As he grasped the door handle, he looked back at her. Most of her makeup was long gone, and her hair had come down to hang about her shoulders. She was in a state of disarray and looked ridiculously vulnerable as she held her head high. Even like this, with reddened eyes, she was damn beautiful. How he hated that fate had somehow put her in this heinous position.
She met his gaze. “So what’s beyond the door? What is it you need to show me? I’m guessing it’s some kind of oversized closet for your billionaire wardrobe.”
“See for yourself.”
He pushed the door wide, flipped on the lights that dotted the wood ceiling, then stepped aside to make way for her. “This is the game room, a place you and I will be spending a lot of time, starting now, actually.”
She moved in slowly, then gasped. “Oh, God. What is this?”
He’d designed the space based on one of the rooms Sweet Dove had kept in her sprawling home. She’d taken him there on an almost nightly basis. The result was essentially a padded torture chamber full of masks, whips, a variety of implements for cutting, two different kinds of tables with straps and stirrups, and a wall of chains and manacles.
Taking hold of Angelica’s arm, he pulled her into the room, then turned to lock the door. He’d positioned the dead bolt high so that no slave could reach it.
She turned to him, wide-eyed, a frown between her brows. “You can’t be serious.”
He could explain everything to her, or he could show her. He knew she’d been through a lot, but she needed to get with the program now. If he wanted to sustain his reputation in this lifestyle, he needed Angelica on a leash and her demeanor properly subdued by the time he took her to Engles’s home.
“You’re going to learn to obey me, Angelica. I won’t have you fighting me, not here in my home or in public. I own you now, you’re my slave, get used to it and do it fast. I’ve been working for years to gain admittance into the Starlin Group and I’m not about to let you f**k it up.
“Now, we’ll be going to a party in a couple of hours, and while we’re there I need you on your knees the moment I tell you to get on your knees.”
A look of horror passed over her features. “To do what?”
“I think you know exactly what that means.”
She shook her head. “This can’t be happening and like hell I’m going down on you in public. I’d rather die.”
He’d hoped the mere sight of the room would start softening her belligerence. Instead she was more obstinate than ever.
Time for phase two.
He shifted to altered flight, scooped her up, and slapped her against the wall that dangled with chains. He bound her up vampire-fast so that she was once more shackled, and spread-eagled within seconds, her robe gaping wide, her body on display, her feet on the floor. The only difference was that these shackles weren’t preternaturally charged and except for their weight wouldn’t hurt her.
“What are you doing?”
He got up close. “I’ve already told you. I’m helping you get a good picture of your new life so that you can adjust your attitude accordingly. I want you submissive and meek, and it looks like you need a lesson or two to get you started.
“But feel free to shout. Scream your head off. This room is soundproof and if one of the servants happens by, well, let’s just say that everyone in this house is loyal to me and serves only me. You can’t turn a single person in the immediate twenty square miles against me. You can’t escape, you can’t run, you can’t hide. I’m here. I’m your master. And you’ll do as I say. Do we have an understanding yet?”
“I understand that you can go straight to hell.”
He let out a roar of frustration, but her gaze never wavered from his. Shit, this was going to get ugly if he had the smallest hope of breaking her will.
“Let me go home.”
“Not gonna happen.”
Angelica stared at Reyes, her captor, a self-proclaimed slaver.
Her mind was still working to make sense of all that had happened to her. She knew she was still in shock, yet she had to pull herself together enough to withstand his attempts to break her.
She got that the man she’d kissed not long ago, the man she’d wanted so badly, was a monster, the worst kind, sadistic and brutal. The room spoke of the kinds of things he intended to do to her. In addition, the nature of the auction, as well as the horrible acts going on in that room, made her future clear.
Yet she rejected all of it, with every ounce of her being.
Her heart pounded in her chest. “I’ll never stop trying to escape this captivity. You have to know that. No matter what you do to me right now.”
He moved in closer and pressed a hand to her throat. “Do you know how easily I could kill you, snap your neck, or just choke you to death?”
He squeezed her windpipe, making it hard to breathe. She felt his latent strength and trembled.
“All I want you to do is submit to me. That’s all.”
Though tears bit her eyes, she refused to bend. If she had to die, then so be it.
She closed her eyes and waited, but after another few seconds the pressure eased up.
She blinked and stared into cold blue eyes.
“How did you enjoy that, Angelica? I can choke you repeatedly without taking your life. How about I do that to you for months or years, only each time I’ll take you just a little closer to death. How does that sound?”
“Go to hell.” Her voice was hoarse as she spoke. “I despise you.”
“What you’re not getting is that I don’t care what you think of me. All I need is for you to say ‘Yes, master,’ and mean it.” His hand slid down her throat to her br**sts. He caressed her, in much the same way that horrible woman had done earlier in the week.
“Does that feel good?” He was even using the same line the woman had used.
“I hate that you’re touching me.”
“You can learn to love my touch, or fear it, the choice is yours.” He pinched her nipple and the same kind of fire that had penetrated her breast at that woman’s hand touched her again, a threat that could get much worse. But now she understood that this was some kind of vampire ability.
“All I have to do is let my energy flow and you’ll be screaming. Is that what you want? Pain so bad that you’ll pass out?” He leaned close. “I don’t want to do this to you and you can make it stop. Just submit to me, because, trust me, I can keep this up for hours.”