A sob that I couldn’t have held back even on threat of death escaped my throat as my heart both cried and screamed for him.
Carlos’s teeth bit down on the lobe of my ear, but I was too distraught to feel anything except the agony possessing every inch of me. Numb to physical pain, it was sorrow that tore me apart as burning rage forced my chaotic heart to pump even harder.
Letting the secondary emotion take hold, I slammed my palms against the cool barrier I was pressed against in outrage. “Leave him alone!” I screamed, my voice stronger than my quaking body. “He’s just a child!”
The bastardo chuckled.
“He is no child,” he chided, releasing my hair. Hand snaking around my front, he rested his palm low on my belly, making my stomach twist in what felt like a thousand-pound knot. “What he is, ángel is a tool that I plan to utilize; however, I see fit.” Lung seizing-fear took hold as he slipped his hand lower, fingers seeking the most private part of me. “The same as you.”
My fight began to splinter.
I can’t do this…
“Don’t hurt him,” I begged. “Please.”
The demonio clucked his tongue once more. “How he is treated depends on you.” Lowering his head, he nipped my neck, teeth drawing more blood. “You have much fight in you, that is true, but it is nothing compared to the battle I will wage to gain your submission.”
Finger dipping between my untouched folds, he unapologetically explored my center without permission, growling in pleasure as I cried out in pain. The feel of him touching me there, of taking something that I hadn’t freely given, was torturous…
And only the beginning.
“So what will it be?” Another bite along my throat, breaking more of my skin. “Will you do as you’re told? Or will I need to harm your precioso hermanito as punishment?”
Tongue heavy, I couldn’t find the words.
Hard as I tried, they simply wouldn’t come.
Carlos took my silence as defiance.
Chuckling once more, he removed his hand from between my legs, bringing me temporary relief, before slamming his palm down on the wall to my right.
A second later, static, followed by a voice I’d never heard before echoed through an intercom I hadn’t noticed in my state of distress. “Si, boss?”
“Miguel, do you have eyes on the boy?”
“Si, boss,” the man repeated.
Hand going to my hip, he dug his fingers into my skin, instantly bruising my flesh. “I told you there would be consequences,” he whispered, lips once again next to my ear. “This shall be the first.”
He pressed the button again.
“Shoot him.”
In an instant, what remained of my world stopped turning, just as it had earlier in the night when the scarred man had commanded one of his men to kill Mamá.
“No!” I screamed, panicked to the bone.
Ready to lay my life down to protect my brother’s, I spun in place, bringing a surprised Carlos and me face to face.
Eyes wide and filled with fearful tears, I slammed my fisted hands against his chest, one after the other, repeatedly. “Don’t hurt him! Call your puppet off! Please! I’ll do anything! Just don’t—”
My words became muted when he violently slapped his hand over my mouth, sealing his salty palm to my stinging lips. “Anything?”
There was no hesitation on my part. “Si,” I cried against his skin as I fisted the soft linen comprising his button-up shirt. “I’ll do anything, be anything you want. Just don’t…” Mind in a frenzy, my tongue briefly ceased working. “I am begging you. Let him be.”
Malice-filled eyes never leaving mine, Carlos pressed the intercom button. “Halt, Miguel. Do not fire,” he said. “Not yet.”
Hand leaving my hip, he slid a knuckle over my belly, then up to my bloodstained breast. “You wish to save your brother’s life?”
“Si,” I answered, immediately.
“It will come at a cost.”
My chin wobbled.
Did he think I was estúpido? He would make me pay regardless, whether by force or otherwise. Fully aware of the hell I was soon to be immersed in, there wasn’t a single thing I wouldn’t do to save mi hermanito’s life.
“I do not care.”
A cruel smile played on his lips. “You say you’ll do anything, yet your eyes still blaze with unmistakable defiance.” His smile grew. “I shall enjoy breaking you, ángel. Starting now.”
Dropping his hands from my aching body, he stepped back. “Turn,” he demanded, eyes growing darker, more sinister, before mine.
Knowing I wouldn’t be the one to pay the price if I defied him yet again, I did as I’d been told without hesitation or second thought.
“Now, bend at the waist.”
Eyes slamming shut, I sunk my chattering teeth into my bottom lip and leaned forward, placing my sweat-soaked palms against the glass.
Gaze locking on Alejandro, who stood next to a fountain, his beautiful eyes glued to the hypnotic water, I cried out as Carlos kicked the insides of my ankles, forcing my legs open.
The jingle of his belt as he quickly loosened it came next.
Then, the unmistakable descent of his zipper.
Tears soaked my cheeks as the demonio behind me stepped forward, closing the space between us. One hand painfully grasping my waist, he pressed his bobbing erection to my dry, unwilling body.
“You are mine now, mi hermosa.”
I screamed in both agony and shame as he plunged forward, stealing my innocence and robbing me of my choice to deny him the use of my body for his sick and twisted pleasure.
Skin tearing at the violent intrusion, a second animalistic sound ripped from my throat, echoing through the vast estate. Escaping the walls, it reached Alejandro’s ears.
Turning quickly, he faced the glass.
Though he couldn’t see through the midnight tint to the place where I stood, he felt my soul weep through the unbreakable bond we’d always shared as my body continued to be violated in the cruelest of ways.
That truth was evident the moment a look of heartbreak flitted across his face, twisting his handsome features into a mask of undeniable rage, a
