Quintessentially Q (Monsters in the Dark #2)(34)

My brain couldn’t focus on one thing. Run, fight, run. Trembling, I said, “They were paid for me. Let me go. Please.”

Leather Jacket limped toward us. I cringed as Jagged Scar spun me to face him. I didn’t care about being naked, I only cared about killing these men and running to Q. Tears bruised again at the thought. I didn’t know where Q was. I had no clue which floor, or even which building he was in.

Oh, God. I’ll never see him again.

Leather Jacket scooped up Q’s shirt on the seat in the corner. He threw it at Jagged Scar. “Dress her.”

He nodded and let me go to open the shirt. The thought of being dressed by these bastards was too much. They had no right to touch Q’s clothes.

I snatched it off Jagged Scar, growling, “I can do it myself.” It took a few attempts to undo the buttons and shrug it on. It hung on me like a dress. The whiff of Q’s aftershave crippled me, and I wanted nothing more than to give in to the huge wracking sobs building in my ribcage.

But I didn’t have that luxury. I had to be brave and fierce. I had to stay sharp and ready to maim.

Jagged Scar didn’t capture me again, and I stood trapped in the middle of them as Leather Jacket pulled something from his trouser pocket. His black eyes glinted, enjoying my fear. “Do it.” His gaze flickered behind me to Jagged Scar.

My heart lurched into my throat and I ducked, trying to avoid whatever was coming, but it wasn’t enough. The punch to the side of my head sent stars exploding behind my eyes; I slammed to the marble floor. My knees screamed and I braced myself on my hands, trying to shake away the agony.

“Fuck me, look at you,” Leather Jacket muttered. “We thought the man who owned you was a *, but looky here.” A disgusting finger trailed along the base of my spine where the shirt had risen and poked the bruises on my ass. He prodded the fresh fingernail cuts Q gave me in the helicopter. “Kinky bastard, isn’t he.”

Jagged Scar laughed. “At least we know she likes it rough. That’ll entice a few others to buy a secondhand slave.”

My ears rushed with horror. “I’m already sold! You can’t do this!”

Both men laughed. “It’s not up to you anymore.” Leather Jacket squatted in front of me, brandishing the item from his pocket. He kept it hidden in his large meaty fist.

All the hatred I felt for them burned my heart and soul. I’d planned on hunting them. Tracking them like animals and making them pay for what they did—bring retribution for all the women they hurt. Now all of those goals were dust.

Because of one stupid error, my life was over. For good this time. I’d had my second chance and blew it.

“Give me your arm.” Leather Jacket smiled. “I have a present for you.”

I didn’t want any f*cking present. Gritting my teeth, I snarled. “Fuck you.”

Jagged Scar chuckled behind me as Leather Jacket smirked. “I’ve missed your fight, puta. Just wait till I’ve got you all alone. You’re gonna pay for breaking my finger.”

I swallowed hard as memories of him coming to find me in the dark threatened to pull me under. “You shouldn’t have tried to rape me.”

Leather Jacket stopped smirking and glared with so much hatred it was like standing in a cauldron of hell. He lashed out and stole my arm. “You’ll regret that.”

I fought. Of course, I fought, but Jagged Scar grabbed my shoulders and held me in place while my arm was straightened and locked between Leather Jacket’s body and elbow. “I’m gonna enjoy this. Say goodbye, slut.”

With snake-like reflexes, he jabbed something sharp and painful into my arm. Almost instantly a foggy cloud descended, turning my brain to custard, my limbs to candyfloss.

No!

I clung to lucidity, but it was no use. Second by second, my heart silently poisoned me by allowing the drugs to ooze through my bloodstream.

My eyes went first—wonky and unclear. Then my limbs disappeared from my control until I fell headfirst into Leather Jacket.

He cradled me in his rapist arms as the final stretch of my nightmare closed in on me.

My thoughts shrivelled up, my breathing went shallow, and the last thing I heard sent my hopes directly to hell.

“Welcome home.”





I long to see your creamy skin blush, welted and marked it gives me a rush…



I stifled my groan as I rounded the corner to my office to find Frederick slouching against the doorjamb. Arms crossed, dark hair slicked back with gel, and sporting a tweed jacket with slacks, he looked like a poster boy for Country House and f*cking Garden.

How we ended up being friends I didn’t know. We roomed together at boarding school, and when I went back to finish my exams after murdering my father, he knew something major had happened in my life. Not because I was gloomy and my normally snappy self, but because for the first time, I sported a smile and an air of relief. I finally did the world a favour by killing my old man, and I wanted to share my good fortune.

I never told him exactly what happened, but somehow he tripped me up enough to give away my history. To unveil most of my secrets and give me someone to confide in.

The moment he saw me, his lips twitched into a smirk. He ran a hand through his glossy gay-ass hair.

Glowering, I pushed my way past into the boardroom, eyeing up his carefree smile.