Page 12 of Descent
The way he was moving now.
I braced myself for another interaction with the monster as he came to a leisurely stop on the other side of the bars.
“Sorry I disappeared for so long.”
I was scared to ask, but I recognized his game. “Where did you go?”
“I paid Rafe a visit.”
The mention of his name sent my heart into a tumble. I sat up straighter, interest piqued. Knowing Zach the way I did, this wasn’t good news, but I thirsted for any information on my husband.
“Is he okay?”
Zach let out a bitter laugh. “Of course that’s the first question you’d ask.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a key, dangling it from a gold chain I remembered all too well. “Maybe you should have asked why I went to see him.”
He didn’t have to elaborate. My gaze latched onto the familiar key, and I swallowed a lump of terror. Locking myself inside this prison, sacrificing my pride for more time…
It had all been for nothing. Now the standoff was over, and there wasn’t a thing I could do about it.
Zach pushed the key into the lock and turned, and I barely heard the echoing click. I was frozen, held captive by the loud buzz in my head—the alarm giving me a warning I was incapable of heeding.
“He didn’t give that key to you.” Certainty infused my tone. No way did Rafe give that key up willingly, and the realization grabbed me by the throat. “Did you hurt him?”
“I didn’t have to.” Zach pulled the door open and stepped inside, and a telling tick went off in his jaw. He didn’t like where this conversation was headed. “He knows what the stakes are.”
“So you used his son against him.” I didn’t have to ask the question—I already knew the answer.
“Don’t look at me like that, Lex. I don’t want the kid hurt any more than you do. Fortunately, Rafe knowns when to cooperate.” He took another step toward me, and I shrank away, pushing up against the wall.
“Don’t touch me.”
With a sigh, he crossed his arms. “We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. Either way, you’re coming upstairs with me.”
“Why? So you can take me off the island?”
“No,” he snapped, grabbing me by the shoulders and hauling me to my feet. “So you can wash that bastard off of you.”
“Let me go!” I screamed at him as he dragged me from the safety of the prison, my voice escalating in panic with every hard-earned foot Zach won. We were halfway up the stairs, my feet dead-weight underneath me, when he backhanded me.
I gulped down another hysterical plea for him to stop, and the resulting silence rang in my ears.
“Goddamn it, Lex. I don’t want to hurt you. Don’t make me fucking hurt you!”
“Please let me go. Please.”
He kept pulling, and I dug in my heels, determined not to let him take me from the cellar. But he was too strong, and as he dragged me through the cabin Rafe had built for us, as if I weighed nothing, the panic inside me bloomed, shining a spotlight on the futility of the moment.
I couldn’t stop this.
Inevitability wound around me, enshrining me in helplessness as he forced me up another set of stairs to the loft bedroom. Sunlight poured through the skylights, washing the room in a late afternoon glow. Drawers stood open, contents spilled. The closet had been unlocked and ransacked too.
My eyes veered to the dresser where I’d left my folded wedding dress.
Gone.
Just like Rafe.
Just like hope.
Zach pushed me to the end of the bed, and I bit back a sob as he grabbed a contraption that resembled a collar. He must have set it there, because I sure as hell hadn’t spotted that thing the morning I awoke to find Zach in the kitchen.
“Wh-what is that?”
He pressed into my back, effectively pinning me to the mattress, and snickered in my ear. “Guess who had a shock collar locked inside one of those drawers?”
“No! Get off of me!” Screaming at him, I pushed against the bed, frantic to buck him off my back.
Zach was like a fucking tank, armed with the type of obsession that made him immovable. Strength slowly bled from my limbs, and I muffled a defeated sob into the comforter, going limp underneath his weight as he worked the collar around my neck. The locking mechanism latched into place, and the fit was snug, ensuring the prongs of the electrodes bit into the back of my neck.
“Rafe will kill you for this!”
Zach laughed. “It’s poetic, really. I had no idea he was so twisted.”
Betrayal stormed through my blood. This was Rafe’s fault. He’d left me here in his depraved funhouse of sadistic kink, and then he’d given the fucking key to Zach, allowing him free rein. Even knowing that Rafe was in an impossible situation didn’t stop the rage from simmering, because now Zach had access to each one of my husband’s twisted ideas.
