Page 245 of Seasons of War
He squeezed her cheeks. She cried out in pain.
“No more lies!” he said. “I don’t care what he is to you, only that you’re more loyal to him than you are to me.”
With her silenced, the captain brushed her hair back from her shoulders and withdrew a jewelry box from his pocket, opening it with one hand. The lights overhead glistened against the diamond necklace.
He lifted her limp hand and placed the jewelry in her palm. Miya stared at it.
“Put it on.”
Her hands felt like they belonged to someone else as she fastened it around her neck.
“As beautiful as I'd imagined.” His touch followed the chain down her throat and over the diamond resting against her collarbone. Lips followed, melting against the nape of her neck above the jewel.
Lance shouted against his gag, wood creaking. He had to control himself and stay calm.
“Are you ready to talk?” More kisses, trailing the silver chain. The captain's mouth burned like acid. When he captured her lips with his, she resisted every urge to bite his tongue off. “Or will you give me the pleasure of breaking every bone in your boyfriend's body?”
Her voice quivered. “When he's safe.”
“He'll never be safe thanks to you.”
“I'm the one who betrayed you. Leave him alone. Hurt me, not him.”
“You?” He studied the cut on her head. “Your boss had the nerve to hit your face and damage my goods. If I hurt you too much, I'll ruin your only value.”
Several soldiers snickered, whispering. Heat burned at the base of her skull.
Miya wanted to scream in his face but stopped herself for Lance's sake. “If you touch him, I won't tell you anything.”
He turned to Lance with the unearned swagger of a thief, like claiming Miya was nothing more than a message to the man who had something of hers the captain never could. Respect. Care. Admiration. It didn't matter what. Only that he wanted it and could never force it from her.
“Please don't.” Miya leaned toward him, trembling hands reaching for him. “Let him go, and I'll tell you everything. I'll be yours. I promise.”
“A whore's promise means nothing. And you already are mine.”
Tears mixed with the blood on Lance’s face, turning his cheeks pink. His eyes didn’t stray from Miya’s. With the captain out of the way, she stared at him, seeing his heart as clearly as the soft brown of his stare. The pain, the fear, the rage, the longing to comfort her, the shock at not being able to do anything. The love. Painful, awful love she’d rather he not feel for her.
Stop.
She would have said it if she had the heart to. Stop speaking to her with that look. Stop caring about her. Stop being in her life. It was easier to think they were all like the captain. Born this way. Not that so many had chosen to do this to her.
Miya couldn't crumble now. No matter how she felt. They were in danger. A little longer… If they could survive a few days, maybe even hours, Zayne and Ashantae might find them. Or the United. But she didn't think they had that kind of time. At least not Lance.
Think.
Miya squeezed her eyes shut. Even if this was the end, she couldn't make it easy on him.
“Do you have anything worth telling me?” The captain sized Lance up. “Well? Any information that might keep me happy for a few minutes?”
Lance had been in the dark, loyal to her even though she gave him nothing to go on. The tears escaped and tickled her cheeks. Her resentment for his love faded into burning pain.
“He doesn't know anything,” Miya said. “If he did, he'd have spilled the moment you touched me.”
Pain filled Lance's eyes.
The captain snorted. “Pathetic.”
Miya scooted closer. “You don’t need Lance anymore.” She hated letting anyone hear the hurt in her voice. “Let him go. I’ll tell you everything. If I don’t, you can go back and find him.”
