Page 144 of Villainous Intent

“What do you want?” I asked, trying to sound authoritative despite the fear coursing through me and the slight slurring of my words.

Ash took a step forward, and I instinctively stepped back, bumping into the wall beside the guard.

“I believe you and I have a mutual associate,” he said, the word dripping with contempt. “One who requires a lesson in respect.”

“I need to help this man,” I said, hearing the tremor in my voice, gesturing to the guard who was still making desperate noises behind his gag. “He needs medical attention.”

“Oh, you’re worried about him?” Before I could react, he spun around and delivered a savage kick to the guard’s head. The sickening crack echoed through the tunnel, and the guard went instantly still, his eyes vacant.

“There,” Baron Ash turned back to me with a shrug. “Now you don’t have to worry about him anymore.”

I stared in shock at the guard’s lifeless body, bile rising in my throat. “You—you just⁠—”

Ash clamped his hand around my throat, lifting me off the ground until my feet dangled uselessly.

“Now,” he said, his face inches from mine as I struggled for air, “you’re coming with me. Cipher’s been hogging all the fun lately.”

I clawed at his hand as he dragged me down the tunnel, my feet scraping uselessly against the floor. My lungs burned, desperate for air as his grip tightened around my throat. The drug in my system made my struggles weaker than they should have been, my coordination shot, my strength sapped.

I dug my short nails into the thick, flesh of his wrist. The edges of my vision pulsed with dark, fuzzy static as my lungs screamed for oxygen.

The metal of my cuff dug into my left forearm. The stunner. The thought surfaced through the toxic sludge in my brain. A high-voltage charge was right there, mere inches away. But I needed my right hand to activate the cuff on my left wrist.

I couldn’t do it. The terrifying reality of my situation locked me in place. If I let go of his arm I would choke further. I was dependent on the desperate, failing leverage of both my hands just to keep breathing.

“Struggling just makes it hurt more,” Ash rumbled. The heat radiating from his black armor pressed against my bare skin.

I gagged, a pathetic, wet sound, my grip slipping as the darkness began to swallow the tunnel.

He slammed me against the wall. Stars exploded behind my eyes as my head cracked against the concrete.

When he finally loosened his grip, I gasped, sucking in painful breaths. My vision swam, the dim tunnel lights blurring into smears of yellow that left trailing afterimages when I moved my head. I collapsed to the ground, coughing and gasping.

“You know,” he said, looming over me, “Cipher was arrogant to think no one would touch his little whore.”

I tried to crawl away, but his boot came down on my ankle, pinning me in place. Pain shot up my leg as he applied pressure, the sensation dulled and sharpened in unpredictable waves as the drug played havoc with my nervous system.

His mask tilted as he examined me, the glowing lines pulsing brighter, leaving streaks of light in my vision. “I’ve seen you on the feeds, hanging off his arm. Playing the obedient little slut. Did you think no one would want a taste?”

I said nothing, my mind racing for a way out of this nightmare, but the thoughts kept slipping away before I could grasp them fully.

“Cipher can’t keep that little cunt all to himself,” Baron Ash continued, his voice dropping lower. “That’s not how things work in our world. We take what we want.”

He crouched down beside me, his mask inches from my face. “When I get back to my base, I’m going to call him,” he said, running a finger down my cheek. “And I’m going to take your pussy right there, so he’ll have to watch a real man pound into his bitch and take her.”

My stomach lurched at his words.

“In fact, why should I wait?” His hand gripped my thigh painfully, fingers digging into my flesh. “You’re dressed like a little slut, so why not treat you that way? You look like you’re ready to ride my dick and love every minute of it.”

He shifted his weight, his massive fingers clamping around my jaw. The blistering heat of his skin seared my cheek as he wrenched my head back, forcing my gaze up into the shadows of the tunnel ceiling. My vision swam, but the steady blink of a tiny red light pierced through the gloom. A security camera.

“Cipher will eventually find the footage,” Ash rasped, his voice thick with cruel amusement.

The thought of Cipher witnessing this, made my stomach heave.

Ash leaned in closer. “He gets to see exactly what happens when a real monster takes his favorite toy. He can archive the footage and watch me stretch you out every time he wants to remember how pathetic he is.”

I screamed as he shoved my dress up and something inside me snapped. This wasn’t happening. I thrashed violently, kicking and clawing at any part of him I could reach, my movements wild and uncoordinated.