Chapter Twenty-Eight

I come to, groggy and having a hard time opening my eyes. My eyebrows pinch together as I try to orient myself to my surroundings. The seat behind me moves with the familiar feeling of a car traveling over the road. I turn my head, staring out a window at the night whizzing by. Looking to the other side, I slowly blink to make sure what I see is right.

"Wh-who are you?" I whisper to the man wearing black clothes and a crimson demon mask.

The demonic form is made of my nightmares and the things I've been seeing. As we pass by the few headlights and streetlamps, it glimmers, exposing the black base colors and delicately carved designs that could be easily overlooked if one isn't paying attention. Which I wasn't in the elevator.

He doesn't answer, only turns his head to look at me through the holes for his eyes. His skin underneath is dark, like he painted his face before he put on the mask. I wince at the annoyance in his bottomless eyes. He may as well have stabbed me because of how much that one glare affects me, and I don't know why .

I lick my lips to moisten them. It doesn't help. Swallowing to wet my dry throat doesn't either. I don't know what the hell this dude injected me with, but it's messing with me still. Everything feels heavy, like I'm being pinned down with bricks stacked on top of each other.

I shift in my seat and slowly reach for the door handle. I won't jump out of the car while we're going eighty miles per hour, but when he slows down, I'll tuck and roll. I just hope to god that I survive this.

"I don't know what you want," I slur. "But if I were you, I'd take me back right now before something bad happens to you."

He turns his head, taking his creepy time about it. It reminds me too much of those eerie dolls that turn their heads by themselves and have a hard time doing it. Mirth shines in his gaze and crinkles the corners of his eyes from a hidden smile.

Okay. That's annoying. Why isn't he taking me seriously? Yeah, there isn't much I can do at the moment, but if Jaxon doesn't get to him first, then I'll fuck him up by myself.

Keep telling yourself that, Dahlia , I chide in my thoughts.

Either way, he's a dead man walking because there's no way my brother will let him get away with this. My chest tightens until it hurts, and it becomes hard to breathe. I just hope Jaxon is alive and looking for me.

My kidnapper turns his attention back to the road and lowers his foot on the gas pedal. The engine purrs with the speed increase, and the streets fly past us in a blur.

"Don't you fucking cry," I whisper to myself. A lump forms in my throat, and I look out the window, hiding my tears from the stranger. I swallow hard a few times to clear my throat, and I try to be stealthy as I check my pockets for my phone. My shoulders slump and more tears sting my eyes. All of my things are gone, including the ChapStick I carry with me everywhere.

"What do you want?" I ask, my voice coming out clearer and less drunk.

He's quiet, which pisses me off, but I'll take anger over sadness any day. I cling to it until all I feel is rage and the need to beat his ass. Who the fuck does this man think he is? He clearly doesn't know who I am or that his life is in danger because of my obsessed brother.

The rest of the drive is tense, and the small space electrifies me with a heady amount of fear and anger. Meanwhile, my kidnapper is sporting a boner. My hands tremble more from adrenaline than fear—which, yes, I'm scared, but I don't plan on letting him take me to a second location without a fight.

He turns the car right and drives up a driveway to a large cabin that might as well have been a mansion. It's massive. He parks behind a Lamborghini, and I scream in my head. I know it's stupid to freak out because of a mansion and an expensive car, but if he's bringing me to where mega-rich people are, then this isn't good. I've seen too many movies where rich people are always the slimiest of human slimes. There's also the billionaires and their sick kinks.

The kidnapper cuts the engine and climbs out of his seat, slamming the door behind him. My spine straightens, and I tremble as he comes around to my side.

Nah, fuck this.

I crawl over the console, and the passenger door flies open. He grabs my ankles and I yelp, then shriek as he drags me back to the passenger side and out of the car. I scream as I slap, kick, elbow, and head-butt. He doesn't make a sound as I land a few blows. He just sighs, grabs my wrists, and pins them behind my back before he shoves me against the car.

I squeak as his body presses against my backside, forcing his erection against my ass. My stomach flips at the impressive outline, then guilt floods through me. Because what the fuck? I don't know this man, and I'm in love with Jaxon, which means no clitterflies are allowed right now.

He leans against me, brushing his mask against the side of my face. "You're going inside with me," he whispers, "and you're going to be a good girl and do as I say."

I wince as he tightens his grip on my wrists. Shaking my head, I glare at him the best I can from the corner of my eye. "No, I'm not."

He knocks my legs open with his knee and wedges his body firmly against mine. His thigh rests right against my core and rubs in all the right places. My eyes roll to the back of my head in my moment of weakness. This is wrong. He kidnapped me and brought me to this place to turn me into some billionaire's sex slave before they kill me. I'm not about to be the next Black Dahlia murder.

"You're going in there as my wife," he murmurs, "and you'll sacrifice your virginity to me."

Virginity? Technically, I'm not a virgin anymore. I've had sex—just not vaginally.

I bare my teeth and turn my face to look at him, but all I get is an eyeful of the side of his demon mask. "I'd rather shit in my hands and clap."

He pauses and cocks his head. If I didn't know any better, I'd think he's grinning at that lame comeback—as embarrassing as it is. "You don't have a choice."

"Yeah, well, I hope you have fun with that," I snap, "because my brother will have a lot of fun with you when he finds me. He'll use your intestines as a rope to hang you with."

More silence and him staring at me with those soulless eyes.

After a moment, he leans in until his mask brushes my cheek. "I'd like to see him try. "

The record in my mind scratches as I realize what he said a minute ago.

"Wh-what did you say?" I croak.

"You heard me," he growls.

I shake my head and nervously lick my dry lips. "Did you say...did you say I'm your wife?"

"Ahh." A pleased hum rumbles in his chest and into my back. He transfers his hold on my wrists to one hand so he can drag his knuckles down the exposed skin on my side. Goosebumps pebble over me, and I hold my breath.

Tapping my love-handle, he says with amusement in his voice, "You haven't noticed your ring, wife?"

I try to swallow, but I fail every time because of the lump forming in my throat. "You're lying."

Sighing, he grabs my left hand and brings it in front of my face. My eyes widen at the large stone cradled in a white-gold band with smaller diamonds clustered around the larger one.

I shake my head. "No," I whisper. "No. No. No."

He curls his gloved fingers over mine and holds on tight. I wince and jerk in his hold to get him off of me. He's taller and much stronger than I am, so it's pointless to even try.

"You're fucking weird!" I scream. "I'm not married to you!"

What will Jaxon do? Where is he? I can't be married to this asshole. I want to be with Jaxon. It should be him that takes my pussy for the first time and not this creep.

The masked stranger doesn't make a sound, but the weight of his stare is heavy on me as he watches me lose my sanity. Everything feels like it's slipping, and I'm not talking about figuratively. I feel like I'm swaying on water. Something darts past the corner of my eye, and I gasp for air as panic settles in.

The man tenses, unsure of what to do. Good. I'm glad my freak out is scaring him because if he wants to be married to me, then he'll have to deal with my bad—that is, if Jaxon doesn't kill him.

"Easy," he murmurs, his voice deeper, like he's holding himself back from doing more than brushing his knuckles along my cheek.

I slap his arm and turn my head to bite his wrist. He hisses through his teeth but doesn't move away. I don't know how long I freak out and scream for Jaxon, but my throat hurts and my voice goes out.

"You done?" the man growls. He whips me around, shoves my back against the car, and forces me to wrap my legs around his waist as he lifts me. Even though it's dark out, I still notice the hunger in his dark eyes as I wiggle against him.

"No!" I sniffle from the unwanted tears. "If my brother doesn't kill you first, then I will. I hope you know that."

He tilts his head to the side as he considers my warning, then slowly blinks. "I don't doubt you." He leans in until his cold mask brushes against my nose and I'm looking straight into his eyes. "You're still my wife, and you're mine. No man, not even your brother, will stop me."

He lowers me, and I dig my boots into the ground as he drags me to the front door. The whole way, I'm cussing and calling him names, hoping something sticks and offends him, but he's unbothered. If anything, he seems pleased about it. I don't know why, unless he has a degradation kink.

A security guard stands near the front door. I can't believe I didn't notice him until now. He turns to us and briefly glances at me with a bored look before he turns to my kidnapper.

"Please help me," I say, raising my voice. "This man kidnapped me!"

The guard swivels his attention back to me and raises his bushy eyebrow. "And? "

My jaw drops. My worry about this place being a cult for old rich men was right.

He jerks his chin toward my kidnapper. "Need to scan."

The masked man turns me with him as he gives the security guard his back. The guard raises a scanner and clicks the button, making it beep as it scans a barcode on the nape of the masked man's neck. My kidnapper stares at me the whole time, and once the machine dings, the guard opens the door and waves us in.

As I'm dragged past the security guy, I snarl, "I'll be sure he kills you, too."

He scoffs and turns his back to me. "Not if I kill him first."