Little Bird (The Tangled Series) (32 page)

The lodge was on the other side of the expansive property, so the four of them had walked silently to the parking lot and piled into Lee’s Jeep before driving up to meet Hartwell.

When Cara knocked on the door, it was Hartwell who opened it, greeting them all with a surprisingly friendly smile and holding it open for them to pass inside. Cara went first, followed by Lee and then Savannah, with Todd bringing up the rear. As Savannah passed in front of him Hartwell reached out, his hand brazenly grabbing her breast. She yelped, tears welling, as Lee spun around and grabbed her arm, pulling her against his chest. Todd’s reflexes were fast and before Hartwell had withdrawn his arm, Todd grabbed the wrist, twisting.

“Did her Master give you permission to touch her?” Todd’s voice was low and menacing as he turned Hartwell’s arm at an awkward angle.

“No.” Despite the pain he must be feeling in his arm, Hartwell remained utterly calm as he looked over Todd’s shoulder. Savannah followed his gaze and found herself looking at the man who’d shot Lee the previous weekend. She gasped when the man withdrew a gun from beneath his jacket and Hartwell continued, “Here at the lodge what her Master says doesn’t matter so much. By the way, Mr. Jackson, Ms. Alderton, I believe you’ve met my friend Julian before. “

Julian smiled and waved the gun toward the open doors to the right of the entryway. “It’s such a pleasure to see you both again.”

“It’s Mrs. Jackson now.” Savannah glared at Hartwell as they all entered the room Julian had indicated. She saw Lee make a face and realized too late he must not have wanted Hartwell to know they’d gotten married.

“Oh, he married you, did he? How nice.” Hartwell sounded amused and Savannah’s lip began to quiver as she tried not to cry.

They’d all followed Hartwell into what looked like a large office, Julian bringing up the rear. Savannah took in her surroundings, concentrating on the rustic hunting lodge’s decor to try and distract herself from the fear gnawing at her stomach. The room had a high ceiling with roughhewn exposed log walls. Paintings of hunting and outdoor scenes hung around the room, alternating with a stunningly large collection of stuffed animal heads, which Savannah tried to ignore because they made her feel nauseous. On the far side of the room was another door and another gunman stood just inside of it.

A large desk occupied the center of the room with two chairs across from it. As Hartwell sat behind the desk, he gestured to the chairs and gave a slimy smile to both women. “Please, do sit down, ladies.”

Savannah stood next to the chair indicated, her eyes downcast, her lower jaw stubbornly set, determined not to do a single thing Hartwell asked of her, not even sit.

“Sit, Savannah.” She heard Lee’s firm voice behind her and she immediately sat while Cara took the seat next to her. Savannah felt her nerves settle just a little when she noticed Lee and Todd had positioned themselves on either side of her, clearly in a place of protection.

“Would you like a drink, dear?” Hartwell gestured to a small bar behind his desk.

Savannah remained silent, staring blankly at her hands in her lap, horrified Hartwell seemed to be ignoring everyone else and only speaking to her. She thought she heard Lee’s soft chuckle next to her.

“Would you like a drink, Little Bird?”

At the sound of Lee’s voice, Savannah looked up at him and murmured, “No, thank you.”

Lee turned to the Senator, a confident grin curving his mouth. “You heard her. She’s not thirsty.”

Anger flashed in Hartwell’s eyes, his voice petulant as he leaned back in his chair. “I am going to tire very quickly of you repeating my every question and command before she will respond. Order her to listen to me.”

Lee shook his head, unperturbed. “No.”

Hartwell seethed now as he spat out, “Why the fuck not? Not only are you and Mr. Buchanan, who wasn’t invited to this party anyway, outnumbered, but Julian and Victor also both have guns. It is well within my ability to force her to do as I wish. So why don’t you make it easier on all of us and just tell her to follow my orders?”

Savannah knew Lee would never ask her to obey Hartwell, but regardless, the very suggestion made her heart race and stomach knot.

“It wouldn’t matter if I told her to listen to you, she still wouldn’t do it. Oh, we can play Master and slave all damn day but the truth is every time I give her an order, she makes the decision to obey, not because she has to, but because she wants to. There’s not a goddamn thing I can do to change the fact that she doesn’t want to submit to you.”

“Well then, I guess I’ll just have to do it by force, because she will spread her legs for me tonight.” Hartwell paused a moment, thoughtful, before turning to Cara. “Let’s get down to business, shall we? I know you’re a reporter and I know you’ve been sniffing around looking for a story. I can offer you a deal.”

Cara glanced at Lee with a smug look before turning back to Hartwell. “What kind of deal?”

“I’ll give you a story. Nothing that implicates myself of course but I’ll give up some of my associates and you’ll get a wonderfully juicy story.” Hartwell leaned back in his chair, his hands steepled in front of him as he watched Cara closely.

“And what’s in it for you?” Cara gave him a wary look, evidently smart enough to realize this was too easy.

“Her.” Hartwell nodded in Savannah’s direction.

Before anyone else could say anything Lee had grabbed Savannah’s arm, hauling her to her feet. “Time to go, sweetheart.”

Hartwell’s eyes slid to Victor and Julian before settling on Lee again. “I urge you to reconsider, Mr. Jackson. Julian won’t miss this time, not at such close range.”

Savannah’s breath caught and she sat down hard in the chair, her teeth chattering as she tried to keep from panicking.

“This is ridiculous. You know I can’t do something like that.” Cara drew Hartwell’s attention back to her, exasperated.

“You don’t have much choice, Ms. Dalton. Not really. Because I can’t allow you to continue to snoop around in my business. So either you agree to my offer or I’ll kill you all.”

What frightened Savannah most was the way Hartwell seemed so calm, threatening to kill them as if it were something he did every day between lunch and his afternoon game of golf. Then again, for all she knew, he did.

“It isn’t even a good faith offer. Even if I agreed, neither of them would.” Cara gestured to Lee and Savannah.

“I’m sorry to hear you say that. It’s settled then.” Hartwell turned to Lee again, smiling. “I had thought if it came to this I would kill you first, Mr. Jackson. You’ve been nothing but a pain in the ass. But I realize now it might be more fun to wait, let you witness all the unspeakable things I’m going to do to your sweet little wife. Let you die knowing exactly how she suffered and there was nothing you could do to stop it.”

Savannah’s breathing accelerated at Hartwell’s ugly threats. Lee grabbed her shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze, and she felt the terror recede a little. He was here with her and she had to trust they would get out of this together. The alternative was too terrible to consider.

Hartwell stood and turned in Victor’s direction, waving his arm. “We’ll move to the game room and finish our business there.”

Victor grabbed Cara’s arm, pushing her out of the room and down the hall ahead of him, his gun drawn and pointed at the ceiling. The rest of them followed with Julian bringing up the rear.

The game room turned out to be a large, unfinished recreational room set up as a home dungeon. Hartwell and his friends had every toy and piece of BDSM furniture available; it was just as well stocked as the club.

Once everyone was inside, Julian closed the door and directed Lee and Todd to sit down on the couch across from the door. Cara followed Hartwell to the center of the room but Savannah stood in front of the couch, her legs between Lee’s knees.

Hartwell noticed she wasn’t following and sighed. “Over here, bitch. Now.”

Savannah remained still, stubbornly pretending she hadn’t heard him, her eyes locked with Lee’s. He’d made quite clear what he intended to do to her and she had no intentions of helping him.

“You, stand there.” Hartwell glared at Cara as he pointed to a spot in the center of the room before turning and stalking to Savannah. Grabbing her by the hair and dragging her across the room he shoved her against Cara so both women stumbled.

Turning to Julian, who still stood in front of the closed door, Hartwell growled, “Julian, for fuck’s sake keep your gun on Mr. Jackson and his friend. If either of them so much as blinks in a way you don’t like, kill them. Victor, you stand here between them and me. Keep your gun on them, too. They’re all going to die eventually anyway so don’t worry about an itchy trigger finger.”

Savannah stood in the center of the room next to Cara, a jolt of surprise making her jump when she felt Cara take her hand, lacing their fingers together. Ah, well, at least she wasn’t the only one who was afraid. Her eyes swept the room, finding Lee. He was furious, his teeth gritted, and he watched Hartwell’s every move with the intensity of a lion stalking his prey. But he had two guns trained on him and both of them appeared eager to pull the trigger. Savannah’s stomach tied itself in knots as she tried to imagine how they would ever get out of this.

“Lee will get us out of this, Little Bird. It’s going to be okay.” Cara whispered against her ear and Savannah nodded weakly in response, although she didn’t think Cara sounded all that confident.

“Boss?” It was Victor, waving his gun in Lee’s direction. “Maybe we should tie them up or something?

“No need for all that. You have guns for fucks sake! Just shoot them if they make a move.” Hartwell snorted and turned to Lee. “Now, Mr. Jackson, don’t you think it would be fun to watch your ex-wife and current wife play together?”

Savannah was stunned when Lee nodded but then had to smother a nervous giggle when he replied, “That just might be every man’s fantasy. Anyway, it’s certainly preferable to watching you touch either of them.”

Hartwell scowled at him and turned back to Savannah and Cara, who were still standing together, holding hands. “Let’s see a little kiss, then.”

Savannah gathered her courage and glared at Hartwell. “Fuck off.”

He looked surprised, his eyes wide, so she elaborated, “You’ve already said you’re going to kill us all anyway. So, kill me now for failure to cooperate or kill me later after I’ve done everything you’ve asked of me. Either way I’m still dead so I might as well go out with some small shred of my dignity left.”

Cara’s arms went around Savannah, holding her tight as Hartwell lunged. He grabbed a fistful of Savannah’s hair and pried her from Cara’s grasp. He gave Cara a hard shove, pushing her to the ground and as she fell, Savannah watched with horror as Cara hit her head on the sturdy leg of a St. Andrew’s cross and crumpled limply to the ground.

Ignoring Cara, Hartwell pulled Savannah a few feet away, where a length of rope lay coiled on the ground. He tied her wrists together with one end of the rope and Savannah gasped as he gave a hard pull, making sure it was secure. Looking up she watched as he threw the other end in the air looping it over one of the exposed log beams. Grabbing the end again as it came back down, Hartwell gave it a hard jerk and Savannah found herself on her tiptoes, like she’d been the night they’d seen him at the club.

Hartwell tied off the rope somewhere behind her as he said, “Now, we’ll see how brave you are when you don’t have your Master at your back to give you courage.”

Hartwell came to stand behind her and she felt his hands on her ass, roughly squeezing and groping her through her dress. Savannah gritted her teeth, determined to silently endure it. Hartwell, apparently disappointed by her lack of response, slid his hands along her sides and in front of her, his fingers cupping her breasts. Savannah held her breath, trying to hold back her tears as her eyes found Lee. But he wasn’t looking at her; he watched Hartwell, his eyes focused with laser-like precision on the Senator’s hands as he pinched her nipples and tugged on her piercing, the thin fabric of her clothing offering her little protection.

“Mm, such lovely tits and those rings are so much fun.” Hartwell pushed his hand inside the neckline of her dress, shoving her bra down and yanking on one piercing. Savannah did cry out then, tears spilling down her cheeks. She wrapped her hands in the rope above her head, pulling. She knew the rope was strong and she was held fast but she was desperate to get away from him, willing to try anything no matter how hopeless it seemed.

Releasing her breast and pulling his hand from her dress, Hartwell pulled up her skirt, a delighted laugh escaping his lips when he realized Savannah wasn’t wearing panties. Savannah kicked herself for forgetting that fact herself. If only she’d have remembered, she’d have put panties on before they left camp, but she hadn’t thought of it, probably because she was too panicked about this situation already.

Hartwell spanked her viciously three times with his bare hand, her body convulsing with pain as he focused the attack so each hit landed in the same place, intensifying the force on her sensitive skin. Screaming, Savannah writhed against the rope, her voice hoarse as she struggled.

Hartwell laughed and he moved to stand in front of her. Savannah kept her eyes locked on Lee’s face as she wept loudly and the Senator held her skirt up, rubbing himself against her. When she felt his erection through his pants, grinding against her mound, she screamed louder, no longer able to contain her sheer terror. She knew her chances of getting out of this were slim, knew she was probably going to die tonight, but she prayed to every god she’d ever heard of he wouldn’t rape her first. In her frightened mind she could accept death, would prefer it even to being violated by him.

“Are you so fucking cowardly you have to force yourself on a helpless woman? I’m the one who told you no. You’re pissed at me, not her. Leave her the fuck alone and come face me like a goddamn man.” Lee’s voice was full of rage; nonetheless it was soothing to Savannah.

“Now it’s my turn to tell you no. How does it feel to be so helpless when someone else has something you want?” Hartwell tucked the hem of her skirt into her neckline, effectively keeping it out of his way. He then released her just long enough to open his pants, his cock springing out and brushing against her belly. “Open your legs, slut.”

Savannah didn’t answer, grunting with effort as she struggled desperately against him. The feel of his erection rubbing against her bare stomach made her feel sick and even worse, she could feel him growing harder as she fought. The sick bastard liked that she fought back.

“I swear on my life if you do this, I will kill you.” The rage was gone now, replaced by a deadly calm as Lee watched Hartwell wrestle with Savannah.