Page 155 of Captivated

“Get up and start again,” Rich said. “I’ve seen you do this dance perfectly, so I know you can. Stop wasting my time, and stop whining. Wipe the scowl off your face, and smile for me like you give a damn.”

“I can’t,” Liliana mumbled.

“Get up!”

“I can’t dance in these shoes, Rich!”

“Or you don’t want to, Lilibet.”

“Stop calling me that!”

Her scream was as good as a slap, if the expression on his face was any indication. She should have known better, frankly, but she had been keeping that in for too long now.

He crossed the space in a blink, and Liliana didn’t even have time to cover her head before he was attacking her. He didn’t hit her, though. And maybe that’s what was most surprising, and horrifying when he did abuse her.

No.

No hitting.

He stomped on her fucking foot.

Liliana doubled over in pain with a shout, and grabbed her foot. She swore she heard the crunch, and a sob caught in her chest when she realized trying to move two of her toes did nothing but cause immeasurable pain.

Vomit climbed high in her throat.

Fury saturated her.

“You bastard, you—”

He did hit her that time, but he didn’t even give her the opportunity to cover her head for the next hit before he was dragging her up from the ground. He said nothing as he pulled her—despite her clearly broken foot, and the obvious pain she was in—toward the door.

“Let me go,” Liliana cried.

“Time for you to learn, Lilibet. I have been very patient with you, but I am not waiting one more goddamn minute. We could have done this the easy way, and you could have just given it to me, but now … I see that won’t be the case.”

“Let me—”

They were almost to the stairs, now.

She heard the first shot.

Gunshot.

And then the second.

One came from the front of the house, and the second, from the back.

Rich’s head snapped back and forth, but his blank expression never changed.

“What was that?” Liliana asked.

He didn’t respond, simply started pulling her up the stairs again.

“Rich, what was—”

“Shut the fuck up,” he snarled.

Liliana turned just in time as they rounded the top of the stairs to see Rich’s men scattering to different spots on the bottom level. Their guns were already drawn, and the black hats they wore were pulled down over their faces like masks with only eye-holes for them to see out of. She didn’t get to see anything else, though, because Rich threw her into the closest room. The force of it made Liliana land on her broken foot, and she swore she heard another crunch.