Adrian's Wrath(43)

She pushed away from the door and grabbed her purse. Panic had a hold of her now when she couldn’t find her phone right away. Dumping the entire contents of her purse out, she moved everything around until she found what she was looking for. Her fingers were sweaty and shaky as she opened the phone. The feel of perspiration sliding between her breasts was a distraction, but she didn’t have time to let her fear seize her.

Nine.

One.

Before she could enter the last number pain exploded in the back of her head and then everything went dark.





Chapter Twenty-One




A haze of disorientation covered her like a warm blanket. Brea could feel wetness on her face and it took her a moment to realize it was tears. Had she been crying? Why was she crying? She tried to take a deep breath through her mouth but something blocked the air flow and she breathed in through her nose. Something wasn’t right. The lights seemed too bright as she opened her eyes. Pain pounded in the back of her head and she tried to lift her hand to the source, but she realized her hands were bound behind her. Everything was a blurred mass of shapes and colors, and when her vision cleared she realized she was in her living room. Why did her head hurt so much and why couldn’t she breathe out of her mouth?

“Ah, she lives.”

That voice caused shivers to skate through her body and had goose bumps lining her skin. She tried to move but not only were her hands tied to the chair, her legs were as well.

“Shhh. Don’t struggle, love. You know that will only make the knots tighter.”

Oh God. No. Please, no. A choked sob left her and she cried harder. She knew all too well the knots Cameron tied. It had been a thing that tortured her and got him off. He could make it so any move she made had the nylon digging into her skin, even tearing her flesh. She still couldn’t see him, and that fact alone had every one of her senses screaming out. How had this happened? She had taken great care to make sure she wasn’t put in this situation again. The alarm. The name change. The fucking gun training. All of it was for nothing because in the end he still found her. Still had her at his mercy.

“I have to admit, love, you had me running for quite some time.” His warm breath teased her ear at the same time she felt his hands settle on her shoulders. “Didn’t I tell you I’d find you? Didn’t I tell you there was nowhere you would be able to hide from me?” he whispered and then dragged his tongue along the side of her neck.

Brea closed her eyes and cried out, but the sound was muffled by whatever he had shoved in her mouth. Trying in vain to get her hands free proved a fruitless attempt. The rope dug even further into her flesh and she felt the warm wetness of her blood as her skin ripped open.

“You know”—he kept one hand on her as he moved in front of her—“I could have forgiven the fact that you ran from me, Brea, but the fact that you spread those legs for another man is something I simply won’t tolerate.” She wouldn’t look up, wouldn’t look into his heartless eyes and give him the satisfaction of seeing how frightened she really was.

“Look at ME!” The sound of his voice, a roar in the small confines had her immediately obeying. “Ah, that’s my girl. You were always such a good and docile little bitch.” Cameron hadn’t changed. His blond hair was immaculately styled, and his handsome face was what had initially drawn her. He had her tied up and planned on doing horrendous things to her, that she didn’t doubt, but here he wore a light-blue oxford, Dockers, and loafers. He looked like a fucking advertisement for Better Homes and Gardens.

He took a step back from her and stared at her for so long all she wanted to do was gouge her own eyes out. He made a tsking sound, as if he was highly disappointed in her, and started rolling his sleeves up his forearms. Watching him do such a mundane act had her shaking, because she knew what came after he rolled his sleeves up. Pain.

“If you would have just stayed, Brea, we could have worked it out.” She wasn’t fooled. He had deceived her once, but she knew the kind of evil that lurked inside of him. “I want you, still do even after you became that common thug’s little slut.” When his sleeves were rolled up he started undoing several of the buttons of his shirt. “Did you know you were letting a murderer fuck you, Brea?”

Cameron was the master of all manipulators. She knew Adrian hadn’t killed that man, hadn’t killed his family, but Cameron thought he had left her in the dark. He was trying to use this knowledge, these lies to warp her feelings for Adrian. It didn’t matter, because whatever Cameron said would never change how she felt for Adrian. She was now glad things were over with her and him, because he wouldn’t be in the path of Cameron’s destruction. Her tears didn’t stop, and she saw the grin on Cameron’s face grow.