Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 113056 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113056 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
“Oi!” Dare had my wrist and he grabbed the whip out of my hand. His arm was bright red. He’d taken a lash while stopping me.
I started struggling.
“Felicia!” That snapped me back where I was, to my reality. I felt my disobedience wash over me. Regret. I struggled against my master.
He took a lash in stopping me! My God. I stared at the red on his arm and then my eyes moved to Cleo.
Cleo was bloody and sobbing, her hands clenched into fists in the shackles that held her arms tight.
I was panting. My heart was racing.
I felt what I did to her penetrate. Her back and legs were a mangled mess. Half of her face was coated in blood. Her throat was bleeding.
I went weak in the knees. He supported me. I sank into him, put my forehead to his chest.
He tipped my chin up and looked me in the eye. I couldn’t read what was in his eyes.
He kept my tipped-up chin high and held it there, giving me a look that bolstered my strength. He gave me a little nod and released my chin. I kept it up high. I knew that’s what he wanted.
I moved toward her.
“You broken yet?” I hissed.
“Yes,” she choked.
I leaned over and spat on her face. “It’s definitely way better to be me than to be you. Don’t ever forget that.”
I then strutted out ahead of Dare. I was cool, calm, and collected on the outside. Inside, I was as close to a nervous breakdown as I could probably get without actually falling to my knees and having a complete and utter meltdown. I had to make it to bed. I had to close my eyes and go to sleep. I didn’t want to talk. I didn’t want to process. I needed to just walk. One foot. The other. The other again. Walk to my room. Get to my room.
Rafe stepped into the hall from another room down the hall and gave Dare a nod and then he moved past me toward where Cleo was. We were a few doors down when I saw two medical staff members moving down the hallway. They only just barely registered.
I walked and walked and finally found myself at the door. I reached for the knob.
“Babe, this way,” Dare urged. He touched the small of my back and led me in the other direction. I’d been going to the slave quarters. It must’ve been out of habit, out of being on autopilot.
I wasn’t doing X to Y. I wasn’t even back at A to B. I didn’t know where the heck I was or what the heck I would do next.
He led me back to our suite and once inside, I heard the door shut behind me. Dare was behind me.
I spun around to face him.
“I… I can’t believe you made me do th-that…”
His expression dropped.
A rushing of white noise filled my ears, my brain. Opaque spots were floating in front of my eyes.
I collapsed.
Angel went down. I caught her before she hit the floor. She was out. Fuck.
I’d seen only black from the moment I returned to that dining room and saw Rafe Ruiz, leaned in, an inch from her ear, talking to her. The look on her face, his proximity, and all of that on top of all I was already dealing with? It crashed down on me then, at that second, like a black curtain of anger.
Cleo?
I’d felt like it had to be done. That cunt needed punishment and by my ordering my wife to do it, I’d show them what they wanted to see. I’d agreed with Gan Chen when we’d spoken in the hall outside the dining room.
Having Angel punish Cleo would put Cleo in her place. He’d told me I could do whatever I felt needed to be done. In fact, harsh punishment would be appreciated, since several slaves had witnessed Cleo’s attitude since we’d arrived and action had to be taken.
They’d be pulling her from her current position, handling, training, and managing and correcting slaves. She would be put somewhere else on the resort. But, only if she got back in line. She was apparently behaving like she’d never behaved before, so they were putting her in line or she would be put out of her misery.
Having Angel punish her at my command would show I was Angel’s master, she was my obedient wife, and that bitch would get what was coming to her. Even more, my Angel would get something cathartic out of it. Revenge. Pay that bitch back for her bullshit treatment of the Kruna victims. If I were Angel, I’d wanna pay that shit back. For sure.
So, in the heat of the moment, my anger at all we were dealing with, I thought I’d done something good for her by giving her what I figured I’d want in her shoes.