MasukHe eyed me curiously, studying me like he was trying to assess my every move. I didn't answer. I was too afraid to open my mouth since the scent of food had already completely filled the room, aggravating the hunger pains already consuming my insides.
Nico placed the napkin on his lap before he looked up at me. "It's a shame you're not hungry. There is so much food here." I watched as he started to lift the other domes one by one to see what was underneath.
"We have some bacon, sausage, fresh fruit salad, some pancakes" he looked up at me "which are smothered in syrup by the way" then lifted the last dome "and of course, some warm buttered toast." He glanced at me with a cocked brow, and a smug grin. "You sure you're not hungry?"
I bared my teeth at him like a fucking animal, like I was about to go head to head with him for the tiniest morsel of food. The hunger pains intensified threefold, my stomach feeling like my throat had been cut off. But I still didn't answer him.
He shrugged. "Suit yourself then."
He picked up a glass of what looked like freshly squeezed orange juice, and I watched as he brought it to his lips, allowing a stream of orange liquid to enter his mouth. My gaze zeroed in on his throat as it moved while he swallowed the juice. I imagined what it tasted like. Was it sweet with just a hint of tang? Or was it more tang with just a hint of sweet? And while he sat there drinking the juice, the air of dominance paired with sophistication surrounding him, there was a part at the back of my mind a very dark part that wondered what his mouth would taste like with the sweet tang still on his tongue. What would it feel like to lick traces of that orange juice from the inside of his mouth, to experience the taste through him?
My throat burned, my body ached, and my head pounded with the need to consume something, anything to get some relief from the torture. But amidst all the torment in my body there was a heat that coiled inside my belly, and I hated it hated him the second I felt it.
"Why are you doing this?" I whispered, unable to hide the contempt in my voice.
He grabbed the knife and fork and sliced through the Eggs Benedict, and I watched as the egg yolk oozed out, covering the English muffin it was set on.
I groaned and immediately clutched my stomach as the pain threatened to tear me in half. This was agony at its worst, the way my body ached in its demand for food.
He placed a fork-full of food into his mouth, and like the masochist that I am I watched, unable to take my eyes off his face, witnessing the delight that spread across his features as he tasted and ate the delicious looking and smelling food.
He swallowed. "I assumed because you didn't eat the bread I gave you earlier that you weren't hungry. But if you are, just say so and I'll happily share this buffet with you."
The dark glint in his eyes, the way his mouth curled up in the corners warned me it wasn't going to be that simple. Nothing with this man seemed simple. He was a predator a vicious hunter who had the power to entice, ensnare, only to let you meet your doom once he had you in his clutches. Yet he made me curious, wanting to know what exactly would happen if he managed to bait me, to lure me into his trap? Would I be strong enough to survive him? Or would I shatter like glass once he applied the pressure in order to force the life out of me?
He placed the knife and fork down on the plate then turned to fully face me. His dark eyebrows slanted inward, and he licked his lips.
"Go ahead, lila. Ask me." He leaned forward. "Beg me, and I'll feed you. I'll give you every last piece of food on this table if you go on your hands and knees, and beg me for it."
That's it. That was his game. He wanted me to submit, to beg and grovel like a slave so he would give me what my body needed to survive. Just like I had suspected, this was all a power trip for him, to see me broken and battered crawling on the floor like I was worth nothing. I couldn't let him have that, let him have that kind of power over me. If I did, I'd be good as dead.
With my gaze never leaving his, I shifted toward the end of the bed. I looked over at the table, stretching to get a good look at all the food. My mouth salivated, my stomach complained, and my throat burned.
Slowly I sank to my knees in front of him, my gaze once again pinned on his. It was all there, the darkness, the need...the hunger-it was all in his eyes as he watched me kneel on the floor in submission. That's what he wanted, wasn't it for me to submit, to show him he had some twisted authority over me?
His body rippled with predatory greed as he eyed me with sexual belligerence, making me hyper-aware of the control he had over me. The power he exuded, the confidence that clothed him just as perfectly as his Armani suit was toxic, my body feeling its poison as it infected me little by little.
I crawled, inching forward on my hands and knees, and he leaned down with his elbows bringing our faces inches from one another.
"Now beg me." His voice was low, his eyes hooded. If I didn't know the kind of hatred this man had for me, I would have mistaken the look for desire. His body was rigid with undisguised lust, and it tainted the air around us with tension so strong, I felt its heat spread through me like wildfire.
Fighting the erotic pull that suddenly swirled inside my gut, I bit into my lower lip...before I spat right into his face. Instantly the tension shattered around us, replaced with the cold of hate and the hard edges of our mutual distaste.
He closed his eyes, but didn't move, my spit dripping off his cheek.
I got up from the floor and glared down at him. "You can take your food and go fuck yourself, Nico."
It was probably not the wisest thing to do, to taunt and provoke my captor in such a way. But there was no way I would beg for him to feed me like a goddamn animal.
Adrenaline filled my belly, silencing the hunger pains. My heart was beating so fast I couldn't concentrate on anything other than trying to assess what his next move would be.
He took the napkin and wiped his face clean, before getting up from the chair, straightening his jacket with such confidence, like I didn't just spit in his face, humiliating him.
Dark eyes met mine. "You might think you proved yourself by doing what you just did, that you showed courage. But you're wrong." He started to push the cart out the door before turning back to face me. "The only thing you did was prove you're not playing with a full deck, little pet."
And then the door shut with a loud thud, and the lights went out, leaving me alone in the dark with just the echo of his words. '...not playing with a full deck...'Someone that lacks intelligence.
Oh God. I just turned up the heat in the hell I'm currently in.
He eyed me curiously, studying me like he was trying to assess my every move. I didn't answer. I was too afraid to open my mouth since the scent of food had already completely filled the room, aggravating the hunger pains already consuming my insides.Nico placed the napkin on his lap before he looked up at me. "It's a shame you're not hungry. There is so much food here." I watched as he started to lift the other domes one by one to see what was underneath."We have some bacon, sausage, fresh fruit salad, some pancakes" he looked up at me "which are smothered in syrup by the way" then lifted the last dome "and of course, some warm buttered toast." He glanced at me with a cocked brow, and a smug grin. "You sure you're not hungry?"I bared my teeth at him like a fucking animal, like I was about to go head to head with him for the tiniest morsel of food. The hunger pains intensified threefold, my stomach feeling like my throat had been cut off. But I still didn't answer him.He shrugged.
LILA POV The lights went off and my heart got lodged in my throat. I saw nothing but black around me, and my lack of vision made the panic inside me spike. I never even realized that I had the privilege of light until it got taken away.Now here I was, trapped in a room...in the dark. I had no way of knowing what his next move would be, why he felt it necessary to have me trapped in the dark. But something told me that this was all part of his game. A dangerous game that I hoped I had the courage to play.I pulled my legs closer to my chest and buried my face between my arms. I would make my own darkness by closing my eyes and hiding my face, rather than endure his.Rocking back and forth I tried my best to ignore my fear, and the hunger pangs that plagued my insides. I've never hated my body this much. The way my stomach growled, my throat burning with thirst. I was so damn hungry and thirsty, I felt like I could become a savage at any moment. But I refused to eat. Fuck him. Fuck ev
I leaned back in the chair, watching lila on the thirty-two inch monitor. I had a state of the art security system installed once my mind was made up about what I wanted to do. Wanted...needed...had no fucking choice.Same damn thing.It's been hours since she tore up the bread and placed it with the finger in the gift box. I had to admit, I did not think she would have the guts to go near that finger, let alone pick it up. But yet again, Lila managed to surprise me by proving me wrong.After placing the box in front of the door she got onto the bed and hadn't moved since. She just sat there against the headboard with her legs pulled up, leaning her head back, or on her arms. She didn't even cry anymore, and I noticed that her body had stopped shaking.The entire time I watched her I kept on wondering if I had been wrong about her. When I put this plan in motion, I thought for sure I had this woman all figured out. She was the creative type who easily lost herself to the depths of her
LILA POV My throat was dry, and even though I felt sick to my stomach, my body craved food.There was no telling how long I'd been here, or when I last had something to eat or drink but when Damon placed the tray with bread and what I now knew was water and vinegar on the bed, eating or drinking was the last thing on my mind.The second I laid eyes on Damon, my skull prickled with warning. Nico had darkness burning in his eyes, but Damon? There was something far more sinister stirring in him, and it made my skin crawl. Oh God.What the hell was happening?What am I going to do?How am I going to survive this whatever this is?Wiping away the remnants of tears from my cheeks, I stared at the stale loaf of bread. What I really wanted was water, but when I tasted that god awful vinegar, the gulp I took burned down my throat.Unfortunately, that small taste of water only intensified my thirst, and now I was even willing to see how much of the disgusting water-vinegar mix my body could to
NICO POVWatching the fear spread across her face her eyes widening as she tried to process what I just revealed was one of those moments I would wrap with a bow of gold and safely place in a drawer at the back of my mind, cherishing it forever.This would be one of many moments I'd remember in ten, twenty, or even thirty years' time, thinking of how fucking great it felt to exact my revenge.People say revenge doesn't cure, that justice doesn't heal, but I beg to differ. It's only been a day, and I can already feel my blackened soul starting to rise out of the ashes as I witness the dread of the unknown wrack through Lila Falcone body.Sunshine. The devil woman standing before me will burn in hell once I'm done with her that's if there's anything left to burn. She and every goddamn Falcone will suffer my wrath. None of them will come out of this unharmed or unscathed.They will all pay.They killed no, murdered my brother in cold blood because they thought they were better than us. B
LILA POV"Oh my God."I rocked back and forth, clutching my knees against my chest, my face buried in my arms. I didn't want to look up. I couldn't. What the fuck was happening? Who were these people? And why the fuck was there a severed finger in that motherfucking box?Better yet, whose finger was that?No, I didn't want to know. I just wanted to wake up and realize this was a nightmare. But the longer I sat there, the more I realized it was real. I'd been kidnapped. Nikolai was dead. And his twin brother had just left me a human finger in a box. How could the Nikolai I knew be part of this family?The Nikolai I knew... Did I really know him? Was he pretending to be someone he wasn't? Judging by what Nico had told me, it seemed so. I didn't even know his real surname, let alone his family.Tears streamed down my face as my mind spun in a thousand directions. What did they plan to do to me? Kill me? Torture me? Hurt me? Did my family even know I was missing yet?Thinking of my mom, d







