Chapter 9

Grace squeezed her eyes closed and took deep breaths. She clung to Khai as if he were a lifeline—which he was. He was her lifeline. The only thing grounding her and connecting her to Earth.

He scooted back and lowered the two of them so they were lying on the bed, face to face. He tossed a leg over hers, wrapped his arms around her, and held her close. "Deep breaths, love."

She inhaled slowly before looking him in the eyes. "I've known you for a month, and you're the person I'm closest to in the whole world."

He smiled as he brushed a lock of hair from her forehead. "Same. But you lived with those women downstairs for eighteen months. Surely, you're close to them."

She shook her head. "We weren't permitted to talk to each other. We rarely did. We didn't even exchange names. Master J assigned each of us the name of a poisonous flower, and that's all we knew. We didn't know where we'd each come from, how we'd gotten there, or any other detail."

His eyes went wide. "Shit."

"Yeah. I feel connected to them because of the shared experience, but I don't know them." She gripped him tighter. "Thank you so much for being here with me. I don't think I could do this alone."

"You're not alone."

"And thank you for sticking by me even though I basically lied to you for a month."

He shook his head. "You never lied to me, Grace. I paid attention. You very carefully did not respond to any question I asked that you weren't ready to answer."

"There are so many things I need to tell you, but be patient with me while I work through this stage."

"Always. When you want to talk, I'm here for you. When you need me to just be quiet and hold you, I can do that, too."

She licked her lips and lowered her gaze to his chest. "Gemma and the other girls pointed out that I should at least share a few specific details with you because whatever you're thinking happened to me is not even close to the truth."

He stroked her temple again. "Only if you're ready, love."

Her heart rate picked up at the thought of saying this shit out loud, but it was only fair that she tell him the important parts. "We were all abducted because we shared one very important trait."

He narrowed his eyes.

She drew in a deep breath. "We were all virgins."

He nodded slowly, stiffening against her.

"We were trained to serve a Master who purchased our virginity."

His eyes widened.

She swallowed, needing to tell him the rest. "The man who bought me, Chekov, intended to rape me for the first time that night. I managed to strike him with that poker and take off before he got his chance."

Khai stopped breathing, blinking, or moving.

She let him absorb that.

Finally, his lips parted, and he cupped the back of her head. "My God."

"Yeah…" She tried to smile. It was forced. "So, uh, well, yeah…"

"Grace…" His voice was filled with reverence.

"Before you do mental cartwheels thinking how lucky I am that no one raped me, let me assure you, what I went through was horrifying on a level you will never understand. We were kept naked at all times. We spent our days learning all the poses that would be required of us by our Masters. We slept spread-eagle, restrained to the four corners of a cot with a scratchy blanket over us, and we didn't dare move for fear it would fall off. Men came to the mansion to ogle us. No one was permitted to penetrate us, but we endured countless hours of…edging. People fondled us, played with our nipples and clits until we were dripping from unwanted arousal. There were many times I thought it would have been better to have been raped."

Khai's face was white.

Grace kept going, wanting to spit out the gist of this saga all at once. "There were cameras on us at all times. We weren't permitted to touch ourselves. We weren't permitted to complain. We were kept in an unfinished basement with not one moment of privacy. Someone watched us pee and shit. The trainers who worked for Master J restrained our wrists to the ceiling and lewdly bathed us in the middle of the basement, using a garden hose and cold water to rinse us."

Khai didn't move or blink. His jaw was tight.

She drew in a deep breath and gave him one more detail. "When we misbehaved, Master J's favorite punishment was to force us into a small dog kennel where he restrained our wrists and ankles to the corners. The only possible position was leaning our butts back against our heels and putting our foreheads on the metal bottom—sometimes for so long that we had no choice but to pee ourselves and let it run onto our faces."

With that, she dropped her forehead against his chest, fisted his shirt at his back, and took long, deep breaths. The worst part was out there now, and Grace felt drained.

"I love you, Grace."

He couldn't have said anything more perfect if he'd been given a script. And that made her start crying. Again. She sobbed against his chest, harder this time. So much pent-up anger, frustration, and sadness. It all came out in the biggest, ugliest cry of her life.

Khai rubbed her back and held her tight, letting her know without words that he had her. He had her. He couldn't possibly have fully internalized everything she'd just shared, but he hadn't run from the room or the house. He'd given her the only words that would help, and then he held her.

When she was spent and reduced to hiccups and sniffling, he kissed her forehead, rolled off the bed, and returned a moment later with a wet washcloth. He gently wiped her face before climbing back up and pulling her into his arms. "Rest, love. I've got you."

Damn, she was in deep with this man. She wasn't at all sure it was reasonable or fair. She had a long way to go before she recovered enough to be the full partner he deserved or to pull her own weight in a relationship.

If someone had asked her two months ago while she'd been living alone in his cabin in fear, hiding from the world, if she could see herself in a relationship with anyone in this lifetime, she would have said no. But Khai was not taking no for an answer.

Grace's mind raced for several minutes before she was finally able to settle and fall asleep.