Beautiful Tyrant (Enemies to Lovers - Dark Romance Book 3) Read online

  'Of course. Check out the merchandise. See if anything creative springs to mind. I need a drink anyway, and we appear to have run out of Jack. I'll be back shortly. Don't do anything stupid while I'm gone, though. I'd hate to have to tie you to my chair tomorrow evening.' As far as threats go, it's as good as it gets. I hope by now that Gabriel realises who's he's dealing with, but if he doesn't, I'm going to let him know shortly.

  When the door closes Gabriel is on me in an instant. 'He wants me to hurt you,' he whispers fiercely through gritted teeth. I can see rage in his eyes again. He looks like he's about to explode. You can only bottle that stuff up for so long. If he's not careful he'll go pop.

  'That's the name of the game,' I whisper. 'You hurt me, I scream. You can do that, can't you? Give it a go. You might even enjoy it.' I'm not sure why I want to get a rise out of him, but I do. Maybe I'm just trying to figure out who's side he's really on.

  'I'm not fucking joking,' he bites back at me. 'There's a pair of pliers and a circular saw on the bed. He wants me to use them on you. This isn't a bit of slap and tickle. At best I'll scar you for life, at worst I'll kill you.'

  'And here I thought you wanted me dead.' My smile is bittersweet. I wonder if Gabriel will manage to get Brandt back when I'm gone? If he does, he's a lucky bastard. Waking up to Brandt every morning is my idea of heaven.

  'That's not even funny. Brandt will kill me if anything happens to you. Besides, I don't want to kill you any more. At first I wasn't sure I believed your story, but now I believe every word. That man out there,' he points behind me, 'is a monster. He needs to be eradicated from this earth by any means necessary. All I want to know is, are you going to help me?' He sucks in a breath, as if trying to control himself from lashing out, and he stands there, his body rippling with tension as he waits for my reply. Now I know Mal is dangerous, but Gabriel is in another league entirely. Mal is only dangerous because of the people that surround him and the gun he carries. Gabriel, on the other hand, is a walking, talking, killing machine. He has a finely honed edge that only prison can teach a man, and Mal lacks his precision and grace. They are both deadly, but in different ways. If I had to pick one to have on my side, I'd go with Gabriel. I'm counting on the fact that he isn't as fucked-up as Mal. It's a long shot, but I'll take it.

  'I'll do anything I can to put that man down, and that includes killing myself,' I whisper back as my face clouds with rage. 'He's tormented me for years. You can't even begin to understand the hatred I feel for him.' This much, at least, is true.

  'Maybe not, but I'm beginning to.' He brushes a hand across my cheekbone. It's a gentle touch, and I don't expect it. Gabriel unnerves me in the worst way. I never know quite what to expect when he's around.

  'Do whatever Mal tells you to,' I say, trying to take the sting out of this awful situation. 'Don't worry about me. I can take it.' I've been taking it for years. What's a little more of the same?

  He shakes his head. 'Not this time, you won't. He means for me to start cutting into you. You'll be screaming within seconds. I meant it when I said it will leave permanent scars, and they might not all be physical. Does Mal have any drugs around here? Anything you can take for the pain?'

  'No.' Mal would never dream of making my life easy like that.

  'Fuck.' Gabriel locks his jaw as his eyes penetrate mine. Light dances in them, and for a second I find myself entranced in that beautiful face. I know tonight will hurt, but I also know it could be worse. Mal could be doing it, for starters. With any luck I'll get away with a quick blowjob after this is all finished and then I can slink away to bed. Sleep seems to be the only respite I get these days, and even then there's a chance that the nightmares will be almost worse than the real thing. How I long for oblivion - the long, unending, buried under six foot of dirt kind.

  'Just do what you have to do to get yourself out of here. If I die I'm not going to come back and haunt you. I promise.' I accepted the fact that my life would be short a long time ago. To be honest, I've lived far longer than I thought I would.

  'That's not even funny. While there's breath in my body you will live, you understand me?' His eyes eat mine alive, burning them from the inside out. My head wants to leap back, to escape that gaze, but there's only cold, hard plaster behind me, and I'm going nowhere. When there's no response from my lips, Gabriel hisses, 'Nod your head.' I do. I'm too scared to do otherwise. 'Good. I'm glad we understand each other. Tonight I will try my best to do you the least amount of harm possible and you, in return, will scream like I'm frying you alive in oil. That should keep him at bay. If I find a chance to escape I'll take it, but I'm not holding out much hope. Mal seems far too careful.' The light in his eyes extinguishes. He looks worried, and I can see the pain in his eyes. He's thinking about what will come next. He's the lucky party. I'm the one who will bear the brunt of this.

  I nod. I will do anything I can to lessen the ordeal I'm about to face, and I'm happy to obey him to the letter. I'm not sure there's much he can do to stop the carnage that's about to unfold, but I'm not about to tell him that. He'll figure it out.

  I wonder if he can read my mind because he grabs my hand, squeezing it tightly, and says, 'We will get out of this, Harper. I promise. I've been taken by bigger thugs and been in worse situations, trust me. I always find a way out. You just need to be strong. Do you think you can do that?'

  'I can do that,' I say. At least, I hope I can. I have a bad feeling my limits are about to be tested, though.

  'Good,' he whispers. 'We'll beat this bastard together, I promise.' They are the last words he gets to utter because the doors behind us crash open and Mal storms in waving about a full bottle of whisky.

  'Anyone want a glass?' he asks. He is high. I can tell by the sound of his voice. While he's been gone he's taken something or other. I wouldn't like to speculate what, but I hope it doesn't make him any more aggressive than he already is. We've got problems enough at the moment.

  'I'll have a glass,' says Gabriel, amenably. He's probably figuring that the more whisky Mal gets down his neck, the easier he'll be to control. That's not necessarily the case. It just depends on his mood. I cross my fingers that he's in a good one.

  'Harper, you want a glass?' Mal calls out across the room. I want to slap him. How am I supposed to drink anything with my hands tied up like this?

  'I'm good thanks,' I say quietly.

  'Nah, she'll have a glass,' Gabriel interrupts. 'Don't be a party-pooper, Harper. We're all out to have a good time tonight, right?' He gives me a look that says my life won't be worth living if I disobey, so I smile tightly and acquiesce.

  'Whisky sounds good,' I say, trying to inject some enthusiasm into my voice. I have never liked whisky. The stuff makes my throat burn and my nose vomit, but I said I'd do as I was told, so I'm doing it.

  While Mal busies himself pouring out three glasses of whisky my thoughts get darker by the second, and when Gabriel finally lifts a glass of amber liquid up to my lips, I'm ready to spit it back at him, but he says, 'Drink.' It's a command rather than a request, and I obey instinctively. He softens the order by murmuring, 'It will help lessen the pain. Swallow as much as you can, no matter how much it burns.' I do as I'm told. As Mal isn't paying us much attention at the moment I manage to drink the whole glass, and most of Gabriel's. Given how little I've eaten, in a few minutes the stuff is guaranteed to have me high as a kite.

  'Time to get this show on the road,' Mal says as he sinks down on the bed, getting comfortable. 'What say you start with the pliers?'

  My heart sinks as Gabriel walks over to where Mal is sitting. Bending slowly, he retrieves and twirls them over in his hands.

  'Do we have any rules here?' he asks, and turns towards me, pretending to check me out from head to toe. His perusal should fill me with disgust, but it doesn't. Slow, curling tendrils of heat begin to lick up my body, making me clench in all the right places. Although I have a feeling this will be one of the worst evening's I've ever had, at least I'm not with Mal
on my own. It's small consolation, though.

  'No rules,' Mal confirms, lacing his fingers underneath his head as he lies back on the bed. 'She's going to be dead in a couple of days, so have fun. Just make sure she's in a good enough condition to finish me off when you've had enough.'

  Gabriel looks sideways at me and I have to resist the urge to roll my eyes in answer. I'm on display at the moment and I have to be careful.

  'No rules, huh? This should be interesting then.' Moving towards me with cat-like grace, Gabriel opens the jaws of the pliers while his index finger caresses the cold, hard steel. 'Do you like pain, Harper? Would you like me to mark that beautiful, porcelain skin of yours? Make you cry out in agony while you beg for mercy? Is that the kind of thing that turns you on?' He shrugs himself out of the bathrobe, revealing a pair of tight black briefs underneath. My eyes immediately dip toward them, wondering if he's aroused by all of this, and sure enough, his cock is standing proudly to attention. It seems I'm not the only one who enjoys fucked-up shit.

  'Like what you see?' He's noticed the direction of my gaze, and while I should be embarrassed, I'm not. I've gone past that. My eyes travel slowly up the black-inked skeleton abs, before resting on his beautiful face. If someone's got to kill me, I wouldn't mind so much if it was Gabriel.

  'Not particularly,' I comment. I'm lying. This is for Mal. From this point forward we need to be enemies, and I need that rage if I'm going to get through the next few hours of pain. Without it I'll break down, and if I cry I'll never stop. Besides which, I don't want to give Mal the satisfaction of tears. He doesn't deserve them.

  Gabriel's head twists to the side as his eyes flicker up to mine. 'That's too bad. Here I was hoping we could both be friends.' Before I know what's happening he's got two fingers around my nipple, and he's pulling it painfully towards him. Biting on my lower lip, I try my best to prevent the gasp that wants to escape.

  Bending his head towards me, he whispers, 'Lash out at me. Get rid of all that anger. Do whatever you have to in order to stay sane because this is going to hurt.' He places the pliers where his fingers have been, and it doesn't take me long to discover he's not lying.

  'Stand back,' Mal commands when I suck in a sharp breath. 'I want to see her face. There's nothing better than watching a woman's face as it twists in pain. Wouldn't you agree?'

  Gabriel moves back but makes no comment on Mal's statement. Instead, he lets the pliers hang from my left nipple and the pain is simply indescribable. They are so ridiculously heavy I want to wail.

  'Scream for me,' he says, grinning at me as my mouth hangs open in shock. I don't know if the smile is for me or Mal, who has a look of utter fascination in his eyes, but I do know that I am going to kill Gabriel when this is all over.

  Tears spring from my eyes as the weight of the pliers begins to take its toll.

  'Isn't that beautiful?' Gabriel muses. His fingers caress the underside of my breast, making the pliers jiggle around, and that hurts even more. My wrists are pressed tight to the cold metal cuffs that surround them, and for once in my life I wish someone would burst in to save me. If there's no happily ever after coming for me, I don't want to go on any more. I can't.

  'Very, but it would be even more beautiful if you put it on her clit,' Mal says, and I think my eyes try to burst out of their sockets. It hurts enough where it is, so I can't even begin to imagine what that would feel like down there. If I'm not lucky it'll tear the bloody thing off. Maybe that's all part of the fun.

  'I'm going to work up to that, one step at a time. When we get there I want everything to hurt so bad she'll be sobbing her little heart out.' Gabriel's words are so cold my body begins to tremble. He's on your side, I try to remind myself. But I still don't trust him. That's the trouble; I keep wondering whether he'll turn on me.

  'I can't see,' complains Mal. Gabriel rolls his eyes and I release a breath I hadn't realised I'd been holding. He is still on my side, for the moment, at least.

  With his back to Mal he says, 'I'll move in a minute, but I need to see what I'm doing here. Just a sec.' He moves in closer to me, squeezing my right nipple, getting me all nice and prepped for round two.

  'I'll put one of the handles between your legs and you hold it in place. It'll help keep the weight off your clit. Scream like your life is ending, but do not let go of that handle. If we're lucky and you're a good enough actress, Mal won't notice.' He steps back quickly, allowing the bastard behind him to take his fill.

  On the bed, Mal is happily sipping his whisky while he watches my face with interest. He's yet to break me, but I have a feeling that's coming soon. Up until now I've had Alex as my back-up plan. If anything happened to me, Mal would have been held accountable. No such plan exists now. Getting rid of me, a girl with no family or friends, is almost too easy, and he knows it.

  'Let me go, you bastard!' I howl. I'm only half acting. 'Kill me now and have done with it. Go get your glue, you fucker!' If I'm going to die anyway, I see no need to prolong the agony. I figure I might as well ride head-on into the storm.

  Mal strokes his cock through his jeans. From the way his face darkens it is clear he's unimpressed with my outburst. 'Shut up, or I'll gag you,' he growls. He then necks the rest of his whisky and pours himself another glass. Yet again, he is growing impatient.

  'Get a move on,' I whisper to Gabriel. 'If we're not careful he'll get a knife out and start stabbing holes in me.'

  As he yanks the pliers off my nipple I let loose a low growl. The resulting throb builds in intensity until I almost see stars, but in reality I know this is nothing compared to what's coming. When the cold metal jaws come for my clit I almost have a meltdown, but somehow I hold it together.

  'Eyes on me, Harper,' Gabriel says in a soothing tone, and somehow I summon up enough courage to look at him. I don't want to. I know what's coming next.

  'I can't do this,' I whisper. For the first time in my life I'm ready to throw the towel in. I have no fight left in me. Mal has pushed me to my limit and I want out. I don't want to have to endure another second of this shit. I've had more than anyone should have to take, and my mind is cracking.

  'Trust me, I'll get you through this,' he whispers, placing two fingers on my clit.

  'I can't,' I whisper as my body twitches underneath his hand, my pussy clenching tightly with need. When he's so close all I can think about is sex. Maybe it's hormones or pheromones or whatever, but Gabriel is as intoxicating as Brandt - probably more so. I just have to look at him to want him. It doesn't matter that the man is as evil as sin because that face would be the downfall of any woman on the planet. No one is safe around him. No one.

  'You can. I told you I'd get you out of this and I will. Don't give up on me. We can't let him win. We won't.'

  As far as pep talks go I'm not sure it boosts my spirits any, but when those pliers come for my clit I have bigger problems. The first is that my whole body now feels like it's on fire with adrenaline thundering through my veins, and the second is that I'm so damn aroused I could cry. Tears form, but I blink them back. Gabriel is right. I'm stronger than this.

  When he lets go of the pliers he wedges one of the handles between my thighs as he promised, and I hold them tightly in place. It doesn't stop the pain entirely, but it's nowhere near as bad as it could be.

  'Very nice,' Mal comments, his eyes scouring my body up and down like he hasn't had a fuck in years. I know differently. The man can't go more than a few hours without giving his sorry excuse of a cock an outing.

  'How about we speed things up a little? Get the saw started, Gabriel. I want to see how much she can take.'

  A solitary tear dribbles down my cheek. While my eyes might be spitting fire, there are some things I can't control. Weeping uncontrollably is one of them. I'm about to lose the plot, and I don't mean I'm about to have a mental breakdown. My mind is going to up and leave whatever's left of my body, and I don't think anyone will be able to do much with what's left. On one hand, it will be a relief, on the othe
r, it will mean the end. I haven't got the strength to care either way.

  Chapter Thirteen - Gabriel

  I'm losing her. I can tell by the look in her eyes. Yesterday there was nothing but fire and ice in those irises. Today there is nothing but defeat. When I first saw her I thought a stiff wind would blow her away. Then I spent some time with her and changed my mind. Now I'm worried. She must have some kind of shell she retreats to when something like this happens. Some kind of happy place? I have no idea how she deals with it, but she needs to deal for just a little while longer. How do I bring that out in her? What can I do to make her fight this?

  'You stay with me, you hear?' I want to shake her but I daren't; not with Mal watching.

  'What's the point?' she whispers. Her eyes dip towards the floor, like a true submissive, except that she isn't. She's survived this long by fighting everything that man throws at her. If she gives in, she's lost. He won't want to play with a doormat. I've seen his type before. He's only stayed interested in her this long because he doesn't have her. Once she buckles she'll have a bullet in the middle of her forehead in two seconds flat.

  Obviously I'm not going about this the right way. She doesn't need words or platitudes. She's not used to them and she isn't listening. I need to give her something that will catch her attention.

  Working the handle of the pliers out of her thighs, I let the beast drop. That should focus her attention a little, and sure enough I hear the hiss of an enraged woman. Good. Her fire is back. We've gone from defeat to anger. I can work with that.

  Mal's phone chooses that moment to ring, and as far as messages from above go, I'll take it.

  Swiping it out of his pocket he looks at it and frowns. Good. That must mean it's important. Let's hope he has to take it in private and that it's a very long call.