Marek (Knights Corruption MC #1) (3 page)

Even though Vex treated me like a piece of property, less than human, someone he kept around solely to do with as he saw fit, I was still his. And any threat to that was a direct insult to him.

The blast of a gun pierced the air, my eardrums feeling as though they’d exploded from the close proximity. One minute, the strange man held me close and the next he was on the ground, a pool of blood surrounding him where he lay.

“Fuckin’ cocksucker,” Vex grumbled, kicking the man to make sure he wasn’t getting back up. Once he was satisfied he’d killed him, he continued searching the room as if he hadn’t just ended the man. I was left to stand there dumbfounded, not so much by the corpse lying at my feet, but that Vex could have easily killed me instead. There hadn’t been much space between us, and that he’d been able to achieve such a clean shot was mind-boggling.

Or was he hoping I would have perished right along with the man?

Sully

The ride back home was in silence. I never did find out who the man was. The less I knew, the better.

Vex found what he’d been looking for hidden in a faulty floorboard, ten kilos of coke his prize for the evening. After snorting a few lines, he packed up everything in the duffel bag he’d brought and ushered us from the home, not a care in the world that he’d left a body behind to be discovered.

Once we were finally inside the clubhouse, I walked toward the kitchen, needing to grab a drink before I headed off to the room Vex and I shared. A strange male voice stopped me in my tracks. I knew better than to pay attention to the goings on inside the place I unfortunately called home, but an uneasiness gripped me.

My father, Henry Brooks—aka Psych, aka president of the Savage Reapers—rounded the corner, followed closely by a man I’d never seen before.

I would have crashed right into them had it not been for my quick reflexes.

“Sully,” my father greeted, his tone dripping with an indication that he was up to no good. As usual.

“Father,” I answered, apprehension wrapping around me like the coil of a dangerous snake. I never referred to my father as Dad or Daddy. Not since I was a toddler. The man hated me; it was the only excuse I could come up with for the way he treated me. So I decided long ago to bury any fleeting feelings I had toward him as my kin, disguising the need for his approval with formalities.

“Who do we have here?” the man standing behind my father asked.

Stepping to the side to allow his guest to feast his eyes on me, he answered, “My daughter, Sully.”

“Sully,” the man repeated, stepping closer until he was only a few feet away from me. My breath twitched in my throat, my heart picking up pace the more he continued to leer at me. His beady, soulless eyes roved over my body, and right then I was grateful for the dark, baggy clothes Vex had made me wear. “Is she taken?”

“Yeah, but you can have her if you want. I’ll handle Vex, explain it’s good business and all.”

What the hell is he talking about?

As if being summoned, Vex appeared out of thin air, walking up behind my father and the strange man who’d suddenly become enthralled with me.

“What are you doing out of our room, Sully?” he yelled, stalking toward me and roughly gripping my neck. While his touch was painful, I welcomed the familiar feeling. Better Vex than the bastard standing in front of me.

“Vex, I was just telling Yanez here he can have a go at Sully. What do ya think?” Looking back and forth between the man who’d given me life and the man I belonged to, I was stunned to find out Vex wasn’t going to put up a fight. Which was extremely odd. I was his property, and any threat to that was always met with sheer force. Sometimes even resulting in death, exactly like what had happened earlier.

While he didn’t voice his refusal, his face said it all. But that didn’t matter. My father’s word was law, and if he was going to give me to this man, then there wasn’t a damn thing either one of us could do.

I still tried, however.

Slowly backing away, I prayed I had enough time to make it to my room before any of them caught me. I’d lock myself inside and count the minutes until they left me alone.

I knew I was being delusional, but an escape inside my head was all I had.

“Don’t even think about it,” my father sneered, lurching forward and snagging my wrist. “Do you know who this man is?” I remained silent because I had no idea. Shaking me, he said, “This is Rico Yanez, right-hand man to Rafael Carrillo. The head of Los Zappas cartel. We’ve just finished some business, and if he wants to fuck you then you’ll let him. Do you understand me?”

“Nooooo,” I whimpered, his bruising hold making me wince in pain. “I won’t do it.”

“You don’t have a choice. If you don’t give it up, he’ll just take it. Actually, I think he prefers it rough. Don’t you?” he asked, turning to look at Yanez.

The man nodded and smirked.

I struggled to break free from my father, but it was no use. Being forced to have sex with someone I’d been with for years was one thing, but to be forced by a complete stranger was something entirely different.

Rape was rape, right?

Wrong.

Better the devil I knew and all that shit.

My father passed me off, his fingers freeing me as Yanez’s trapped me. “Where can I take her?”

“In that room back there. You’ll find a perfectly good sofa as well as a sturdy desk. Just don’t make too much of a mess,” he warned.

Without another word, I was dragged away, seconds from being thrust inside a smoke-filled office.

My father’s office.

He’d given me up to seal the deal with the cartel.

A prize for doing business.

Once we were alone, I tried to reason with the man, praying there was something human residing inside him which would allow him to let me go.

“Please, don’t do this,” I pleaded, yanking free and putting as much allowable space between us as possible.

“Don’t worry, sweetheart. You’ll enjoy this, I promise.” His gaze creepily raked over me, looking like he wanted to devour me whole. He approached, a lock of his dark, gray-streaked hair falling over his left eye. For a man who was as high up in the cartel, he was shabby-looking, a bushy mustache hiding his otherwise thin lips. He was as big as he was tall, his stomach hanging over the belt of his pants proving he didn’t care about himself in the least.

His fat hands captured me again, pulling me so close I shivered in disgust. His breath enveloped my face, the smell of alcohol and cigarette smoke strong as he crashed his lips to mine. I tried to turn away, but he snatched my chin roughly to keep my head still. Licking at my mouth, he became frustrated when I wouldn’t open for him.

“This is gonna happen whether you like it or not.” His voice was sinister. He walked me backward until we were close to the edge of the desk, the gun in his waistband suddenly apparent and pressing into my side. “Take off your clothes,” Yanez demanded, taking a step back and licking his thin lips while waiting for me to do as I was told.

“Please,” I begged, holding my hands up in surrender, shaking in fear. The seriousness of my situation hit me like a sledgehammer, and I was terrified of what was about to happen.

“Don’t speak again,” he ordered.

I kept my mouth shut, my body unable to move and do as instructed.

“I’m not gonna ask you again. Take off your clothes!” he shouted. When I still refused to move, that’s when he struck, pain radiating across my cheek before I could even think about protecting myself. I hadn’t even seen it coming, but I should have expected it. Holding my face, tears instantly welled behind my eyes. I chastised myself for appearing weak, but I was shocked. And hurt.

“Refuse again and I’ll use the butt of my gun next time. And trust me, sweetheart, the pain will be unbearable.” He smirked, finding it amusing that he was tormenting me into submission. His fingers rested on the handle of his gun, prepared to extract it if necessary.

In all my years of abuse at the hands of my father, he’d never given me to another man—with the exception of Vex, of course. No, this was something new. Would he do it again, though? To whomever he deemed worthy of receiving a
gift
due to the nature of whatever shady deals he’d procured? Would I become
good business sense
again in the future?

My hands shook as I reached for the hem of my shirt, drawing it up my body, taking a few precious seconds before pulling it over my head. My long black hair fell forward, covering my face from his view for the briefest of moments, and I cherished not having to look at him.

“Now the pants.”

I quickly pulled the dark jeans down my legs, kicking them to the side to stand in silence once again.

A low whistle sounded as he stared at my entire body. While I couldn’t see him right then, I could feel his leer, goose bumps breaking across my skin in fear.

“You’ve certainly got some body on you, don’t ya?” His question was rhetorical, of course. “Take it
all
off.”

Pleading was pointless.

Refusing proved to be dangerous.

I had no other choice but to obey.

But for some reason, all sense of survival left me, the sudden need to flee overwhelming beyond any sense of security. My body reacted before my mind caught up, darting left before closing in on the door of the office. If I could only make it through, I’d run as fast as I could. Not to my room because they’d only haul me back to Yanez, most likely battered and bruised. No, I had to try and make it outside. Nature would protect me if I begged hard enough.

Our compound was in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by acres of nothing but trees and hidden streams. I tried to escape once before, but I had obviously failed, the mental scars of being tortured outweighing the permanent marks on my body.

My feet propelled me forward, my heart skipping a beat while I choked on the stifling tension surrounding me. Before I reached the door, however, I was ripped backward, a large hand clutching my throat and forcing out the remaining air from my lungs. My chest burned from lack of oxygen, my eyes bulging with the thought that this could be it. And there was something disappointing in the thought of dying at the hands of a stranger. If anything, I thought I’d recognize the eyes of my killer before I took my last breath.

He released me before I succumbed to the darkness, a raging coughing fit ensuing in order to draw air into my starved lungs.

“Where do you think you’re goin’?” Yanez laughed, deliriously entertained with my need to protect myself. The man was cut from the same cloth as my father and Vex, their souls having been extinguished long ago.

Tossing me back toward the center of the room, he stood strong and blocked any further inclinations I had toward making it out of there before he’d had his fill of me.

“Strip.”

I knew I was out of options so, with my head hung low, I finally complied.

My arms twisted behind my back and I slowly unhooked my bra, allowing it to slide off my shoulders before falling to the ground. I was tiny in stature; the only things out of proportion on my body were my breasts and my ass. Both attributes often drew unwanted attention from men, and I hated my body because of it.

His lust increased the more he stared, and it was only a matter of minutes until he would rip the last part of my soul from me. Hooking my fingers into the waistband of my panties, I drew them down my thighs until they were bunched at my feet. Stepping out of them, I moved to the side, brought my hands up and tried to cover myself.

“Drop your hands. Now,” he commanded. I obeyed. Again. “Well, would you look at that?” He took a step closer. “Whose idea was it to have you shaved? No matter. All the better for me.” Crossing the couple feet separating us, he turned me around and bent me over until my breasts hit the surface of the hard desk.

He didn’t speak as he shoved my legs apart, unzipped his pants and pulled himself free. Of all the thoughts to race through my head, I was thinking how thankful I was that he left the rest of his clothes on, his massive gut something I most definitely didn’t want to feel as it rubbed against me. Gripping my hip with his free hand, he shoved himself inside me with all the force he could muster. He wasn’t small and, because I was completely dry, he tore through me, ripping me apart from the inside out. A cry erupted from my throat before I could stop it, my nails scouring the wood in agony.