me into his side a little tighter and that’s all I need to bring my boiling panic down to a simmering fear.

As soon as we are outside, an SUV pulls up in front of us. Declan opens the backdoor and pushes me inside, sliding in behind me before slamming the door shut. We speed off with squealing tires not even a moment later.

“Feeling better, Princess?” Wes asks from the passenger seat.

“She better be. We’ve risked too much for her not to be,” Declan answers for me, and I cut him a dirty look. He’s giving me whiplash with this back and forth.

“Yes, thanks for asking,” I answer, ignoring Declan’s cold stare that’s now piercing mine.

“We’re being followed,” Trey mutters from the driver’s seat, his eyes moving to the rearview mirror before the car swerves into the other lane.

“Buckle up, Princess, things are about to get a little wild,” Wes orders and I don’t wait for him to tell me twice. I snap my seat belt into place right as something slams into us from behind. I’m slung forward, the seat belt cutting into my skin around my collarbone. Trey curses and then we are swerving yet again. Declan grips onto the back of Wes’s seat to steady himself while Wes presses his hands to the dash.

“Turn here,” Wes yells. It’s hard to hear him over the swoosh of blood in my ears.

The engine revs as Trey floors it while taking a sharp turn. The movement makes me think we’re going to roll at any given second. I hold my breath until we are safely around the corner and I watch in horror as people jump out of the way. Storefronts and signs turn into blurs as we speed down the road probably doubling the speed limit.

“Hold on,” Trey warns right before he pulls into a side alley, grazing the side of the car against the brick exterior. I look back over my shoulder and when I don’t see the other car following us anymore, I briefly sigh. We must have lost them. Thank god. I turn back around in my seat and slump down in it. I’m about to ask where we’re going now when I catch something out of the corner of my eye.

A scream catches in my throat but never gets to come out.

A car comes out of nowhere smashing into the side of our SUV. The sound of metal crunching fills my ears. The sound is deafening, and with a jolt I find my head banging against the window. My whole body is jerked around like a rag doll as the SUV goes sliding across the road and into the wall of an alley.

For a long second everything seems to stand still. The smell of burning tires and gasoline is pungent and tickles my nostrils, somehow bringing me back to reality. A throbbing pain forms behind my eyes and I groan as I try and move. Before I can gather my wits, Declan is unbuckling me and dragging me out of the car.

Gunshots ring through the air and I twist my body around to see who is shooting. Fear grips my heart, sinking its claws into the muscle. I know I shouldn’t care if they live or die, but a part of me does. As soon as my eyes find Wes and Trey crouched behind the car with guns in their hands, I feel something as close to relief as it will get. There are three guys shooting at us from the side of the car that crashed into us.

Declan all but drags me farther into the alley and through the back entrance of a store. He continues pulling me, his grip on my arm bruising until I’m in a standing position. We practically run through the store without stopping, even with people screaming at us. Some salesperson comes running toward us yelling to get out or she’ll call the cops, but we are way ahead of her. My lungs burn as our pace quickens until finally we reach the front of the store.

Once we are out the front door, Declan slows down, his face is a mask of emotions, his eyes wild, as he scans the crowd, as if the three guys that were back in that alley are going to find us in this huge crowd.

“Walk normal, we need to try to blend in.” He leans into me, his hot breath fanning against my cheek. After a moment we step into the crowd, moving with the people as they do. The streets are busy, and for a fraction of a second, I had forgotten what the city was like. I try and skew my facial expression, keeping it neutral. I don’t want to draw attention, not that I think we would, but it doesn’t hurt.

We walk like this for a while. I try to stop myself from looking over my shoulder, which is easy with Declan’s arm draped around me, and my body pulled in tight to his side. Even though I’m wearing clothes that are way too big on me, to an outsider we must seem like a normal couple merely walking down the street and checking out the shops. If only they knew how false that was.

My heart rate is almost back to normal after a short time of walking. I’m nearly certain that we lost them. Now the only fear I have is for Wes and Trey.

“Do you think Trey and Wes are okay?” I ask, my voice a whisper.

“You worried something might happen to us, Princess?”

I shrug, even though I know there’s no point in hiding it. They might not care about me, but for some strange reason, I’ve grown to care about them.

“Don’t worry, my brothers and I have outrun far worse. We’ve looked death in the eyes without blinking. We can handle your father’s security team,” he says, rolling his eyes.

We continue walking down the sidewalk, and I consider asking him where we’re going when Declan suddenly stops mid-step and tightens his grip on me. When I look up at him and see him staring down the road, I follow his gaze.

Two men in suits are staring at us, two men I know, because they are both part of my dad’s security team. These are two men that watched me grow up. That I considered to be like family. For a second everybody stands still, then the two men start heading for us, their steps eating up the distance that separates us.

Adrenaline courses through my veins, the need to run is damn near consuming and I feel myself wanting to pull away, but Declan is faster and must be thinking the same thing because he spins us around to run in the other direction. We weave through the crowd, my feet barely able to keep up with him, when he makes an abrupt stop and pulls me to the side.

“Listen to me and do exactly what I say. You’re going to go into this store, go out the back and then take a right, walk all the way down that alley, turn and then go into the first store. You’re going to hide there until I come for you. Got it? No funny business Jessa. My life, your life, my brother’s lives, they’re all on the line.”

“Through the store right down the alley, turn, first store, hide, got it,” I repeat before he pushes me into the storefront. My body is shaking, a nervous sweat coats my hands, and I rub them down the front of my sweats as I make my way through the store. It’s one of those stupid container stores. I look around making certain no one has seen me before I sneak out the back door. Air enters my lungs, but it never really feels like I’m actually breathing. I’m exhausted, beyond exhausted, but what am I to do? I can’t stop. If I do, then I’ll die, and so will the brothers.

I enter the back alley, turn right and start walking down it, my feet moving over the concrete with ease just like Declan told me to do, but after a few steps doubt starts to flood my mind and I wonder if I’m doing the right thing? Should I trust them? Trust the man who kidnapped me, the one that wants me dead. I barely know these men and I have no real reason to believe them. I mean they haven’t truly hurt me, but they’ve reminded me often of the power they have over me. Weighing my options, I stand firmly in the middle of the alleyway.

What if this is my only chance to get away and I’m blowing it because I’m being naive and stupid? Declan wants me dead, isn’t that what my fate will lead to anyway?

I slowly turn around, still completely unsure about what is right or wrong. All I know is that I’m in a life or death situation and I have no idea what to do. Maybe I can get away from both? Maybe I can just outrun them and my father. But what if my father doesn’t really want me dead and it was all a ploy?

I squeeze my eyes shut, and grip at my hair.

I’m losing my damn mind over this. If I betray the brothers, they’ll rip me to shreds, but if I don’t take this chance to escape them then I’m just as weak as they all suspect me to be. Before I can make a choice, I hear footsteps approaching. Something inside me says to run, but my feet won’t move. It’s like they’re a part of the ground now cemented deep into the concrete.

“Where is he?” A male voice fills the space, and my eyes snap up honing in on two men that stand a short distance away. I’ve never seen them before, but I’m certain they’re my father’s men. Both have their guns raised, the metal shimmering in the sunlight. They’re pointed right at me. I stare down not one but two barrels with my mouth gaping open.

This is it. I’m going to die. Why won’t my feet move?

“I asked you a fucking question!” the same man from a moment ago yells. “Talk and I’ll make it quick.”

I’m momentarily stunned, as I try and make sense of what he just said. It was true. Everything the brothers told me was true. My father really does want me dead. The more I try to wrap my head around it, the harder the throbbing inside it gets.

“Or don’t talk, that’s fine with me, we’ll both just give you a nice hard fucking, before ending your life. We saw the video, we know you like it,” the other man chuckles, and I feel like puking. As if it’s not bad enough that they want to kill me, they want to degrade me before doing so.

“I’ll give you to the count of three, Jessa, and then I’m going to start shooting. I’ll aim for your legs first, so you can’t run from us.”

The other man starts counting, but he only gets to one before I take off at a dead run. As soon as they realize I’m not going to just stand there and let them count down to my impending death, they start firing off bullets.

“Run, run as fast as you can…” they taunt, and fear zings through me as the bullets whiz past me. My feet smack against the concrete, with each step I take. My lungs burn with every breath I take, the air entering them but not filling them. I feel like I’m going to puke, and I internally kick myself for being stupid enough to stand in the alleyway second guessing Declan’s orders.

I near the end of the alleyway, which is a dead end, fuck my luck, when I glance back and see the two guys gaining on me. Tears sting my eyes. This is it. All that I’ve gone through in the last couple weeks only to end up dead anyway. I tell myself I need to be strong, even though my future is bleak. They’ll kill me, but first, they’ll have their way with me. Reaching the end of the alleyway, I become panicked.

My gaze swings back toward the men and out of nowhere, I see a body slamming into them, tackling one to the ground and causing the second one to lose his footing and drop his gun. Terror clings to me, as I watch the events unfold, knowing even if the two men die, my future is still as bleak as it was before.

The men move so fast I can hardly keep up with their movements. Declan knocks the first guy out and is back on his feet in under a second. Before the second guy can grab his gun off the ground, Declan is on him, throwing jabs left and right, to his face, belly, and sides. I feel like I’m watching some kind of action movie take place right before my eyes.

Just when I think Declan has the upper hand, the other guy moves, raising his gun in the air, and right at Declan. I open my mouth to warn him, the words getting caught in my throat a second too late. The bastard pulls the trigger, the bullet leaving the chamber faster than I can track it. My eyes widen as Declan’s body jerks, the bullet hitting him in the abdomen. His hand comes up to cover the wound, then he’s looking at me. He’s never looked at me the way he’s looking at me right now like he might actually be afraid for my life.

“Run!” he yells, but my muscles refuse to budge, my feet becoming roots buried deep beneath the concrete. That is until the guy who just shot Declan raises his gun in my direction. My self-preservation springs into action and my body moves without thought.

I run to a nearby dumpster and hide behind it. There’s nowhere to go from here, and it’s the best I’ve got. I could run away, but there’s no way I can leave Declan here alone and I’m not getting around that bastard with the gun without dying. Something in my belly tightens as the silence around me festers.

Where are the bullets? Why don’t I hear anyone running? I peek around the edge of the dumpster and see the man pointing his gun at Declan’s head now. Something in me snaps, it’s like my heart makes the choice before my head can even think through it. Instantly I’m running around the dumpster, squeezing myself between it and the wall until I make it to the other side. Adrenaline pumps through my veins, and I can see the pain in Declan’s features. He’s hurting, which only pushes me further to do what I’m about to do.

The man holding the gun has his back toward me now.

Perfect!

“You think you fuckers are so smart, messing with a man like Richards.” He chuckles, his voice labored. “But you aren’t.” He kicks Declan in the side right where he just shot him. Declan grunts at the impact and I hate the noise. I hate that he’s in pain. I have to fix this. I have to save him, save us both. Maybe the hero in my story isn’t a white knight, maybe it’s me.

“I hope she was worth it. I hope her pussy was worth your fucking life.” I grit my teeth, fury overtaking the terror coursing through my body. Sneaking behind him, my movements are slow, but precise even with my shaking limbs. I don’t know how I do it, but I grasp the gun in my hand.

It’s heavy and cold and I thank whatever god might be watching over me that the man doesn’t notice me then. He doesn’t notice anything, the only person who does is Declan who is staring at me with a look of awe and anger. Without thinking, without feeling, I point the gun at the back of his head.

Exhaling a ragged breath, I pull the trigger.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

If you like your stories short, taboo and kinky, then a Darcy Rose book is perfect for you. She writes about shy and innocent heroines, to match them up with dark and intense heroes who have only eyes for one girl.

Table of Contents

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

About the Author