Anger shimmered across his face, so I knew my words had stung his pride.
“I was going to make this painless. Quick. But now I think I might take my time with you.”
My heart pounded in my chest. I had to make a break for it. If I could get to a window, I could dive out of it into the street and he was less likely to make a scene in public. It was the only chance I had left. So, I launched up from the chair and pushed past him, racing for the open window across the room.
I ran as fast as I could, but he tackled me and we both crashed to the ground. Pain shot through my womb and up my spine. As we struggled, he got me on my back and quickly overpowered me. He forced my legs open and pressed his pelvis into mine, reaching between us to undo his belt buckle. He was hard and I realized he’d probably been aroused the entire time.
“Now, I’m not a rapist by nature,” he panted. “But when Cade finds you, I want him to know exactly what you went through.”
He lowered his zipper and released his erection, and I quickly ramped up my struggle for freedom.
“No!” I yelled.
It’s amazing the strength you can summon when you’re fighting for your life. But even so, I was no match for Elias’s power.
He went for my panties and I screamed at him, but that only seemed to excite him more.
“And I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t looking forward to getting a taste of the tight little pussy that has Cade so fucking whipped.” He tried to get his fingers into my panties but I was thrashing about too much. Again, this only seemed to fuel his amusement and excitement. “Yeah, I knew you’d be a screamer. You like it rough, baby. You better believe that’s how you’re going to get it.”
His mouth went to the curve of my neck and his tongue slid along my throat to my ear.
“I’m going to enjoy this,” he said hoarsely, his erection pressing into my thigh. “To think if Cade hadn’t volunteered to go to Kansas in my place, I was just going to shoot you. Just like Mirabella. But him leaving gave me time. With you.”
That was when I got one arm free and shoved my fingers into his left eye. And I didn’t hold back, either. I dug them right in there and gouged it.
Elias growled and rolled off me, thrusting his palm up to his eye. I took advantage and scurried backwards, my mind frantically searching for a survival plan. Elias climbed to his feet, unsteadily, and I shakily rose to mine. Not wasting a moment longer, I closed the space between us and slammed my knee into his groin. With a cry, he fell to his knees, his exposed erection going limp from the pain in his balls.
“You goddamn fucking bitch!” he roared.
And because he was a murdering, raping, sonofabitch, while he nursed his aching balls, I kicked him in the jaw, dropping his murderous ass to the floor.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have the energy for any more, and I began to see stars. And despite the adrenaline powering through my veins, I felt woozy and stumbled on my feet. I slumped against the wall.
No, no, no, no.
I was going to pass out. Elias rose to his knees.
But it was okay. Because right in that moment, Cade burst in the room with his gun firmly aimed at Elias.
CADE
Nothing could prepare me for what I was going to see when I kicked in the front door of the non-descript, suburban home.
But seeing Elias on his knees, nursing his balls and a half-naked Indy slumped against the wall, made me see red.
Blood fucking red.
What the fuck had Elias done to my queen?
I raised my gun, ready to put a bullet in him. Hell, I was ready to unload the entire fucking clip into his head, but Indy’s voice stopped me.
“Cade, no!” she cried out, hoarsely. She was conscious but only just. Her head lolled against the wall as she looked at me. “Don’t kill him.”
But the murderous rage pounding through me was hard to drown out. I had to calm it down, and the only way was to make Elias feel all the pain and suffering of the people he had hurt. Isaac. Tex. Irish. Freebird. Mirabella. Indy. He had to pay for what he had done to them.
“You murdering sonofabitch,” I seethed, crossing the room to stand over him.
“If you kill him, you’ll be giving him what he wants,” Indy pleaded.
Elias smirked through the delirium of pain. “I’ve already gotten what I want. Making the Kings pay.” He laughed, dazed, blood spilling down his chin from his bloodied mouth. “Gutting the club like a pig. Taking you out . . . one by one.”