no idea where Bill had brought her, how could anyone else? Besides, after the hellacious day Liam had been through, he was likely still fast asleep. Doubtful he’d had a chance to miss her yet. Hammer’s hours had been long, too. He might be still be snoring.
More than likely, she was on her own.
Raine started to shiver and tried to force herself to breathe, to use her head. If she couldn’t fight back physically, then she had to keep him talking. Not for a second did she think she could reason with him, but his bottle looked half-empty. If she could engage him, maybe he’d keep drinking and finally pass out. Clandestinely, she tugged at her wrists. Getting free of these bonds would be difficult. He’d bound her so tightly that her fingers felt a little numb.
“What is it you want?” she finally asked. “I have money. I’ll give it to you.”
Bill gave her a drunken scoff. “Money won’t do it anymore. It’s high time I paid you and Master Pervert back. See, he thought he could stop giving me that cushy monthly stipend, and I—”
“What do you mean?” Raine cut in. She’d known that Bill had figured out where she’d gone after she’d run away from home all those years ago. Being an absolute asshole, her father would, of course, look Hammer up and threaten him. But… “Stipend?”
“Why else do you think I didn’t march over there and drag your scrawny ass back home years ago? Why else do you think I didn’t call the police and tell them he was harboring a minor in a sex club? I lived off that two grand a month, tax free, for the last six years.”
Hammer had never said a word. Never mentioned it, never hinted, never given her even the slightest indication that he and her father had come to this agreement. Math wasn’t her best subject, but she did a quick calculation. The amount he’d paid to keep her safe staggered her.
“Didn’t know that, did you?” Bill looked pleased that he’d thrown her for a loop before his expression darkened again. “But then you had to knock on my door and fuck it up, like you do everything else. Of course, you’ve had this punishment coming for a long time.” He took another pull from the bottle, then traced the scar on his cheek with the neck and sent her a menacing glare. “I owe you for this, Raine. Your daddy means to collect his pound of flesh.”
She tried not to recoil or cry or panic. In the past, she’d had weapons at her disposal, like the knife she’d attacked him with the night she’d run away, Beck and his gun the last time she’d knocked on his door and punched him in the face. Now, she only had her words.
Maybe an apology would make him go easy on her, but Raine couldn’t bring herself to say she was sorry to the sick fuck.
“I’ll make him pay you again,” she offered desperately. “Call him, and I’ll arrange it. He has a lot of money.” She suspected. Hell, she’d never asked. “You want double? Triple? A million dollars? He’ll give it to you.”
“Is your pussy that sweet?” He looked dubious. “I can’t think of a single slut worth that much.” Then a big, evil grin stretched across his face. He took another gulp of the gin, then stumbled as he bent to set the bottle on the ground. When he straightened again, he had his hand at his waistband, his fingers working at the button. “But I’m ready to find out.”
Raine tried to shrink away but had nowhere to retreat. His maniacal laughter filled her ears.
“Let’s get this party started. Oh, I almost forgot…” He swerved alongside her cot, scooped up the bottle again, and disappeared above her head.
Raine craned her neck to see what Bill was up to. All she saw were the legs of a table. He stopped in front of it and swayed, picking up and dropping things with a metallic clang that made her heart race. Dear god, what did he have planned?
“Doesn’t Master Pervert call you ‘precious’?”
Her heart stopped. “H-how did you…”
He laughed. “When I knew he had my baby girl, I followed you around to find out what he was doing to you. I overheard you at dinner a few weeks after you went to live with him. When you weren’t looking, he stared like he wanted to strip off your clothes and fuck you. Were you giving him your pussy then?”
“No.”
“Don’t you lie to me, girl. He plucked that pretty cherry for himself, I know. That’s why he calls you ‘precious.’ Does the Mick have a pet name for you? He should call you whore for giving it up to both of them. Which one of them gave you all the bite marks on your neck?”
“Hammer never laid a hand on me as a kid.” Unlike you. He would never rape anyone, much less an underage girl.
Her father sneered, then turned back to the table. “Next you’re going to tell me he’s a fucking saint. Girl, he’s just a man with a cock who wants to stick it somewhere. Your holes aren’t so special. No slut’s are.” He scoffed. “Your sister’s certainly weren’t.”
“You…violated Rowan?” she choked.
“Oh, I didn’t violate her; I plucked her. I made sure she had a thirteenth birthday she never forgot.”
Raine bit her lip to hold in her icy horror. He’d be far too amused. She was thankful another plane took off overhead, giving her a few moments to gather her thoughts. But nothing came to mind except that she had to be near LAX. She’d love to be on one of those planes—to anywhere. No, where she’d really like to be was back at Shadows, cuddled up between Liam and Hammer, safe in their arms.
“I had…” No idea. But maybe she had. Sometimes, late at night, she’d heard grunting and the slam of Rowan’s headboard against the wall. She’d assumed her older sister had been sneaking in boyfriends. In hindsight, she realized Bill had been far too watchful to allow that.
Their mom had abandoned them two years before Bill had started abusing Rowan. Her sister would have had no way to protect herself or stop their father. Her brother, River, though the eldest, had rarely been home.
In fact, now that she really thought about it, Bill had often taken Rowan shopping. They’d always come home with clothes just shy of indecent, especially nightgowns, bras, and panties.
“You had no idea?” Bill laughed. “She never told you how many ‘favors’ she did for me so that you didn’t have a thirteenth birthday to remember, too? I enjoyed every moment she spent being my dirty whore.” He rocked back on his heels. “Except when the dumb bitch got pregnant—twice.”
Shock stole Raine’s breath. She felt as if she’d been struck in the chest with a crowbar. Her sister had always been so quiet, kind… Bill had often remarked that she should be more compliant, like Rowan. What the gentle girl had endured made her blood curdle.
Her father was a sexual predator, a deviant void of a soul. But then she’d known that for years.
“Twice?” she finally choked out.
Somewhere in the back of her head, Raine realized that she wasn’t saying anything that would persuade Bill to reconsider what he had planned or release her. But she was pretty sure no such words existed. She also feared if she said anything truly on her mind, she’d set off his violent streak sooner. Her head reeled; her terror surged.
“I had a hard time finding a doctor who’d perform an abortion on a girl not yet fourteen, but I found him. He came in handy two years later. After the first slipup, I put Rowan on the pill, but the stupid cunt took antibiotics for some fucking illness and wham. But I made sure she understood she couldn’t be careless again.”
Raine didn’t even want to know what Bill had done then.
When she’d started fending off her father’s leers and “accidental” touches after Rowan’s departure for college, she’d sometimes resented her sister. Not a single text, letter, holiday at home. Nothing. Now Raine completely understood the girl’s decision.
“So…” she breathed. “That’s why Rowan never came back to see me?”
“Well, not exactly.” Bill cackled like he was enjoying himself way too much.
Raine froze. Fear almost seized her tongue before she could ask her next question. “What do you mean?”
Bill didn’t answer. He just began humming
some vaguely familiar tune her father used to play. Rowan had always hated the song. Raine did, too.
“Tonight’s the night. It’s gonna be all right. I’m gonna fuck you, girl. Ain’t nobody gonna stop us now,” Bill wailed, then snorted. “Rod Stewart had his way of singing the song, and I’ve got mine. You know, that was my special song with Rowan. I sang it to her the very first time. Don’t say a word, my virgin child…”
The clues clicked. The truth slammed through Raine’s head. Every time her father had played that record, Rowan would sob. Then Raine would hear moans and grunts coming from her sister’s room that night.
Tears leaked from Raine’s eyes. Poor Rowan…
“But then your sister got uppity, thought she was better than me. She applied to all those fucking universities and got accepted. She decided she was going to leave me.”
Raine heard the booze in the bottle slosh, then he slammed it on the table. She started and bit back a gasp.
At least Rowan had gotten out. She’d had an unspeakably awful five years with her father, but Raine counted it as a victory that her sister had fled to make her life better.
“So I took care of her.” Footsteps sounded, and Bill meandered back toward her, filling her line of vision as he crouched, holding a gleaming serrated knife in his hand. “Just like I’ll take care of you.”
Chapter Nineteen
Raine understood instantly what had befallen her sister. Rowan hadn’t simply decided to leave her childhood behind and carve out a better life for herself. Their twisted father had ended it.
“She packed up for college, and you pulled out for the airport so she could fly to London and…”
A sneer curled his lip. “I drove her out to the desert. We had us a raunchy little good-bye. Then…I sent her on her way.” He held up the knife with a shrug. Terrible delight shined in his eyes. He’d enjoyed every minute of that. “In fact, that same shovel is in the back of my truck.”
More cold terror rolled through her. She’d known her father had no ability to feel love or compassion. She’d known he was a rapist and a pedophile who didn’t care if he caused others agony. She hadn’t known that he was a closet murderer.
“Because she planned to leave you? That’s why?”
“No one leaves me. Not even you.” He lowered the knife to her, pressing the tip against the hollow of her throat.
“Wait!” she cried, panicked. How would she talk him out of this? “I-I’ll do whatever you want.”
“I know you will. And you’ll like it.”
Raine’s skin crawled, and before she could say anything else, Bill cut through her T-shirt and bra with the big knife, making ribbons out of her shirt…and leaving a long scratch from her throat to her waist. Just a little deeper and he would have drawn blood.
The smile playing at his lips told Raine that he very much enjoyed screwing with her head. He’d scare her, lording his control of her mortality over her—before he finally lost interest in his latest toy and ended her, too. He’d killed Rowan when she’d decided she’d had enough abuse and chosen to walk away. What if her sister hadn’t been the only one?
“What about River?”
“That stupid hell-raiser got in so much trouble it was either go to jail or go to the army. I was happy to see his ass out the other side of my door. He’d gotten too mouthy to tolerate and too big for me to beat.”
“What about Mom? Did she leave you?” she asked in a low whisper.
Bill’s lips curled in a proud smile. “She tried. I stopped her.”
Raine failed to swallow back her gasp of horror. He’d killed her mother, too. Oh, god. Oh, god. Oh, god.
Raine’s whole body went numb. All this time, she’d thought that her mom had simply left, walked away. The knowledge otherwise sucked the breath from Raine’s lungs. All the warmth leached from her body. She bit her lip to hold in a whimper.
She’d never see her mom or tell her that she understood her determination to escape. Raine could never again express her love to the woman who had given her life. She hadn’t seen her mom in almost fifteen years, but she’d always believed that someday…
Raine bit her lip to hold in a scream, and Bill kept on talking.
“Your mother was a whore. I’m convinced she’d been screwing my brother for years. She always smiled at him. She flaunted her body, too. Hell, it wouldn’t surprise me if he’d knocked her up with all three of you kids.” Bill sneered Raine’s way. “By the time you came along, I almost had her under my thumb. Then she suddenly thought she’d grow a spine and take you kids with her. I showed her who was boss. I wasn’t surprised when you and Rowan turned out to be whores, too. It was in your blood, after all.”
With every word, Bill sounded angrier. His expression told Raine that she was to blame for every imagined slight her mother and sister had dealt him. She was sure he’d already tallied the sins she’d committed against him. One look in his glowing eyes and Raine knew that if she didn’t do something fast, she wouldn’t be long for this world. He’d end her, and he’d love every second.
Mentally, she began ticking off all the options. Bill didn’t want money; he wanted her. He couldn’t wait to punish her for being female and not desiring him. For leaving him. For ultimately hating him, just like Mom and Rowan. He’d either rape her multiple times, then carve her up, or he’d lose his temper and do it up big once before slashing her throat. Raine swore that neither scenario would come to pass—not without a hell of a fight. If she wanted to live, she had to take control.
She trembled. She had only one thing in her favor: Bill was more than a little drunk. He could hardly stand up straight, and he just kept drinking from that bottle. On the other hand, he was fucking insane. Somehow, she had to figure out what his unhinged mind wanted to hear and make herself say it. Then she had to do whatever it took.
She couldn’t think about specifics now or she’d lose her nerve.
“Now, it’s time to show Daddy what a good little fuck you are.” He brandished the knife again and cut through her sleeves, reminding her with every swipe of the blade just who had the power. Then he yanked the garments from her torso and sat back, staring. A lewd little half smile twisted his face. “Well, look at all those bite marks and bruises. Hmm…” Bill adjusted his cock in his jeans. “I see those boys of yours have trained you to like it rough. Good. I can dig right in and enjoy myself. But this time, you’ll have a real man.”
Raine felt the bile rise in her throat. Forcing it down, she tried not to flinch as Bill leaned in and traced a thick finger over the marks dotting her breasts. The stench of gin stole her breath.
“Give Daddy a kiss, baby,” he murmured as he forced his lips onto hers.
She pinched her mouth tight, willing herself not to vomit, but Bill gripped her jaw and squeezed until she opened. His fetid breath filled her mouth as his tongue swept inside like a slippery eel. She whimpered in disgust and tried to turn away.
He jerked back, attempting to focus his bleary gaze onto her. “Let’s get those pants off you so you can show Daddy what he’s been missing all these years.”
Another airplane flew over the building as he shoved the knife beneath the waistband of her yoga pants. Raine groaned in terror. Her body stilled like stone.
Bill gave her a wink and started singing again. “C’mon, angel. My dick’s on fire. Don’t deny your daddy’s desire. You’re going to enjoy it, so don’t play dumb. Spread your legs and let me fill you with come. Tonight’s the night…” Bill snorted and chuckled, obviously pleased by his perceived talent. “I surprised your sister with those lyrics, too.”
God, this couldn’t be happening. Not that long ago, she’d been wrapped in Hammer’s and Liam’s arms. If she ever wanted to be safe and surrounded by them again, she had to find a way to survive this nightmare. The thought of them filled her with agony. She wanted her forever with the men she loved. She couldn’t leave them this way—not at the hands of this demented sociopath.
As Bill sli
ced the knife through the fabric of her pants, he made quick work of the spandex, shredding the material over both legs, then tossing her tattered pants over his shoulder.
The December cold bit into her skin. She shivered as she lay bound and exposed. Every cell in Raine’s body implored her to fight. But helpless and at Bill’s mercy, she had to play his game as fear and fury rolled through her.
He knelt beside the cot, his hungry stare roving her body. His eyes grew wide, and he swayed, licking his lips as he studied the marks on her bare pussy.
He whistled long and low. “Oh, they chewed you up nice and pretty. You liked it, too, didn’t you?”
When Bill pinned her with a gaze that warned her he expected an answer, she told him what he wanted to hear.
“Yes,” Raine whispered.
“I figured you were a kinky slut. But you’re going to like it a whole lot better with me. Aren’t you?” She tried not to cringe, especially when Bill stared at her mound again. “Aren’t you?” he