Page 16 of Ruthless Prince

I waited for blood to spurt out of the mask and a groan to echo throughout the room, but the man laughed instead. “Nice try,” he murmured, shoving me backdown.

I tried to moan through his thick fingers to attract the attention of the guards outside, but he pressed his hand down even harder, completely muting thesound.

“You need to shut the fuck up and stop struggling, or I won’t let you breathe,” he muttered, trailing a gloved finger down one cheek. His voice was deep and strangely familiar, but the mask was muffling it too much for me to figure out who it was, especially when my mind was in such a frenziedpanic.

I felt the thoughts in my head turning from fear to dizzy confusion as my attacker continued to deprive me of oxygen. Colorful dots began to swim in the periphery of myvision.

The man leaned close to my face. “Do you want to breathe,Willow?”

I nodded frantically beneath his hand as my mouth filled with the taste ofiron.

“Are you going to make asound?”

I shook my head, eyes wide withterror.

“You promise you’ll stay completelysilent?”

Another franticnod.

“Goodgirl.”

As soon as he removed his hand, I opened my mouth and tried to scream. It was worth the risk. If the security detail outside heard even a split-second of a shriek coming from my room, they’d burst in and save me rightaway.

The man’s palm immediately clamped down over my lips again, choking my scream so that it was nothing more than a tiny whimper. “I had a feeling you’d do that,” he said. “Not such a good girl afterall.”

I narrowed my eyes, sending him a silent message.Fuckyou.

“Maybe this will help you see reason.” He reached into a deep pocket with his free hand and drew out a knife. The thick silver blade glinted in the moonlight peeking through the curtains, and my muscles went rigid. It felt like gasoline had just been poured on the flames of fear licking up and down myinsides.

“Do you think you can be quiet now?” the man asked softly, pressing the knife right against my throat. I nodded as much as I could without letting the cold metal pierce my skin. Now wasn’t the time to bebrave.

“That’s better,” he said. Even though I couldn’t see his face, I could tell he was smiling from the tone of his voice. Or smirking, more likely. “Let’s try thisagain.”

He pulled his hand away. With all my will, I prevented myself from gasping out loud, drawing tiny, controlled breaths through my parted lipsinstead.

“Stay still.” The masked man dropped the knife on the sheets and reached into his pocket again. This time he pulled out a striped tie. He stuffed part of it in my mouth before lifting my head off the pillow so he could tie the ends behind myhead.

I could still moan through my nostrils if I wanted to, but the thought of the knife was enough to stop me from making a peep. I didn’t have a deathwish.

“You remember me, don’t you?” the mansaid.

I shook my head mutely. Why would I remember him? I couldn’t even seehim.

He leaned down and whispered into my left ear. “The tunnels. May. I know you rememberit.”

The room suddenly seemed to spin as a whirlwind of terrifying memories flashed in my mind. No wonder my attacker’s voice seemed so familiar. I’d encountered him five months ago when my friends and I went into the D.C. tunnels toexplore.

The memories from that evening were foggy at best, seeing as I’d accidentally taken several sips of a drugged martini at some point, but I remembered the grotesque skull mask now. I also remembered the way the man chased me down and dragged me into a pitch-black alcove so he could keep me from my friends, and I remembered what his gruff voice sounded like when he told me no one was coming to help me. In the end, he either let me go or I found a way to escape. The memory was a blur by that stage, so I wasn’tsure.

He must’ve seen the realization sparking in my eyes, because he nodded slowly. “That’s right, princess. I’mback.”

Several questions bubbled up my throat and dried on my lips. Who was this man? Why was he tormenting me? How the hell did he get past all the security surrounding the Executive Residence? What was he going to do tome?

He picked up the knife again, laughing softly as my legs trembled beneath him. He pressed the tip of the blade to my chest, directly between my breasts. I waited for the horrific pain, eyes reflexively squeezing shut.This is it. This isit…

Instead of slicing me open, the man ran the sharp knife down the front of my black satin nightdress, cutting it in half in one long, carefulmovement.

A humiliated flush crept across my cheeks as the fabric fell away on either side of me. I never wore underwear with my pajamas. It was more comfortable that way, and I’d also learned in an eighth grade health class that it was better to let certain parts of the body breathe at night. Now I wished I’d never learned that fact, because every single inch of me was on display for my vileattacker.