Torment: Part Two (The Bleeding Hearts, #2)

by Dylan Page

I feel like the man who was once my faithful guardian and protector is now transforming into my dark demon.

“You’re my girl, Mina,” he murmurs, at last while reaching out with his free hand to cup my face, “it’s time you fully embrace that.” He takes a step closer, forcing me to spread my legs so he can stand between them. “Now open your mouth and take me in.”

Keenan. Do it for him. Protect him. Keep him safe. Keep him safe, Mina.

“Don’t be nervous, Sweetness,” he says in a rough whisper as he gazes down at me, “This is how it’s supposed to be between us.” He reaches up, pressing two fingers to my racing pulse on my neck, the corners of his mouth rising ever so slightly. “I just want you to be with me, Mina. Stop fighting it. Just be good, and do as I say, and I’ll fucking love you with all that I have. I’ll make you feel good.”

If I’m going to keep him safe, I need to do this. I feel like I have no right to tell Shay no.

Play the part, Mina… just play the part. Keep him safe… But in my mind, I hear myself sob.

“You’re a good girl, you know that?” he breathes against my skin, his movements picking up the pace a bit more now. “That’s all you have to do, Mina. Be good. Do as I say, and everything will be perfect. Okay? No more bullshit. No more fighting us. You do as I say, and we’ll all be happy. I know it. I know it…”

Perhaps even a small part of me wishes he would simply wrap his hands around my throat until I pass out and never wake up again.

“I’m done giving you time,” he murmurs, his cool reserve now shifting to something else, something menacing and unstable. “I am done waiting. You brought this on yourself, do you understand me? Say you understand.” When I remain silent, his hand painfully grips a fistful of my hair and he gives me a shake. “Say, I understand, Shay.” “I-I understand, Shay,” I hiccup through my tears. “Say, I will do what you tell me, Shay.” “I will do what you tell me, Shay,” “Say that you are mine!” I swallow back the lump in my throat and whisper, “I’m yours.”

“You’ve never been a fucking toy, Mina…” he practically growls at me. “You’ve just been mine. You always have been, from the very first time that I held you in my arms and looked at you. I felt it then, even if I didn’t understand it. You were always meant to be mine.”

I will cherish, no matter how minute, because I may have sold my soul and body to the devil,

“All I’ve ever wanted was you, Mina. Even before I understood how much… why the fuck would I throw that away for some nothing when I have the only thing my heart cherishes right here, waiting for me?”

I feel manipulated

The Faceless… organized crime… drugs… human trafficking… the two prospects… and Shay. Shay was at the center of it all. He came into the room at one point, a glass of cold water in hand and some Advil in the other.