Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 75287 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 376(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75287 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 376(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
I nod. “Yes, but I want the real reason. So, you didn’t know we were out here when you came?”
Silence.
I snap the cane on her again.
“Ow!”
“Answer me.”
She says nothing for a full minute. Steeling myself, I lift the rod and bring it down with deliberate, steady strokes. I know how to wield this implement, each line of pain building on the next. It would be more effective on bare skin, but the shorts she wears are so thin I doubt they provide much of a barrier, and there’s no fucking way I’m baring this girl in front of Rafael and Nicolai. After the sixth stroke of the cane, she screams.
“Okay. Okay! Oh, God, stop. Please, Stefan.” She’s breathing heavily, panting, and a bead of sweat runs down her nose. It falls off her chin and splashes on the concrete floor.
I pause, the cane tucked under my arm when I cross my arms on my chest. Christ, my cock’s a rod of steel. I hate that I’ve gotten a hard-on punishing her like this. I don’t want this to be sexual. We aren’t alone and this is no foreplay, but it’s undeniably erotic having her under my control before my men.
I ignore the deep desire to punish her and keep my tone aloof and stern. “Let’s hear it.”
“I—I did know you were here. But I was just curious. I never intended on actually witnessing anything. I had no idea what you were going to do. Just listen!”
“I’ve got all night,” I say with forced nonchalance, my teeth clenched. I hate that she’s put me in this position, and I’m eager to mete out the rest of the punishment she’s earned for doing this, for putting me in this position, for risking her very fucking life by being here.
“I came out to take pictures of the flowers. It’s true, I swear! Swipe through my pictures and you’ll see.”
I nod to Rafael, who does just that. He nods as he scrolls through the images on her phone. “Before the one of you and Nicolai, there are mostly flower pictures.” He pauses, then surprises me when he smiles. “Though there are a few here you might want to see yourself.”
“Nooo,” Taara whispers. “Shit.” She whispers, then she closes her eyes and one lone tear rolls down her cheek.
What the hell is this? Why is he amused and why does she look so pained?
“Hand me the phone.” I reach for it with my palm facing up, and Taara starts to flail in her restraints.
“Stefan,” she says, a note of real panic rising in her voice. “No! Oh, please don’t look, please sir, I beg you.” But her pleading only solidifies my decision to see what Rafael did. What is she hiding?
The first few pictures are, as he said, of me and Nicolai, but they’re blurred and at an odd angle. Several more before that are all flowers, confirming what she’s told us, but when I continue to swipe, I feel my brows rise heavenward.
Why does she have so many pictures of me on her phone?
I’m dozing by the fire in one, smiling at someone in the distance in another, and a third is an older shot of me in my younger years.
It’s unnerving. I’ve gone from thinking of her as no more than an employee, to believing she was an enemy, to now wondering what her intentions are.
“Seems you have more to answer for than I thought,” I say, taking up my position once more. I hate that she’s done this. She should be safely tucked away in her bedroom, away from all of this, apart from me. I’m tempted to dismiss her, but she’s seen too much. She knows too much.
“Why the hell did you take pictures of me and Nicolai?”
“By accident! I swear!”
She’s lying. The pictures of me on her phone are not accidental.
I let the cane fly.
She sobs and twists in her restraints but can’t get away from the harsh strokes.
“Look! Look at them!” she screams.
I pause. “Look at what?”
“The other pictures. I take good pictures. Why the hell would I take such a bad picture of you and Nicolai? My camera was open and on and I must’ve accidentally taken some. Delete them!” She sniffs. “I don’t want them. And I won’t tell anyone.”
“How do we know that to be true?”
She doesn’t answer at first.
I cane her again.
She screams and writhes. “Because I’m loyal to the brotherhood! Because I believe if any of you kill someone, it’s justified, and you had good reason.” She sobs. “Because I’d rather die than betray you!”
I turn to Rafael and shake my head. “Destroy her phone,” I order.
“No! Oh, God. Please don’t!” she begs. “I’ll lose all my pictures. You can’t just—”
But I’m out of patience. “Quiet!” I snap, emphasizing my command with a sharp cut of the cane. She flinches, then falls into silence and hangs her head.