Because I can’t have her.
“I’m sure,” I answered. She must have heard us coming because a tiny squeak penetrated through the bedroom. I could hear her shuffling. To hide? To find a weapon?
I fingered the key from my suit pants and unlocked the door. There was no sign of her when the door opened, so I cautiously stepped inside. “Are you really hiding when there’s nowhere to go?”
“Maybe I’m just waiting for you to make a wrong move,” she countered through the darkness.
“There’s nothing here you can use to take out all three of us.” I took another step inside.
“Just your own stupidity. With the three of you put together, I might as well be armed with an atomic bomb.”
“Fuck this,” I heard behind me. The light flickered on, and my eyes immediately found her sitting in the far corner with her knees to her chest. I instantly noticed the absence of the mask and necklace. She was completely naked without them since Z had taken her clothes. Finally, our gazes clashed and she smirked with triumph.
“Three bad men scared of one little girl.”
I decided not to play her games. I came here for one thing, and I am going to get it. “Come here.”
“And if I don’t, you’ll beat me.” She rolled her eyes, and I would have believed she wasn't afraid if her body hadn’t trembled.
“That would be showing you mercy." I disarmed her with a smile. "Come. Here.” I pointed to the spot between the black Italian leather covering my feet. She followed my finger and then lazily let her gaze travel back to my face. “I’m not going to ask again,” I forced through my teeth when she didn’t move. I made it to the count of three in my head, and then I watched, feeling my entire body tighten, as she impatiently rose to her feet. “No.” She froze and stared back. Confusion clouded her eyes until I ordered, “Crawl.”
She stopped breathing, but the fire in her eyes never left. Her attention angrily shifted behind me where I knew Lucas and Z silently watched everything unfold.
“I’ll come to you. Isn’t that enough?” Pride would cost her everything, but something told me she would happily give pay if it meant not surrendering to me.
“I say when it’s enough. I’ll spare you the hope now. It will never be enough. Now get that ass in the air and come .”
Damn, that sounded good. The hiss from her lips was sharp and true. “I hate you.”
I hungrily watched her sexy lips curl and promised myself I’d taste them again before I killed her. “Like I give a fuck.”
After a brief moment of plotting my death in her head and a heart full of hate that shown through her wide green eyes, she finally lowered herself to the ground. But when her knees touched the carpeted floor, she sat in the same position I had found her in and flipped me off before saying, “I’m a Ross and I crawl to no one. If you want me, come and get me.”
I heard two sets of breaths expel harshly behind me. Mian Ross had just sealed her fate. “Lucas?”
“Yes?”
“She would like for us to come and get her.”
He hesitated before breezing past me and then lifted her in the air before hauling her over her shoulder. “Here?”
I nodded and took a seat in the high-backed, cushioned chair in the corner facing the bed. She remained silent, and I wondered if she finally caught on. We weren’t kids bantering anymore. We were enemies trying to out conquer the other .
Z removed his belt while Lucas dropped her on her stomach at the foot of the bed. “How many times has she disobeyed you?” Lucas questioned.
Chapter Nineteen
Spare the rod, spoil the child.
MIAN
When I’d woken up, I was still in this hellhole, but at least I’d been alone. I had come so close to being raped a second time, only this time, I would have suffered through it. The only comfort was knowing he would at least kill me afterward, but then I passed out to escape. I feared the worst when I came to, but a quick check between my legs eased my fears. None of the shame and pain I felt from Aaron’s violation had lingered.
“How many times as she disobeyed you?”
“Three.”
I licked my lips and dug my fingers into the mattress. I was fucking terrified, and now my game face was slipping.
The look in Angel’s eyes when I challenged him summoned some common sense. I was out of my league, yet I couldn’t find it in me to back down. A part of me was still remembering the aloof boy from my childhood. He’d been a jerk, but somehow, I still trusted him to keep me safe.
But that boy was gone, and the man who replaced him had left me naked and at the mercy of two men who I didn’t know.
The sound of a belt unbuckling drew my attention, so I looked back in time to see Lucas removing his thick leather belt from his pants. “So be it. Three lashes for three offenses.”
I exhaled.
I could deal with that.