Defaced: A Dark Romance Novel Read online

  Lily’s heart lurched.

  Just beyond the door, bright sunlight beamed down onto the green grass, and pinks, purples, and oranges of the tropical flowers in the beds. Beyond the barbed wire wall, tall pine trees stretched into a glorious blue sky.

  You can go out there, a little voice whispered in her head. No one is here. No one will know.

  No, I can’t, the fearful part of her argued. Monster’s men might see me. They’ll tell him.

  They’re watching for people on the outside of the wall, not inside. Just step out into the sunshine, just for a minute …

  Without even realizing it, her feet had been moving of their own accord, taking her closer to the open doorway, step by step, and closer to the fresh air and beautiful sunshine. She heard the incessant chatter of birdsong, and the buzz of insects. A waft of a breeze stirred her hair and brought with it the heady fragrance of the flowers.

  Lily let out a small sob of delight. It was as though life had just walked through the door and kissed her on the cheek.

  Without arguing with herself further, she broke into a run and burst through the doorway, onto the porch, and then down the steps and into the grounds. She put out her arms and swirled around, her face lifted to the sun. The sob of delight became laughter. She hadn’t even realized she’d missed being outside as much as she had.

  Something else might be open.

  The voice spoke in her head, snapping her back to reality. If someone had forgotten to lock and bolt the door, perhaps they’d done the same to the gate. She drew to a halt, the garden still spinning around her for a moment, and quickly glanced around. She was still alone.

  Wasting no more time, she ran around the side of the house, heading for where she thought the gates must be. When she’d tried this before, she’d collided with Monster and his men before she’d been able to see much more, but this time as she rounded the side of the house, she saw a large metal gate—like the kind she had seen on a garage before, only bigger—embedded into the stone wall. That gate was firmly shut, and looked like it only operated via a remote of some sort, but a little farther along was a second, much smaller gate, intended for people on foot.

  That gate stood ajar.

  Lily staggered to a stop and drew a breath.

  There was her chance of freedom. She had no idea what lay beyond the gate—she didn’t even know what country she was in, though she’d narrowed it down to a handful within South America which they could have reached considering how long she’d spent in the plane on the way over. What would happen if she ran out of those gates? Would she find someone who would help her, or would she run into worse trouble than she had here?

  She started forward, but fingers wrapped around her arm and yanked her back.

  “What the hell do you think you’re playing at, Flower?”

  “Nothing! I wasn’t playing at anything.” His dominating presence towered over her. She couldn’t bring herself to look at him, knowing how furious, and hurt, and disappointed in her he would be. It was the disappointment and hurt that were the worst—she hated that she’d let him down.

  “Really? That isn’t what it looked like to me. It looked like you were about to run.”

  “No, please,” she cried, falling to her knees, so he only partially held her up by her arm. “I didn’t mean it.”

  What the hell had she been thinking? Had she really meant to run? It was as though her body had just reacted on instinct, and her brain hadn’t truly processed her actions.

  Had she really wanted to leave him?

  He pulled her to her feet and held her, her back against his chest, his arm crushing her breasts. “I’m going to have to punish you now,” he growled in her ear. “I warned you not to make me punish you.”

  The solid muscle of his body pressed against the length of her back, and she could feel his hardness wedging into the dip at the base of her spine. Her whole body thrummed, taut with anticipation. Her already pounding heart now seemed to skip and stutter over itself in her chest. The rest of the world swam away, her mind spinning, only coming to a standstill to focus on how Monster’s body connected with hers.

  They passed Tudor and another man as they headed back into the house.

  “The premises are unsecured,” Monster growled at them. “See to it everything is made secure before someone loses their job, if not their life.”

  The two men exchanged a glance and ran toward the open gate.

  He dragged her back toward the room, his strength making it impossible for her to fight back, if that was what she even wanted.

  He pushed her through the bedroom door and slammed it shut behind him, making her jump. She turned to face him, her entire body vibrating with her combined fear and need. The look he gave her was purely primal—a desire to both own her and put her in her place. Three long strides brought him directly in front of her, and he wasted no time in ridding her of her clothes. He yanked at the waistband of her pants, popping the button so it pinged to the floor, and ripping apart the zipper. He tore the pants from her hips, so they pooled around her feet. She’d never been allowed any shoes, so he simply kicked out at her ankles, forcing her to step out of the material. Then he took the bottom of her t-shirt and dragged it up and over her head.

  “Why would you try to leave me, Flower? I thought we’d come to an understanding.”

  “I’m sorry,” she said, feeling exposed and vulnerable as she stood before him in only her underwear. “I wasn’t—”

  “Shut up. I don’t want to hear your excuses.”

  I hadn’t planned to leave, she longed to tell him. I only wanted to feel the sunlight again.

  But she knew she should have wanted to run. He’d already told her he wasn’t a good man, but then why did her heart cry at the thought of leaving him behind, and why did her body crave his touch?

  She was so messed up.

  He spun her around and pushed her against the bed, so she landed with her palms flat on the mattress, her body at a ninety degree angle. His hands made contact with her hips, skirting down the curves of her body. His thumbs hooked into the top of her panties and he dragged them down with his movement, leaving her bottom bare and exposed.

  Lily hitched a breath. Mortified, she realized she’d grown wet between her thighs and the cotton material of her underwear had stuck to her folds. Desire wound tight in the pit of her stomach, though every part of her brain told her she shouldn’t want this. She shouldn’t want this man who had taken her and held her captive. Yet she did. She couldn’t deny what her body was telling her.

  “You’re going to take your punishment now, Flower.”

  She held her breath, her teeth digging into her lower lip, her shoulders tight in anticipation.

  She sensed his movement before anything else, the motion of the air move around her as he brought his hand in a downward strike. His palm struck her right buttock with a crack. She sucked in air, but it didn’t hurt in the way she’d expected. Instead the vibrations of the blow burrowed down to her core, increasing her arousal. His hand lifted and he smacked her again, making her moan. She hung her head, the tension she’d been feeling in her shoulders starting to ebb away. Her bottom flared hot, and the next blow stung her now sensitized skin. But the next time he smacked her, her pussy clenched, and a slow, pleasurable throb worked its way through her entire body. Lily squeezed her eyes shut, concentrating on the almost unbearable sensations.

  “Flower?” Monster’s tone was a warning. “This is supposed to be a punishment.”

  “I know.” She nodded frantically. “Just don’t stop.”

  His hand made contact with her backside again, but this time as a smoothing stroke. He slipped down lower, his fingertips tracing the faint lines where the tops of her thighs and her bottom met, and then moved between her legs.

  Lily gasped.

  “You’re wet, Flower. That wasn’t in the plan.”

  “I’m sorry.” But she couldn’t help but step her feet apart slightly, making wa
y for him. More than anything, she wanted him to push his fingers inside her and bring an end to the aching need that had first started blooming inside of her when she’d finally experienced what it was to be utterly alone.

  His hand moved higher, brushing against her most personal lips. “You’re not supposed to like being touched.”

  “I don’t,” she said between gasps. “I mean ... I didn’t.”

  He moved higher still, his finger sliding in an agonizing line between her folds, opening her up. “So you don’t like this?”

  “No,” she said, her chest heaving. “I don’t.”

  His finger slipped between her lips, dipping into her entrance. “How about this?” His voice had grown ragged. “Do you like this?”

  She shook her head.

  “Your body betrays you, Flower.”

  She couldn’t help herself. With a groan, she pressed down, pushing herself against his hand.

  His finger thrust deeper, fully inside her now.

  “This is a very bad idea,” he growled. “I warned you about me. I warned you not to make me punish you.”

  “Oh, God,” she cried as he added another finger, stretching her open. So many years had passed since sex had been a part of her life, she’d forgotten how fucking amazing it felt.

  “I don’t care. Just punish me, please,” she begged.

  “What if your punishment involved me fucking you until you cried?”

  “Yes.” She nodded again. “I want it.”

  “I don’t have anything here,” he said, his fingers slipping from her body. “I don’t have any protection.”

  “I don’t care,” she repeated, and she didn’t. All she knew was she wanted to be smacked, and fucked, and fingered, and consumed until nothing remained of her but an exhausted puddle of flesh and cum. “Just fuck me.”

  His fingers laced in her hair, his blunt nails raking across her scalp, and then his fingers tightened hard at the base of her neck. He pulled sharply, wrenching her hair into his fist. Pain shot through her scalp, and she arched back to compensate, exposing her throat and pushing out her breasts.

  “Good,” he said, as he unzipped his pants with his other hand. She felt him position himself, the smooth bell of his cock nudging at her entrance. “This is just how I’ve imagined you.”

  With one forceful thrust of his hips, he pushed inside her. It had been so long since she’d had a man inside her, and she experienced the invasion as a stretching, burning shock which caused her to cry out.

  He leaned over her back, his mouth making contact with her shoulder. She moaned as he trailed his tongue into the dip of her collarbone, and then as he pulled out and pushed inside her again, he sank his teeth into her shoulder.

  “Oh, God,” she cried. The sweet bliss of intermingled pleasure and pain. One sensation fired the next, heightening both.

  Monster thrust inside her, hard and aggressive. His hand dug hard into her hip, and she knew she’d have bruises on her skin in the morning.

  She glanced over her shoulder, to see his fierce expression of concentration. There was something so erotic about him still being in his shirt and jacket, while she was naked except for her bra. Gradually her body softened and lubricated to him, and the pain gave way to pleasure. She found herself pushing back on him, wanting more.

  He must have sensed her need, because his hand left her hip and reached to the nub of nerves at the apex of her thighs. His fingers made contact with her clit and he rubbed firm circles as his cock slid rhythmically in and out of her pussy. Lily lost control, writhing against his hand while he fucked her. Her whole self had been reduced to her body and the desire she needed to sate.

  The orgasm started as a tight coil low in her groin, which slowly spread further and further out, until it encompassed her whole body. And then it broke, and he increased his movement, slamming into her as her inner muscles pulsed around him, and white stars exploded behind her eyelids.

  She heard him give a cry, and he held himself deep inside her, his hips shuddering to thrust into her again, and then a third time as his own orgasm unraveled and he spilled himself inside her.

  They held still for a moment, his arm circling her waist. Their bodies heaved as one as they caught their joined breaths. A trickle of sweat ran down the groove of her spine, and she felt him soften inside her.

  Monster slipped from her body and stepped away. With nowhere else to go, she crawled onto the bed and dropped down onto her side. Exhausted but sated, she lay with his semen running out from between her thighs. She looked at him anxiously, wanting him to shed his clothes and climb onto the bed with her, but instead he just stared at her, his eyes raking up and down the length of her reddened and bruised skin.

  He put himself away and shook his head. “That was a mistake.”

  And he turned and left the room.

  Lily curled up on her side, and then the magnitude of what had just happened swept over her. A sob burst from her throat and she wrapped her arms around her legs and let herself cry. So many years had passed since she’d given herself to a man like that, if giving herself was a right way of putting it. She wondered if Monster would have taken it anyway had she not offered herself up. The act brought back so many emotions. What had she been thinking? She was surely going crazy. But no, she knew her own mind, and her own body. She’d wanted him, and he’d wanted her. This might be an unorthodox situation, to say the least, but that attraction had been there since day one, and they’d both finally given in to it.

  Twenty-two

  Lily woke to the sound of the world ending.

  The explosion catapulted her from sleep, and she bolted upright in bed with a gasp. Her room was still intact, but the sound of the blast echoed in her ears. In the distance, she heard the crack of beams breaking, and farther sounds of things giving way and rubble crashing to the ground.

  What the hell was going on?

  Men shouting drew her attention. Was it Monster? But no, they were speaking in a language she didn’t understand. The pop-pop-pop of gunfire followed and she threw herself off the side of the bed, to hide on the floor beside it.

  She prayed Monster was all right, yet she couldn’t help clinging to a stupid, irrational hope.

  Perhaps they’re here for me. Everything he’s told you might be wrong, and these might be United States soldiers who have finally tracked you down and are here to take you home.

  But they weren’t speaking English. Maybe they’d enlisted some locals to break down barriers?

  No, she was being stupid. These were the people Monster had told her about—the reason he’d wanted his birthmark removed. They were the enemy, and she needed to remember that.

  So then why did she keep clinging to the hope? And why was it even hope? Was that what she wanted after all? Now Monster had brought her back to life, did she plan on abandoning him to his fate, while she went back home and lived a regular existence?

  She couldn’t think about all of this right now. The men’s shouting grew louder. There were several of them, at least.

  Monster, where are you?

  Lily hovered behind the bed, indecisive. She was glad she’d dressed herself again after Monster had left her bed a few hours ago. The vulnerability of having to deal with this while she was naked would have been too much.

  Should she go out there and try to find him? Or would she be better staying right where she was? She wasn’t even sure if the door was locked or not. If it was unlocked, she couldn’t just stay here, hiding. Despite all her faults and weaknesses, she wasn’t a coward. She’d go out and face whatever was going on.

  With her mind made up, Lily got to her feet and ran to the door. The sounds of gunfire had grown quiet for the moment. Her hand trembling, she tried the door handle. To her surprise, the handle turned and the door swung open.

  “Shit,” she hissed.

  Part of her had been hoping the door would be locked. At least then it would have allowed her to hide in the room.

  Stop bei
ng such a fucking wimp.

  Lily carefully eased open the door and peered out into the hall. It was empty, for the moment, with no sign of whatever had caused the sound of destruction that had woken her. Whatever occurred must have happened in the other wing of the house, above which Tudor’s quarters were located. She hoped the older man was all right. Despite their seriously rocky start, she didn’t want anything bad to happen to him.

  Moving as quietly as she could, and keeping her back to the wall in case someone should burst out of one of the adjoining doors, she ran down the corridor, toward the main part of the house. The corridor opened up into the large entrance hall, and Lily drew to a halt and gave a gasp of shock.

  Marianna lay crumpled at the bottom of the stairs.

  Lily ran to her side and dropped down to her knees beside the other woman.

  “Marianna?” she called, as quietly as possible. There was no response. “Marianna?” she said with more urgency.

  Her eyes were closed, and Lily couldn’t see any sign of her breathing, or her chest rising and falling. Had she fallen down the stairs, or been injured in the explosion Lily had heard? She reached out to take the woman’s hand, to press her fingers against the inside of her wrist to feel for a pulse, but she snatched back her hand. A pool of blood crept out from beneath Marianna’s body, and Lily noticed what she hadn’t before—two gunshots wounds right beneath Marianna’s ribs.

  Lily clasped her hand to her mouth. “Oh, God, no.”

  She fell backward onto her rear, and scrabbled back, pushing herself along with her heels. Her feet had hit the blood, and she left streaks where she’d tried to push herself away. She realized her right hand was damp, and she glanced down to see a handprint of red against the white marble tiles.

  “Oh!” she cried again, frantically wiping her hand on her shirt. Tears filled her eyes, and the scene in front of her blurred. She let out a sob and covered her mouth with both hands, terrified whoever had killed Marianna was still nearby and would hear her. Glancing around, wide-eyed, she expected armed men to burst out of the kitchen or living room and shoot her there and then.