He steps back only to pull me along. I stumble behind him, trying to keep up, but he’s moving so quickly, my legs are too short, and when we reach the door to one of the rooms, he shoves it open and practically throws me over the threshold.
I fall to my knees, attempting to crawl away from him as fear skyrockets through me, gripping my chest and churning my stomach into thick, fear-filled mulch.
“Please don’t hurt me,” I plead helplessly, but he only smiles when he nears me. The looming figure taking up all the light in the room, filling it in darkness. I scurry back on my hands, trying to get away from him.
The look in his eyes is filled with desire. Hunger that he shouldn’t be showing me shimmers when he takes in my thighs that are exposed because my dress has ridden up.
My stomach tightens with so much fear I can’t swallow, I can’t breathe. He doesn’t race after me. Like a predator, he merely saunters toward me. I’m on my feet, taking steps back to ensure the space between us is large enough that he can’t grab me. But I know I’m going to lose this fight.
Even if I raced toward the exit, he’s blocking it, and he could so easily catch me before I even managed to get a grasp on the handle.
“I thought you were a good girl, Autumn,” he tells me, and the sneer on his face turns angry. I haven’t done anything to disobey him, but I have a feeling he’s going to tell me why I’ve disappointed him. “I want you to obey me. This place you’re living in is mine, and everything that goes on in here I see.”
“I don’t know what you mean. I haven’t done—”
“Shut up!” His booming voice sends cold dread through my veins. I’m frozen to the spot, and if he walked toward me now, I’d be captured like a butterfly in a net. The dark gaze that locks on me stops me from trying to speak. “I think you need to learn a lesson tonight.”
Once again, my mouth opens, but nothing comes out. I’m too scared. I’m shaking. His gaze drinks in the fear, and he smiles. It’s genuine happiness that appears on his face.
“Take off your dress.” The order comes out harshly. My trembling fingers don’t want to disobey, so I tug at the hem, pulling the material over my head. The door behind him opens, and I almost faint when I see three men enter the room.
I didn’t even look around and notice the opulent furnishings in dark wood. I never noticed the crystal chandelier hanging in the center of the ceiling. And I certainly didn’t realize how the windows are all blacked out.
“Gentlemen,” the deep voice sounds from my captor. The three men make their way up to us, and I take in their suits, which look tailored to each of them.
Wealth drips with poison, and seduction emanates like cologne. These are men who get anything they want, and at this moment, they want me. Each set of eyes linger on me for too long. I’m only wearing a pair of white cotton panties. My body is exposed, and my eyes prick with tears I don’t allow to fall. I want so badly to fight and scream, to tell them they’re monsters, but I believe they know that already. And I know they enjoy it.
“She’s far more pristine than you mentioned,” one of the strangers says. He’s easily over six feet, but he’s not as broad and imposing. I would describe him as lanky, with messy, dark-blond hair, which reminds me of straw. His eyes are a bright blue, and they seem almost endless when he pins his stare on me.
Suddenly, I’m forced to my knees by one man. Fear catapults my heart into my throat as two others hold my arms. I close my eyes as the tears trickle down my cheeks, and my mouth is forced open.
Even though we had the guards who would never offer us any privacy, it was nothing like this. They only stood at the door, violating us with their leering gazes. But thankfully, none of them touched us.
But now, as one man finishes and another takes his place, all I can do is cry. My mind is gone. It’s in a place so far from where I am, at least, I think I am, that I go there and stay there as they enjoy their time.
Three more take me. But they don’t do anything more than what the first man did. I never learn their names, just how their flavor makes the bile in my stomach rise to my throat, and once I’m thrown to the ground, I puke.
“I think she’s worth more than the five mill you asked for,” one of them says. This one is short, about a head taller than me, which would make him about five-six, or five-seven. He’s dark-haired with olive skin and almost-black eyes.