Page 50 of Omega

I hadn’t been tortured, but I’d survive that too.

And besides, Harris was coming.

So each morning as Vitaly’s expressionless black eyes watched me shower, I’d envision a hellish new scenario, and figure out my best options.

Turns out, one of them came true.

* * *

Vitaly was gone, leaving me alone in the penthouse. The elevator was locked, no call button, only a keyhole. All points of exit or entrance were either guarded or locked. I had a TV—in the local language, of course—and magazines, again all in the local language, and most of those were nudie mags anyway. Not my thing.

BOREDOM SUCKS.

I flipped through all the magazines, tried to figure out words and phrases, I watched TV I didn’t understand. I did a lot of pacing, and a lot of staring out the window. A lot of watching people come and go far below me, wondering if one of them was Harris.

And then it happened.

The elevator opened, revealing Cut. He was bloody from head to toe, splattered, painted crimson. Unhurt, though, it seemed, which meant the blood was someone else’s. He swaggered toward me, leaving bloody footprints on the marble, dripping gore from his fingertips. He even had blood on his face, his neck, on his ears.

A grin curved across his features, splitting his scarlet-bathed face with white teeth. “Everyone is gone.”

I glanced at the doorway Maria usually came through. “Oh. Okay.” I backed away.

He stuck a hand in his pocket, casually, and stalked closer. “Just you and me.”

“Where is Vitaly?”

“He was called to Brasilia. He won’t return for many days.”

I swallowed hard. “Oh. Um. Okay.”

My skin crawled as Cut stepped close enough that I could smell the blood and the death on him. He touched the center of my chest, leaving a red streak on my skin as he dragged his fingertip down between my breasts. “Now you’re mine.”

“I…I don’t think that’s a good idea, Cut.” I forced myself to stay calm, to breathe. “He’ll come back, and he’ll know if you do anything to me.”

“He won’t know.”

I lifted my chin. “I’ll make sure he does.” I faced him square, nose to nose. Put all my attitude into my eyes. All my contempt. “You want a piece of me, it won’t come easy. Which means he’ll know. And that won’t go well for you. He killed Yuri just for not treating me well enough on the way here. What do you think he’ll do if you hurt me?”

Cut just leered. “I am his oldest friend. You think he would kill me like he does those piece of shit pissants?” He spat onto the marble. “He won’t. I want a piece of you, I’ll take it. And bitch, you make it hard, you will regret it. I promise you this.”

I backed away. “Fuck you.”

I never saw his fist move. JustBAM!I was on the floor, my cheek throbbing. And then he was leaning over me, rancid breath on my face. “Wrong answer.” An open-palm slap to my cheek, and then again on the other side. Again and again, until I was dizzy from pain.

I swallowed the pain, clenched my teeth, and kept breathing. When Cut finally stood up, my lip was split and my face pounded with fiery pain.

I stared up at him, unblinking. “You hit like a pussy.”

“You want more?” Cut sneered.

He smacked my tit, and Jesus,thathurt. Again, again, again. I gritted my teeth and endured it, eyes stinging and leaking, but I didn’t so much as whimper. And then he pinched. And by “pinched” I mean clamped down and twisted so hard I thought he was trying to rip my damn nipple off. A shriek escaped, but I bit down on it.

I had blood smeared on me from his hands and clothes, and I was writhing in agony when he finally let go. A moment to breathe, and then I scrambled away, realizing this was all just foreplay to him.

“You going to cooperate now, bitch? Or you want me to start really hurting you?”

I should just cooperate. Pretend it was a drunk fuck. He was bit old for my taste, and it wouldn’t be pleasant, but if I cooperated, he’d be done in a few minutes and I’d still be alive.