Punish: Dark & Deadly, page 8
I tuck myself away and fasten my trousers. “I kill people who deserve to die,” I tell her.
“And you rape women because?” She glares, waiting for me to answer.
“I don’t have to answer to you,” I snap, gripping her upper arm and shoving her towards the door. “Get out.”
“Lara would be disgusted,” she yells, trying to pull free. “She would have left you.”
I slam her against the wall hard and it knocks the breath from her. She winces, turning her face away to avoid mine as I move in closer. “I told you before, do not mention her name.”
“Or is that how she ended up here? Did you rape her? Was she one of us?”
GRACE
The fury running through his eyes is wild. It’s the reaction I needed to get him away from the woman he was about to attack. He forces me back into my room and onto the bed. “Stop talking,” he warns, his faces inches from my own.
“Did you make her stay? I bet she hated you as much as I hate you.” He covers my mouth with his hand, hissing in my ear for me to stay quiet. His hand is so big, it covers my nose too, and I struggle to get a full breath.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he continues, seemingly ignoring the fact I can’t breathe. I struggle against him, digging my nails into his wrists. “You’re not worthy to speak her name.” I begin to see stars, and the blood rushing around my body hums loudly in my ears. I close my eyes and allow the feeling of heaviness to take me.
I’m not sure how long I’m out for, but I wake with Ivan staring down at me. The memories of him covering my mouth hit me and I shuffle away, putting distance between us. “Are you calm now?” he asks.
My eyes widen. “Me?” I exclaim. “I’m not the one who lost it.”
“Why did you come into that room?” he asks, holding my book up as if to remind me.
“I like to read in there. It’s peaceful.”
“The house is peaceful, Grace. Why that room?”
“I just like it. It has a nice view and a balcony,” I lie. It has those things, but it also has a good view of the fields that lay beyond the house, and I’ve noticed the farmers are beginning to stack up hay bales and I was checking on the progress. If I make it out, I can hide behind those as I make my way over the fields, “Who is that woman?”
“None of your business.”
“She is if you’re having sex with her and me.”
“Jealous?” he quips.
“I had a rule. It was important. No sex with other women. I don’t want diseases.” My real reasoning is I don’t want to risk him getting someone else pregnant. His need for me would end and then he’ll kill me.
“As you saw, I was using a condom.”
I pull my knees to my chest. “Is that the kind of sex you like?” When he doesn’t reply, I continue. “Rough, forced?”
“I was angry,” he mutters. “I needed a release.”
“Isn’t that what you have me here for?”
He stares down at the ground. “I didn’t want to hurt you,” he mutters. My heart slams hard in my chest. It’s the first sign he’s shown me that he gives a shit, and if he gives a shit, my plan is working.
“Don’t you feel bad hurting her?” I ask cautiously, in case it’s the wrong thing and he explodes again.
“I don’t know her,” he says with a shrug.
I don’t bother to point out he doesn’t know me either. “She’s somebody’s daughter, sister, cousin. She’s something to someone.”
“But not to me,” he says.
“How would you feel if someone did that to your mum or sister?”
“I don’t have either.”
“Okay, what if it was Lara?”
His eyes burn into mine. “Grace,” he says, his tone warning.
“I’m just saying, someone, somewhere, loves her like you loved Lara.”
“Love,” he corrects, reminding me she’s still at the very front of his mind and deeply embedded in his heart. “I can’t think like that,” he snaps, moving over to the window and staring out. “To me, she is money. A transaction.”
“She’s one of the women you sell on?”
He nods. “And when she’s gone, I won’t think about her again.”
“What happens?” I ask, not certain I want to know the answer, but he seems like he’s in a talking mood, so I take full advantage.
He glances at me. “There’s a big market,” he says. “Women, girls. Men all over the world are eager to buy from me.”
“So they can marry them?” I ask hopefully.
He sniggers. “They’re probably already married, sladost. They want extra.”
“Like a mistress?”
He nods. “Or a sex slave.”
“Did Lara know about this?” I ask.
It was the wrong thing because his eyes darken again, and I feel him shutting down. “Stay in here. Do not wander about into other bedrooms,” he mutters, heading for the door.
“Stay,” I bark, and his hand stills on the doorknob. I don’t know why I blurted it out, but I know he can’t go back to that poor woman and hurt her. “Please.”
CHAPTER NINE
IVAN
She’s asking me to stay to save the girl. It’s obvious as I take a seat and her body visibly relaxes. She’s putting herself at risk to save a woman she doesn’t even know.
“Tell me about your affair.” She doesn’t like to tell me about herself, but she sits back on the bed and crosses her legs.
“I told you, it was his best friend.”
“You don’t seem the type to hurt someone,” I say, bemused.
“You don’t know me,” she mutters, looking away. “I can be a selfish bitch.”
“How did he find out?”
“Nick and Liam were inseparable. They grew up together.” She literally ruined his friendship. I laugh hard, and she hesitates before continuing. “I’d been seeing Liam behind Nick’s back for about six months. He found us in bed together.”
I smirk. “Who’s bed?”
“Mine and Nick’s.”
“So, you lived with Nick?” She nods. “And you fucked his best friend, in the bed you shared?” She nods again, and I laugh harder. “You’re a savage. Who came on to who?” I’m enjoying her discomfort.
“I did,” she admits quietly.
I sit forward. “You came on to Liam?” She nods. “Why?” She shrugs. “Don’t hold back, sladost. There was a reason you fucked your man’s best friend.”
“Things weren’t great between Nick and me. He was never home and—”
“Where was he?” I cut in.
“Working.”
“Providing for you?” I ask.
“No, I worked too. I paid my way.”
“What did you do?”
“I was a manager,” she says, and it’s the first time she looks proud.
“Of?”
“A private nursery.”
“Childcare?” I ask, arching a brow. “How does one go from management to homeless?”
“It’s easier than you think,” she mutters. “One day, you can have the world, and the next, it’s gone.” She clicks her fingers.
“I need more, sladost, if you don’t want me to go back to what I started,” I say, nodding to the door.
She sighs. “I worked for Nick’s parents. They own lots of childcare settings. That’s how I met Nick. I was a trainee at his mother’s nursery, and he used to pop in and see her. He asked me on a date. We hit it off.”
“What did he do?”
“He was area manager for his father’s building societies.”
“Rich family,” I muse.
“I worked my way up until I got to management. Nick had a house, and after a year, I moved in. Things got . . . boring,” she admits, “in the bedroom.” I frown, waiting for her to continue. “I was always outgoing and I liked sex. So, I suggested a threesome.”
I grin. “He agreed to share you?”
“At first, it was random men we met on a night out, but we started to wonder what it would be like to have more . . . as in a regular guy. Three of us together all the time.” I smirk. She’s more adventurous than I give her credit for. “Nick suggested Liam. We all got on anyway, so it made sense. Liam was single, and when Nick asked him, he was up for it.”
“So, how does an agreement like that end in an affair?”
“When you stop asking the third person to join in,” she mutters. “It started well. We made clear guidelines that there would be no intimacy unless we were all together. But as the weeks went on, I found myself more attracted to Liam, and he admitted he felt the same. We started sneaking around until, one day, we got caught out.”
“And Nick kicked you out?”
“Not right away. He wanted us to try and make it work, but I couldn’t stop seeing Liam. It was breaking him apart and I knew that, and then one day, I came home, and he was dead.” Tears fill her eyes, and she swipes them away before they have a chance to fall. “Liam wouldn’t speak to me. He told Nick’s parents everything, and I got sacked from the nursery. Then they kicked me out of the house.”
Talking to her makes me realise she’s not the person I assumed she was. “Didn’t you have money to get a new place?”
“Joint account,” she mutters, shrugging. “They froze it once Nick died, and I didn’t have the energy to fight for it. I deserved what I got.”
“Not really,” I say. “You both agreed to experiment, and it didn’t work out. It’s not on you alone.”
“I feel like it is. They buried him but didn’t tell me when the funeral was, so I didn’t get to say goodbye. Liam did.”
“They forgave him?”
She nods. “From what I hear, he was welcomed back into the family. I assume he placed all the blame on me.”
I stand, leaning down to place a gentle kiss on her head. “Rest, sladost.”
“Wait,” she cries. “Don’t go and hurt her,” she begs.
I feel my eyes soften, and I run my thumb over her wet cheek. “For you,” I whisper.
I have Maxim remove the woman. When he returns to my office an hour later, he confirms she’s on the boat for a new life. One that’ll make her wish she’d stayed here with me.
“Things are good with the girl?” asks Maxim as I pour us each a drink. I nod. “She’s still happy with your plan?” I nod again. “She’s getting confident,” he adds, and I glance in his direction. He shrugs, taking his drink and sitting down. “Talking to the staff. Making herself at home.”
“And that bothers you?” I ask.
“I just wonder how it will all end.”
“It will end the way I want it to. Don’t let details concern you, Maxim.”
“If I may speak openly?” I take a gulp and nod for him to continue. “The men are worried. Things before were . . . slipping. There are concerns your attention will be on her and not the businesses.”
I frown. “Which men?”
“Does it matter, Ivan?” he asks, his tone brisk. “The fact they’re even talking may get back to our associates and unsettle them.”
I stand, and he shrinks back slightly. “My associates,” I correct. “These men who are talking should have been dealt with, no?”
“You want me to cut out the tongues of every man speaking out? They have bills to pay, Ivan. They’re allowed to question what is happening.”
Anger rages through me and I slam my hands down on the desk. “No one can question me,” I roar. “I remember a time when you’d never allow anyone to speak out against me. Unless, Maxim, it’s you who has concerns and you who is speaking out against me?”
“I’d never . . .”
“No? You’ve made it clear you hate me being with anyone. Lara, Grace . . . don’t you want me to have an heir to hand over the businesses? Or maybe that’s it?” I ask, moving around the desk and closer. “Maybe you want it all?”
“Ivan,” he stutters, “I’ve always backed you, right from the beginning. I want to see you happy, but this woman . . . she’s not Lara. She won’t make you happy.”
“I don’t need her to,” I hiss through gritted teeth.
“But she’s in your head, whether you like it or not. You’re not in the office, and you haven’t visited the businesses in weeks. Are you so focused on an heir that you’ll let things slip? Then there will be nothing left to pass on.”
“I built this empire from the ground. Me. Alone. I have customers begging me for girls because I have a good reputation which I built. If my own men are turning, you’re supposed to deal with that. If you can’t, step down and allow me to find someone who has my back.”
I go back to my seat, and he places his drink on the desk. “I will always have your back, Ivan. I apologise if I overstepped. I’ll deal with anyone doubting you.”
GRACE
I feel smug as I remove the Femidom and wrap it in tissue. It’s been a month since Ivan made the offer he considers kind, and so far, I’ve managed to avoid pregnancy by using protection. He makes us use tests to show when I’m fertile, so I always know when he’s going to visit me. And I usually ask to use the bathroom before we do anything. I flush away the evidence and hit the shower. The good thing about the agreement is we don’t share a bed and cuddle like we’re a real couple. It helps me to focus on my hate over anything else.
So, I’m surprised when I go back into my room to find him lying in my bed. I frown, and he smirks. “Round two?”
I almost choke on my panic. “No.”
He scoffs at my answer. “No?” he repeats.
“We just did it,” I say. “I’m tired.”
“Sladost, I will do all the work.”
“Ivan, I said no.”
He looks annoyed but forces the expression away, smiling. “I was asking to be polite, angel. Get into bed.”
I shake my head. “You want to force me? Create a child through rape?”
Agitation replaces his smile. “Bed, Grace. Now.”
“We never talk,” I snap, hoping to avert his attention. “I’m tired of you just turning up to fuck me.”
“It’s the agreement.”
“Fuck your agreement.”
“Now, you want to forget the agreement?” he asks, amused. “Where will that lead, Grace?”
“Tell me about Lara.” It’s the one topic I know will make him explode, but this time, he pulls the sheets back and pats the space beside him.
“Okay.” I cautiously slide in beside him, knowing if he decides to take me, I won’t stand a chance. “I will tell you one thing. What would you like to know?”
Questions race through my mind. I have so many. “Was she here against her will?”
He slides the strap of my cami top from my shoulder and it falls away, exposing my breast. “No.” He takes my nipple in his mouth and sucks until it hardens.
“Like ever?” I ask, trying to ignore the reaction he’s causing inside me. “Did you take her like you did me?”
“I answered your question, Grace,” he murmurs, going back to teasing my nipple.
“It’s not fair. You know so much about me, and I know nothing about you. Tell me something real, Ivan. Please.”
It works because he releases my nipple on a sigh and rests his head against the headboard. “We fell in love the old-fashioned way,” he says. “I met her when she accidentally ran her bicycle into my very expensive car. It scratched the paintwork, and she was extremely apologetic. I was drawn to her . . . innocence.”
“Did she pay for the damage?”
He smiles, staring at the opposite wall like he’s picturing that exact time. “Not with money. I told her I’d let her off if she agreed to have coffee with me. Coffee turned to dinner, and we were never really apart after that day.” His smile fades and is replaced by a frown.
“She just stayed with you after dinner?”
“I couldn’t be apart from her,” he admits, looking confused and lost. “It was like she became the light I needed to keep breathing. It was a whirlwind. She was a whirlwind.”
“How did she die?” I whisper.
His jaw tightens. “She was taken from me. The police say she was robbed in broad daylight, but I believe she was targeted.”
“How did a robbery turn into her death?”
“She refused to let go of her bag. When she eventually did, she fell back and hit her head. It was hard enough to kill her.”
“So, you didn’t get to say goodbye?”
He shakes his head and inhales sharply. “Enough.” He sits up, and for a second, I think he’s leaving, but he removes his shirt. “I came here for a reason, sladost. Stop distracting me.”
He pulls me to sit over him, pulling the straps to my camisole until it’s around my waist. “I gave you enough information, now you should do the work.”
“Ivan,” I mutter, trying to climb from him.
He pins my thighs either side of him. “Being inside you helps me to forget,” he whispers, and I see a flicker of vulnerability. “I need to forget.” And then he lifts me slightly, encouraging me to move towards his face. His mouth finds my opening, and I’m lost to him once again.
I wake the next morning, and Ivan is wrapped around me. He never stays, so I’m confused and way too hot. Sliding from his grip, I glance back. He looks peaceful and almost human without that angry scowl.
I dress and head down to the dining room where Maria usually has breakfast waiting. But the table is empty, and I check the clock in the hall. It’s only six-thirty. She usually serves at seven. I take a seat at the head of the table, where Ivan usually sits, and open his newspaper. It’s been so long since I’ve had a glimpse of anything outside these four walls, I find myself reading about things that never usually interest me, such as politicians. I glance up at the sound of heavy boots and find Maxim staring at me with hatred. It’s how all the men here look at me. “Good morning,” I say, forcing a smile.
“You’re in the wrong seat.”
I nod, shifting to the next seat. “Sorry, I wasn’t thinking.”
“You’ve made yourself very comfortable,” he mutters, and I remain quiet. “Don’t get used to it, vor.”
