Total pages in book: 767
Estimated words: 732023 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 3660(@200wpm)___ 2928(@250wpm)___ 2440(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 732023 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 3660(@200wpm)___ 2928(@250wpm)___ 2440(@300wpm)
I closed my eyes and slipped into velvety darkness, his softly-spoken words following me down into sleep: “Forgive me.”
Chapter 23
I stirred, slowly coming back to awareness. My body felt strangely heavy, and I was sore between my legs. I opened my eyes to find the shades drawn, with only the soft glow of city lights peeking around the edges. Night had fallen, but I was just waking up. Everything started to come back to me in pieces: Lauren, dosing me with Bliss; the red and gold room; the boy touching me; and Andrés, coming to my rescue like some dark avenging angel.
I sat up, searching for him. He sat on the edge of the bed, watching me with bloodshot eyes. His posture was stiff, his face a blank mask. He was fully dressed in his sharp suit, but his hair was wet, as though he’d just taken a shower.
“Thank you,” I murmured, reaching for him.
He shifted away, grimacing. “Don’t thank me. I fucked you while you were high out of your mind. I violated you.”
“No,” I said fiercely, grabbing his hand before he could retreat farther. “I begged you to.” Even though I hadn’t been able to control myself while under the influence, I remembered everything clearly now. “I needed you to. I was hurting. You helped me.”
He turned his face away from me, but he didn’t pull his hand from my grip. “You shouldn’t have called me Master,” he said hollowly. “You shouldn’t have done that. I couldn’t—” He pressed his lips to a thin slash, holding in whatever he was going to say. “I’m not blaming you. You didn’t know what you were saying. It’s not your fault. None of this is your fault. You didn’t ask to be trapped with me. You didn’t ask to be beaten and raped.”
“You didn’t rape me. Don’t you dare call it that. Don’t you dare.” Angry tears made my vision swim, and I swiped them away from my cheeks. “You were helping me. I trusted you to help me. I love you, Andrés. And I meant what I said. You’re my Master.”
He rounded on me, his eyes blazing. “Don’t call me that,” he barked, his hand tightening around mine in a vise-like grip.
I moved toward him, scooting across the bed so I could get in his face. “You did nothing wrong,” I said, imbuing the words with as much fervor as I possessed. “You saved me. You’ve been saving me this whole time. You’ve been protecting me from Cristian. He would have—”
“He would have what?” he shouted over me. “Ordered Lauren to slip you Bliss and whore you out? That’s what he wanted, Samantha. He wanted you to scream in pleasure while they violated you. He wanted them to send you back to me, broken and used. He wanted to punish me for my failure. I should have killed him,” he hissed, his gaze turning feverish. “But I didn’t. I ran back to you as soon as he told me. He fucking laughed while I ran away from him.”
“You got back to me in time.” I cupped his face in my hands, trying to get him to focus on me. “You saved me. You protected me.”
He grabbed my wrists, squeezing to the point of pain. But he didn’t move my hands away from his face.
“I can’t protect you,” he rasped. “I’m a coward. You deserve better than me.”
“I don’t, and you’re not,” I asserted. “I want to be with you, Andrés. You’re not a coward.”
“I’m afraid of him,” he admitted on a bitter whisper.
“I know,” I said softly. “And I understand.”
“You don’t. My face…” He trailed off with a shudder and cut his eyes away.
I touched his scar, applying enough pressure to guide his face back to mine. “Tell me what he did to you.” It was a steady command. Andrés needed to purge this from his soul. It was the only way he’d be able to free himself from the power his brother held over him.
“It was three years ago,” he began, the words bleeding out of him. “Cristian made a deal with some Russians. He started dealing in Bliss. I’d never dared to challenge him, but I hated it. It was too far, too much. He was selling women, just like he sold my sister. So I decided to stage a coup and take over the organization myself. I’d always been the one to keep the business running. I could do it without him. My life would be better without him.”
He paused, his eyes sliding out of focus as he fell into memory.
“He found out,” I surmised, quietly urging him to continue.
His jaw tightened beneath my hands. “One of my men betrayed me. Cristian came for me before I made a move against him. He strung me up in front of all of our people—the ones he hadn’t killed for following me. He cut me. He made me scream. He humiliated me. Then he stitched me up himself to make sure the marks lasted.”