Page 24 of Untold Restraint

Nothing else will do. Nothing else will hurt him. If he’s taught me anything, it’s that leverage is the key to success. Control comes from finding what someone loves most and taking it away, and he doesn’t love a single thing. Except power.

One of Jack’s underlings unlocks a door ahead of us, and I’m shoved down a few steps before it locks again behind me. I rush at the door, but only succeed in hurting myself when I tug at the handle and bang against it. With too many parts of my body screaming, I don’t have the strength to break the wooden door down.

Someone clears their throat loudly on the other side of the door.

“Don’t ruin your girlfriend’s party, Quintus.” Jack’s voice is so calm it’s more unsettling than ever.

My blood runs cold. “She’s not my fucking girlfriend,” I yell through the door.

“We’ll see,” he calls back, before saying something more quietly to someone else. I can’t be sure, but I think it is, “Go and get the girl.”

I push away from the door, looking for another way out. A few chairs are stacked in one corner, and the lighting is shitty, like nobody gives a fuck about this room. I’m in a basement, and I know what he likes to do in these. Loosh was practically raised in one, and he’s told me all about it.

I cough again and spit the blood on the ground. I wrench the top chair from the stack and get ready to wield it at whoever comes through the door.

But my father’s thought of that, too.

“Put it down.” He’s holding Kira by the back of her neck and shoves her through the door, using her to shield himself. “Sit in it, or she won’t live to see the sunrise.”

I shrug, as if I don’t care, but he holds his hand out, and one of his hired helpers places a knife in it. Jack holds the tip of the blade to Kira’s cheek. “Be a shame for such a pretty girl to have ugly scars, because you won’t listen to Daddy, Quintus. Or do you need revenge for that axe wound she gave you?”

“You won’t get away with this,” she fires at him. “I’ll inform the police, the second I break free.”

Jack laughs. It’s cold. Brutal. “That’s not going to happen, pretty girl, but I like your spunk. Quintus here has a shitload of that too. Do you know what I like to do with people who have spunk, child?” He leans in, to lick the side of her face. “I like tobreakthem.”

Avoiding Kira’s wild eyes, I keep my gaze locked with Jack’s and shrug again. “You’re an idiot. I’m telling you she means nothing to me. She’s just a girl. Let her go.”

He looks me over and pulls her back hard against him. “I don’t think I will. I like the way her ass feels against my cock.”

He plunges her head forward, and she cries out, as he clenches a fist in her hair, to control her. He’s too rough, and as soon as she whimpers, he drags up her skirt and pulls her ass back against him. “You want me to fuck her in front of you, boy? I saidsit.”

I do as he says. “Let her go, Jack. If you cross that line, money won’t keep her quiet.”

“Then I’ll take her fucking tongue,” he says, pulling her back up, to face me. He holds her neck again, like he could snap it with single twist. He wants me to understand his ease in establishing total domination.

Quick as anything, Kira lunges forward, to escape his grasp. She whirls on him and slaps him so hard across the face, the sound echoes around the room. “Touch me again, and I will rip off anything that comes near me.” She glances at me and schools her features. “Let me go.Immediately. And I won’t say a word about what’s happening here.”

Jack smiles at her and toys with the knife he still has in his hand. “And what is it that you think is happening, sweetling?”

Kira looks at the men at his command, at me, and then back to him. “Looks like some fucked up shit I don’t want to be a part of.”

Jack laughs. It’s loud. But not forced.

I’ve never heard him laugh in such a natural way. He really found her statement funny, and on some sick level, I’m proud of her for pleasing the un-pleasable man. But I’m far more scared for her.

“Oh, Ilikeyou, Ms. Grant,” Jack says in a tone so eerily sincere, he may keep her in a jar on a shelf and never set her free.

Fuck. Panic sets in. I try to hide my fear, but it’s getting harder with each shitty, painful breath.

I have to do something. I need him to come closer.

“Get behind me,” I command, and Kira doesn’t need to be told twice.

Jack laughs again — the more callous laugh I’m familiar with. “Hmm. Why would you want to do that, Quintus? To protect her? Your feelings are showing, and it’s already too late for her. She’s mine now.”

“I’ll never be yours, asshole,” Kira yells.

Jack tilts his head from side to side. “We’ll see.” The room chills with the certainty in his tone.

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