“Good.” He released my jaw, and I sagged forward, my weight falling onto my wrists before I caught myself on my tiptoes. “My brother might be obsessed with you, but you’re too skinny to earn me much as a whore. No matter how pretty your skin is. I knew Andrés would enjoy marking it up.”
He reached around me, and his fingertips trailed over my bare thigh, tracing the line of one of the faint bruises Andrés’ crop had left when he was punishing me for trying to escape. I gasped and tried to move away from his hand, but there was nowhere for me to go. His touch on my exposed skin made me look down to assess my body. I’d been stripped again. But in this horrible place, it didn’t feel normal to be completely bare. Cold air teased across my skin, making me very aware of how vulnerable I was.
“Mí hermanito is on his way down,” he told me. “Should we put on a little show for him?”
He reached for his belt, where he kept the wicked hunting knife close to his side.
“Don’t,” I begged, remembering the grating agony of the blade scraping across my collarbone.
“I need to make a point,” he told me, waving off my plea as though it was nothing to be concerned about.
He stepped behind me and touched the knife to my throat, the cold steel barely kissing my skin. My breath stuttered. I knew how easily it could part my skin, carving me up the way he’d tortured Andrés.
The soft thump of the elevator arriving sounded just before the doors slid open. I had a moment to register Andrés’ face fixed in a carefully blank mask before his features twisted with rage.
“Samantha,” he snarled out my name and launched himself out of the elevator.
“Stay right there,” Cristian commanded.
The knife sliced a stinging line into my throat, and Andrés stopped in his tracks, his entire body vibrating with barely-suppressed violence.
“Be a good boy and have a seat, or I’ll cut her open right now. Do you want your pet returned to you scarred or dead?”
“Let her go,” Andrés ground out. “I know I’m the one you want to punish. Just let her go.”
“And send her back to the feds, like you did? I don’t think so. Samantha has agreed to work for me, once we’re finished here. Sit down, hermanito. Or I’ll slit her open and let you watch her pretty insides spill all over the floor.”
I gagged, my body’s nauseated reaction to the horrific mental image.
Andrés’ dark eyes were drawn tight with anguish, his scar twisting deep into his cheek. A growl slipped between his clenched teeth, but he began to move stiffly toward the spare metal chair that had been positioned a few feet in front of me. The two guards flanked him, pushing his shoulders down so he dropped onto the chair before securing his wrists behind him with a length of rope. Once his arms were bound, they trained their guns on the back of his skull.
“That’s better,” Cristian said with satisfaction.
The knife left my throat, and I heaved in a gasping breath.
“How should we punish my little brother for his transgressions?” he mused, as though he didn’t already have his twisted plan in place. He suddenly cupped my breast with his free hand, squeezing hard. I bit back a whimper, but my eyes began to burn. He tutted at me and twisted my nipple. I cried out at the bite of pain, and wetness slipped down my cheeks.
Andrés’ nostrils flared, his eyes blazing. He tried to push up onto his feet, but the guards held him down with a firm grip on his shoulders.
“He doesn’t like that,” Cristian observed. “I thought you enjoyed when she cried, Andrés. Or are you the only one who’s allowed to enjoy her tears?” He leaned around me, so his chest pressed against my back as he brought his face close to mine. His hot tongue touched my face, tasting my tears.
I shuddered and flinched away.
“I should fuck her raw while you watch,” he continued, his tone conversational.
“You said…” I gasped for breath, desperate to get away, to save Andrés before Cristian could use me to destroy him. “You said this was for show,” I managed on a ragged whisper. “You promised I could hurt him if I worked for you.”
I had to get down and get my hands on that knife. It no longer mattered to me if I got shot. It was the only opening I’d get, and I had to take the risk.
Cristian laughed, running his hand along the curve of my hip.
“She’s a vicious little thing,” he said. “No wonder you couldn’t manage to break her. Is that why you’re so obsessed with her? All of your other pets were very obedient by the time you handed them over to me.”
My gut churned at this horrible revelation. Andrés had trained other women before me. Of course he had. I’d always known, even if I didn’t want to dwell on it. Why else would he have kinky toys stashed all over his penthouse, with a built-in playroom?
But the knowledge that Cristian had taken them for himself once they were trained made nausea creep up my throat. No wonder Andrés had been so possessive of me
from the very beginning. I remembered Cristian promising that he’d be allowed to keep me. I was the only woman his brother had ever allowed him to keep, and now, he was trying to take me away from Andrés, too.