Valentine tightens the leash, pulling me back against him as his other hand slides down to grab my breast.
“So, tell me, how does it feel to see me touch the woman you love? To know what I’m going to do to your little Evelyn. Take her, now!” Valentine says, his voice tinged with anticipation.
The couple on stage hurry to obey before the electric current running through the platform can shock them.
I cringe as the man shoves the woman down on her hands and knees, tearing at her clothes as he readies himself to take her.
Dante doesn’t answer, his hand balling into an even tighter fist at his side. Valentine nods his head toward the couple on the platform as the man grabs the woman, and she cries out in pain as he forces himself roughly into her.
“Look at them, Dante. Watch them act out what I plan to do to her. How I’m once again going to make a woman you care for mine … and this time, I won’t make the same mistakes. This time, I’m taking back everything you’ve stolen from me.”
I blink at this, my mind spinning.
Stolen from Valentine? Is this what their feud is all about?
What has Dante taken from this man that could possibly be worth this much familial hatred between them?
“Stolen from you?” Dante scoffs, as if reading my thoughts, his lip curling up in disgust. “I’ve takennothingfrom you that wasn’t fully deserved.”
“And yet, here we are. Everything you have is because of me. This ismycity, Dante. I brought you into this world, and I can take you out of it. The sooner you realize that, the better.”
“You can say that all you like, but our deal still stands.”
“For now, perhaps, but I doubt it will take much longer before I’m able to push you over the edge,” Valentine says, his hand kneading my breast through the corset. “Why don’t we test my theory by making things a little more interesting?”
“No,” Dante growls.
“Come now, you did promise to participate. Think of poor Evelyn.”
Dante glances down at me, and I watch his resolve weaken.
“Fine. What did you have in mind?”
Valentine leans forward, pressing against the armrest as a grin slowly spreads across his face.
“You, girl,” he says, pointing at the woman he chose earlier. “Come here.”
Almost instantly, she falls forward as the man pulls out of her and steps back.
Electricity zigzags through the floor toward them. The woman quickly removes herself from the platform to obey my father as the man hurries to join the nearest coupling.
“Yes, sir?” she asks, her eyes downcast as she moves to stand in front of Valentine. She’s trembling slightly, and I can’t blame her after what she’s been through.
“Let’s play a little game,” he says, turning to look at me. “We’ll each take turns telling our little entertainment here what to do next.”
“How is that any different from before?”
“Because this time, you or I will be on the receiving end of the order given.”
“What the hell do you mean by that?” Dante says, his voice dripping with disgust.
“Only that, any requests you make, Evelyn will perform on me. And when I make a request, this one,” Valentine says, gesturing to the girl standing in front of us, “will pleasure you. Unless, of course, you’d prefer to be pleasured by a man.”
I feel like I’ve just been punched in the gut.
Valentine’s essentially trying to force Dante to watch me give pleasure to his father ... worse than that, he wants Dante to tell mehowto do it.
“And if I refuse?” Dante asks, ignoring Valentine’s last comment.