Page 62 of Deadlier Obsessions

MAV

That journey to get to our ladies takes too fucking long, andevery second is agony. I know we kidnapped them, and did horrible things to them, but we fucking love those women, and anyone who even looks at them wrong deserves pain. This fucker deserves to die a hundred fucking deaths.

After Gage sends us away while he heads for Stella, and her screaming, we have to force ourselves to leave, because she’s clearly being hurt, and that’s killing us.

“She needs us,” I whisper to Pretty Boy urgently.

“What if Lucy’s dead?” He asks, kicking up my fear another thousand fucking notches. She can’t be dead. I’d know, wouldn’t I? Wouldn’t I fucking feel her death deep in my soul? We’re that intensely connected, all five of us, that surely, we’d fucking know.

We head down the dark, dirty hallway, checking inside the few dusty, cobweb-covered rooms, until there’s only one left, and behind that door must be Lucy, but whether she’s alive, hurt, or dead, we have no idea. We both hesitate, my hand on the door handle, because I don’t think either of us are ready to see the worst thing we can imagine; one of our ladies dead and gone. It’s like that Schrodinger’s Cat dilemma, because right now she could be alive or dead, but we’ll only know if we open the door. Fuck. This is terrifying.

Sebastian grasps my shoulder, squeezing lightly, and we both take a deep breath, as I push the door handle down and the door creaks open. Lucy’s there, but she’s curled up on the floor with her back to the door. My first thought is that she should be facing the potential threat, rather than leaving herself vulnerable, but that split second thought is forgotten the second she gasps and tries to curl in a tighter ball, protecting herself from whoever came for her.

“Please,” she whispers, barely audible, and my heart fucking breaks a little more. What has this asshole done to crush our girl so much so fast?

I drop to my knees and wrap my arms around her, and she lets out a panicked squeak as she tries to pull away from me.

“Lucy, it’s me. You’re safe, baby.”

Her head keeps shaking for a few seconds longer, before she realizes what she just heard. Who she just heard.

“Mav?” she turns in my arms as best she can, bursting into tears.

“She’s fucking cuffed, and I don’t see a key anywhere here,” Sebastian hisses at me, as I lean over her to focus on her wrists. No wonder she had her back to the door, there was no other option. I quickly figure out how dumb this fucker is though, and gesture to Sebastian to help me lift the bed up, while I let Lucy lower her wrists, until she’s free from the bed frame. What a fucking amateur.

“Stella! He was hurting her. Oh god, she might be dead! Where… where’s Gage?” She casts her eyes around us, fresh tears slipping from her eyes. “He didn’t come? Did… did he think we left him? We’d never do that, I promise!”

I lift her into my arms, and nod to Sebastian, to move ahead of me. He kisses the top of her head and leans close. “He’s rescuing Stella, baby. Just calm yourself down, because you’re safe now, but that fucker’s about to bleed.”

STELLA

Lucy runs over to me and throws her handcuffed arms around me. “Are you okay?”

I whisper, “I’m okay, but my throat hurts.”

She pulls back and stares at my neck, “Jesus,” and jumps up and sprints for our kidnapper, “You fucking bell-end. You could’ve killed her.”

Pulling her arms back, she balls one hand into a fist, ready to punch him in the face, but Mav grabs her by the waist. “All in due time, little mama.”

Gage and Sebastian stand on either side of the asshole. “Someone get Stella a drink of water for her throat. But for fuck’s sake, make sure the glass is clean. This place is a fucking cesspool,” Gage says with a growl, turning to glare at our kidnapper. “Gimme the keys for the cuffs.”

I could definitely use some water. I’m not badly hurt, but the burn in my throat makes it hard to talk.

Sebastian comes over and kneels beside me, unlocking my cuffs and rubbing my wrists. “Are you okay? Do you need to go to the hospital? Did he hit you in the stomach? Is the baby, okay? Does your head hurt?”

I giggle silently at the barrage of questions. I know he’s worried, he wears it in his expression. “I promise, I’m okay. And he didn’t hit me in the stomach,” I whisper.

“Maybe you and Lucy should go back to the hotel until we’re done here.”

I surprise myself as much as I do Sebastian. “No. I don’t want to be away from any of you, but even more than that, I want to see him suffer. Ineedto.”

Lucy echoes my sentiment, crossing her now uncuffed arms over her chest defiantly, as she says, “I’m still going to punch him in his fucking face.”

I bite my lip to not laugh at her because I know she’s serious, but her saying those words in her little British accent is adorable, although I have no doubt she means every single word.

Mav finally comes back with a bottle of water. Thank God.

He hands it to me. “Here you go, baby.”

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