Page 19 of Midnight Danger

***

Chapter Eight

Cassandra

My hands were bound with ropes to the arms of a wooden chair. My legs were attached to the legs after I kicked one of the men. He glared at me while tying my legs in place, his hand deliberately feeling between my legs even as I struggled. The chair would have fallen only he caught it.

“Behave, or I’ll gag you. I’d use my cock, only you bite.”

A dark smile curved my lips up that I’d managed to avoid one type of violation.

The phone still sat under my right breast, the mouthpiece slightly exposed. It burned a hole in my flesh that they might discover it at any second. I was hours and hours from London. Too many hours that anyone would be able to get to me. Even if they phoned the police, they wouldn’t know where to look.

“Cassandra.” A man in his late fifties wandered into the room. “It’s so lovely to see that you’re still alive. I often wondered if it was you or Kimberly who’d survived. We exhumed the bodies a few years ago, but you were so similar in age it was hard to tell…”

His words shocked me so much I could barely breathe—never mind think of a response.

He stood in front of me, towering over me. “Your father left some very important documents and keys before his untimely end. I need them. We’ve systematically searched this house over the years but can’t seem to find them.”

“Mum used to hang all the keys on a rack in the kitchen.” I deliberately played stupid. I’d read the documents in those safety deposit boxes a long time ago. Maybe they were worth killing my family for, but I could never see the value in them.

He tapped his finger to his bottom lip. “There is no need to be a smartass, Cassandra. Those are car and house keys.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about then. They’re the only ones Mum and Dad ever used.”

He leaned forward to grasp my arms. “Someone has been maintaining his houses in the background. His business partner took control of the daily running of his corporation, but that money goes somewhere.”

It went to an account in a foreign tax haven, far from greedy grasping hands. I had the codes to access it but never had.

“I was ten when my family died. All I know is that when I woke up in a hospital they were all dead and buried. Mum was a single child and Dad’s brother died years ago, so there was no family to take me. As an orphan, I was taken by social services.”

“Yet, there is no trace of you,” he commented in a low tone. “Did you search the house she was staying in?” His brown eyes snapped to one of the guards.

“No, we extracted her as you asked.”

The man questioning me rolled his eyes. “You just can’t get the help nowadays,” he muttered. “I need to know what name she’s been using so I can begin to track down my missing assets.”

“I’ll get someone onto that,” he replied and left the room.

When I arrived, I put all my stuff in the false bottom in my wardrobe. They’d find nothing with my name on it. My purse contained cash and no cards.

“It would be so much easier if you just tell me what I want to know,” he coaxed.

“What if I don’t know?”

“Then I’ll just have to vent my frustrations and continue my search.” The smile he gave me sent goosebumps rising on my flesh in revulsion. “You look so like you mother and I always did have a fancy for her.”

His right index finger trailed down the side of my cheek and I tried to jerk away. His dark laugh made my blood chill. “Do you know what type of torture works best on women?” he asked casually as if we were old friends having a chat. “Woman can withstand pain, but you stick you dick anywhere near them and they get all squeamish.”

I gasped when his fingers grasped my chin to tilt my head up suddenly. “You have three holes, Cassandra. Which one do you want me to use first?”

Everything inside me froze because I realised the truth of his words. I would never be the same if he raped me and he knew it. He just didn’t care. My gaze trained on his hands as he produced a flick knife from his pocket. He cut through the ropes on my legs.

“You kick me and I promise to make you scream. My men didn’t harm you because they were bringing you to me. Any of my slaves will tell you, I never allow insubordination.”

Fear paralysed me as he cut through the ropes on my arms. He dragged me behind him in my socks.

“I dated your mother before she met your father. She walked away from me without a second glance. I vowed that she would regret that day. You, Cassandra, will do as part of that revenge. She never submitted to me and I will enjoy breaking you as I gain the information I require from you.”

---