Defaced: A Dark Romance Novel (16 page)

Twenty

The days turned into weeks. Though the tension remained high in the house, Monster made no attempt to touch her again. He remained cool and professional, and only when she applied cream to his skin, and checked over his healing, did they even touch. Otherwise, they’d slipped into a strangely professional relationship, which drove Lily even crazier than when he was pushing her against a wall and forcing his fingers inside her. Every time she felt like she might have broken down some of his walls, he seemed to build them even higher and deeper.

At least, since she’d massacred his books, Monster had stopped locking her in her room day after day. Instead, he gave her almost free rein of the property, and she fell into an easy, peaceful routine. She started cooking with Marianna in the kitchen, pummeling dough to make fresh bread—a chore she found to be strangely cathartic—and learning how to make the rich tomato-based sauces the meats were cooked in, to be served with rice and beans.

She talked to Marianna while they worked, trying to get the other woman to tell her where in the world she’d been brought. She asked sneaky questions about the style of cooking, or which spices were popular in which countries, but Marianna only ever looked at her with her eyebrows raised and her lips pressed firmly together. She wasn’t going to get one past the other woman.

“What about you, Marianna?” she asked one day, as they stood together chopping fragrant cloves of garlic and onions. “How did you end up working here?”

“It is a long story,” the older woman said, shaking her head.

“So? I’m happy to listen. It’s not as though I have to be anywhere else tonight.”

Marianna gave a small chuckle. “This is true,” she said in her heavily accented voice.

“So tell me. What brought you here?”

“Men brought me here” she said. “Enemies of our master, but men I worked for back then.” She gave a cold laugh. “Worked for is perhaps not right. They took me from my village because my father owed them a debt. They decided I was enough to make up his payment, and so I was forced to serve them however they wanted.” She stared back down at the vegetables and continued to chop furiously. Lily noticed tears glistening in her dark eyes, but she wasn’t sure if the tears were due to emotion from recalling her story, or from the onions they were cutting. “I was probably your age when they took me,” she continued. “I should have been married, but no one wanted to marry into my father’s family. He was a terrible gambler, and a violent man. I was frightened of him—too frightened to run away—and I had nowhere to go.”

“And he gave you to criminals to pay off his debts?”

She nodded. “The men used me for household duties at first, but it soon became more. They put their hands on me, making suggestions, and the suggestions quickly became promises.” Her lips tightened, the lines threading the corners becoming more defined. “They raped me, several of them, many times. When they were done, they would beat me as well. I struggled to do the household chores because of my injuries, and so they would beat me some more.” She stopped and placed her knife down on the chopping board. “These were not good men, Miss. I knew that. I overheard them talking about another man, a man who kept himself hidden away, and who had great power and money. I understood from their conversations that they considered this man to be their rival, and as far as I was concerned, any man who was their rival was my friend, even if they did not know it yet.

“So one day I managed to escape, and I came here. I was beaten and bloodied. Tudor found me in a heap outside of the gates. I begged him to let me in. I told him where I’d come from and that I’d tell him every word I’d overheard. At first our master thought I’d been left at his gate to spy on him, but I slowly earned his trust. It took almost a year before he allowed me to see his face. I wasn’t surprised; I’d already worked out something like that was wrong. I’d seen similar things with babies in my village and surrounding ones, though many of them didn’t make it past childhood.”

Lily frowned. “How did they not make it past childhood? Birthmarks aren’t life-threatening.”

“No, but people wouldn’t accept the babies—considering them to be bad luck for the village. Most of the time they’d be abandoned and left to die, or put in one of the children’s homes where they’d stand no chance of ever being adopted.”

“That’s awful.” Lily was stunned. She hadn’t thought for a moment that the other woman had a story like that behind her. “So you’ve lived here ever since?”

She nodded. “Yes. Sir has been very good to me. He even pays money into a bank account for me each month as wages, though I tell him not to.” She laughed. “I don’t know where he thinks I will ever spend the money.”

“How long have you been here, Marianna?”

She frowned, her eyes lifting skyward as she calculated. “About nine years now, I believe.”

“And you were my age when you were brought here?” She worked out that only made Marianna in her late thirties. She’d have placed her at least ten years older.

Marianna must have understood her line of thought. “I’ve had a hard life, Miss,” she said, “and it shows on my face.”

Lily’s cheeks flushed with heat. “Oh, I didn’t mean—”

She laughed and placed a warm hand over the top of Lily’s. For once, Lily didn’t flinch away. “Oh, it’s all right. Beauty isn’t always a blessing—I learned that at the hands of our master’s enemies. I’m content as I am now. Life has been easy for me since I came here.”

Lily smiled. “I’m glad for you.”

“What about you, Miss? How is your life here?”

She shrugged. “I’m not sure. It’s started to feel like home now, though I’m not going to pretend that a part of me doesn’t miss my old life. It’s the work more than anything. The rest of my life was pretty empty.”

Marianna gave a secret smile. “But you have the master now.”

“Have him? Do I? He has me, more like.”

“I see how he looks at you. You mean a lot to him, more than he’s capable of admitting, perhaps even to himself.”

***

Eventually, Lily agreed that Monster’s skin had healed enough for her to conduct a third session with the laser.

He reclined on the medical bed and she prepared his skin for the treatment.

“I’m amazed at the difference you’ve made,” he told her, looking up at her. “I dreamed of such a change, but I don’t think I ever truly believed it would happen.”

He was right. Large parts of the birthmark, especially on the smoother parts of his face such as his forehead, had already lightened to pink. Other areas—in the creases of his nose and his jaw—were still dark, but the overall impact of his birthmark had been greatly diminished.

Lily wasn’t sure how she felt about the change. She was pleased Monster felt better about himself, but part of her missed the almost unworldly beauty he’d held with one part of his face in permanent darkness, while the other side had appeared perfect enough to belong to an angel. The other thing she worried about was Monster stepping out into the world to come face to face with the men who threatened his business. After hearing Marianna’s story, it brought home to her that Monster was a criminal who would be dealing with other criminals—men capable of rape and murder. At least in this house he was safe.

“I’m glad you’re happy with the results,” she said. “Remember the birthmark won’t completely disappear, though, even after we’ve completed the treatments.”

“I know. You told me when you first came here.”

It felt strange to be this close to him again when they’d been so intimate. Did he regret what had happened between them? He made no mention of it, and she was too embarrassed and self-conscious to do so. She felt as though they’d been dancing around each other since, the knowledge of how intimately he’d touched her like an invisible silk thread that joined them together, but which they could never speak of.

She thought back to those early days, how terrified she’d been, how she’d almost lost her mind.

“You know,” she said. “You could have just asked me to come here.”

He shook his head. “You would never have come on your own.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because I know you care about your patients. You would never have left them to come here to me.”

She thought back to all the people she’d been working on at home, and a pang of sorrow filled her. Her patients relied on her. She hated to think that she’d let them down, or that they’d have been worried about their future treatments with a new therapist. She was most concerned about the children. Many, if not all of them, suffered some kind of bullying because of their birthmarks, which left them hurt and fragile. Kids could be some of the cruelest tormentors, giving no thought to repercussions or how they made the other child feel. Her disappearance would have hit those patients the hardest.

“No, you’re right,” she admitted. “I wouldn’t have come.”

She hesitated, and then asked the question that had been burning on her lips. “What happens to me when your treatments are complete? Will you keep me here?”

His eyes locked with hers. “Would you want to go back?”

He’d given her no reason to think he felt anything for her. She knew his past, and how he treated women, and she would be kidding herself to think that he saw her as anything more than a woman to give him what he needed.

“I guess so, if I was given that choice.”

A shadow that had nothing to do with his birthmark passed over his face, and he glanced away, breaking eye contact. “Don’t get your hopes up, Flower,” he warned. “I may have found a new job for you by then.”

A shiver ran down her spine. She shook it off and tried to concentrate on the job she already had.

Twenty-one

The following morning she woke as usual, and dressed. She headed toward the kitchen to help Marianna with breakfast, but as she approached the entrance hall, she drew to a halt. The normally shut and bolted front door stood wide open. A couple of large boxes sat just inside the door, but otherwise no one was around.

Lily’s heart lurched.

Just beyond the door, bright sunlight beamed down onto the green grass, and pinks, purples, and oranges of the tropical flowers in the beds. Beyond the barbed wire wall, tall pine trees stretched into a glorious blue sky.

You can go out there
, a little voice whispered in her head.
No one is here. No one will know.

No, I can’t,
the fearful part of her argued.
Monster’s men might see me. They’ll tell him.

They’re watching for people on the outside of the wall, not inside. Just step out into the sunshine, just for a minute …

Without even realizing it, her feet had been moving of their own accord, taking her closer to the open doorway, step by step, and closer to the fresh air and beautiful sunshine. She heard the incessant chatter of birdsong, and the buzz of insects. A waft of a breeze stirred her hair and brought with it the heady fragrance of the flowers.

Lily let out a small sob of delight. It was as though life had just walked through the door and kissed her on the cheek.

Without arguing with herself further, she broke into a run and burst through the doorway, onto the porch, and then down the steps and into the grounds. She put out her arms and swirled around, her face lifted to the sun. The sob of delight became laughter. She hadn’t even realized she’d missed being outside as much as she had.

Something else might be open.

The voice spoke in her head, snapping her back to reality. If someone had forgotten to lock and bolt the door, perhaps they’d done the same to the gate. She drew to a halt, the garden still spinning around her for a moment, and quickly glanced around. She was still alone.

Wasting no more time, she ran around the side of the house, heading for where she thought the gates must be. When she’d tried this before, she’d collided with Monster and his men before she’d been able to see much more, but this time as she rounded the side of the house, she saw a large metal gate—like the kind she had seen on a garage before, only bigger—embedded into the stone wall. That gate was firmly shut, and looked like it only operated via a remote of some sort, but a little farther along was a second, much smaller gate, intended for people on foot.

That gate stood ajar.

Lily staggered to a stop and drew a breath.

There was her chance of freedom. She had no idea what lay beyond the gate—she didn’t even know what country she was in, though she’d narrowed it down to a handful within South America which they could have reached considering how long she’d spent in the plane on the way over. What would happen if she ran out of those gates? Would she find someone who would help her, or would she run into worse trouble than she had here?

She started forward, but fingers wrapped around her arm and yanked her back.

“What the hell do you think you’re playing at, Flower?”

“Nothing! I wasn’t playing at anything.” His dominating presence towered over her. She couldn’t bring herself to look at him, knowing how furious, and hurt, and disappointed in her he would be. It was the disappointment and hurt that were the worst—she hated that she’d let him down.

“Really? That isn’t what it looked like to me. It looked like you were about to run.”

“No, please,” she cried, falling to her knees, so he only partially held her up by her arm. “I didn’t mean it.”

What the hell
had
she been thinking? Had she really meant to run? It was as though her body had just reacted on instinct, and her brain hadn’t truly processed her actions.

Had she really wanted to leave him?

He pulled her to her feet and held her, her back against his chest, his arm crushing her breasts. “I’m going to have to punish you now,” he growled in her ear. “I warned you not to make me punish you.”

The solid muscle of his body pressed against the length of her back, and she could feel his hardness wedging into the dip at the base of her spine. Her whole body thrummed, taut with anticipation. Her already pounding heart now seemed to skip and stutter over itself in her chest. The rest of the world swam away, her mind spinning, only coming to a standstill to focus on how Monster’s body connected with hers.

They passed Tudor and another man as they headed back into the house.

“The premises are unsecured,” Monster growled at them. “See to it everything is made secure before someone loses their job, if not their life.”

The two men exchanged a glance and ran toward the open gate.

He dragged her back toward the room, his strength making it impossible for her to fight back, if that was what she even wanted.

He pushed her through the bedroom door and slammed it shut behind him, making her jump. She turned to face him, her entire body vibrating with her combined fear and need. The look he gave her was purely primal—a desire to both own her and put her in her place. Three long strides brought him directly in front of her, and he wasted no time in ridding her of her clothes. He yanked at the waistband of her pants, popping the button so it pinged to the floor, and ripping apart the zipper. He tore the pants from her hips, so they pooled around her feet. She’d never been allowed any shoes, so he simply kicked out at her ankles, forcing her to step out of the material. Then he took the bottom of her t-shirt and dragged it up and over her head.

“Why would you try to leave me, Flower? I thought we’d come to an understanding.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, feeling exposed and vulnerable as she stood before him in only her underwear. “I wasn’t—”

“Shut up. I don’t want to hear your excuses.”

I hadn’t planned to leave,
she longed to tell him.
I only wanted to feel the sunlight again.

But she knew she should have wanted to run. He’d already told her he wasn’t a good man, but then why did her heart cry at the thought of leaving him behind, and why did her body crave his touch?

She was so messed up.

He spun her around and pushed her against the bed, so she landed with her palms flat on the mattress, her body at a ninety degree angle. His hands made contact with her hips, skirting down the curves of her body. His thumbs hooked into the top of her panties and he dragged them down with his movement, leaving her bottom bare and exposed.

Lily hitched a breath. Mortified, she realized she’d grown wet between her thighs and the cotton material of her underwear had stuck to her folds. Desire wound tight in the pit of her stomach, though every part of her brain told her she shouldn’t want this. She shouldn’t want this man who had taken her and held her captive. Yet she did. She couldn’t deny what her body was telling her.

“You’re going to take your punishment now, Flower.”

She held her breath, her teeth digging into her lower lip, her shoulders tight in anticipation.

She sensed his movement before anything else, the motion of the air move around her as he brought his hand in a downward strike. His palm struck her right buttock with a crack. She sucked in air, but it didn’t hurt in the way she’d expected. Instead the vibrations of the blow burrowed down to her core, increasing her arousal. His hand lifted and he smacked her again, making her moan. She hung her head, the tension she’d been feeling in her shoulders starting to ebb away. Her bottom flared hot, and the next blow stung her now sensitized skin. But the next time he smacked her, her pussy clenched, and a slow, pleasurable throb worked its way through her entire body. Lily squeezed her eyes shut, concentrating on the almost unbearable sensations.

“Flower?” Monster’s tone was a warning. “This is supposed to be a punishment.”

“I know.” She nodded frantically. “Just don’t stop.”

His hand made contact with her backside again, but this time as a smoothing stroke. He slipped down lower, his fingertips tracing the faint lines where the tops of her thighs and her bottom met, and then moved between her legs.

Lily gasped.

“You’re wet, Flower. That wasn’t in the plan.”

“I’m sorry.” But she couldn’t help but step her feet apart slightly, making way for him. More than anything, she wanted him to push his fingers inside her and bring an end to the aching need that had first started blooming inside of her when she’d finally experienced what it was to be utterly alone.

His hand moved higher, brushing against her most personal lips. “You’re not supposed to like being touched.”

“I don’t,” she said between gasps. “I mean ... I didn’t.”

He moved higher still, his finger sliding in an agonizing line between her folds, opening her up. “So you don’t like this?”

“No,” she said, her chest heaving. “I don’t.”

His finger slipped between her lips, dipping into her entrance. “How about this?” His voice had grown ragged. “Do you like this?”

She shook her head.

“Your body betrays you, Flower.”

She couldn’t help herself. With a groan, she pressed down, pushing herself against his hand.

His finger thrust deeper, fully inside her now.

“This is a very bad idea,” he growled. “I warned you about me. I warned you not to make me punish you.”

“Oh, God,” she cried as he added another finger, stretching her open. So many years had passed since sex had been a part of her life, she’d forgotten how fucking amazing it felt.

“I don’t care. Just punish me, please,” she begged.

“What if your punishment involved me fucking you until you cried?”

“Yes.” She nodded again. “I want it.”

“I don’t have anything here,” he said, his fingers slipping from her body. “I don’t have any protection.”

“I don’t care,” she repeated, and she didn’t. All she knew was she wanted to be smacked, and fucked, and fingered, and consumed until nothing remained of her but an exhausted puddle of flesh and cum. “Just fuck me.”

His fingers laced in her hair, his blunt nails raking across her scalp, and then his fingers tightened hard at the base of her neck. He pulled sharply, wrenching her hair into his fist. Pain shot through her scalp, and she arched back to compensate, exposing her throat and pushing out her breasts.

“Good,” he said, as he unzipped his pants with his other hand. She felt him position himself, the smooth bell of his cock nudging at her entrance. “This is just how I’ve imagined you.”

With one forceful thrust of his hips, he pushed inside her. It had been so long since she’d had a man inside her, and she experienced the invasion as a stretching, burning shock which caused her to cry out.

He leaned over her back, his mouth making contact with her shoulder. She moaned as he trailed his tongue into the dip of her collarbone, and then as he pulled out and pushed inside her again, he sank his teeth into her shoulder.

“Oh, God,” she cried. The sweet bliss of intermingled pleasure and pain. One sensation fired the next, heightening both.

Monster thrust inside her, hard and aggressive. His hand dug hard into her hip, and she knew she’d have bruises on her skin in the morning.

She glanced over her shoulder, to see his fierce expression of concentration. There was something so erotic about him still being in his shirt and jacket, while she was naked except for her bra. Gradually her body softened and lubricated to him, and the pain gave way to pleasure. She found herself pushing back on him, wanting more.

He must have sensed her need, because his hand left her hip and reached to the nub of nerves at the apex of her thighs. His fingers made contact with her clit and he rubbed firm circles as his cock slid rhythmically in and out of her pussy. Lily lost control, writhing against his hand while he fucked her. Her whole self had been reduced to her body and the desire she needed to sate.

The orgasm started as a tight coil low in her groin, which slowly spread further and further out, until it encompassed her whole body. And then it broke, and he increased his movement, slamming into her as her inner muscles pulsed around him, and white stars exploded behind her eyelids.

She heard him give a cry, and he held himself deep inside her, his hips shuddering to thrust into her again, and then a third time as his own orgasm unraveled and he spilled himself inside her.

They held still for a moment, his arm circling her waist. Their bodies heaved as one as they caught their joined breaths. A trickle of sweat ran down the groove of her spine, and she felt him soften inside her.

Monster slipped from her body and stepped away. With nowhere else to go, she crawled onto the bed and dropped down onto her side. Exhausted but sated, she lay with his semen running out from between her thighs. She looked at him anxiously, wanting him to shed his clothes and climb onto the bed with her, but instead he just stared at her, his eyes raking up and down the length of her reddened and bruised skin.