Page 47 of Beg Me

Not by a long shot.

“You think stalking a girl and terrorizing her is just trying to scare her?” I spit, stepping closer. “You think I’m buying that bullshit?”

The man on the floor moans, clutching at his destroyed knee. “Please… please, I’ll tell you everything—just don’t?—”

Zander interrupts, pulling a knife from his pocket. The blade glints in the flickering overhead light. He presses the tip under the chin of the man in front of him, forcing the guy’s head back until his neck is bared.

“Names. Who hired you?” Zander’s voice is calm, like he’sasking for the time. That’s when he’s at his most dangerous.

“I-I don’t know his name!” The man stammers, his breath hitching as the blade bites into his skin. A thin line of blood trickles down his throat. “He was just some guy! Said he needed her scared, said he’d pay us?—”

“Bullshit!” I roar, kicking the guy on the floor in his ribs. The impact sends him sliding a few inches, leaving a smeared trail of blood in his wake. He shrieks, coughing up spit and bile.

“Zander,” I say, nodding toward the injured one. “Think he’s hiding something?”

Zander doesn’t respond immediately. Instead, he drives the knife deeper, just enough to puncture the skin, and the man’s scream is like music in the silence of the abandoned building.

“You’d better start talking,” Zander murmurs, his tone almost affectionate. “Or I’ll make sure you never scream again.”

The man on the ground writhes, his good leg kicking uselessly. I kneel beside him, grabbing his face in my bloodied hand. His eyes are wild, darting to the gun stillclutched in my other hand.

“Who. Hired. You?” I growl, each word deliberate, each one laced with venom.

“I told you! I don’t know his name! He—he wore a suit, clean-cut, lots of money!” His words tumble out in a frantic stream. “Please, we didn’t hurt her—we just followed orders!”

“You sure about that?” I ask, my lips curling into a sadistic grin. Before he can respond, I slam the butt of my gun into his already shattered knee. His howl is feral, animalistic, reverberating through the building.

“You were saying?” Zander prods, tilting his head as he flicks his knife against the man’s jaw, carving a shallow but agonizing line.

“Okay! Okay! We may have hurt her a little but he told us to! We were only doing what he told us to do! I swear!”

Zander and I exchange a look. The fear in his eyes is genuine, but it’s not enough. Not after what Olive’s been through. The man needs to be in pain. Excruciating fucking pain.

“You really think we’re going to let you off that easily?” Zander murmurs, his voice low, almost soothing.

“P-please, I told you everything?—”

“Then you’re useless now,” I say coldly, I nod at Zander his arm pulls back as he flicks the blade up lifting it above his head and pointing it downward then he slams the blade of his knife into the top of the guy’s head. His body slumps instantly, blood pooling beneath him, the smell of blood thick in the air.

Zander rises, his knife dripping crimson, and gestures toward the remaining man—wide-eyed, frozen with terror.

“Your turn.”

Chapter 29

Olive

30 Minutes earlier

I’m yanked out of whatever vehicle they have me in, still tied up and blindfolded. I came to while I was in the car but I tried to stay as still as possible. The hope was that if they thought I was still passed out they would leave me alone.

“Let's get her naked and fuck her until she’s up,” I hear Blake say.

Fuck. I feel their hands on me and I twist my body trying to wiggle away from them.

“No need boys – she’s up now,” Gabe chuckles. He undoes my blindfold and I blink letting my eyes adjust.

“There she is. Hey, gorgeous. How ya doing?” He rubs his knuckles down my cheek and I jerk my body away from him. His touch makes me feel like spiders are crawling over my body – it’s disgusting.

---