June
Normal night. Absolutely normal, no issues here. No reason to be suspicious.
Rafe works late. I have dinner with Hattie, hang around in the media room with
her watching movies, and put her to bed at eight. When she’s asle ep, I retreat into
the master suite to read until ten, then it’s lights out.
My husband appears around eleven. He’s quiet, but I make sure I don’t pass out.
He slips in beside me and goes still, his breathing steady and even, while I force
myself to count the hours.
At some point, I open my eyes.
Oh no.
It’s almost two-thirty. I wanted to be up and going by now, but I can’t panic. If I
screw this up, Rafe will double the security and I’ll never get out of here.
With my heart racing, I slip out of bed, and pause halfway to the bathroom.
Rafe doesn’t stir.
I’ll say this for my husband. He’s insanely attractive, fucks like a god, and sle eps
like the dead.
That’s it for his redeeming qualities though.
I sneak to the closet and find the bag I hid under the pile of clothes. Rafe thinks I
threw a tantrum and that’s partially correct. It felt good making a huge mess.
But mostly I wanted to leave this here to ke ep my go-bag hidden.
Once I dig it out, I put on sneakers, tug on a black sweatshirt and black jeans, and
hurry to the bedroom door.
Rafe’s breathing is even and steady.
In the hall, I start to wonder if I can really do this.
Hattie’s room first. She’s dead to the world. I shake her gently until she grunts and
groans, eyelids fluttering. “Quiet now, baby,” I whisper, lifting her into my arms.
God, when did she get so heavy?! I remember walking around her bedroom rocking
and bouncing her until she passed out. I had a whole dance routine and a song to go
with it. Hattie’s Sle epy Moves. Worked every time—and by every time, I mean once
or twice per week.
“Mommy? I’m tired.”
“I know, baby, but we have to get going. I have a surprise for you, but you have to
be quiet, okay?”
“Why?”
“We’re chasing after a special unicorn tonight.”
That gets her attention. “Really?”
“Mhmm. I’ll tell you all about it on the way. We’re going into the forbidden
forest—“
“Mommy!”
“I know, sweetie, but you’ll be brave and it’ll be okay. Can you do that for me?”
This is the biggest uncertainty in my plan. Hattie’s only a little girl and I don’t know
how far we have to hike before we find civilization. But I do remember it isn’t that
long and the delivery driver even mentioned how
it’s twenty minutes from the store. We get out of the gate, follow the drive to the
main road, ideally hitch a ride to town—
And then disappear.
I hold Hattie’s hand. Fear strikes de ep into my guts. Can I really do this? Can I
really es cape?
If it were only me, I don’t think I’d try.
I’m a coward. I know, it’s pathetic but it’s true. If I didn’t have my daughter to
worry about, I think I’d dream about running away but never follow through, too
weak and afraid to do anything.
But for Hattie?
I’d kill for my little girl.
I push open her door, determined to do this. I’ll burn the world for her. I’ll rip up a
mountain with my bare hands. Anything it takes—
I stop short, breath caught in my throat, and a scream at the edge of my tongue.
He’s standing in the hallway wreathed in darkness. A black t-shirt and dark shorts.
His tattoos are ghostly and visible, eerie in the soft night lights.
Rafe stares at me calmly.
“We’re searching for a special unicorn,” Hattie says happily. “Want to come,
Rafey?”
His eyes drift to her. For a moment, his cold mask slips. “Not tonight, love. You
should go back to bed. Your mother was wrong, the unicorn’s not out right now.”
“Is that true, Mommy?”
Tears fill my eyes. My throat closes.
God, why am I so stupid?
“Yes, sweetie, it must be true. Sorry, Mommy made a mistake.”
“Oh, it’s okay. I didn’t want to go. Can I get in bed now?”
“Go ahead, baby.” I kiss her and walk her back to tuck her in. “I love you so much.”
“You too, Mommy.” She snuggles in and cuddles with a pile of new stuffies.
Rafe’s still waiting in the hall. I pull Hattie’s door closed with a click and he
studies me. A tingling fear rolls down my spine and I realize he’s angry.
“How did you think this would go?” he asks, voice soft in the darkness. “Explain to
me what you were thinking.”
“I’m a prisoner, Rafe. Did you really expect me to roll over and let you own me?”
“No, not that. How did you think you’d get out with her?” His jaw sets, eyes
sharpening.
“You’re not angry I tried to es cape?”
“Not at all. I expected you to try sooner. But what I want to know is why the fuck
did you think you could drag my five-year-old daughter through the pine barrens in
the middle of the night?”
I make an in voluntary grunt. I feel like someone punched me in the guts. “There’s
the driveway—“
“It’s five miles long.”
My mouth hangs open. “What? Seriously?”
“Yes, June, it’s five miles long, and everything around is rough terrain. You’d hike
for hours in the pitch black, your daughter cold and afraid beside you, only to find the
dirt fucking road that twists and turns for another five miles to the nearest paved
access street.”
“The grocery driver... he said it’s twenty minutes...”
“Twenty minutes to the fucking street in a god damn van.”
My heart sinks in horror at the realization of what I almost did.
I collapse against the wall, chest aching. “I didn’t know...”
“You were going to scar our daughter, and for what? Only for me to catch you?”
I look at him. Rafe’s eyes shine with fury, but there’s something else.
He was worried about Hattie. And maybe he was worried about me. He looks
almost...
Afraid.
“I’m a prisoner here. My daughter’s a prisoner too. Our cage is beautiful and
comfortable, but it’s still a cage. I was going to do what you forced me to do.”
“You are wrong.” He st eps forward, jaw gritted, and grabs my right wrist. He lifts
it above my head. I gasp in shock, arching into him. “I’m saving your life and you
have no idea.”
“How? Tell me how? And don’t give me some vague bullshit about enemies.”
“You saw your friend. You watched what my brother did to bring you to our
wedding.”
My heart leaps as I press my free palm into his chest. I ke ep it there, pushing
lightly, but not doing much, only feeling his heart beating as fast as mine.
“But how do I know this is better? We could have called the police.”
“There are no police in my world.”
“Then make me understand why all of this is necessary.”
He grabs my other wrist—but doesn’t move my hand. Instead, he pushes it harder
against his shirt. I feel his warm chest beneath the thin cotton and a heat pools
between my legs. Fear, elation, desire, it all battles under my skin, and I don’t know
why I’m like this, why I’m feeling this. I’m afraid and excited, like I wanted him to
catch me.
Like I want him to hold me pinned to the wall.
“She’s my daughter,” he whispers hoarsely. “I never wanted any of this for either
of you. I stayed away for years... I k ept you safe by ke eping my distance... but all that
changed. They found out about you.”
Coldness spreads into my toes. “Who did?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“Rafe—“
“It’s the truth, damn it.” He grips me hard, leaning in closer, massive body pinning
me to the wall. “I did what I felt was necessary and I will ke ep on doing it, no matter
what it takes, because you are mine, June, and that little girl in there is my blood,
whether you like it or not.”
Tears spring into my eyes. “I didn’t want you to be a part of her life.”
“And I didn’t either, but here we are.”
He crushes his mouth to mine. I whimper in surprise, fear, anger, hate, and I kiss
him back. Desperation builds and crests, crashing down around my body. How far
has this man gone to bring me here? How many rules has he broken? And what else
will he do?
The hours of watching him interact with my daughter, the way he’s softening to
her, how they’ve gotten along so well...
This is hell, I know it, and the devil’s here to ruin me.
And a sick part of me wants him to.
I moan into his mouth as his hand releases my left wrist. He pushes up my top,
cupping my breasts roughly. I groan as his knee presses between my legs and I arch
down, grinding into him as he bites my lip, kisses my neck, nibbles my ear, yanks the
top off and tosses it onto the floor.
“Rafe—“ I whimper his name, afraid of so many things.
“Quiet, love, or we’ll get caught. You don’t want that to happen twice tonight.” He
lifts my hand above my head again and kisses my neck then plunges his mouth to
mine, tongue gliding between my lips.
His taste is an assault. His touch is everything I need. I should be running right
now, es caping this madness with my daughter, but instead I’m letting the very man
I’m trying to es cape kiss me like he’s going to die if he doesn’t get one last taste.
I curse softly as his lips move down to my chin, my neck, down to my breasts, and
down again as he falls to his knees in front of me.
“Oh shit,” I whisper. He tugs down my jeans, taking them off gingerly. His mouth
moves to my hips and he murmurs my name as he kisses along the top of my
underwear, nibbling and sucking like he’s trying to drink me down.
“Baby,” he says with a heavenly sigh. “God damn you, June, why do you think you
can get away from me? Like I’d ever let you go?”
Fucking psycho. I grip his hair hard, ready to rebuke him, but his mouth finds my
pussy over my panties and I forget what I was about to say.
He kisses me over the fabric and it’s soaking in moments. I moan instead of
screaming. He growls a low rumble of joy and desire, pushing my panties aside,
revealing my wet lips to the cool air.
His tongue laps me up and I’m ruined.
There’s no coming back from this.
He licks and sucks. My fingers curl into his hair, both hands now holding onto him
like I’m riding his face and gripping on for dear life. I throw my head back and moans
es cape my lips. I’m struggling to be quiet—Hattie’s in the room behind us, but luckily
she sle eps like her father does.
Her father...
The man going down on me in the hallway.
Oh god, oh god, oh god.
His tongue spreads my folds and slides inside, back out, swirling and sucking,
focusing on my clit. Pleasure slams in waves. I arch against his mouth, grinding into
him, wanting more. One of his hands reaches up to shove a thumb between my lips
and I suck it eagerly. The other holds my
ass, pulling my pussy tighter to his mouth as he devours me, making the most
delicious sounds.
“Baby, you taste so good,” he moans, pulling back and breathing hard, staring up
into my eyes. He’s on his knees, the gaze of a desperate penitent. “I want my tongue
inside of you when you come.”
Shit.
“I want that too.”
He shoves two fingers in my mouth. I suck them, moaning, before he pulls them
out and slides them de ep into my pussy. It feels so good I say his name and have to
bite my knuckle to ke ep from screaming out.
He fucks me with his big, tattooed fingers. H and E gliding de ep inside. His mouth
sucks and licks my clit, and I’m ruined, god, I’m totally ruined, grinding down on the
mouth of my captor, the father of my daughter, my husband, my nightmare and devil,
and loving every second of it. The things this man does to me. The way he does them,
like he’s breaking all his rules to take me.
I bite down harder to ke ep from sobbing his name.
“Baby, please,” he begs, and it destroys me. “Please, baby, come for me, let me
lick you clean, baby, please.”
That finally shatters me. I cross the line and fall, unable to come back, as the
pressure builds in my core and overflows.
I come against his mouth. My back twists, my core clenches, and I burst to pieces,
break to shards, burn to ashes. I come so hard my vision turns black and he doesn’t
stop, the monster, he eagerly licks and coaxes more and more, until I can barely
stand. Only then does he pull back, rocking onto his heels, and slipping his fingers
into his mouth to suck every drop of me.
“Now, you will go back to bed,” he says evenly. “You will get under the covers. And
you will never try this again.”
“Rafe,” I whimper, mind so wrecked that I can’t come up with an argument.
“Say you understand.”
“I...”
“For your safety, June. And for our daughter.”
I close my eyes. Our daughter.
“I understand.”
“Good girl.” He pats my butt gently. “Now go.”
“Where will you be?” I pick up my clothes, clutching them to my chest.
“In the bathroom.” He stands to his full height. I’m amazed all over again at his
size. “Taking care of my needs.”
My cheeks burn as I hurry back into the bedroom.
There’s no es cape. Not from a man like this.
Not when I have to think of my daughter.
And my future.
And our safety.
And the way my husband looks at me... like I’m his sin and his downfall... and he
can’t wait to burn.
I pull the covers over my head and listen to him moan my name from behind the
bathroom door.