“I’ll be fine. You don’t have to worry about me.”
“Good. Because I’m going to need your help.”
“With what? What can I do?”
“You can help us take care of her.”
I’m sure my heartbeat can be heard throughout the room. “Take care of her. You don’t mean…”
“Yes, I do. She needs to die. She murdered Nash in cold blood. She shouldn’t even be breathing now, but it’s not exactly easy getting to somebody in that place. Especially somebody who’s married to that motherfucker, Q.”
My stomach tightens, and a pain twists deep in my gut.
“So you want me to do it?” I ask in a squeaky voice that doesn’t even sound like mine. I’ve never been asked to kill anyone. I’ve never even considered it. I’m not that type of person. At least, I don’t think so. “I don’t even know how I could.”
“Just leave that part up to me. Now that I know you’re there, we can come up with a plan that won’t look too obvious.”
I hate her. She killed Nash. The only person who cared about me, who ever gave a shit. She took him away from me.
And I agree, she deserves to die. If there was any justice, she’d already be dead. Preston is right about that. But me?
“I don’t know if I have it in me to do it.”
“Everybody thinks that until they actually have to do it. And don’t think she wouldn’t do the same thing to you. She probably only kept you alive so she could feel like a good person. Like it balances out what she did to my brother.”
He has a point. And yes, between that and the whole sharing clothes thing, it’s obvious she wants to be superior. LikeGee, isn’t Aspen amazing, even after everything that was done to her.
But killing her? With my own two hands? “Listen, I’ve imagined a lot of really awful things. Like all the different ways I want to kill Rossi. But I still don’t think I could actually go through with it. I’m not that type of person.”
“I see.”
I flinch, squeezing my eyes shut. He sounds so much like Nash. That’s how he always sounded when he was disappointed in me. It hurts more than I want to admit. “I’m sorry.”
“I guess you forgot what Nash did for you.”
There it is. The one thing he knows will break me down.
“I didn’t forget.”How could I?
“Please stop!” I sob, but my pleas fall on deaf ears. Nathaniel pulls back the cane once more, bringing it down on my already raw skin. He forced me onto his lap and tore my panties off shortly after my father left me at his doorstep.
A scream rips from my throat as I try my best to shove off his lap. That only makes him hit me harder. “Three more strikes, and you’ll get your reward. I’ll fuck your tight little pussy while you call me daddy.”
Bile rises in my throat. I don’t want this. I don’t want him.
Another strike with the cane has me gasping for air. Burning pain radiates from my cheek down my leg. I notice something wet drips down my naked thigh, letting me know he finally broke the skin.
“Yes, bleed for me whore.” Another hit, just as painful as the last. My vision blurs. I don’t know how much longer I can take this.
Please let this be over soon.
“Last one. Let’s make it count.” Before I can brace myself, he slams the cane down again, on the same spot he just hit.
The pain is unbearable and splinters across my backside. Black spots appear in my vision, and I’m sure I’m about to pass out any moment.
“There you go. Now, be a good girl, get on your knees and suck me off for a little before I shove my cock into your cunt. Unless you’d rather I do it without lube?” he taunts, shoving me off his legs.
I fall to the ground with a thud. My muscles ache from the exhaustion of fighting him. My eyes are heavy and swollen from crying, but I force myself to get up anyway. Not obeying only means more pain; I’ve learned this the hard way in the short time I’ve been here.