My face stung the second his hand collided with it, and my vision danced for a moment before I stood up straight and glared. That hurt. “I remember, you know,” I croaked. “I remember the day you brought her here and locked her away. Tell me…” I sniffed as I felt something running over my lip. Probably blood. “Did she really kill herself, or did you kill her in the end?”
His lip was that of a wolf. A disgusting snarl. “Both. She knew what would happen if she didn’t comply.”
I kept my face steady. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of a reaction. I wouldn’t give him anything. Richard pushed me with force until my back rested along the cushioned wall. The door was still open behind him, leading out into a hallway, and the second my eyes landed on it, his beefy hand squeezed my chin tightly, forcing me back. I stared at his strong nose and the way his nostrils flared with angry breaths. “I should have never let that fucking social worker live. Nosy little bitch. I should have blinded them all: the ones who didn’t want a payoff, the ones who wouldn’t take bribes from the officials. I should have done away with them to keep you where you belonged. I never should have trusted you.”
A choked laugh came from me. “You think I belong with you?”
His whiskey breath hit the side of my face, and I suddenly wondered how long I’d been out. He hadn’t smelled of whiskey when he’d come to my room at St. Mary’s. How much time had passed? Enough time to be thrown into a room with my hands tied behind my back. “Did he fuck you?”
I stilled, panic rushing. A chill coated me, and Richard snarled, looking down at my chest. “Does the thought of him make your perky little nipples hard?” His hand on my chin grew tighter, and I squeezed my eyes shut at the pain. My chin was likely to have bruises from the pressure. Suddenly, Richard’s other hand left my torso, and he gripped the front of my shirt. I heard the tears of cotton as he ripped it from my chest, and I cried out, knowing I was completely bare underneath. His hand cupped me gently at first, and a tear escaped my eye. I knew he would no longer hold back. I knew he would no longer be waiting until I was too unconscious to understand or fight him off. I knew he would no longer wait to creep inside my bed late at night and hover over me with his hard length pressed to my middle only to scramble off in the end when I’d meet his eye.
Richard didn’t care anymore.
He was no longer trying to manipulate me and make me love him.
He was going to love me even if I hated him.
Pain bit my skin as his touch turned rough. My eyes flared open, and my fear turned to anger. “Get the fuck off me.” I bucked my hips violently, and it surprised us both. Everything else seemed to shut down, and I was in survival mode. Fight or flight. I was doing both. I was fighting so I could take flight. I needed to get away from him. “You do not get to touch me anymore! I am not your little doll, Richard!”
His hand came back down on my hip, and his nails dug into my bare skin. He pulled back, and the look in his eye was something I’d seen multiple times, but for some reason, it sent a new batch of dread into me. I was hesitant to do or say anything. “So you do remember,” he remarked, brows crowding his dark eyes. His laugh echoed around me as he held me in place. “You’re just like her, you know. You and your brother. I thought for a little while that you were more like your father—whoever the fuck he was. You never fought like her. Or Tobias. You were always so compliant.”
“That’s because you had brainwashed me. Even more so after you sent Tobias away.”
His lip curved, and my throat closed. “Sent Tobias away?” The tilt of his head was menacing. He found humor in my words, and I didn’t like that. I didn’t like that at all. “You mean…after I killed Tobias.”
My world stopped spinning.
My heart broke off in my chest, cracked my ribs, and fell to the floor.
He’s lying. He’s lying. He’s lying.
“Oh yes, my sweet girl.” His hand left my torso. He probably felt the fight leave my body just as I did. “Your mother is dead. Your brother is dead. And if I ever find out who your father is, he’ll be dead too. You’ll have no one but me.”
Tobias was dead? No. No, he wasn’t. But I was looking evil right in the eye, and I knew that evil could kill. Evil could destroy and kill, and Richard was the epitome of evil.
“So, let me ask you again.” Richard’s hand left my chin at some point and now rested over my throat, squeezing it just enough to gain my attention. “Did you fuck that boy? Isaiah? The Huntsman’s son?”
I said nothing.
Not even the mention of Isaiah could bring back the fight inside of me.
Fight, Gemma! Survive!
“Oh, boys? Come on in here.” The tone Richard carried felt like a storm brewing overhead. Thunder boomed. Lightning struck. I was in the middle of a fucking hailstorm, and I just kept getting pelted. “Go ahead and proceed with the exam. I need to know the truth. I no longer trust her.”
“What truth?” I asked as he handed me off to two men wearing black scrubs. Their eyes were as dead and as dark as Richard’s. What the hell was going on? One of the men, who had a bald head, looked at me like he was hungry. His gaze traveled over my body intimately, pausing at my chest, and I took a step back only to be pushed forward toward the white mattress on the floor. It was the same color and fabric that the walls were. A padded room and a padded bed. Both things were made of comfort, but I was as uncomfortable as I was in that basement so long ago.
“If you fucked him, of course. I need to know. The pictures were never as revealing as I would have liked...” Richard walked over to the other man standing above me while the bald one kept his hands on my shoulders. I felt dizzy and faint, and my heart was racing so fast I couldn’t breathe.
“Let me go,” I gasped, looking up with blurry eyes. “What are you doing?”
“Go ahead with the pelvic exam, and if I find that you are taking pleasure in touching what’s mine, I will chop your fucking fingers off. I need to know if she’s as tight as she should be. Do an STD test, too.”
“What?!” My mouth gaped, and air seemed to be stuck in my lungs. Richard raised an eyebrow at me, as if I should have known this was coming. No. No. No. “Let go of me!” My voice was hoarse as I continued screaming. I thrashed as two strong hands landed on my thighs to steady me. Richard bent down and unzipped my jeans all while glaring at me from above.
“What is wrong with you?” I asked through choppy sobs.
I looked back at the two men who had no sign of life in their eyes. This wasn’t real. It couldn’t have been real.
I fought even harder as they pulled my jeans from my body. My shirt was split open, my breasts half hanging out. My jeans crumpled into a mess at my ankles. “No!” I screamed again, trying to rip my wrists out from the binding. I’d kill every last one of them. “I will never do what you want! I will never submit. You’ll have to cut my tongue out if you think I will ever keep my mouth shut.”
“Oh, Gemma. You’ve been such a bad girl. It’s almost as if you enjoy the punishments.”
Just then, something pricked the side of my neck, and my movements grew slower just as Richard’s face started to fade.
“Good,” I whispered, feeling like I was in a fog. I didn’t want to see his face anymore.
Then, suddenly, everything went quiet.