Page 91 of Firethorne
“Why?”
Lysander puffed his chest out, dominance radiating from him as he replied, “Don’t you think you owe me this, at least, after all the times I’ve stood by you? You said I could have my pound of flesh, but I don’t want him here while I take it. I don’t want to see his face ever again.”
Firethorne took a minute, and I was sure he’d tell Lysander to go to hell, but he didn’t. He just nodded.
“Fine. I suppose I could video it and make him watch it after.” And he gestured for the men to leave and take Damien with them.
Damien protested, fighting against them with everything he had as they dragged him out of the room, shouting and hollering threats that he knew he was powerless to act on.
But as I glanced back at Lysander, it wasn’t hate and revenge I saw reflected back at me, but a sadness and resignation that seemed to say, ‘I know I can’t do much, but the least I could do was save you the degradation and shame of having to go through whatever you’re about to go through without him seeing it.’
His weakly heroic act was too little, too late.
But it was something.
“Thank you,” Lysander said to his father. But then he turned to Miriam, and they began to exchange strange glances, as if they were holding their own muted conversation. They knew what the other wanted to say without having to saying a word.
Mr Firethorne was oblivious to them, though, and he cleared his throat, stating, “Let’s get this started then, shall we?” But Miriam interrupted him.
“Could Lysander and I be excused? For now. We’ll be back, but we have some unfinished business we need to attend to first.”
I could see the apprehension in her face. She didn’t want to provoke Firethorne, but she wanted to support Lysander in whatever they’d agreed in their silent exchange.
“What unfinished business? What could be more important than this?” Firethorne bit back, and falling eloquently into her temptress mode, Miriam fluttered her eyelashes at him and purred, “Nothing is more important. I’d just like some alone time with Lysander. All this violence and talk of revenge has me feeling a certain way.”
Firethorne’s knowing grin made my stomach roll.
“You never change,” he told her. “But come back here once you’re done. You know how horny I get after a bit of torture.”
I wanted to throw up.
This family were beyond fucked up.
They made me sick.
Miriam nodded sweetly, almost bowing to him, and without giving me a second glance, the two of them backed out of the room, leaving me alone with the devil in front of his roaring fire.
Chapter Forty
Maya
Firethorne knelt down, moving his knife towards me, and I jerked backwards, scuttling away from him as best I could, but there was nowhere for me to go.
“Stay still, unless you want the knife to cut more than your ties,” he hissed, running the blade under the tie at my ankles and cutting it loose. I stilled, and he did the same to the one on my wrists, freeing me. A move I didn’t see coming.
“I’m full of surprises,” he said, raising his brow at me, and then leaning into me, he ripped the tape from my mouth and threw it into the fire behind us, before whispering, “I like it better when they fight me. It turns me on.”
He wanted me to fight.
It gave him pleasure.
And knowing that made me want to wretch.
I rubbed over the ache at my wrists and watched him stand up, throw the knife back onto his desk, then turn to face me, evil emanating from every pore.
“I won’t go easy on you,” he stated. “You cost me a hell of a lot of money. You cost me my reputation, too. Something I cherish more than anything in my line of business.” He came to stand over me. “I’m the best at what I do, you see. People come to me because they know I can cater to every sick and twisted fantasy they’ve ever had.” He cocked his head as he stared down at me. “And I’m about to show you what some of those fantasies are.”
“Go to hell,” I snarled, and he laughed.
