Page 78 of Silver Sinner

"Did you lose your hearing since we last spoke?" Trik hauls me from the wall and into the kitchen, throwing me forward.

I crash into the dining table where the remaining plates shift and clatter against the lasagna dish. Behind him, those men move past him up the hall and my heart lurches up into my throat.

Maddie.

He's here for Maddie.

"No!" Despite how easily he overpowers me, I lunge at him again, this time with a plate from the table held tightly in my hand. As I collide with him, I smash it against his face and he grunts in pain while stumbling back against the wall.

"Maddie!" I scream, racing past him. "Fire! Maddie! Fire! There's a fire!"

It's all I can think of. She's well practiced in what to do in the event of a fire, and if she can make it to the fire escape outside her window, then she has a chance.

"Fire!" I scream at the top of my lungs. "Fire!"

I only make it halfway up the hallway before a hand lands in my hair and jerks me to a violent stop. Pain prickles over my scalp as that same hand drags me back and an arm sweeps around my shoulders, then locks against my throat.

Maddie's screams rise up from the bedroom and I turn into a wild animal in my desperation to get to her. I punch, kick, claw, scratch, and bite every piece of flesh I can reach while twisting my body left and right in Trik's grip. Other than tearing several red scratches down the forearm tight around my throat, it's to no avail and I end up back in the kitchen.

Trik slams me down onto the table and uses his weight to keep me down while his arm slips and my throat ends up pinned in the crook of his elbow. Lasagna squashes against my face as Trik thrusts his hips against me with a groan and he brings his cheek to rest against mine.

"You should have met me when I asked you to," he hisses in my ear. "You ignored me, Layla. I don't like being ignored."

"Please," I gasp, scrambling at the tabletop for anything I can use as a weapon. "I-I was busy. I was s-sick!"

"Bullshit," he growls. "But I don't care. I'm here for Maddie. I'm taking my daughter."

"No! No, I won't let you! No! You can't take her, you can’t!"

"Ohhhh." He breaths in deeply. "I can and I am. You've ignored me for the last time, and I kind of actually need her. Do you have any idea how hard it is to live with someone like my father breathing down my neck? Honestly." He groans low and his hips grind against me once more, sending a curl of disgust through me.

"You can't take her, she's mine!" I yell as tears leak down my cheeks. I kick my feet back and finally grab onto the farthest plate but just as I secure my grip, Trik's other hand slides up my arm and crushes my wrist in his tight grip. I'm forced to drop it. He kicks my legs apart and sneers while Maddie's tearful yells move down the hall.

"You could come too, if you like," he murmurs. "Beg me, Layla. Beg me like you used to do and you can come too. We could be a nice little family. I'm sure I can think of a use for you."

No, no, no, no!

What do I do? He has Maddie. I'm not strong enough to fight him off, never mind anyone else he brought with him. There's no world in which I let him leave here with my daughter and I'm left behind.

But begging him?

Humiliation curls tight in my chest as Maddie's sobbing yells for me pass the kitchen and move toward the front door.

"Okay!" I gasp, slightly hoarse from being pinned under his weight. "Okay! I-I'll beg! I'll beg!"

Trik laughs coldly. "Good girl."

Suddenly, he's gone and I collapse down to my knees on the newly tiled floor, in my new, beautiful kitchen built for me by the man I love. It somehow makes it worse.

Trik stands over me and folds his arms across his chest, sneering down as I slump there. An uncontrollable tremble moves through me, starting in my chest as if my very ribs have turned to Jell-o, and my throat constricts as I look up at him.

"Please, I'm begging you. Take m-me with you. I-I'm nothing without you, Trik. Nothing. Just a useless whore with nothing worthy about her." It's sickening how easily I recall the shit he used to make me say back at the brothel. "I-I need you Trik. Please, I'll do anything. I'll give you everything, please. I'm begging you. I'm on m-my knees for you, please! Take me with Maddie!"

Adding her at the end is the only way I can distance myself from those disgusting memories and solidify the real reason I'm doing this.

Trik doesn't seem to care. He's visibly delighted and surges forward. He sinks one hand into my hair and drags me to my feet with a happy laugh, not caring about my hiss of pain as I stand on weak legs.

"Sure," he grins. "I was going to bring you anyway, but it's so nice of you to remember who you really are." Using the grip on my hair, he pulls me close and it takes all my restraint not to lash out. I can't hear Maddie anymore, which means I need to do everything I can to get back to her.