Page 110 of Reign of the Queen
“No, tell me what’s going on. Who is missing?” Carter tightens his hold on my wrist.
I spy Raegan moving behind Carter; then the vicious little queen grabs onto the back of his head. Yanking his hair in her fist and kicking the back of his knee, and he goes down. “Do not fucking touch her, Carter Pemberton.” She declares through her clenched teeth. Her defiant green eyes flashing with malice.
The whole room goes still. Carter is down on one knee, still holding on to my wrist in his tight grip. Raegan is pulling so hard on the back of his hair that his neck is bowed.
“Jesus” Jessie let out, his eyes nearly popping out of his skull.
Tom, who was already moving toward us, has the silliest fucking grin across his face but makes no move to help Carter. I guess it’s not every day a five-foot-nothing, one-hundred-twenty-pound girl subdues a giant. People keep underestimating Raegan, but she has fire in her veins.
I yank my wrist from Carter’s grip. “Enough! Raegan, release him, girl,” I demand, walking around my desk and sitting hard on my chair. I’m already tired. Fuck, when will I get a moment of peace that these “kings” don’t disturb? Just one damn day without drama. My brain answers me back immediately...when you head back where you belong, to Manhattan, ya dumb bitch.
I stare up at Tom, awaiting his answer. Minion number one is leaning against the doorway, awaiting instructions from Tom. “Nothing Mia, no sightings of them other than when they left the school.”
I pull out my phone again and open an app I hoped I wouldn’t have to use. A few weeks ago, I paid a guy to put trackers on all their cars. I wanted to make sure they weren’t following me around. They look like they are still operational. I have a moment of guilt over tracking them without their knowledge, but it disappears as quickly as it arrived. All is fair in war, Mia. You are at war with these kings of Casbury.Question is, am I still at war with them?Like all the other questions that are plaguing my mind, I have no answer.
I hand my phone to Tom. “Find them.”
Finn and I meet up with Mateo, and we switch cars again. The two of them are heading back to Casbury Prep to see if Mia is still there. It's just after lunch, hopefully she hasn’t left in a rage with all the unanswered text messages. My little hot-headed queen does not like to be ignored. The memory of her fire-filled eyes when she’s angry makes my heart rate speed up. She looks glorious when she’s angry, a warrior queen bent on destruction. The desire to turn this car around and head back to her house soars through my veins.
I can’t avoid my father though, it will just cause more situations like Zofia’s. With a heavy heart, I head directly to the Saint-Lambert mansion. I approach my home, the place that has always brought me nothing but dread and pain. I wonder if that was the last time I'd get to see Mateo and Finn.Fuck I hope not.
I pull in and park in the garage area. One of my father’s goons is already waiting for me. Getting out of the vehicle, I head to walk into the house, but I hear the cocking of a gun and freeze. “Your daddy’s looking for you, boy. Why’d it take so long to get rid of one small whore?” He grins through tobacco-stained teeth. The stench of alcohol, tobacco and sweat strongly coming off his body.
I don’t bother to answer him and head to the door leading into the house. I feel the gun press into my back as he shoves me forward. “Move, little prince. Your daddy’s waiting in the dungeon.” He cackles.
Fuck, I wish I could turn around and beat this piece of shit until he never wakes up. But I have to hold and play this right, or for sure, I’m never getting out of here. Let’s be realistic, though. The odds are not in my favor to survive whatever my sick, demented father has in store for me.
It’s why I made Finn promise to run with Mia and the guys. My only hope is to take my father and as many of his lackeys into hell with me as I can before I’m done. I feel the weight of the gun inside of the hidden pocket of the hoodie and it gives me strength.
The dungeon isn’t really a dungeon at all. It’s the basement level of the mansion. Initially designed by my ancestors to be a cold cellar, family crypt, and holding area for those that displeased the Saint-Lamberts. My father’s had it further expanded over the years: long dark corridors and vast rooms, tunneling underneath the mansion and surrounding land area so that he could use it as his sick playground.
As I descend the stone steps leading to the first open area, I hear voices, the gun firmly pressed against my back. The darkened stone walls are lit only by wall sconces spaced out over the area. The room furnishes are all black and blood red, with different alcove sections leading to specific kinks and perversions. A sadist's paradise awaits in the darkness.
The first person I see as I enter the space is Casbury’s sheriff, leaning against the wall, massive gut on display, pants undone and around his ankles. A dark-haired guy in only a red speedo at his feet sucking his dick. Wouldn’t the sheriff’s lovely wife love to know that he prefers to get his dick sucked here and by someone with a dick rather than a pussy.Corrupt and deceitful motherfucker,I shake my head.
Looking past him, I see a few business acquaintances of my father, in various states of dress, with young women and men servicing them with pleasure or pain, depending on their preference. Guess nobody decided to head to work today. Who am I kidding, most of these fuckers have never done an honest day’s work in their miserable lives.
Mack Pemberton turns around to face me, looking away from the female he’s currently sodomizing. He gives me a sadistic grin that has my heart rate jumping. Of course that fuck would be here to enjoy my punishment. Where my sick father is, Mack is never far behind.
“Ah, there he is, my prodigal son. Come here, boy!” Vincent calls from the chair he’s lounging on, two naked females bound and gagged at his feet.Yeah, it’s a fucking pattern with him.He gets his rocks off only when they can’t fight back. I should know, after all.
“What took you so long, Theodore?” he questions while petting one of the female’s heads, like she’s a dog rather than a human being. I recognize her as one of the women from the room Mia and I saw that day. She cowers, never raising her eyes from looking straight at the ground, a good little submissive.
“It took as long as it needed to so that it wouldn't return.” I clench my hands at my side, facing him.
I hear laughter from the far alcove and turn my head. There’s a group of six men taking turns gangbanging an Asian female and a Latino male who are tied in restraints on a large round bed. She looks like she’s enjoying herself, but the young guy with her looks terrified. He’s trying to fight back and resist. I don’t know if it’s all for show or if he really is trying to escape.
I hate this fucking place.
I return my gaze to my father. He’s the biggest threat in the room, after all. The devil has nothing on Vincent Saint-Lambert. He personifies evil; it bleeds from his pores.
“Very well. You know why you are here, Theodore. You disobeyed me. That cannot go unpunished. You are the heir, but I am still the king here. You will bow at my fucking feet, you worthless ungrateful piece of shit,” he spits his venom.
The gun behind me comes down hard on the back of my head and momentarily has me seeing double. It’s enough for two of my dad’s goons to push me down on my knees and strap my arms tightly behind my back with cable ties. My dad stands with a blade in his hand, coming toward me, and cuts the hoodie and the T-shirt I’m wearing off my body. Leaving my chest, arms and back exposed. My only form of protection is hitting the ground, still inside the hidden pocket of the hoodie.Goddamnit.
He runs the blade down my collarbone, leaving behind sharp little cuts that instantly fill with blood. Painting my skin in rivulets of my own blood. I clench my teeth against the pain and sting.
I’m sure this is just the beginning of what he has planned for me. I will not beg for mercy. I will not give him what he wants, to break me. The sharp blade moves over my shoulders and back, and then I feel the point sharply embed in my skin just below my shoulder blade. I bite down on my lip hard enough to draw blood to prevent the scream that wants to escape.
