Page 158 of Prey

He nodded. “Smart girl.”

The Mayor and my dad’s connection to the Mansen Brotherhood made sense now. Brent was their way in. That was why Dad didn’t expose him as the man who abducted his daughter. And my mom must have known about this. That’s what she was so angry about, but not angry enough to stop him.

A tear rolled down my cheek before I quickly wiped it away.

“We could have been great together. But you had to go and open your legs for the fucking VP of the King’s Men. You let him have the cunt that belonged to me!”

Roman had said those words to me before. He told me my pussy belonged to him, but there had always been a warmth to his possessiveness.

Brent was just crazy.

And he thought I belonged to him?

I couldn’t stay here any longer.

Without thinking, I sprinted to the left, away from my car but also away from him. I could hear his footsteps behind me, and I knew he was closing in.

I pushed myself harder, my heart pounding against my chest with a fear I had never experienced before. All the while, my memories started coming back, flooding me and drowning out the reality of my surroundings.

I was here on this cliff, Brent chasing after me, but I was back there, as a scared fourteen-year-old kid, not knowing what he had wanted with me or why.

I had been naïve, and when he slapped my face and told me my pussy was his, I didn’t understand.

I didn’t understand when he groped me, didn’t know his intentions or how much further he would have taken it had my stranger not shown up and stopped it.

But the stranger wasn’t here to save me this time.

I was alone in the mountains with a crazy man, and I didn’t know how to get out of this.

He tackled me to the ground.

I cried out in pain and struggled to get away from him.

But he was just too strong.

He had been taller and stronger than me at fourteen.

That was still the case at twenty-two.

Tears streamed down my face as he flipped me over, grabbed my wrists in one hand, and raised them above my head.

I shook my head when he leaned down and kissed my cheek.

“It’s okay,” he whispered in my ear. “You were probably brainwashed by the big fucker. I’ll just punish you real quick, and all will be forgiven. You will be mine, and we can forget all about Roman fucking Stone. Okay?”

Punishment?

“No!” I screamed out when he stood up and hauled me up with him.

I tried to pull away, but he tightened his grip around my arms painfully.

If I struggled any harder, I knew he would break my arms.

“Let me go, you sick fuck!”

He slapped me.

My ears started ringing, and I tried to blink away the dizziness as he led me to a nearby tree. It was obviously dead since there were no leaves hanging from the branches, and Brent pulled on his tie.

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