He shushed her, the comforting sound perverted by the ill intent of the man who made it. “Anything?” He brought his finger to his lip, tapping it while pretending to be deep in thought. Standing up, he reached down with his hand, “Come with me, I have an idea.”
There was no trust in her for the man that stood before her, but without a choice, she stood as instructed, taking his hand when he attempted to assist her. Letting her go only briefly, he bent over to remove the shackle from her ankle, a hiss escaping her lips when the cool air met with the skin that had been opened by the rough circle of metal.
Taking her hand again, he led her into the bathroom, closing the door behind them with a soft click as she entered the low lighting of the room. She turned to him, not sure what he would ask of her, and praying if she pleased him, he wouldn’t force her to participate in whatever it was he’d earlier planned.
“Tell me you love me, Arianna. Tell me how you belong to me alone, how even if you’d escaped, you would never let another man’s hands touch you.”
She said what he wanted to her say, fell to her knees begging forgiveness in utter desperation to avoid whatever event he’d wanted her to attend.
Pulling a chair from near the wall, he sat it down in front of the vanity, so that the back of his head was clearly visible in front of the mirror. Taking a seat, he looked over at her. She crawled to him, ready to do whatever vile thing was necessary to change his mind. Placing one finger beneath her chin, he lifted her tear-streaked face so she looked directly into his eyes. “Dance for me, beautiful, show me the way your body moves just because you’re near me.” He released her and sat back awaiting his show.
Her body and heart grew numb, but she pushed herself up on her feet, slowly removing her clothes before swaying her hips to music unheard. Her eyes couldn’t help but look upon her image in the mirror and she winced to see the marks along her skin, the scars from years of beatings, her ribs that were exposed from lack of nutrition over the past couple of days.
The image sickened her, but she steeled her spine and danced for Joseph, attempting to goad him into satisfaction. He watched her from beneath the heavy lids of his eyes, his tongue flicking out to rub along his bottom lip. “That’s right baby, remind me why I fell in love with you in the first place.”
She kept dancing, fighting back tears of shame and regret while moving in front of him. When he stood suddenly, she couldn’t help but flinch, fear racing along her spine at what he would do to her next. Casually he pushed the chair aside and crooked his finger for her to approach him.
When she was near enough for him to grab her, he pulled her against his chest. The smell of his cologne mixed with the ever-present smell of alcohol burned at her nostrils. His mouth to her ear, he asked, “Do you love me?”
“Yes, Joseph, more than anything,” she lied.
His chest vibrated with a deep chuckle. “And do you want to do anything to please me?”
“Yes.”
He leaned down, his mouth finding hers as his tongue slid along her lips seeking entrance. She wanted to vomit, wanted to fight against the intimacy of his kiss, but instead opened her mouth, allowing him inside, acting as if she couldn’t get enough of him.
Breaking apart from her he moved quickly away and instructed, “Move to the vanity. Place your hands on the counter, your ass held high for me.”
She watched him in the mirror as she approached the counter. Placing her hands down she assumed the position he’d requested, her arms locked tight against whatever pain he could inflict against her. She continued watching as he approached and unbuckled his pants, letting them fall to his ankles while positioning himself behind her. One hand reached up to grab her hair, to hold her in place with her eyes locked to the mirror. He smiled again. “Don’t close your eyes, beautiful, I want you to watch while I take you.”
With one powerful thrust he forced himself inside her before he let go of her hair to wrap his fingers painfully around her hips. In a slow rhythm, he pounded within her, his head falling back as he groaned out his pleasure. After a few minutes, he pulled out. Locking his eyes with hers in the mirror, a grimace darkened his expression before he pushed into the tight opening of her ass. She cried out in pain, but did not remove her eyes from the image portrayed in the mirror.
“Tell me how much you like it. Tell me you want it harder.”
Tears finally escaping her eyes, she said, “I love it, Joseph, I want it harder.” Her voice cracked on those words but they seemed to satisfy him while he finished within her, finding his release while she watched. He pulled out, slapping her against the skin of her ass hard enough that it caused her entire body to shake from its force.
Another smile fell over his face as he moved to the shower to clean himself. When he’d finished and returned to stand behind her, he reached around and removed her hands from the counter. Bringing one hand up to his lips, he held her back against his chest and his other hand found her breast. Placing one soft kiss on her palm, he said, “Be ready in twenty minutes.”
Her knees buckled and he laughed when he dropped her to the floor. Exiting the room, he turned back to her, a blank expression on his face when he said, “Emory will be here to retrieve you shortly. I’d get dressed if you want to save what little dignity you have left.”
Chapter Twenty
Her feet hit painfully against the stone tile of the hallway as Emory led her through the corridor leading to the ballroom. When they approached the large double doors, Arianna expected the guards to open them for her to enter, but instead, they stood still, barely looking at her as she approached. She stopped in front of the doors, only looking back at Emory when his hand grabbed her neck to turn her towards the mansion’s foyer. Confusion filled her mind, but she dutifully stepped forward, not daring to upset the man behind her.
“We won’t be meeting in the ballroom tonight, sweetheart. Your husband has gone out of his way to plan an event that will be more special than any that you have attended before.” He laughed while walking her towards the large front doors, brushing against her when he reached around to pull the metal handle and lead them outside.
When he’d arrived to her room, it was the first time she’d seen him since that night at the gate. Her eyes immediately sought out the cut across his cheek, a sick satisfaction that it appeared several hundred stitches were needed to close up the gaping wound Connor had left on his face.
Underneath the new moon that hung sorrowfully in the sky, she walked ahead of Emory, in route towards a field that she knew existed on the opposite side of the building. As they approached the area, her eyes found a circle of torches, fire rushing angrily towards the sky where they’d been placed. Light and shadow danced along the bodies of the few men who stood on the outside of a circle set in the middle. Her brow furrowed when she saw four cars, positioned so that their rear ends were tucked within the circle.
Heads turned in her direction as she approached, and when the small group of men parted, Joseph stepped out from the center, walking towards her as she neared.
Taking her hand, he smiled at her, his eyes quickly flicking to Emory before falling back to her face. “Now that we have our honored guest in attendance, we can begin.”
Her eyes shot up to his before moving to peer over his shoulder. She couldn’t understand what was going on, why Joseph had staged the event outside, instead of in the ballroom. She suspected it had to do with the cars, but she couldn’t imagine why they were needed or what he planned to do with them.
Joseph led her to the fire-ensconced circle, covering her eyes with his hand and laughing when she flinched at the contact. Walking her to a position where he was satisfied, he removed his hand, slowly revealing the scene that was laid out before her.
She fell back instantly, her head shaking in denial of what she saw. Her husband was insane, she knew that, but she’d never dreamed how evil he’d become. Her heart pounded so violently, she feared it would break through her sternum, her chest hea
ving with erratic breath, fast and shallow, in no way delivering the amount of oxygen she needed to adequately process what was going on. Her eyes immediately moved to Joseph, terror wracking her nerves until every muscle quivered under its hold.
“You c…can’t do this, Joseph. P…please – please just let him go.”
Joseph stood perfectly still. With his hands folded behind his back, he looked at her through wide eyes, delight dancing across the molten grey at the event he’d planned for her. “Oh, sweet, Arianna. You see, my darling, I can’t let him go. He intended to take two things from me, both of which I held dearly to my heart.” Pulling his hands out from behind his back, he lifted them as if in surrender, and shrugged his shoulders when he said, “I’m sorry, beautiful, but he’s been sentenced to death.”
He stalked towards her, every muscle in his body visible under the material of his crisp white shirt. Shadows and light from the fire danced across his face, casting a menacing light to an expression that already spoke of intense hatred and maniacal thoughts. When he was so close, she could smell the sweetness of the alcohol on his breath and could feel the heat that rolled off his large body, he asked, “Are you ready to find out why you’re here?”
Her entire body shook, fear producing sweat that rolled off her skin, her stomach twisted into a knot at how much worse the situation would become.
Joseph reached up and snapped his fingers, and out of her periphery vision she could see Emory moving towards them, his large body somehow slithered in the manner in which he moved. When he was almost to them, Joseph grabbed Arianna’s chin, lifting her face to him when his mouth covered hers, his tongue sliding across her teeth, her tongue, invading her to the point where she could barely breath.
He pulled back, his hand moving to wipe the moisture from around his lips. “My beautiful girl, you’re here because you get to choose how he dies.”
When Joseph backed away, Connor once again came into view. He sat on his knees in the middle of the cars, his broad chest was bare, only a pair of stained and torn sweatpants on his body to cover him. His head was bent forward, the pure black of his hair shining brightly underneath the light of the flames. Her eyes traveled over his skin, her body wracking with sobs to see the wide gashes where he’d been cut, or the bruises and deformed bones that protruded from beneath. His once-beautiful body was disfigured from the days of abuse he’d obviously endured.
“Connor, why don’t you look up so you can see Arianna for the last time. She’s looking absolutely lovely tonight.”
Arianna’s breath caught in her chest when Connor’s arms shook against the chains shackled to his wrists. The muscles flexed, their lines defined by the shadows of the flames. Sweat soaked his skin and caused him to glow under the light. Slowly, he lifted his head, his swollen lids fluttering open, his emerald eyes finally peeking out at her from beneath the fan of black lashes that lined them.
Sobs broke free, her body violently shaking from their force. She wanted to drop to her knees, wanted to crawl to the man that she loved and break him free of the chains that bound him where he knelt.
Joseph moved to her side, put his arm around her waist as if he wished to steady her and prevent her from falling to the ground. “As I’m sure you figured out Arianna, Connor is about to die a somewhat quick, but very painful death.”
Her eyes left Connor to travel the length of the chains that were attached to his arms and attached to the rear bumpers of the cars. She noticed two other chains that she knew had to be attached to Connor’s ankles, the opposite ends also attached to the cars. “Joseph, no. This is too far, this…it’ll tear him apart.”
“Precisely, my beautiful wife. And I imagine a death such as that must sting a little.” He mocked her with his words, acted nonchalant, as if they were talking about nothing more than the weather. “There is a way you can help him, however.”
Joseph put his hand to his side, palm up so that his fingers could wrap around the handle of the blade that Emory gave him. Arianna looked down at the knife, the blade polished to a point where it flickered from the firelight above.
When her eyes finally rose up to look at Joseph, he grinned. “You can make this easy for him. All you have to do is cut his throat, or stab him in the heart. End his life for him quickly, or subject him to being ripped into four pieces.
“No, Joseph – no I can’t do this.” Her knees threatened to give out again, and her head hurt from the pressure of the blood rushing through her veins. She felt like her heart would stop, that she’d drop to the ground unable to move or scream, if she couldn’t wake up from an event that was so horrible it couldn’t be real.
“No? That’s fine. We’ll do it my way, then.” Lifting his hand again, he snapped his fingers and the engines to the cars started in unison. She couldn’t move, her jaw hanging uselessly as she stood in shock.
The cars seemed to jump when they moved forward. Slowly the slack in the chains decreased while Connor fought to keep his head up so that he could look at Arianna. Her hand went to her mouth, covering an expression of absolute horror. When the chains lifted, Connor’s legs were forced out from beneath him, his body elevated off the ground from the movement of the cars. His face twisted, his jaw locked with clenched teeth, and a scream tore from his throat when his appendages were stretched taut and pulled out painfully from his body.
“STOP!!” Her throat was raw when she screamed, her eyes unable to focus from the burning pain of her tears. “Stop! Joseph, you have to stop!”
Joseph snapped again and Emory yelled out a command in response. The cars stopped, the white of their rear lights shining as they backed up and lowered Connor’s body to the ground. When he was down, he writhed over the grass, extreme pain apparent by the way his muscles twitched over his bones.
Finally, not having the strength to hold herself up any longer, Arianna fell to the ground, her body folding over itself as she fell. Joseph knelt down beside her, offering the knife to her, a man in supplication. She eyed the knife warily, her eyes sliding across the sharpened blade, her hands digging into the earth beneath her.
“This is your choice, Arianna, but I’ll only allow you to make it once. I’ve stopped the cars, I’ve done what you asked, but you must follow through with your part of the bargain. If you can’t do it this time, I won’t stop the cars again.”
She reached out to take the knife from his hand. She imagined slicing it across his throat, or turning so quickly that the blade sank deeply into his heart, slicing open the cold and bitter thing that beat in his chest. But she couldn’t. If she attacked him, he’d kill her and her son would be left alone, raised by monsters, made into a monster himself.
As soon as her fingers had wrapped tightly around the handle, Joseph grabbed her by her hair, forcing her ear to his mouth. “Kill him for me, my love. Prove to me that you prefer me to that man. I want to believe you didn’t want to leave with him, I want to believe he’d forced you to leave.”
His insanity was proven beyond doubt. Arianna knew from his words that he’d come up with excuses, lies to protect his precious ego from her betrayal. She’d known all along, but she didn’t realize, could never have imagined, how depraved he’d become.
Pushing herself up from the ground, she walked slowly towards Connor. Her legs felt heavy when she walked, her torso wanting to give out, allowing her to fold back over to the ground, to ball up in protection from a waking nightmare. When she approached Connor, his eyes were clenched in pain, his face a stark white skin stretched taut over the disfigured features of his face. Dropping to her knees beside him, she fought against reaching out to touch him, to provide him even a small amount of comfort in what she was about to do.
Speaking low so that only he could hear her, she said, “I love you, Connor. I don’t want to do this, but I can’t let you die the other way.” Her throat could barely move and her words were broken by the quake of her body.
His eyes opened and his head turned so that he could look at her. Even thou
gh his jaw looked like it was broken, he opened his mouth to talk, a single tear escaping his eyes as he looked her over once more. “You don’t have to do this.” His words were spoken so quietly, so slowly, that she could barely hear him. “Lo…love you. Don’t let him…” The blood coughed from his lungs caused him to pause before he finished, “Don’t let him do this to you. I’m…I’m sorry…for failing.”
Her chest felt like it ripped open from pain. She could have plunged the knife in her own body and would have hurt less than the emotions his words made her feel. Speaking through her tears, she said, “You didn’t fail. I know you did everything you could. I’m not letting him do anything, Connor, I’m doing this because I love you and because I can’t let him torture you any more.”
“Get on with it, Arianna! We don’t have all night!” A deep baritone, the accent of a rich and powerful man, Joseph’s voice echoed across the field, louder than the engines of the cars, or the murmured noises made by the other men.
Her body shook, her eyes never leaving Connor’s when she leaned over his body and placed the blade to his neck. The skin of his throat moved over the steel of the blade when he instructed, “Push deep and pull hard. There are only two veins you need to cut.” He paused to catch his breath before adding, “I know you love me, I know we could have been good together. We were. I’m sorry to leave you behind, Arianna.” He closed his eyes and his head leaned back against the grass, awaiting his fate.
She allowed her anger towards Joseph to drive her, to provide strength to the muscle in her arm. Squeezing her eyes shut against the terror she felt, she opened them again and gritted her teeth when she dragged the blade across his neck, hard and deep just like he’d instructed. Blood shot out from the wound, streaming in pulses from his body, the beat of his heart driving the spray.