Page 56

She pulls my fingers off her neck and takes in a shaky breath as she slides off the bed.

There’s dirt and blood staining her hair, clumping the strands together, and it stops her from hiding behind it as she searches through the pockets of the medical bag, then pulls out a thick roll of gauze.

The gloves are next and she’s careful not to touch the outside of the fingers as she puts them on before she opens the packaging for the bandage and wraps it around my bicep.

“Delilah?” I brush her hair over her shoulder and whisper, “Will you lay with me?”

She doesn’t look at me as she coolly says, “No.” The gauze stretches around my bicep and she only looks up once it reaches the end of the roll.

“You hurt me more than anyone else in my life. And I’m no stranger to pain, but you did the exact same thing everyone else did, so no, I won’t willingly lay with you when that would be like cuddling a starved snake and expecting it not to bite me. ”

“But you wanted me to fuck you,” I say more to convince myself that a part of her doesn’t hate me.

“I wanted to forget,” she scoffs. “That’s all I’ve ever wanted.”

“Me too,” I admit. She gives me more of her attention without sniping at me, so I keep talking in the hopes I get to keep her.

“I know what it’s like for there to be memories that haunt you and they hurt, more than when you originally experienced them, but it hurts even more because every single one of those memories holds pieces of you. So for me, I’d like to forget too.”

“I never hurt you. Never. You planned all of this. Now we’re stuck with your creepy fucking family when I only ever wanted to get you away from everyone.”

She stands, pushing her fingers through her hair and pulling at the strands.

“Everything I did was because of a stupid mistake. A foolish fire that I can’t put out, but I only wanted to save you. And now?” She laughs, shaking her head and gutting me. “Now you’re the person I want to fucking forget.”

There’s a metallic tap and I quickly grab the front of her t-shirt, pulling her closer and trapping her between my thighs.

“What the fu?—”

Slapping my hand over her mouth, I hold her even tighter as the clicks get closer. Her eyes widen as she tilts her head, following the sound that hits our door.

“Kane,” Helene croons. “Come on out, sweet boy.”

Delilah shakes her head as she widens her eyes, trying to tell me not to move. I gently kiss her forehead and pick her up, carrying her into the bathroom.

“Don’t,” she mumbles into my palm.

I need her to be safe. Either way she’s going to hate me, but this way she’ll be safe and I’ll be able to keep these sick cunts away from her.

All the shit I’ve said to her, the way she is, it’s not because she’s twisted or reveling in causing pain.

It’s because she believes that’s all she’s worth.

I have the opportunity to show her different.

To prove to her that she’s more than a fuck or a body.

I place her in the bathtub and kiss her crown. “Stay here, my pretty girl.”

She grabs my wrist, her nails digging into my skin as she hisses, “You’re staying with me.”

I nod and peel her fingers off me then quickly turn. If I look at her, those huge fucking eyes, I’ll give in. Lennox informed me of the agreement, that I need to get her pregnant, keep her leashed, and fall in line with whatever Helene wants or there’d be punishments.

Rowan’s punishments are burned into my soul. I have no fucking idea what his mother will come up with.

“Kane?” Delilah whispers through tears as I close the bathroom door behind me.

There’s no lock on the outside of the door, so I drag the dresser across the wall to barricade her inside. The wooden legs scrape against the floor, the top wobbling, and my arm burns, but her steps are covered by the sound as Helene’s tapping becomes more urgent. “Do not think you can hide, boy.”

Once Delilah’s safe, I turn and grit my teeth to suppress the pain in my shoulder as I go to the other door and open it to my cunt of a grandmother. She stands in front of me, that fucking stick in her hand that she taps against the floor like I’m a dog.

“Go,” she snarls.

I walk ahead as she taps that fucking stick behind me. It clangs against the edge of the metal staircase. “Down.”

Fuck her. I turn, my fists clenched, and snap, “Watch how the fuck you speak to me. I’m neither a dog nor one of your fucking sons to order around.”

Her eyes blaze as she storms past me, the staircase rattling beneath her feet as she violently smacks her stick against the spindles. None of those sounds mute her anger as she grits, “You will come down to take your punishment or you will watch as that wife of yours takes it in your place.”

The urge to kick her in the back of the head sits right in front of me, but we’re trapped. Everything on the property is under her control. I need to get Delilah away from here. Someone on the island will be able to help her. They’ll know a way out that isn’t at the hand of this decrepit cunt.

So, I resist and walk down as she reaches the bottom. Loud bangs vibrate through the hallway and I can’t make out what Delilah is screaming as I reach the bottom step.

Helene lifts her chin, full of her own self-importance, and Anna walks into the creepy space like her little lap dog. She doesn’t have a crossbow in her hand this time and she doesn’t lift her chin from her chest as she hands the cunt a cloth bag.

“Will you be obedient?” Helene asks, waiting for Anna to open the bag.

“Will you attempt to hurt my wife?” I counter.

Helene smiles without any warmth as she reaches into the bag, her hand pausing on the contents inside.

“You seem to misunderstand a lot of things, a trait you inherited from your worthless mother no doubt, but make no mistake, Kane, that woman upstairs belongs to me before she will ever belong to you.”

“Fuck you. She’s my fucking wife. I married her, I fucked her, I will be the one to stick to the agreement.

” I take a step forward on to the tile. “And you make no fucking mistake, if you raise a hand to her, you lift one fucking finger to order one of these fuckwits to hurt her on your behalf, I will kill both Delilah and myself so that your agreement is void.”

She locks her soulless eyes on me, a smirk playing on her lips that slowly widens into a sinister smile.

“Oh, sweet boy, that’s another thing you seem to have misunderstood.

” She takes a step forward, her lackey following her as Helene absentmindedly keeps her hand in the cloth bag.

She doesn’t come close enough to inflict physical harm, but her eyes harden.

“You see, there are many ways for that girl?—”

“My wife,” I correct, “not girl.”

“Do not interrupt me,” she seethes. “That girl will carry a Kobalt, with your assistance or without.” She laughs to herself, a vile sound that turns my insides.

“The only thing we require from that girl is her body. You may take her arms, her legs, even her head, because you have yet to learn that this is my kingdom. I am your God, your judge, your executioner, the creator, and the mother of all.”