Page 122 of Deliria

Alex pauses, he lowers his face so that he’s right beside mine, and he traces his tongue down my cheek as he pulls himself free of his trousers. “Dare?” He repeats. “Fucking dare? I own this cunt. I own all of this bitch. Every part of her belongs to me, and I can do whatever the hell I wish to her.”

“No.” I gasp.

“Yes.” He replies before ramming himself into me.

I guess it’s a good thing he did make me come, it’s a good thing I’m lubricated because he doesn’t give me a minute to adjust. There’s no pretence here. No attempt to make this feel like anything else. It isn’t for pleasure, it isn’t meant to beanything but a show of his total dominance, his power. His thrusts are brutal. Unrelenting.

And I know Rafe can see this. He can see all of this.

He can see how his brother is sliding in and out of me, how he’s using me.

More tears spill down my cheeks. It’s pathetic, it’s pointless, and yet now that they’ve started falling, I can’t stop them. I don’t want to cry, I don’t want to show weakness, but he’s broken me, hasn’t he? He’s ruined me.

No. No he hasn’t. I refuse to do that. Refuse to be that. This is temporary. This moment here will pass, the pain will go, and soon, so very fucking soon I will make him pay for this.

But it hurts. Jesus Christ, it hurts.

And what if I don’t, what if I can’t, what if I’m too damaged and too broken, and something goes wrong? What if Alex wins, what if the Forster’s win? What then?

All of this is only worth it if we beat them.

But if we don’t?

I let out a wail. A sob that I can’t contain any longer. I can’t bear the thought of it ending this way. I can’t bear the thought that all of this will be for nothing.

“I love you.”

The words make me freeze.

I look up through tear filled eyes and even in the darkness, I know he’s staring back at me.

“I love you.” He repeats again. Only, he’s not saying it softly, gently, lovingly. He’s saying it like it’s a declaration of war. Like it’s a battle cry. “I love you.”

“Love?” Alex sneers. “Were you really so stupid as to fall for this bitch?”

“Fuck you.” Rafe shouts, seeming to lose it then. He starts lurching, fighting the chains, and the sound of the metal rattling fills the cold, desolate dungeon.

Alex pauses, his cock still buried deep in me and he moves a hand to twist my nipple until I’m screaming with the pain. “I thought you’d grown out of stealing my toys, brother.” He says. “I thought I’d taught you that lesson when you were seven.”

“Let her go. Let her go and you can kill me.” Rafe pleads.

“No.” I shout.

Alex looks between us, and I don’t have to see his face to know he’s smirking. “Why would I do any of that, Rafferty? In three days’ time I will have everything. I will have our family’s fortune back. I will have all my inheritance and yours too. And Scarlett, my poor dear wife, she’ll be gone, dead, and I will finally give my family the justice they so desperately need…”

“Justice?” I spit. “It’s not justice. You stole that money in the first place, you were all screwing my father over, doing deals behind his back, and then when we found out, you murdered my mother, you…”

His hand silences the last of my words. “I don’t want to hear your bullshit.” He says. “I don’t care for your side of the story. History is told by the victors and you, Scarlett, you’re not the winner here.”

“I will be.” Those are stupid words. A stupid thing to say. I need to keep my mouth shut and not let him realise that there’s more to this. If he gets suspicious, if he realises what else is going on, then it could ruin everything.

“Take a look at yourself.” He sneers. “Take a good hard look. You’re tied up, incapacitated, your only chance of escape is in chains opposite you, and you currently have my cock so far up your cunt you can taste it.”

He’s right. Everything he’s saying is right. But only in this moment.

I dig my nails into my palms, forcing myself not to say those words, not to speak them. He needs to believe he has beaten me, beaten us.

And clearly, he does. Clearly, he sees my silence as confirmation.

---