Perfect Ruin (Unyielding #2)(46)

Take a risk, damn it. Be f*ckin’ brave, baby.

Ten minutes. Ten f*ckin’ minutes. I was on my second bowl of soup and hers was no longer steaming.

“May I eat, master?”

“Yes. You can help yourself to anything you want at any time.” And I didn’t like her calling me f*ckin’ master. “You know my name—use it.”

She sat quietly at the island and ate the cold soup. I restrained myself from heating it up, but that was her fault it took her so f*ckin’ long.

I never said I was nice.

She was cautious as she ate, and I couldn’t help imagining us in her kitchen together. A different arrangement. An entirely different girl.

I looked at Raven. I’d never f*ck her.

I shoved back my stool, stood, then went and rinsed out my bowl in the sink, put the rest of the soup in a container and placed it in the fridge. I washed the pot then turned around and she was still sitting there, spoon resting against the lip of the bowl and her head down.

“Go to sleep when you’re done, bab… Raven.” I strode out of the kitchen, open concept, so I was still technically in the room, and sat on the couch. I put my knife on the glass coffee table along with my rolled-up wire. Then I clicked on the stereo to some jazz, put my feet up, and waited.

I had my head back and eyes closed when I heard her approach. And this is when it f*cked with my head because I wanted to look at her, hold out my hand and drag her down on top of me, then undress her and taste that sweetness I’d craved for years.

Years. Jesus.

But I didn’t want the submissive, obedient robot. I wanted London.

“Kai,” her voice trembled and I stiffened.

I took my time to peer at her standing beside the couch, arms at her sides, fingers gripping her shirt. A scared little rabbit that wanted to crawl in her hole. But I was the wolf and I sat on it, blocking her escape.

“Yes?” I knew exactly why she was here. She had no idea where she was supposed to sleep. Alfonzo, and I was pretty sure he was the one who kept London to himself, may have kept her in a basement, on the floor of a room, f*ck, in a closet or cage for all I knew. I’d have liked nothing better than to wrap my piano wire around his neck and watch his eyes pop out as he struggled to breathe. And just for fun, I’d let him take a breath then take it away over and over again.

“Where do you want me to sleep?”

“You may sleep in my bed for now. The guest room isn’t set up yet. When it is, you may sleep in there. The choice will be yours.”

She hesitated, biting her lower lip as if contemplating what I’d said. But this wasn’t about me. This was about her and she had to learn to make choices.

“You have an issue with that, tell me.”

That did something. A speck of light hit her eyes and her spine stiffened, not enough for most people to notice, but I wasn’t most people.

What I needed was that quiet rebellion. Fuck, I’d take any rebellion right about now. I wasn’t getting it, but I would eventually, even if I had to rip Raven apart to get to it. “Go to bed.”

She scuttled away and I leaned my head back again and shut my eyes.

I’d give her one week. I was being generous because being nice went against my grain. Then she was going to fight—for London.





Ice Water



IT TOOK FIVE days before she broke a rule.

I’d expected sooner, but she was meticulous and I could see her mind working on deciding what to do before she did it. The scientist in her was hard at work. Except, it was the wrong kind of f*ckin’ work.

But when a glass she was putting up in the top cupboard slipped from her grip and fell to the floor shattering, she froze for a split second before dropping to her knees.

Any sympathy for Raven was pushed aside. My rules were fair and they were set up to break through what she’d endured. I’d seen the marks on the back of her thighs. I knew what they were from and coddling her wasn’t going to make her any better. She’d had months of therapy, medication and whatever else her father and medical professionals had done to try to help her. Instead, she ran away.

Now we were doing it my way and it was the way that London needed. I knew this because I’d been in hell. Maybe it was a different kind, but it was still hell.

I filled the tub with straight cold water then went to the freezer and pulled out a small bag of ice. No matter how diligent a person was, falling back into what had become a safe place… that was human nature. My safe had been not caring. Being unemotional and ignoring who I’d become.

Raven’s safe place was on her knees.

Now I was going to re-write that.

She watched me. Sitting on the edge of the bed, her hands wrung together. It was always better when interrogating someone for them to see your torture devices. Let the fear build as your hand hovered over each one, hear their breath quicken while waiting to see which one you’d pick up first.

Of course, this wasn’t about torture. Same idea, I had to break her, but with other techniques where she was punished for being Raven.

I could coddle her, wrap her up in my arms and hope she’d find her way back, but I didn’t coddle and London was a fighter. I just had to find the trigger to make her fight.

Bottom line, I needed her to get pissed off.

I dumped the bag of ice into the tub and the cubes clinked against the porcelain. I stuck my hand in—yeah, that was f*ckin’ cold. I’d been in worse.