The guy by the open bedroom door steps to the side and I take advantage of the situation and run out of my room. I don’t look back, my heart hammering in my chest. I take the stairs, running down them, trying not to trip while telling myself to breathe. It’s not working.
I’m halfway down when I see a figure jump in front of the bottom of the stairs—the third brother? All I see is black clothes and another mask. I jump the last three, throwing my shoulder into the body as hard as I can.
I knew it was them. The brothers. They want to drag Sin back and torture him. I won’t let them take him. I won’t let him turn himself over because of me. Or anyone else. If they plan on using me for bait, it’s not going to work. I’ll make them kill me first.
I hit the body so hard that I shove them into the opposite wall where there’s a rectangular table with a crystal vase and mirror above it. We fall to the floor, and I curl up into the fetal position to protect my face when I feel the shattered glass fall down on top of us. The table making a loud crashing sound as it hits the floor as well.
Rolling onto my back, I whimper at the burn in my side. My shaky hands reach down, and I feel blood. I cut myself on something but thankfully there’s no glass sticking out of my body.
Rolling back over to my stomach, I come face-to-face with the person I hit and it’s that same mask as the other two in my bedroom.
A moan escapes their mask-covered face, and they move faster than I expected for being thrown around like a rag doll because my body is slow as fuck right now.
Moving, they jump on top of me, straddling my hips. I reach up, trying to shove them off, but their leather-covered hands manage to wrap around my throat. I arch my back and thrust my hips, shoving theirs farther up my body but not knocking them off completely. I raise my hand above my head and bring my elbow down hard, managing to knock their right hand free and I suck in a deep breath as I roll over just enough to reach a piece of glass lying on the floor next to me. Grabbing a hold of it, I feel it dig into my palm. Before they can choke me again, I stab it into the bottom of their mask, right at the neck.
I yank it out and blood squirts everywhere, splattering on my face, neck, and arms.
I grab a hold of it in both of my hands, lift them above my head, and scream as I shove it into the black hoodie, over and over, making more blood splatter until the body falls off of me and onto the floor.
My arms fall to my side while I try to catch my breath and my eyes fall shut, needing to take a second, but a hand grips my hair, yanking me to my feet and making me cry out. My fall and fight gave the other two upstairs in my room the chance to catch up with me. I’m kicking and screaming as he drags me to the family room where I’m shoved to my knees.
A knee is shoved into my back, holding me facedown into the floor, and I scream at the top of my lungs as my arms are yanked behind my back. I feel the familiar rough material of a zip tie wrap around them before I hear the zipper being pulled tight, pinching my skin. I’m picked up and thrown onto the couch, lying on top of my now tied arms. I breathe heavily, staring up at the two men through my watery lashes.
“Sin is going to kill you both,” I shout angrily, knowing he will do whatever it takes to save me. After all, the devil thrives in hell.
The one that dragged me in here by my hair slaps me across the face. So hard it knocks me onto my side. The glove making my cheek sting and my ears ring. Grabbing my shoulders, he rolls me onto my back and jumps on top of me, pinning me down and making it hard to breathe with his heavy weight.
He grips my cheeks, and my eyes begin to water at how rough he is. “Sin can’t save you, baby.” His voice is a low growl, making me shiver. “He’s dead.”
“No.” I manage to mumble through my squished cheeks. They killed him? Why would they let him go only to kill him? Did they follow me here from the cathedral? What about my father and Tyson?
The mask nods once before lowering his face to my ear and whispering, “He’s gone, Elli. You’re ours now. Forever.” Pulling back, he squeezes my cheeks, forcing my mouth wide open while shoving my head back, making me arch my neck. I look up to see the other one standing at the end of the couch.
He drops something into my open mouth and before I can spit it out, the one straddling me lets go of my cheeks to place his gloved-covered hand over my mouth. My body convulses as I choke on whatever it is. The taste of chalk makes me gag.
“Swallow them.” The one standing by the couch orders and tears fall from the corners of my eyes. Them? What did they give me? How many are there?
He kneels down, reaches around the guy that’s still straddling my waist, and slides his hand through the collar of my shirt, stretching it out. His hand dips inside of my bra and pinches my pierced nipple, making me scream into the other guy’s glove that’s still covering my mouth.
The fresh tears blur my vision when I feel the pills finally slip down the back of my throat, and I can’t fight the sob that shakes my shoulders “That’s a good girl,” the one playing with my breast praises me. He removes his hand from my shirt and speaks, “Now we wait. You’ll be begging to swallow our cocks in no time.”
SIN
I THROW MY phone down and begin to pace. “She’s ignoring me.”
“You need to take it easy,” Tyson urges.
I snort. “We’ve been branded before.”
Gavin scoffs. “That’s more than a brand. Hell, it looked like you slit your wrists in a suicide attempt.”
Picking up my cell, I grit my teeth to not give them the satisfaction of being right. It rings in my hand, and I immediately answer it. “Elli—”
“Hello, Sin.”
A cold chill runs up my spine at the voice I recognize. I hoped to never hear it again. Pulling the phone from my ear, I see UNKNOWN written on it and place it on speaker. I turn toward Tyson so he can hear. “What the fuck do you want?”
A dark chuckle carries through the room. “That’s no way to talk to a man who gave you freedom.”
“You didn’t give me anything. A soul for a soul,” I grind out.
“How’s your girl?”
I stiffen and I hear Nick curse under his breath as he begins to pace. “What the fuck did you just say?” I grip the phone tighter.
“Ellington. It would be a shame for something to happen to your wife,” he says, sounding bored as fuck. Like he’s sitting in a chair, feet propped up on a desk while staring at a drink in his hand.
“You son of a bitch!” I shout, and Tyson pries the cell from my grip. “Let me speak to her,” I demand.
Tyson raises his hand to me, putting the phone to his mouth. “Where is she?” he asks, sounding much calmer than me. He doesn’t care what happens to her. He doesn’t love her.
The guy laughs again. “Since when did you become the father of the younger Lords, Ty?” he asks. “You gave up your title to babysit. Sounds beneath you, if you ask me. You had so much potential”
Tyson’s jaw flexes but he refuses to acknowledge that. “You have no use for her.”
“Oh, I could think of a lot of ways to make her useful…”
“I’ll fucking kill you!” I rush Tyson to grab the phone, but Nick pulls me back while Tyson moves out of the way at the same time. My teeth grind at the pain I feel in my chest while Nick’s hands pull my skin, taking my breath away for a split second.