Chapter 3

"Are you ready to cooperate?" Dr. Hall narrows her eyes at me.

I rub my swollen wrists, annoyed that my diamond bracelet is gone. Aries gifted it to me on my twenty-first birthday. I never take it off . I look down at my chipped nail polish and cracked cuticles, internally screaming at the sight. I'm so disgusted by my own filth that I want to vomit.

I take a deep breath and remind myself to be grateful that I'm no longer restrained, and I have my pants back on. I avoid Gormon's leering gaze. "Yes, Doctor."

She purses her lips into what I can only imagine is her version of a smile. "Good. We have prepared a nicer room for you. You'll have your own bathroom and a small, barred window to get some fresh air."

I nod. Oh, thank fuck.

She flips open a folder and continues. "One of our more senior patients will give you a tour of the premises. Once you have proven you can be trusted, you will be allowed outside in the courtyard under supervision. Then later, we'll go over your treatment for the next year."

A year? This is fucking insane. I want to scream and claw her eyes out. But I have to stay calm, or I'll end up back in this room and at the mercy of Gormon.

I've had to fake pleasantries my whole life. My father calls it a result of good breeding . Like I'm one of his championship horses. Except he prefers their company over mine.

Aries and I are just possessions to him. And my mother… well, she plays the game better than any woman I've seen in all of Melancholia society.

If I can make it through thousands of vapid events with some of the most dangerous and self-absorbed people in the world, then I can make it in here. I'm the queen of manipulation and deceit. It's the only way I know how to survive.

"Sounds… delightful," I reply to the expectant doctor.

As we exit the stark room and leave behind my confinement, I start to make a mental list of everyone I'm going to kill.

My heart sinks when I step into the hallway. More fluorescent lighting, chipped white walls, and the screams… I shudder as two orderlies drag a hysterical girl past us. I make the mistake of locking eyes with her, the light in them completely gone. She mouths run .

Fuck.

"This way, Miss Doe." The click of her heels against the linoleum floors reverberates off the barren walls. Each step sends another shiver down my spine.

"What's with all the screaming?" I ask.

"There are many troubled souls here. We do our best to fix them. As we will do for you." She stops in front of a door. There are scratches in the wood and on the knob. Like something was trying to crawl its way inside. "Your new room. I've put you right next door to a lovely group of boys who have been here for quite some time. One of them will be giving you the facility tour."

Before I can peek inside my new room— prison cell —the door next to mine bursts open.

A breath lodges in my throat as I take in the sight of him. The tall, ripped, and fucking gorgeous sight of him.

"Ah, perfect timing, Miss Doe. Raithe will show you around today. I will leave you two to get acquainted."

I swallow hard. The space between us is heavy and thick with tension.

He glares at me with one green eye. His other is covered with a black eye patch. His light-brown hair is slicked back off his forehead, the sides shaved to show off his tattoos. For a brief moment, I forget where I'm at and get lost in him.

I'm not easily intimidated, but this man makes me fucking nervous. I tuck a strand of my greasy hair behind my ear, cursing the doctor for not letting me shower first. "I-I'm not a Jane Doe."

"I know. You don't remember me." His voice is gravelly and deep.

It's then that I notice the scars. I let my gaze wander over every inch of him. The flesh on his arms is marred, raised in between his tattoos.

He used to be Nocturnus. "Fuck," I rasp.

"Fuck is right. Welcome to hell, Libra Thorn."

I'm not a saint, but my karma must be more screwed up than I thought. "I told Fabien already that I had nothing to do with what happened to you. In fact, while you were fighting with my cousin, some ghost bitch locked me in the basement of the ballroom."

Raithe's one beautiful green eye darkens. "Shut the fuck up."

I gasp and take a step toward him, instantly regretting it. Damn me and my big mouth. "Excuse me? You're going to blame me for not having the balls to stand up to Nocturnus? How pathetic."

He grabs my wrist and yanks me inside his room, slamming me against the door after he locks it behind us. My chest heaves as every nerve in my body tingles in fear.

"I want you to know just how big my fucking balls are, darlin'."

"Let me go right now," I hiss back.

He shoves my hand inside his pants, forcing my palm around his nuts. I want to squeeze them until they pop, to bring him to his knees in agony, but all I can think about is how hot I am for this beautiful asshole right now. The second my fingers graze the underside of his shaft, his cock stretches, going from semi-erect to rock hard.

Most of the men I've been with have been pushovers, weak-minded, and quick to give me whatever I want. But this man… he wants to control me. To take from me.

"Are my balls big enough for you?" he growls, his voice heavy with need.

I bite my lower lip to stifle a whimper. "Not bad for such a fucking loser." I taunt and nod toward his missing eye.

He grips my hand tighter and flexes his cock against my forearm. "I'm going to rip you apart slowly. I will destroy a piece of you every day until you're nothing but a broken rag doll. You're going to feel every ounce of the pain that we felt."

I squeeze his balls as hard as I can. "You have no idea who you're fucking with."

He lets out a gurgled cry as he yanks my hand away and pins it against the door above my head. "You wanna play dirty, darlin'? Let's fucking play." He throws my free hand up to meet the other, holding them both together with only one of his own. "Everything that has been done to me will be done to you," he snarls in my ear.

I writhe against his grip, but it's useless. He's so fucking strong. Like an animal. "Fuck you."

He shoves his free hand down my pants and cups my pussy. "Your cunt is wet. Is this turning you on?"

I laugh in his face. "My pussy is crying, that's all."

His eye darkens again. "No, but you're about to." He pinches my nub with so much force it knocks the wind out of me.

I gasp for breath as I half scream, half choke on my own saliva. I knock back against the door, desperate to get out of his grasp.

Raithe is not intimidated. He's not scared of me or anyone. I'm so royally fucked .

"You hurt me; I hurt you more. Remember that."

He eases the pressure slightly, and it's just enough to make me feel the one thing I didn't want to… aroused. Fuck.

I nod. "Fine. I won't touch you, and you'll return the favor."

He snickers in my ear, his breath hot on my cheek. "Oh, I'll be touching you whenever I want. I'm going to make you my fucking whore ."

He gives my nub another pinch before releasing the pressure. But he leaves his fingers in my slit, stilling them there to torture me.

"Beg me to make you cum. I know you want to."

I will not.

I want his fingers inside me so fucking bad. But I won't give him the satisfaction.

So I spit in his face instead. The glob hits him square on the cheek.

He growls and grabs my chin. "Open your mouth."

"Go to hell," I growl back.

Raithe squeezes my throat, forcing me to do as he says. He yanks my head back and lobs a wad of spit down my throat. "Next time, it will be a load of my cum."

I feel my cheeks heat and my heart race. This fucking bastard.

"I'm going to murder you," I hiss. "I'd tell you to sleep with one eye open, but it looks like that's the only one you've got."

He snickers and pulls his hand out of my pants slowly, dragging his wet fingers up my belly. "Maybe I'll take one of yours then."

I want to vomit. He wouldn't… would he? In all the time I spent around Nocturnus initiates, I learned that they are fucking crazy. But a former initiate, one who's hell-bent on seeking revenge? That terrifies me even more.

I slip out of his grasp and take a giant leap back. He doesn't advance, so I decide to take a different approach. "My family has a lot of money. Help me get out of here, and I'll make sure you never have to work another day in your life."

His eyes shift from left to right, his lips tighten, and he stalks toward me, reaching me in seconds. "You people are such fucking cunts. I have no interest in your daddy's money, little girl."

A breath lodges in my throat as the door opens, and another tall, hot as fuck, former Nocturnus initiate creeps in. His black hair is tied back in a low knot, but a few wavy wisps hang over his brown eyes. "Already playing with our new toy, Raithe?"

Fuck. The way he looks at me… like I'm about to be devoured and then murdered. I silently curse myself for even thinking for one second that a brutal death would be worth having his cock inside me.

Raithe's jaw twitches. He rubs his fingertips together at his sides. "Careful, Mordecai. She's crazier than she looks."

Mordecai … I remember now who they are. They aren't just former Nocturnus initiates. They're from Hemlock Valley. Aries talked about them from time to time.

They worked for my father in the poison fields until they were able to go to Tenebrose Academy on scholarship. I was furious when I found out. They don't belong with the rest of us.

I lift my chin in defiance. "I'm not crazy, and you both know it. But if you had anything to do with getting me locked up in here, I really will murder you."

Mordecai shrugs. "I wish we could take the credit. But bitches like you have a lot of enemies."

More like fucking haters.

"Whatever. This conversation is boring me. Are one of you losers going to show me around this house of horrors or not?"

Raithe grabs my wrist and yanks me toward the door. I throw one last defiant look at Mordecai as I pass him. "See you soon," he taunts right before Raithe drags me into the hallway.

I shudder. Between the creepy orderly, the terrors that scream in the dark, and now these three unhinged psychos… I'm going to have to get smarter if I'm going to survive this place.

There's always a weak link. I just need to find out which one of them it is. And then, I will have him so tightly wrapped around my finger that he won't be able to blink without asking me for permission.