“No!”
Harry clamped a hand over Zach’s mouth again.
“Such a big sensation. Zachary Newland, the toast of the theatre. Seducer of women everywhere. You take whatever you want. You took my woman, and you soiled her. She is not yours. She was never yours. How does it feel to you, Newland, to stand there and watch me have her?”
Zach strained, trying to yell, but to no avail with Harry’s hammy hand locked over his mouth. He had to get to Sophie. Had to.
She lay on the bed, her eyes pleading with him. “It’s all right, Zach. I’ll be all right,” she said.
Graves marched toward her head and smacked her hard across the cheek. “I told you not to speak.”
Graves might as well have hit Zach. He felt every bit of the sting. That bastard!
Sophie, he said in his mind, I love you. I love you so much. I am here. Don’t give up. Fight this. We will somehow get out of here.
Yet he couldn’t believe the words. To watch another man have his woman was killing him. Rage boiled beneath his skin.
Graves lowered his trousers, his cock springing free like a menace.
“You will be mine now, Sophie, while Newland watches. He will know without a doubt to whom you belong.”
Sophie opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, Graves slapped her again.
He claims to love her and treats her thus? Zach strained against the arms holding him, the hand against his mouth.
Graves removed his boots, stockings, and trousers. Naked from the waist down, he climbed upon the bed and hovered over Sophie.
“And now, dear Sophie, you will be mine.”
Sophie let out a blood-curdling scream.
And Zach sprang into action. He summoned every bit of strength in his body, mind, and soul and elbowed Harry in the ribs, releasing himself. Quick as a jackrabbit, he grabbed the pistol out of Harry’s waistband, ran to Graves, and pistol-whipped him on the head. The butler fell limp on top of Sophie.
Thinking fast, Zach turned to Harry and held him at gunpoint. “You make one move, and I will shoot your fucking head off.”
Harry nodded.
“Help me get him off her,” Zach said.
Harry and Zach rolled a delirious Graves off of Sophie.
“I’m sorry, Liam,” Graves whispered before his eyes shut and he lost consciousness.
Zach then pistol-whipped Harry, and the big man fell to the floor.
Sophie. His Sophie. His heart nearly broke seeing her bound and mistreated. “My God, darling, are you all right?”
Tears streamed down Sophie’s cheeks. “Oh, Zach, I was so afraid…”
“No need to be afraid, my love. I will always come for you. I will never let any harm come to you.”
He untied the ropes, and once Sophie was unbound, he wrapped her in the old quilt that covered the rickety bed. He kissed her forehead.
“We have much to talk about, Sophie, but first let’s take care of this filth so they can never harm you again.”
Sophie nodded, tears still streaming down her face. “Bind him. He enjoyed having me bound so much. Perhaps he should see what it’s like.”
Zach nodded and bound an unconscious Graves’s hands and feet, ironically with the rope he had used on Sophie. He tied Harry as well.