A Debt Owed(38)

I was so close … I could taste my freedom.

And then it was all ripped away from me.

“Please …” I mutter, staring at the wall in front of me as they’re undoubtedly taking me back inside. Who would do this job they’re doing? What price is high enough for them to ignore these wrongdoings against an innocent girl? They’re being paid blood money, and none of them even care.

“Shame on you,” I hiss, punching the man again. “I don’t give a fuck who you are; you’re aiding and abetting a criminal, you hear me?”

“If you don’t shut up and stop hitting me, I’m going to make you,” he growls back. “Understood?”

“Fuck you,” I spit back, and I bite him in the shoulder.

He growls out loud and then smacks my ass harshly with his bare hand. I screech in agony from the searing pain.

“It’s time someone taught you a goddamn lesson,” he says, putting me down before we even reach the entrance. Instead, he’s placed me against the wall outside the mansion near a side entrance covered by low hanging trees. I try to run off, but he holds me back with his thick arms while his buddy walks a few steps away and checks his surroundings.

“Easton’s been far too lenient with you,” the guy says, and he looks at his buddy who nods at him to give him the all clear.

I look up to find a camera overlooking the area, but it’s not pointed at this spot. This man is using the single blind spot outside of the mansion to his advantage to come at me.

He steps closer, his hands on the wall, trapping me inside. There has to be something I can do, anything … The pager! I could call Jill for help.

What was the number again? Fuck!

I reach for it in my robe’s pocket, but the moment I fish it out, the man snatches it out of my hand. “No, no, little girl.” He chucks it away like it’s nothing.

The wind blows underneath my bathrobe, causing it to rise and expose my thighs, and his eyes immediately follow the draft. Biting his lip, he growls, “Maybe it’s time a real man made you submit.”

He grabs me by my hair and shoves me against the wall hard, and I groan in pain. My eyes widen when his hand immediately moves to my throat and squeezes tight, trapping the air in my lungs. His other hand rips open my bathrobe, exposing my naked body.

“Don’t make a fucking sound …” he grunts into my ear. When his tongue dips out to lick me, I’m ready to hurl. My stomach clenches as he unbuckles himself and zips down. I feel completely powerless and shocked, and I can’t fucking move or fight him off as he spins me around, shoving me up against the wall.

Tears spring into my eyes as this bastard pushes up against me, whispering, “Spread those pretty legs for me, little girl …”

Suddenly, a loud bang makes me close my eyes, and I cover my face with my hands. There’s complete silence, followed by another bang and then hysterical screaming. My eyelids crack open again, and the bloody scene in front of me makes me do a double take.

Easton’s right in front of me with his arm stretched out, hand curling around my arm, protecting me behind him. In the other, he holds a gun. The man who was about to force himself onto me lies on the ground mere inches away from my feet with a bullet wound right through his head. The other guard lies on the grass a few feet away, squirming in pain. Blood oozes from his abdomen.

“Fuck!” the man yells, grasping at his wound.

“You’re lucky I only gutted you instead of putting a bullet through your head like your accomplice here,” Easton spits on the dead body lying below us.

“I didn’t do anything!” the guy yells.

“Anyone who tries to touch my property dies.” His voice is gravelly, darker than I’ve ever heard him speak before, and it brings goose bumps to my skin. His grip on my arm is gentle, but I’m not scared of him the way I am of these two men.

Easton glances at my bathrobe over his shoulder, and says, “Cover yourself up.”

I immediately grab the fabric and clench it around myself tightly, still shaking from the ordeal.

Easton approaches the man from behind and shoots him in the foot. I jolt from the violence. The man weeps and begs. “Please … don’t kill me.”

“Kill you?” Easton laughs. “No, I want you to suffer. Just like she did when you decided you were going to help your buddy over there take what doesn’t belong to you.”

He covers his head with his arms as if that’ll protect him. “She was trying to escape! I swear, we were only going to take her back to you …”

“No, you were looking for a spot to use her for your own despicable greed. How fucking dare you touch my princess?”

My princess. He claimed those words, licked them as if they belong to him just as I do, and it makes a cold shiver run up and down my spine.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” the man rambles. “Please, I wanna live.”

I swallow away the lump in my throat as Easton cleans his gun with a steadfast hand. It’s as if he didn’t even break a sweat while shooting them.

The sky breaks open, and rain starts to pour down. More staff members exit the mansion, all appalled by the scene in front of them.

“Nick. Call the guys from the company,” Easton says to one of his employees.

Nick nods and fishes his phone from his pocket before going back inside.