Chapter 5

The tour was pointless and only an excuse for Raithe to taunt me some more. I can't let them distract me. But I don't remember any of them being this fucking hot back at Tenebrose. I guess I didn't look long enough to notice.

I was too busy trying to get Riot's attention. Even when we were kids, he was cruel to me. That's when my addiction to toxic boys started. And when Maureen came to town, his firecracker , I was thought of even less.

Some sick twisted part of me is turned on by being the focus of Raithe, Fabien, and Mordecai's wrath. I get under their skin just as badly as they do mine.

After forcing a bowl of that slop down, only to make my stomach stop growling, I take a long hot shower in this sorry excuse for what they call a bathroom. The one I have back at Tenebrose is big enough to fit me and an entire rugby team. I know because I did it once.

Fuck, I miss my life. How did I end up in this hell?

As the hot water rushes down my back, I grip the wall and close my eyes. Why can't I fucking remember anything? My mind just keeps replaying the same images. Me, dancing on the table. Cocaine at my feet. Blurred faces laughing and guzzling bottles of booze. Loud music. Fuck. I'm dizzy. Drunk. Sloppy. And then nothing. Then I wake up here.

Who would dare to do this to me? To a Thorn.

Only someone with equal wealth and power could pull this off. Someone with enough nerve to kidnap the heir to the Thorn poison empire. They were smart to hide me in the one place no one would ever think to look.

Dr. Hall has to be in on it. She knows exactly who I am. I'm on every society page from here to Ever Graves. But no demands have been made. At least not to me. And now I'm starting to wonder if my father's been given a ransom note. If he knows and just refuses to pay it. It will cause a scandal. And Gemini Thorn loves his status and reputation more than he loves his children.

I'm so fucked.

I dry off and put on a clean pair of cotton pants and a matching shirt, both in the lovely shade of vomit green. I groan as I step into a pair of slip-on tennis shoes. No fucking laces. Clever. I look around the room and notice there isn't a single thing I can use as a weapon. No pens or nail clippers, or even a bobby pin. Everything is murder-proof.

I'll have to get more creative.

I stare out the barred window for an hour. Nothing but forest and marshland surrounds the property. I remember coming up here drunk one Halloween to help teach one of the new initiatives a lesson. Riot made me lure the poor guy into the woods and act like I was going to fuck him.

As soon as he had his clothes off, a group of elder initiates jumped out and tied him to a tree. They made him watch as I sucked all their cocks. They laughed so hard. And then they left him there all night.

I felt special in that moment. Like I was lucky to be chosen. But looking back… I know now the joke was on me. Because they didn't take me with them. They left me there to find my own way back. Riot said it was because the initiate didn't cry. That I should think about how I could do better next time during my ten-mile hike back to Tenebrose. Fucking psycho .

I did whatever Riot and his coven asked of me without question. I let them fucking use me and humiliate me over and over again. And for what? So I could drink expensive Blackwell gin at their parties and sit next to them in class? If my twin brother, Aries, ever finds out half the shit I did for Nocturnus, he'll disown me.

Fuck, I need a drink. The shame doesn't destroy me as much when I'm drunk. I don't want to think about the disgusting things I've done.

The sound of my door unlocking and bursting open startles me. I spin around and press my back against the window, the bars digging into my spine.

"Time for your medicine, little Doe."

My legs shake as I see Gorman hovering in the doorway, that sick smirk plastered on his face. He carries a tray with two paper cups on it.

"You said if I behave, you wouldn't drug me." Please, dear god, do not let this man sedate me again.

He stalks farther into the room, coming toward me. "Be a good girl and sit down on the bed."

Fucking hell.

I stagger over and plop myself down. "Please, I don't want to take them."

He sits down next to me and hands me one of the cups. Two large blue pills sit inside it. "This is your medicine. You have to take it. Doctor's orders."

I can't stop shaking. "I'm begging you…"

He sighs and reaches his hand toward the bedpost. My stomach drops when I see what's attached to it. "You know what happens when you misbehave, little Doe."

Restraints. Fuck. No .

I try to leap off the bed, but he yanks me back down. His thick, scaly hand wraps around my throat. "You can either swallow these pills, or I'll be forced to get the syringe. One way or another, you're taking your medicine."

I can't stop the tears from falling. They are going to keep drugging me. Everything Dr. Hall said is a lie. A deep gurgle lodges in my throat as my tears turn to sobs.

Gormon pats my head. "Too late, little Doe. You brought this on yourself."

"No. Please. Fine, just give me the pills."

He shakes his head. "We're doing it the hard way tonight."

Panic swells in my chest as I push past him and run for the door. He lets me. I claw at the knob, but it's no use. You need a key to unlock it from either side. And he has the fucking key.

I turn slowly back around to face him. "I'm sorry. Please. I'll take the pills."

"Come here, little Doe."

My knees wobble as I obey his order.

Without warning, he picks me up and slams me down on the bed. I let out a scream as I thrash against him.

It takes him less than three minutes to overpower me and strap in my wrists. He moves down and does the same to my ankles. "Relax…" He pulls a syringe from his pocket. "This will make you feel better."

"You're a monster," I growl.

His eyes darken with lust. "You have no idea—"

" Out . Right now," Mordecai commands from behind. I didn't even hear him come in. Wait, how did he get in?

Gorman leaps from the bed, his face bright red. "I wasn't going to touch her."

"You've been warned already. Libra Thorn is off-limits. Now get the fuck out of here before I shove your nuts up into your asshole."

Moisture pools between my thighs as the sight of Mordecai sends a tingle to my core. "You said my name to him," I murmur.

They all know .

But they're keeping me here anyway. The doctor is trying to make me think I'm going crazy.

As soon as Gormon scurries out of my room, I yank on my restraints. "Help me get these off."

Mordecai doesn't make any attempt to move. He just stands there, glaring at me. "Like you helped me when your cousin was carving me up like a pig?"

I grunt out in frustration. "In what world would I have any power over my cousin? You think they treated me any better?"

He takes off his shirt and throws it at me. "I'm guessing you don't have scars like these." He runs his palms across his belly. "Your privilege astounds me."

I can't deny I'm disgusted by what Nocturnus has done to him, Fabien, and Raithe. But I'm also not surprised. "The bullshit they pull is no secret. You knew what you signed up for. I was born into this world. At least you had a choice."

His eyes soften for a split second before turning murderous again. "What do you know about choice, princess? Everything you have has been handed to you on a silver fucking platter. You don't have to make decisions because you want for nothing."

I pull on my restraints again, appalled that this man thinks my life is fucking perfect. "Right now, what I want is to be untied. Don't think because you've seen me at a few parties that you know me. You know nothing about what my life is like."

A deep growl escapes from his throat like he's a rabid animal about to attack. He stalks over to the bed, glaring down at me as I lay there helpless. "I know your kind. You people always think you have it so hard. With your trust funds and your fancy parties… Hard is when you wake up before the sun every day to go plow fields full of poison for a family that doesn't care to pay their workers enough money to live." He slams his hands on the bed, boxing me in. " Hard is when you have to steal and kill for every single thing you have. Don't for one fucking second compare your struggles to mine."

I squirm on the bed, my body betraying me with need as his lips inch closer to mine. This man is unhinged, angry, full of hatred, and so fucking beautiful I want to cry. His disdain for me and my family only makes him sexier. The way his nostrils flare, and his lips curl up in disgust as he breathes heavily down my throat… I want him to bite me. To take his rage out on my body. What the fuck is wrong with me?

His haunted gaze flits to my heaving chest. "Your heart is racing."

"I-I'm scared." The lies I tell him, I also tell myself.

He positions his body over mine, pressing in closer. "No. That's not it. Girls like you don't get scared. You all think you're fucking invincible… Do you want to fuck me, Libra Thorn? Is that it?"

I tremble as he drags a finger down my cheek. "You wish," I breathe the words.

He pinches my chin, squeezing it so hard a pain shoots up my jaw. "I wouldn't fuck you if my actual life depended on it. You repulse me ."

I snicker as his cock twitches against my leg. "That's bullshit, and you know it. Why else are you hard as fuck right now?"

His sadistic smile sends chills down my spine. "Because the thought of hurting you turns me on."

I gasp as he slaps my cheek. I can feel the blush sweeping over me. The heat. Fucking hell. "Try doing that again when my hands are free," I rasp.

He sits up, straddling me, and wraps his hands around my neck. "You people don't fight fair so neither will we. Maybe I'll just kill you right fucking now." He applies enough pressure to my throat to remind me he's in control.

As I gaze up at his chiseled chest, I glance over his scars and his tattoos, following the line of his muscles all the way up to his lips. The glint of his metal grill flickers under the fluorescent lights of my room. The demons that lurk in his brown eyes draw my gaze higher. I should be scared of this psycho. But I'm not. Not in the way he wants me to be. All I want is to do bad things with him.

A little pool of moisture leaks out of my pussy. "Kill me then. I'm already in hell; you might as well put me out of my fucking misery."

He grunts, frustrated that I'm not trembling with fear, and leaps off me. "You've been conscious for two days. We've been locked in here for months. You don't know what hell is, princess."

"Stop calling me that," I hiss. I fucking hate that word. " You don't get to call me that."

"I'll call you whatever the fuck I want." I think he might slap me again but instead he reaches up and undoes my restraints.

"Thank you," I murmur.

He glares at my wrists as I rub the welts that are already forming. "Don't. I'm going to enjoy hurting you, but it will be on my terms. Not on some vile orderly's who has nothing to do with this. You will know hell soon enough. It's the fucking inferno between you and me."

I crumple up his shirt and shove it at him. "You're not the only one who knows how to play with fire, Mordecai. I've danced with devils far scarier than you."

"Don't bet on it, princess ."

Our gazes lock in a staring contest for what seems like forever until he backs away toward the door. "Get some rest. You're gonna need it."

I let out a deep breath once he's gone. What just happened?

He wants to murder me, and I want to fuck him. Maybe I do deserve to be locked up in here.

But regardless of his reasoning, he couldn't hide the anger in his eyes when he saw Gormon standing over me. He couldn't pretend that the red welts on my wrists didn't piss him off. If whatever that emotion is keeps the creepy orderly out of my room, I'll take it.

I'll use everything in my power and advantage to gain the upper hand.