Page 16 of Queen of Madness

“A slut with her foot in my chest.” He peers down at where her heel is still between his ribs, but my hand quickly threads through his hair and forces his head back to look at her.

“Slut. Such an outdated insult.” She drops her leg, the resounding clink echoing in the space. “I’m not sure if you’ve watched the news or read a book lately, but a woman being comfortable with her body,her sexuality,does not define her as anything other than free. Free from the constraints you pathetic people try to place on them based on what they do with their own fucking bodies. Their own cunts.”

Onyx lets out a humorless chuckle before bending to his eye level. “Without the portal between our legs, your feeble existence wouldn’t be. So remember that every time you open that vile mouth tonight to address me.”

She lifts, backing away as I let my hand drop from his nape. “As I was saying. Do you know who I am?”

“Onyx Embros,” he mutters.

“Wonderful. And you work for the Murphys, I assume.” It’s not a question, and she doesn’t wait for a response. “Tell me, what do you get from taking my guards on their days off? It’s becoming quite the inconvenience to find more.”

“For someone who’s said to be smart, you’re really fucking stu—”

A loud pop rings out, and I have to quickly grab the chair to keep the entire thing from tipping over due to the force of Onyx’s right hook. “I just told you, merely ten seconds ago, to watch how you speak to me. You must know you’re not making it from my home alive. But it’d be wise to consider thathowyou respond will determine howpainfullyyou meet the man beneath our feet.”

He scoffs, spitting a cluster of blood on the cement before peering up at her. “And you, whore, should know you’ll get nothing from me.”

“Hmm. I see you have a complex.” Onyx peers up at me, her dark eyes narrowed. “Would you mind grabbing a toy from Maddy? Tell her I’ll buy her another.”

I give a curt nod, whisking around the man whose face is scrunched in confusion. Before my foot connects with the first step, her voice stops me. “The biggest one she has.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I purr and disappear upstairs.

Moving through the quiet house, I travel up the long marble steps and through the west wing to Maddy’s room. Inside, naked above the sheets, is her pale body, tangled with tan limbs. Long brown waves fan across the woman’s back and over the pillow, while various shades of Maddy’s paints streak in random strokes around her delicate places.

The girl stirs as Maddy’s eyes peel open, her gaze connecting with mine. I slip next to her, a hand held up to show she shouldn’t move. I keep my voice low and let myself glance over.

Ah, the waitress.“Onyx has a guy; we need him to choke on his words.”

She takes only a moment to digest my words before pursing her lips and loosely waves her hand toward the front of her room. “You’re both lucky I don’t think I’ll need it anymore. Bottom drawer in the dresser over there.”

Smiling, I nod, grabbing the absurdly large silicone penis from its place, then travel back through the estate. On the way, a light that wasn’t on before steals my attention.

It’s the new guard’s room. A shadow beneath his door slips back and forth, forcing my curiosity to get the best of me. I stop just at the edge of the threshold of his door, and the movement stops instantly. Oddly enough, as quiet as I’ve been, and as out of sight as I’ve kept, he knows I’m here.

Interesting.

We both stay still, and the strong urge to gauge his reaction should I step in front of the door plays heavy on my nerves, but the cold toy in my hand reminds me of my Boss awaiting my arrival downstairs.

I shove the thought in the back of my mind with a reminder to look more into that later. Within another minute, the guard is forgotten and I’m back in the near-freezing-cold basement.

When the man’s eyes fall to the dildo in my hand, his eyes widen, the pupils dilating so wide, they nearly erase his muted-blue color. I smirk, handing the toy over to Onyx, who doesn’t even waste a second grabbing the man’s chin and forcing his head back.

“To be a woman is to be strong in more ways than you could possibly understand. And one of our many talents is to take something as large as this into our throats without suffocating. I do wonder if the same can be said for you.”

The fool shakes his head and stupidly opens his mouth to say something, but she shoves the silicone straight through his teeth. His muffled cry sounds like singing to my ears as I take my place behind him, gripping his shoulders so he isn’t able to thrash loose.

“Now, isn’t this silly? I can only ask you yes or no questions now.” Onyx huffs, moving her face sharply so her long ponytail flips behind her. “Do you have an inside informant? Someone on my payroll, giving you information about my men?”

The guy’s jaw tightens, and I realize he’s biting down on the dildo to prevent it from going farther. This only makes her tsk, and she uses the hand holding him to dig her sharp stiletto nails into his flesh. With her strength, they break the skin quite easily and blood beads before trailing through his five o’clock scruff. It does the job, and when he opens his jaw to yell in pain, she shoves it in deeper, coercing a horrific gag from him.

“Come now, us women must learn to hold our gag reflexes, and you have a much larger mouth than I do.” Her voice is so serene, it’s as if it’s something he should already know. “Tell me. Do you have someone working for you inside my home?”

This time he shakes his head furiously, and though it’s invisible to anyone else, I see Onyx’s features relax. It’s always been a worry of us all, that with running through so many guards, we were bound to get a mole of some sort. It’s too late in the game now to be taken out by something like a trojan horse.

“Do you have people watching my home?”

He stills at this, and though muffled, I make out a few choice words he tries to spew.

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