So I start to crawl.
He keeps whipping me as I do, the belt coming down on my ass every time I falter. I try to crawl faster, and by the time I reach the bench, my hands and knees are scraped raw.
Javier grabs me by my hair, hauling me up onto the bench. “Spread your legs,” he growls. “Or I’ll whip them until you do.”
The fight is starting to drain out of me, and I obey limply, my thighs splaying outwards. “Good girl,” Javier says, and the nausea that rises at that is too strong to ignore.
There’s no chance of making it to the toilet. I crumple to one side, vomiting onto the tile floor.
“Fuck!” Javier snarls, jumping backward. “You fucking filthy cunt!” His hand catches the side of my face, but I’m almost too exhausted and sick to care. I slump sideways as he grabs a bucket. “Don’t fucking move,” he says, his voice threatening enough to keep me pinned in place, and I sit there limply as he cleans the mess.
“Next time, I’ll make you eat it off the floor,” he growls, smacking my thigh hard enough with his hand to make me cry out as he opens my legs again. “I was going to enjoy this,” he adds, his voice an angry hiss as if he’s pissed at me for ruining his fun. “Now I can barely stand to touch you. But you’re going to leave this room bare, one way or another.”
Thesnickof a blade catches my attention, and I refocus my eyes to see him holding a straight razor in his hand. He grins at me, showing even white teeth on his handsome face. “Be very still, little one. I wouldn’t want to hurt that pretty pussy.”
He reaches out, wetting the curls between my legs with a warm cloth. “Now let’s see just how pretty it is.”
The entire process feels unendurable. For one wild moment, I wonder if I could get the straight razor out of his hand fast enough to cut his throat with it. I’d probably be wounded as well—but in my misery, I’m no longer certain that would be so bad. The blade is dangerously close to my inner thigh—but I would rather be dead than married to Diego. And if Niall is dead too—
Javier looks up suddenly, as if some subconscious change in my posture gave him a hint as to what I’m thinking. “Don’t try it,” he says in a low, menacing tone. The blade shifts, the sharp edge of it suddenly pressed to my clit, and I swallow a cry of fear as every muscle in my body freezes. “You don’t need this, little one,” he says with a glint in his eye. “Your body is for your husband’s pleasure now, not yours. But I’m inclined to leave it, in case I have the chance to enjoy you before sending you back. Nothing gives me more pleasure than making a woman come despite herself. Now,” he continues, shearing away more of the thick black curls between my legs. “Are you going to be a good girl, Isabella, and sit still?”
I have to swallow back the bile that rises in my throat. “Yes,” I whisper, the word strangled as it comes out. Javier nods, looking pleased.
“Very good.” He cuts away the last of the hair, wiping me clean with a warm cloth. The heat of the cloth over my now bare skin sends a shudder of pleasure through me, and I feel tears well in my eyes. I don’t want anything he does to me to feel good—that’s worse than pain. But as the cloth caresses me, I can feel myself getting wet. Just a little, but it’s enough to make the tears fall.
“Crying again?” He looks cross, but as he pulls the cloth back, the lack of hair means he can see all of me clearly exposed to him, from my inner folds to my clit, and the arousal gathering there. “Oh.” The deep growl of Javier’s voice sounds almost lustful, and I shrink back, the tears coming faster.
“I hope you fight me, little one,” he says, looking up at me with a gleam in his eyes. “This makes me want to find all the ways I can turn you on, even as you fight me. And if you resist hard enough, Diego will let me.” His hand slides up my inner thigh, stopping just short of my most intimate flesh. “I hope you resist.”
He stands up then, setting the shaving tools aside and unlocking the door. “Back to bed, little one. I’ll bring you food later if you behave.”
I don’t fight this time. It’s hard to walk, my legs and ass burning from the whipping, but I manage to stumble naked towards the bed. “I’m cold,” I whisper, and Javier laughs.
“You have to earn clothes, Isabella.” He waits for me to get onto the bed and then turns towards the door. “I’ll see you soon.”
The moment it closes and locks behind him, I start to sob. For the first time in my life, I know what it means to be alone—truly, completely alone. I have no idea how large Javier’s compound is, but he’d called it a fortress.No one is coming for me,I think despondently as I curl onto the bed, pulling a blanket over me to cover myself.
I try to summon the memories of my last night with Niall, the ride out to the desert, the gemstone necklace, and the hotel room after. But it only makes the aching pain in my chest worse. I feel like I can’t breathe as I wrap my arms around myself, trying to stifle my sobs so that I don’t anger Javier if he hears me. Thinking of Niall only hurts more, because if what Diego and Javier have said is true, he’s dead because of me. And if he’s not?
If he tries to help me, he’ll die anyway. I’d thought Javier’s threats of what would happen to anyone who came for me were just to frighten me, but after spending time with him, I’m not so sure. I don’t want him to be hurt more by trying to save me.
And why would he, anyway?I lied to him, hurt him, and put him in danger. I told everyone what I’d tricked him into doing, not knowing who he was or what the repercussions might be. For all I know, he’s forgotten me by now, flown back to the States just as he planned, if Diego didn’t kill him.
I’m alone.No one is coming,I tell myself, over and over again, and as I cry myself to sleep, all I can think is that maybe it’s better to give in. At least if I go back to Diego, he won’t hurt my family. I’m not even sure if my own death could be the answer—if I cheat Diego out of having me as his wife irrevocably, he might follow through on his threat to go after Elena.Thatthought is the worst of all, and I bury my face in my pillow, feeling hopelessness rising up to swallow me like a black hole.