Unfold Me (20 page)

“He sent his servants away so there are no witnesses and slipped drugs into my wine. I bet he thought you wouldn’t mind, being my slave and all, or he’d simply threaten you. And when the drug started working, he planned to take me to his room, have his fun with me and film it, probably make me say I wanted it. He’d have new footage, which he could use to blackmail me later. Everyone saw me come willingly and there’s no proof there was any drug in my wine, because I’m sure it would be long gone out of my system before he let me out and I asked someone for help. And with that video, no one would believe me. Even if I ended up looking slightly drunk, I’m sure the Guardians would conclude that was totally my fault.”

When Isaac hauls Archer up, Archer actually wraps his arm around Isaac’s neck and tries to kiss him.

“I always liked you,” Archer mumbles, and Isaac’s lips twist into a grimace.

“Oh God. Does he even know what he’s saying?”

“You see? No one would believe me that I wasn’t willing to do whatever Archer wanted, especially since we’ve been seen together at parties lately, and considering my past with him... I bet he was sure I’d never even try to report him to anyone because he knew I’d see it was a hopeless case to try to prove something was done to me... And then he could blackmail me forever, and even violate the deal without anyone knowing or me being able to say anything... He wanted me to be his slave again,” I spit out.

“What do I do with him?” Isaac moves his head away because Archer’s lips are way too close to his.

“Help me take him to the room.” I wrap my arm around Archer’s and plaster on my biggest smile.

“I love you, Kitten.” Archer’s glassy eyes stare at me in awe.

“I know you do,” I say as we enter the room. “You’ll do anything for me, won’t you?”

“Yes, yes, I will,” he says.

“Take off your clothes,” I say sweetly, and as Archer clumsily starts to unbutton his shirt, I pull Isaac toward me so I can whisper into his ear. “That camera is hooked up to a computer somewhere. Find it and get this footage once I’m done with him. Get a copy for us, and leave one for him so he knows exactly what we’ve done, and that we have the video and will use it if we have to.

I approach Archer and find a set of keys in the pocket of his pants, then throw them to Isaac. “Go.” With one glance at me, he leaves the room, and I turn to Archer, who is standing naked in front of me. Not a long time ago, this sight would’ve made my mouth water, because despite the monster inside him, Archer is a handsome man. But not tonight. Tonight it’s payback time.

“Do you want to please me, Archie? Say yes.” I place my hand on his chest.

“Yes,” he says.

“You want me to do whatever I want with you, don’t you?” I grin. “Say, please Katherine, do whatever you want to me. I’m your slave.”

“Please, Kath... Katherine... I’m your slave,” Archer mumbles.

“Good. Get on the bed on all fours.” As he complies, I open the only closet in the room and find it filled with toys. I wonder what he planned to use on me... probably a bit of everything. My eyes scan various implements, and then I grab a whip. I trace my fingers across it, wondering if something like that left all those scars on Isaac’s back.

“Don’t move,” I say to Archer. “Tell me how much you want this.”

“I want this,” he says, and I bring the whip down hard onto his back. A thin line of blood appears where the whip has landed. Tears blur my eyes as I snap the whip down again and again. There have been so many times that he hurt me, humiliated me, and made me cry. I’ve been waiting for revenge for too long.

Archer cries out, but I don’t think he can feel the full extent of the pain. I’m panting when I finally drop the whip. Archer’s back is crisscrossed with bloody lines, and I step forward, my hand going for his cock and giving him a few quick tugs.

“Get up,” I say, and when he does, I turn him toward the camera. “Look how hard this makes you. I think you’ve been in denial the whole time. You’re on the wrong side of the whip. Now lie down on the bed.”

I look at the camera and give a sign to Isaac to turn it off. When the little red dot finally goes off, I sink to the floor. Archer is going to kill me when he sees this. My whole body is shaking, and as my anger leaves me, I start to rock back and forth. I should feel better about this. I’ve gotten what I’ve dreamed of ever since Archer kidnapped me. Revenge. Shouldn’t it be sweet? Shouldn’t I feel better? But I don’t. I feel like there’s a hole in my chest, and I can’t breathe.

“Kat, we have to go,” Isaac says when he enters the room, then crouches next to me, pulling me into his arms. “Hey, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I just... I thought that if I do what he did to me... well, only a little of it, that everything... that everything would go away, and it just...” I choke on a sob.

“I know. I thought it would feel better too.” He tugs at my arm. “We have to go. We can’t be here when the drug wears off. He’ll want to kills us, and if we get out of here, you’ll be protected by your deal. If Archer wants to kill you, he’ll have to have a good reason, and I don’t think he’ll want anyone to see this video.”

“Yeah, just... just clean him up.” It’s silly to worry about Archer’s wounds, but I can’t just leave him like this. He might have done it to me when I was in that dark dungeon and he didn’t care whether my wounds got infected, but I’m not like him. At least I hope I’m not. When we’re ready to go, I find the ring box in my purse and leave it on the nightstand next to Archer.

It’s been three weeks since Isaac and I escaped from Archer’s apartment and didn’t look back. I’ve told my parents to increase their security, and I keep calling everyone just to make sure Archer hasn’t found a way to retaliate. He hasn’t tried to contact me either, which scares me more than anything else, but I couldn’t have just let him get away with everything. If I hadn’t switched those glasses...

“It’s going to be fine. If Archer doesn’t want to explain what exactly you’ve done to him, then he can’t do anything,” Isaac says. “It would be a huge embarrassment for him, even if he tried to claim you brought the drug.”

“I know, but what if he finds a way? Maybe some friend owes him a favor or he blackmails someone else into killing someone I love and makes it look like an accident. He might be angry enough to risk it.” I pull my knee up and rest my chin on it.

“We can’t be running from him forever or let him do whatever he wants. Even if we hadn’t done anything, who says he wouldn’t have called in a favor and gotten someone else to drug you... at a restaurant or somewhere... and then gotten you to his apartment. At least he can no longer ask you out and expect you to come. And you don’t have to pretend you like him anymore.” Isaac tucks a strand of my hair behind my ear. “Besides, we’re having fun here, aren’t we?” He gives me a teasing look and I punch him lightly on the shoulder.

“Unless he completely lost his mind, Archer isn’t stupid. He won’t risk his life or anything just to make you pay. Besides, he’s done worse to us.” Isaac’s eyes grow darker.

“Yeah, but I’m sure that in his head things don’t seem that way, because he’s convinced that I wanted and enjoyed what he did to me, and I wasn’t drugged.”

“No, you were just trying to survive.” Isaac sighs. “Too bad Ericka hasn’t made her move, although if she sees you’re gone from the parties too... or if Archer stops throwing them, then she’ll be even more scared.”

“I don’t know anything anymore.” I rub my face. Will I ever be truly free of Archer? Or will he haunt me like a shadow constantly at my back?

My phone rings, and I pick it up.

“There’s a man who wants to see you, miss.” I recognize the voice of one of the men my father hired to keep watch in front of my apartment. My heart skips a beat. “He says his name is Archer and that he needs to talk to you.”

I cover the phone with my hand, turning to Isaac with wide eyes. “Archer’s here.”

“What?” Isaac gapes at me, immediately getting to his feet. “What does he want?”

“I don’t know,” I hiss, and move my hand away. “Search him for weapons or any other devices, and if he’s clean, let him in.”

“Yes, ma’am,” the guard says.

“Why did you do that? You should’ve told him to fuck off!” Isaac flails his arms.

“And then what? Maybe he wants to make another deal. He knows we have the video, and he’s probably aware the video will go live somewhere if something happens to us.” I’ve actually made sure of that. As soon as we got home that night, I uploaded the video to various accounts, new and old, and told people I could trust to release the video in case something happens to me. “Go get my gun.”

“Okay.” Isaac goes to find the gun while I stroll into the hallway, waiting for the guard to let Archer inside.

When the door finally opens, I half expect Archer to point a gun straight into my face and fire, the guard dead at his feet, but Archer only walks inside, his face a mask of fury. When the guard closes the door, Archer glares at me.

“You sick bitch,” he says. “You could have had everything. My love, a home... anything you wanted. And you threw it all away for what? For a sad little life here with people who’ll never give you what you need?”

“Really? You’re going to blame me for that? Of course, everything’s always my fault. When you’re angry, when you hit me, when things don’t go your way... it’s always my fault!” I cross my arms, feeling Isaac coming to stand behind me. “You wanted to fucking drug me! How’s that okay?”

“You’re afraid of yourself, Kitten. You don’t want to accept who you truly are. I only wanted to help you... to loosen you up a bit. One night with me and you’d see... you’d see that a life with me is the only one you can have!” His nostrils flare, and it takes all of my strength not to pick up something and throw it at his head.

“No, Archer, you don’t know what I want or what I need. You think only about yourself and who you want me to be. I was never that woman and I’ll never be her.”

“You’re wrong. I saw how you reacted to me, to my touch... Your body doesn’t lie. I don’t know why that’s so hard for you to accept.” He gives me a sad look as if he thinks I’m being stupid.

“Oh, just like your body didn’t lie when I whipped you?” My lips pull into a smile, and Archer’s face reddens and he advances toward me, his first raised. Isaac moves behind me, but before he can reach us, I wrap my fingers around Archer’s wrist.

“Don’t fucking touch me,” I say. “You don’t have any right to lay a finger on me, and if you do, you’ll be violating our deal.”

“You wouldn’t have proof,” he spits.

“Oh, I would. I installed cameras in here, but don’t bother looking for them, they’re well-hidden.” I let go of him and he lets his hand drop. He glances around, but I bet he can’t see anything because there are no cameras. No matter how much I would like to catch Archer violating our deal, I don’t really want to be surveilled in my own home, especially if the footage could get into the wrong hands. Archer doesn’t have to know that, though. He never bothered to hide his camera since he thought I’d be too drugged out of my mind to notice or even care.

“This isn’t over, Katherine,” Archer says through his teeth. “You’ll realize the mistake you’ve made and then it’ll be too late. I won’t take you back.”

“I don’t want you to take me back. I didn’t want you to kidnap me either! If you fucking liked me, you could’ve asked me out like a real man! If you wanted me to be yours and truly your companion, you wouldn’t have kept me in a dungeon, threatened me, and done things to me that you somehow convinced yourself that I enjoyed. You raped me and forced me to do things I never wanted to do! I can’t... I can’t just forgive you for all of that and forget it ever happened.”

“I didn’t rape you. You enjoyed it.”

“I did enjoy some of it, you’re right, but that doesn’t change the fact that I didn’t give you my permission to do any of that!” I’m yelling at the top of my lungs and I don’t care who hears me.

“Oh, come on, Kat, you know you like it that way. You want someone to make you moan and cry and scream...” The way he looks at me makes me realize that he just doesn’t understand it and he never will.

“Maybe I do, but if I want to play out my fantasies with someone, I’ll agree with him on everything first. And if I want him to stop, he’ll fucking stop, because that’s what normal people do!” I meet his cold blue eyes. “But that’s not what excites you, is it? You want to go on even if someone begs you to stop. You want to keep breaking them until you get what you want and then you convince them that they wanted what you did to them. And you can’t even know what they want, because you never stop to ask and you wouldn’t care even if they told you. You’re a monster, Archer.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Archer curls his lip. “But be careful. If that video ever comes out, everyone will find out what kind of slut you really are.”

“Fine.” I snort. “Now get the fuck out of my apartment and don’t come back ever again.”

“I can’t believe I ever loved you,” he mutters, going for the door.

“Don’t use such words if you don’t know what they mean,” I say, and watch him slam the door behind him. I let out a breath I didn’t even know I’ve been holding and press my hand over my chest, my heart pumping like crazy. “That felt good for some reason,” I say and flash Isaac a weak smile.