Casing ??

Chapter 39

"This dress is really convenient." The fact that he didn't even listen to my whole sentence before he pushed the fabric up my thighs, tugging it up under my butt, made bile rise up my throat.

"Dad—"

"Either shut up, or leave the room, Marius."

This was all kinds of fucked up. My jaw clenched as the man kept pulling on my dress, ripping the fabric at my sides. If I got out of there, I swore to burn that dress. And I'd try to burn the memory of his hands on me at the same time, even if I knew that would be harder.

I pushed my thighs together, while he tried to pull them apart. I couldn't let him. I wouldn't.

So the fact that he groaned and reached for the neckline instead made me relax. I could endure touching, but not down there. The only man to ever do anything there was James, and I'd like to keep it that way, if I could. Mostly because I didn't want to come home, have James touch me and kiss me, and then I'd think back to this and freak out.

This man didn't deserve to haunt my mind. Not even a little.

"Are you sure you don't know anything else, Elina?" His voice was so gruffy and wrong, I had to concentrate to hear his words.

"I'm sure," I ground out. "I'm nothing but a bedwarmer, how would I know any of their secrets?"

My half-lie stung, but I didn't really care at the moment. As the man stared at me, the cogs turning behind his blue yes, I gathered all the spit I finally had after the drink earlier, and sent it straight into his face.

That was probably the stupidest thing I'd done in my life, but holy shit, it felt good—and right now, comfort trumped intelligence. I hoped, at least—because the pure rage I saw in that man's eyes made my heart jump up into my throat, and I wanted to pull my knees up and curl into a little ball.

"You have a point," he growled, "but is that really all you are? Are you that good?"

I swallowed my first retort. The urge to say, "You wish," or something along those lines was strong, but I managed to hold that in and instead, I said, "Apparently."

"This is ridiculous." Marius sounded just as furious as his father. I could see it when I dared to look behind the man in front of me, who also turned to look at his son. "She's clearly not gonna tell us anything at all, so you might as well just get this shit done. I can't watch this. Seriously."

Was everything he'd said and done for me before been to calm me down, then? To give me hope? To make me last longer in this questioning?

"You can't watch what, exactly?" The man sounded even more enraged, and his hand moved from the ripped neckline of my dress, to my bare knee.

I was so close to vomiting, as Marius said, "I can't watch you cross that line, dad." The bile slowed down on its way up, and my gaze lifted to meet with Marius' again. "This is fucked up. She's an innocent girl who happens to be in a relationship with one of the men you hate. Why would she know anything about how they make their family function? Did you tell mom about all the Wreckers' plans?"

"Of course not, she was just a girl—"

"That's my fucking point!" Marius' arms went up and around, emphasizing his point even further.

He'd been truthful after all, then? My chin lifted, and I bit my tongue to keep from getting myself into more trouble than I already was. I was getting a whiplash from all the back and forth, and from my own thoughts jumping from full of hope to my own demise.

"Either you shut your mouth, or you leave. This is your last chance, kid, because I'm not stopping this." The man rose to his feet with a warning finger out towards my friend—my friend who was trying to buy time before the people in my family came to rescue me.

The floor shook, and a boom sounded from downstairs. There was yelling. And the man turned to me with a wicked smile, all wrong again, and so nightmare-inducing that I had to use all my energy on not wasting my last bit of spit on him.

Help was coming.

I'd be free soon.

The man knelt in front of me, just as I heard gunshots in the distance. Warmth spread in my chest, and I stared back at him. His hands moved to my thighs, pushing them apart as he let out a rough sound that sounded predatory.

"Who's got the most influence on what happens in the Strac's right now?" he asked me, poison coating his now-calm voice.

"Right now?" I echoed, letting a smile through. "Me."

At that moment, it was me. But as soon as I was out of this chair and out of this place, it would be Damian or Michael. I still didn't know whether Michael had unofficially given everything to his son or not, but it couldn't be long until he did it officially. So I didn't lie in my answer.

And I didn't flinch, my new smile didn't falter, when he pushed closer to me, ripping my dress even more, and the cold air met with my lower abdomen.

"Don't be ridiculous." He chuckled, as more gunshots filled the silence on the other side of the walls—and the other side of the floor. "You said you were only a bedwarmer."

"And I am," I told him, truthfully, "but I'm also going to be James's wife."

His eyes darkened, and my heart skipped a beat at my own words. The warmth I felt before spread out through my whole body, seeping into my fingertips, and my toes. It was like a whirlwind of emotions inside me as the realization hit, and I was going to get out of here without any more injuries than the one I inflicted on myself when I broke his eye socket—which looked both black and blue on him, and I let the pride bloom with the warmth as I looked at it.

The shouting and shots were closer. The Wreckers probably had a lot of people in this building, and the guy in charge didn't care that they fell like flies. I caught a glimpse of Marius grimacing by his wall, and I felt sorry for him.

"I guess it's over, then," the man said, and turned to Marius. "Is this your doing?"

"Yes." The reply was instant. Not even hesitating a split second to say he betrayed his father.

The enraged sound that came from him caught me off guard, as did the big hand that wrapped around my throat, and blocked my airway. I tried to breathe, but I couldn't. And it hurt. It hurt more than the soreness from the taser did, and in the moment, I was afraid he'd get me unconscious before anyone could find me.

But then the door opened, the steel swinging and crashing against the wall.

Then the sound of a gunshot made my ears ring, and something warm and sticky sprayed across my face.

I fell forward as air rushed back into my lungs, and a terrible thud made its way through the ringing. I gasped, the air feeling both so good and so painful down my throat.

I lifted my head slightly to see someone kneeling in front of me, warm, big hands finding my bare legs, and another figure pointing a gun at Marius by the wall.

Someone was talking, but my ears were ringing still, and my vision was blurred and stained pink.

But I was saved. I knew because I could smell the cologne I bought James for Christmas. And I sobbed when his hands moved down my calves, and I felt the rope around my right ankle start to loosen.