Page 60 of Unmasked

It wasn’t about the way she felt.

It was about what everyone saw… and they’d see what I wanted them to.

Love was a disease, and death was always the solution.

Love made you weak.

Love altered what was true.

Her love should have been mine.

“Do it. Give her enough that it makes her sick. Once we have her in the room, you can administer it through an IV. I want her too sick to leave. Too sick to form coherent thoughts. If she’s sleeping, she’s not leaving.”

Mr. Harlep, my personal physician nodded. “I’ll have it administered through her food first. It should take effect within minutes. Once she’s confined, we can transition to an IV.”

“It won’t kill her?”

His head shook and a spark of fear flickered. “No. She won’t die, Your Majesty, but it won’t be kind to her. She will be in a lot of pain. I can numb that out once we get her hooked to an IV.”

I glanced at the screen of my phone, watching her as she slept.

Yes… this was the only way.

Although the contract had been out for weeks, I had issued a pause. Not anymore. Not since I’d boarded my plane.

It was now making its rounds again.

Death… for Theodore Hart.

A beginning for us…

CHAPTER 19

Vaughn

There was no anger. No uncontrollable need to destroy the woman I’d hated now for over a year. I was past living in the rage of making her pay. This wasn’t revenge—this was inevitable.

I pushed the door open, walking into the room with slow steps. A shaky hand lifted and rose, flattening on the floor as Katia tried to sit. She got a few inches off the ground before her arm gave out. She hit the stone hard, crying out as she tried again, managing to find the strength to finally scissor her legs to keep some form of balance.

Dark hair was oily and separated as it swayed. She had dirt mixed with blood covering her legs and thighs. Small lacerations were across her arms, and her knees and elbows were raw from friction.

“How were you welcomed into The Order? I hear you were quite popular with my guards.”

A sharp cry left her as she shifted and brought her head up.

Bruising webbed in purples and greens across her face, and her lip was split down the middle.

“I’ve been raped before.”

I let her words process.

“Would you like to be raped again?”

Her lip trembled and her body shook.

“N-No.”

I walked to the chair, sitting down to face her. I rested my forearms on my knees, tilting my face up to take her in.