The agony was almost too much. I cried and screamed, begging for them to stop as blows pummeled my ribs as one man beat me and the other two held me against the wall. Cristo was seated calmly on a chair checking his nails and appearing bored.
“We can do this a hundred times. Why make yourself suffer so much over Cowen? I’m quite sure he wouldn’t expend the energy on you.”
He cared for me, I knew it, and he’d come for me. I dreamed of him until I was rudely awakened for the next round of beatings. They only hit me enough to weaken me, but not enough to break anything, except I felt the bones would give at some point.
“He’ll come for me. How many men are you losing in the process?” My voice sounded stronger than I felt. My body weakened from the brutal abuse of the last four days. I was too exhausted to care anymore about what happened to me.
Whatever happened, I knew he’d avenge me at least. I missed him. If someone had told me a few months ago that I’d have fallen for the man who’d kidnapped me, I would have told them they were crazy. However, with Cowen, I’d found the place I belonged—the one I’d looked for most of my life.
I was tossed to the floor, and I curled there on my side trying to control my breathing. As long as I didn’t move, I didn’t hurt as much. The taste of blood filled my mouth from what I assumed was a cut to the inside of my lip or cheek.
“This hero of yours is a depraved psychopath. He cares for no one except himself. Why are you so confident that he’ll break a sweat finding you?”
“Because I belong to him.”
“Like a possession? Oh, but those can be replaced easy enough. The first job I contracted Cowen to do, I needed information extracted. He skinned the poor bastard alive. There wasn’t enough left on his body to do grafts. He died of sepsis in the hospital several days after they found him discarded like trash on the street.”
I didn’t know why he kept telling me stories as if I didn’t know what Cowen could do. He’d never lied to me about the type of man he was. I knew he could wield a whip as a weapon to punish me. Yet, I also knew what it felt like when he fucked me. I loved his commanding nature. The fact he didn’t hide who he truly was, maybe I’d never be truly comfortable with a man who killed for a living—pleasure.
All I knew was I wanted to go home.
“I know who he is.”
“You don’t know shit. One day he’ll turn on you and what happens then, Harrison? Do you think the man who is incapable of love will show you a second of mercy? No, he will destroy you, and the only thing you can hope for is he makes it quick.
“He’s killed my entire crew…the only remaining members are in this building. He took out all of them,” Cristo yelled as he surged to his feet.
I forced my body to move to put more distance between us. It didn’t matter if I could protect myself. At least I could delay the inevitable. I was shocked they’d kept me around as long as they had. Each day they came to me with another update of the men Cowen had taken out. Tonight was different though. No matter how calm Cristo appeared, he had a wild look in his eyes. Like an animal turning feral at being backed into a corner.
If it were true and Cowen had killed his entire crew, then the only men standing between us were the ones protecting the building. Hope flared at what that could mean. He’d come soon to take me home. Also, a sense of dread tempered my optimism. Cowen was one man against what could be a small army of men.
The thought of him getting hurt made my chest hurt. I could lose him so easily. I really must be losing it if I was more worried about the professional assassin than I was about myself. The minute Cowen entered the building, they could kill me out of spite.
Cristo crouched in front of me and his cold smile made me nauseous.
“I’m looking forward to the look on his face when I kill you. I want him to see the moment I take his most valuable possession from him. It’s said that your man can’t feel pain. We’ll find out if that’s true when he sees the life leave your eyes and knows it’s all his fault.”
Cristo pushed to his feet, thankfully he left and took his enforcers with him. I lay on the floor trying to get my bearings. Was that the plan all along? To lure Cowen here only to kill me when he came? I stayed on the floor hurting and depressed as I saw the life I’d started to look forward to slip away.
I hadn’t thought that being with Cowen would be easy. The man killed people for a living, and when he wasn’t doing that, he defended people in court. I wasn’t going to make it to my thirtieth birthday. Maybe I’d accepted Cowen too easily. I still liked someone else taking charge, I loved that it was Cowen. I just didn’t know—processing it was difficult. And I felt guilty for questioning my feelings for him, and maybe I should be admitting what it was, I’d formed an unnatural attachment to my kidnapper.
A series of pops I was sure were gunfire had me jerking to a sitting position, and my ribs screamed in pain. Men started yelling, and Cristo’s was loudest among them. He barked orders and told the men out there to shoot to kill. I struggled to my feet. As soon as I was steady, the door opened, and Cristo was charging toward me.
He wrapped his arm around my neck and pulled me back to his chest. I awkwardly stumbled out of the room with his body pushing me. He positioned us directly across from the door with his gun pressed to my head.
“I knew he’d come for you. He might not give a fuck about you, but I took something that was his. He couldn’t fucking resist retrieving his property.”
“He’ll kill me before he lets you have me.”
“I doubt that. The cold bastard might have a heart and want to keep you. Wouldn’t that be novel, the depraved murderer getting soft.”
I blocked out what he was mumbling. His voice had risen several octaves sounding almost deranged. The man was mad, and I no longer knew what he planned or even if he had one. The chaos intensified outside the battered door. The screams and shouts became louder. There was a war out there, and in my gut, I knew Cowen was unstoppable.
He didn’t possess fear or empathy—he’d destroy anyone in his wake, and he wouldn’t stop until someone did it for him. I couldn’t suppress my tears or terror any longer. As soon as Cowen entered the room, they’d take him out. I took in the men on either side of the door just waiting for the moment to strike Cowen down.
The booming sounds of gunfire made me flinch as I pictured Cowen laying in a bloody heap and then the door flew open. Cowen stood there in all black. There was a deadness to his eyes and then his gaze met mine.
“Boy, are you okay?” he asked, and his voice was almost soft with that edge of caring he used after he finished with my lessons.
“Y—yes, sir.” I lied so as not to distract him. If he did care, I didn’t want him worried about me.
“Cowen, so glad you could join us,” Cristo replied as if he’d invited Cowen over for dinner and wasn’t holding a gun to my head.
“I could've forgiven your attempts to kill me, but you took my boy. That I can't forget.”
“Your boy is very…sweet.”
I held my breath as he raised his arm in slow motion and watched as Cowen pulled the trigger. Everything in me froze at that moment, and the spell was only broken as Cristo screamed in pain. Instead of releasing me, the man braced his weight on me as he favored his injured leg.
“You sonofabitch!”
After that, it was chaos and Cowen was in a battle for our lives and I was too useless to help. It was two against one, and I was waiting for Cristo to tire of the scene playing out in front of us and use his gun to strike Cowen down.