Valentine reaches for me, but not before I feel Luci’s heart beat once against my own bare chest. He inhales a deep, shuttering breath just as Valentine’s grabs a handful of my hair and yanks me away from him.
I cry out, clutching at his hand to keep my hair from being torn out of my scalp. He tosses me to the floor, glaring down at me from above.
“You foolish, foolish girl. You’ve only made things so much worse for him—”
“Luci!” I gasp, ignoring Valentine as Luci slowly lifts his eyes to meet mine, his brow furrowing.
“Evi?” he says, his expression changing from confusion to one of alarm as his eyes slip to Valentine. He suddenly realizes he’s chained to a wall as he struggles against his bonds to get to me. “What have you done to her?!”
“What haveIdone to her?” Valentine laughs coldly. “Boy, you’re the one who tried to hurt her. You’re the one who almost broke our deal.”
“What are you talking about?”
I glance between the two of them, just as confused by Luci’s reaction as he seems to be about our current situation. It dawns on me that he’s probably been down here for at least a week now, and judging by the state of him … I doubt he’s been given much of anything, including that strange drug.
“So, you really don’t remember,” Valentine scoffs, grabbing me by the arm and hoisting me up off the floor.
“Don’t touch her!” Luci shouts, and I blink at him in surprise as he struggles against the chains.
“I’ll do whatever I bloody well please with her,” Valentine snarls, shaking me roughly. “You’d do well to remember your place, Lucien. Especially when your life hangs by a thread.”
“I’ll tear your damn head—”
Valentine tosses me onto the floor, closing the distance between him and Luci before landing a jaw-shattering punch.
Luci’s body slumps, and his head lulls as his weight pulls at the chains holding him up.
Shaking out his hand, Valentine straightens his suit before turning back to me. Grabbing my arm, he drags me up off the floor before guiding me out of the room, his long fingernails digging into my skin.
Slamming the door shut behind us, he pushes his long hair back with his free hand as he exhales deeply. I can’t help but think that whatever just happened between him and Luci has actually gotten under his skin.
“Don’t get any ideas, Evelyn,” he says, as if reading my mind, “I’ll have Luci back to his old self before the week is out, and don’t you dare think that you’re not going to pay for that little stunt you just pulled.”
13
Evelyn
I’ve never felt so humiliated in all my life, and that’s saying something given the past couple weeks.
Valentine drags me back, stark naked, through the maze of halls. We near the stairs, but instead of climbing them to return to his room, he pulls me toward the main entrance.
I try my best to cover my nakedness, but there’s little I can really do as the men patrolling the halls and entryway turn to watch as we pass, their expressions hungry. I have a feeling that if Valentine wasn’t around, they wouldn’tjustbe watching.
Valentine drags me up the main stairs and down the hall to his office where two guards move to throw open the doors for him before slamming them shut behind us.
Even here, he doesn’t let go of my arm.
Dragging me forward, Valentine pulls me around to the back of his desk before finally releasing me, and I rub my arm where his nails have left deep, crescent-moon marks.
“On your knees.”
I blink at him, my mind and body balking at the idea.
“I said,” he growls, pointing at the floor in front of him, “get on your knees, Evelyn.”
Gritting my teeth, I do as he says and drop to my knees before him.
“Good girl,” he growls, making my stomach clench.