I was about to ask him when the door in front of us opened. I looked up, expecting to see the ladies coming in for our couples massage.
But massage therapists didn't wear jet black. They weren't so tall and ruthless, and they sure as fuck didn't carry heavy rifles in their hands.
David jerked up and charged them first. The men held up their hands, raising the guns. I screamed.
He must've known they wouldn't fire if they were here for me, but I didn't. I wasn't trusting a damned thing. Dad was capable of anything after trying to kill me once.
My lover howled as he tackled one man, beating him to the ground despite his armor. The commando growled, pulling at David's head. The two men rolled on the floor, fighting like savages as the third stood over them, trying to find an opening.
High, feminine screams burst in the lobby outside. A gun went off. I covered my ears and closed my eyes.
Jesus, it was all over. Done in an instant. I was afraid to look and see David slumped on the floor dead.
My ears couldn't ignore the heavy footsteps, leather boots stomping on tile. A parakeet wailed just as a gloved hand ripped me up by the shoulders.
“No!” I screamed, kicking and thrashing at last.
Two men dragged me up on my feet and carried me toward the fire exit. I watched David, still locked in battle with the two commandos. He had one man on the ground, beating his head into the pavement, but the second commando was right behind him, the butt of his rifle raised.
Tears stung my eyes like unruly wasps when I saw it come down and heard the sickening crack. David swore, looked at me once with blurry eyes, and then collapsed. I screamed bloody murder, no longer carrying about the humiliation.
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Being forced outside by strange men in just my panties wasn't half the horror of seeing the only man I loved killed in front of me. I screamed and screamed, slowing my captors a little with my kicks before screaming some more through the commando's fingers around my mouth.
There was a truck waiting, something that looked like it was there to drop off supplies. So, that was how they'd done it. My asshole father always preferred stealth and subtlety to brute force. The men hoisted me up high, ready to hand me off to another man in black standing above them.
I kicked my legs and hit someone's face with my feet. The man howled angrily, throwing extra force into his toss. The man in the truck yanked me up by the hair, held me down, laying on top of me.
“No! Get the fuck off!” My voice rumbled, shrill like a cougar's final warning before she pounced.
Flailing, shaking, screaming, I tried to go for his eyes. He beamed frustration down at me and tightened his grip on my shoulders, constricting my arms and legs until I was nearly still.
Then his head snapped down and crashed into mine. Right in the forehead, an explosion of red and black and pain. The last thing I heard was David's roar, the last grunt he made right before he went out, and then the curtains came down over my own eyes.
I followed my lover into darkness, but he wasn't waiting for me there.
“Welcome home, my daughter.”
I swore I heard my father's words in my deep, dark, dreamless sleep before I opened my eyes and saw him. Soon as I did, I scrambled to my feet, wincing at the terrible pain in my head. Pressing gentle fingers to my forehead hurt.
“I can assure you there's no permanent damage, Annaliza. My men are well trained. Nicilo only did what was necessary to restrain you. He'd never do you real harm.” He took a step forward, the fine blue suit he always wore adding to the shadows in the little cabin.
The slight jolt beneath my feet told me right away we were on a ship. Probably the long range yacht that had been in my family for more than a decade, the same ship he used to ferry himself down to business meetings along the coast.
“Shhhh. Daddy's here.” He forced his arms around me and pulled me tight, never letting up when I whimpered and pushed my back to wall, seeking an escape that wasn't there.
“Get off!” Strength returning, I pushed him away as hard as I could.
Dad jumped back and looked at me, eyes wide. My heart crashed against my ribs as the horror of the past week returned in a flood, lighting up my brain with rage, venom, love, lust. And – how could I forget? – terror.
The brutal terror ruled everything.
“What is it, Annaliza? I thought you'd be grateful to see me again!”
“You...you tried to kill me. Jesus, where's David? Did you kill him too?”
“He'll be alive for a few more hours,” my father said sourly. “If you're still upset about that little incident in the woods, understand I was doing what any father would.”
I narrowed my eyes. I didn't think he'd come out and admit it. But then, David taught me more about the beast who'd raised me than twenty years of living with him had.