Takeover: A Step-Brother Romance (The Legacy Series Book 1) (35 page)

I yelled, but the flogger bit before Darius raised a hand. The tears came too fast.

“Apologize, girl,” Darius said.

I hated myself. I hated him.

“Sorry.”

“Sorry,
what
?”

I wished to be gagged again. “Sorry, sir.”

Darius laughed. “Oh, nothing that formal, my dear. Try again.”

My stomach rolled. Reed and Max shifted, but Nicholas didn’t react.

Heartless fucking bastard.

“Sorry…
Dad
.”

“Good girl.”

I shivered again. Uncontrollable. I’d throw up, but they hadn’t given me anything to eat since I mouthed off. Max released the restraints on my wrists. My arms fell, and, as the blood trickled into them, I crumpled in half, cowering to ease the pain.

Darius kicked my side. “Get up,” he said. “We’ll let you rest.”

A kindness?

No way. Darius set only traps.

I refused Reed’s hand and struggled to my feet. My chest tightened from the constant pressure of the bindings holding my arms up. I longed to grip my inhaler, just to be prepared and know I had it under control. I bit my lip instead.

I’d never ask for it. No sense degrading myself twice.

They led me up the stairs. I stole a towel and cleaned my chin and chest from what I drooled over the gag. Darius prevented my escape upstairs. He pinched a nerve above my elbow and ordered me into the nearest powder room.

He pushed me inside. My heart thundered. He reached into his pocket, and I expected a gun.

“My dear, if you would.” Darius handed me a pink box. “Quickly now.”

It wasn’t a weapon. I flipped the box over.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

The pregnancy test was name brand and guaranteed for early results.

“Forget it,” I said.

Darius grabbed my hair. He threw me into the wall and sneered as I lost my balance. I crumpled to the floor. He pitched the test at my chest.

“My sons’ part in this is done,” Darius said. He pointed to my step-brothers, lingering in the hall. “They fucked and seeded you. Let’s see if you’ve done your job.”

“You are all insane,” I said. “Let me out of here.”

“Sarah, my dear. We are only asking for a little cooperation.”

That word again.

They asked for my pride, my dignity, and my family’s lasting legacy.

They deserved none of it.

“You will take this test, or my sons will bind you to the floor and fuck you until you’re raw, bruised, and visibly swelling with a child. That might take some time.”

I hoped he didn’t see me tremble.

“One of these options is more pleasant than the other.” He smiled. “If not as satisfying.”

He would order them to do it. And I knew, with every betraying confidence, he’d earn their obedience. I’d fight. They’d overpower me. Max would beat me, Reed would endanger himself to save me, and Nicholas would drive me to the brink of insanity, wrapped in his heat, scent, and cruelty.

And it wouldn’t be like the last time I offered myself.

No surrendering. No kindness. No…desiring them.

It’d hurt.

And I didn’t want to hurt anymore. I wanted time to rest, to plan, and to hide in the darkness for a few minutes.

I wanted my heart to stop breaking.

I shrugged. “Fine. I’ll take it.”

Darius didn’t move. Neither did my step-brothers. I exhaled.

“I said I’ll take it.” I stared at the box. “Give me a minute to figure it out. I’ve never taken one before.”

Reed snickered. “You pee on it.”

“Thanks.”

Darius bowed his head. “We’ll wait.”

The cold shock pitted inside me.

Oh, God. No way. He didn’t think that he’d
stay
?

I cleared my throat. “I need my…privacy.”

“No, you don’t.”

The box crushed under my hand. “I
agreed
.”

“So take the test.”

What the hell was wrong with this family? “Not…in front of you!”

“How else will we be assured you’ve taken it properly?”

I’d throw up before I did…that in front of an audience. In front of my
step-family
.

In front of Nicholas.

I shivered. This was worse than the beatings and the bindings, the gags and even being restrained for my first experience with a man. The fear prickled through me.

I swallowed the tremble in my voice.

“We’re waiting,” Darius said. He reveled in my discomfort. “You were in the cellar for hours. I assumed you’d be grateful to use the facilities like a civilized woman instead of a pet whore.”

No end existed for their depravity. No matter how hard I fought, how badly I struggled to preserve even a fraction of my pride, the Bennetts sensed my weaknesses.

I did
not
want to do this.

What kind of a man forced a woman to humiliate herself in such a way?

I had even allowed them to touch me. My skin crawled.

Never again.

“Fine.”

Darius nodded. I ripped open the cardboard and pulled the test kit. The box and wrapper pitched into the garbage. I clutched the applicator.

How was I supposed to do this?

It was beyond mortification. It’d be a moment of utter, horrid submission to a perversion I didn’t think existed beyond the far corners of the internet.

But at least it’d be quick, and it’d be over, and they would be disappointed.

That gave me a little courage, despite the bile threatening my pride.

Darius expected this to be the end. I was fucked by three men during a dangerous time of the month and filled by them all. The test should have been the final blow. Dehumanize me, strip my privacy.

He’d watch as I suffered through taking the test then crumbled at the result.

But only because he thought I was pregnant.

Maybe after the shock wore off, I’d jam the damn stick down his throat.

Reed had the decency to look away. Max braced with the flogger like I’d make a break for it.

And Nicholas?

He watched.

He waited for this exact moment since the first day he kidnapped me.

He
wanted
me to be pregnant, needed it badly as his father did. And why not? I was nothing to him but a name and a womb. Not Sarah, but Atwood. Not lover, but woman.

My weakness for him, the momentary break where I thought I might have
trusted
a Bennett, still gave him power over me.

Nicholas Bennett sold his soul to steal my family’s fortune.

I waited for his moment of sweet disappointment.

My fingers trembled over the applicator. A creeping blush pinkened parts of me I didn’t know could reveal my embarrassment.

“Get on with it.” Darius clutched the door frame.

I had no way to hide. I took a breath before an attack made it more sickening.

I sat and hated my nudity.

They waited. Eager. Desperate.

I pinched my eyes shut and tried to think of anything but how the gentle trickle sealed some sort of perverted, horrible fate with the Bennetts. It was worse than the bindings. Worse than threatened rape, than Darius’s touch.

I didn’t mean for the light sob to escape—more a fit of anger than genuine shame. But it happened, and I couldn’t take it back. I finished, cleaned, and stood, pitching the applicator onto the counter and slamming a hand against the handle.

“Two minutes,” Darius said. “Easy, my dear. This might be a happy occasion.”

It would be.

For me.

I washed my trembling hands, pretending not to notice how close the Bennetts crowded within the doorway to the powder room.

I also ignored the stick. The box. The instructions. Even the time. Reed counted, though his silent numbers audibly rushed toward the end. He nudged Nicholas.

“Okay,” he said. “Check it.”

I didn’t help. Nicholas edged in front of his father. His eyes caught mine in the mirror.

I rewarded the false warmth of his golden gaze with a knowing perk of my eyebrow.

“Negative,” he said.

My mouth dropped in mock surprise. “
Really
? No way?”

“
Negative
?” Darius ripped the applicator from his son’s hand. “How the hell is that possible. All three of you fucked her.”

I sighed. “Well, you know how these things go.”

The men stood in a stunned silence. I escaped from the powder room and shrugged.

“There’s a lot of things that factor into it. Stress and diet and environment. Sometimes getting raped repeatedly by your own brothers just won’t do it.”

“Enough,” Nicholas said. “We’ll take another one in a few days. It’s still early.”

He didn’t understand. He didn’t
want
to understand.

“I’ll piss on everything you give me, Nicholas Bennett, it won’t change a thing.”

Darius checked his watch. “Nicholas, handle this. I have a meeting.”

I grinned as my step-father bristled, stomping from the room. I called after him with a sweet smile.

“Bye,
Dad
.”

“Jesus Christ.” Nicholas took my hand. I jerked, but he hauled me into the smoking room. He hissed at Max and Reed, and they chased after Darius.

I fought him, but Nicholas tossed me on the couch and covered me with a blanket. The door slammed shut. His mocha voice strained over an ill-concealed anger.

“Are you insane? My father looks for reasons to hurt you!”

“Everyone’s hurt me lately.” I wrapped the blanket over my breasts. “Why shouldn’t Darius have a chance too?”

“Don’t tempt him. It’s dangerous.”

“Dangerous enough that he’d beat me, strip me, and force his sons upon me?” I waited for Nicholas to show one ounce of remorse. That damn stillness. He’d turn to stone before betraying what he thought. “I think I understand just how dangerous he is.”

“You give him a chance, and he will burn you alive, Sarah.”

“Then why doesn’t he?”

“Because you’re still useful to us. He threw you in a sixty degree cellar for
three
hours today because you insulted him. And that’s him holding back.”

I curled my arms over the blanket. The fuzzy warmth calmed me, hiding everything Nicholas had seen, touched, and taken before I realized I slept with the devil.

“You said it yourself. He’s going to keep me alive. He wants my
child
.”

“No. He’s punishing the Atwoods. Breeding you is just part of his sadism.”

I gritted my teeth. “Hasn’t he already done enough? I’m trapped here. My brothers are dead. He killed my father.”

“He never touched your father.”

Liar.

The son of a bitch liar looked me directly in the eyes with a cinnamon promise and melting voice and
lied to me
.

He had no shame, no honor, no dignity.

There wasn’t a profanity strong enough.

“He didn’t murder your father, Sarah,” Nicholas said.

My chest tightened, stealing my words from me. That was good. He didn’t deserve a single sound from my lips.

“Do you want to know how your father died? Do you
really
want to know?”

Nicholas leaned in, his arms pressing into the sofa. He trapped me and still spoke lies.

“Your father died from
natural
causes. He died because he had complications from the cancer.”

“How dare you.”

“He
died
,” Nicholas continued, “because he was an old man who endured more chemotherapy than he could withstand. He went into remission, but he died because his body was
weakened
.”

“That’s not true.”

“You are looking for someone to blame. You’ve imagined every way you could pin his death on the Bennetts.”

“Because Darius killed him!”

“No. That’s not the reason.” Nicholas stared at me, through me, into me. “You weren’t as close to your father as you thought you were.”

“Let me up.”

“He didn’t love you as much as you loved him.”

I yelled, but my voice broke. “How dare you!”

“Mark Atwood didn’t name you in his will. He passed every
cent
of the family’s fortune to his
sons
.”

“They were older than me!”

“But he wrote no provision for you. No trusts. Nothing! He left the money, company, and land to Josiah and Michael. He let them decide if you were worth a pittance.”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“He had plans for you. Just like my father had plans for me and my brothers. You were meant for R&D. Always. He put you in science camps and tutoring. He forced you to choose genetics as your field of study.”

“He didn’t force me,” I said.

“You did it because
he
wanted you to. Because you did everything to get noticed by your father, and he paid absolutely no attention to you beyond what he could profit.”

“I don’t have to listen to this.”

Nicholas frowned. “If you knew what he had planned for your research? What he already did? You wouldn’t have stepped foot in that lab. You’d be
relieved
my father stole your research journal.”

The pain in my chest was more than just the asthma catching my breath. I accidentally clutched my neck. Nicholas pulled a spare inhaler from his pocket. He held it up before handing it to me.

“Your father hid your asthma. Why?”

I didn’t take a hit of the medicine. “Because it was
my
illness. Why share what weakens us?”

“He was ashamed of you.”

“I swear to God, if you don’t stop talking
right now—
”

“Mark Atwood wanted a son,” he said. “A third son. To mirror the Bennetts. Instead he had you. He made do with what he was given.”

“My father loved me.”

“He was incapable of love.”

“What the hell would a Bennett know about compassion?” My lungs would crush before they allowed a scream. I tried anyway. “You’re a monster, Nick. You’re twisting his memory.”

“He was twisted when he was alive.”

I trembled. Everywhere. Why didn’t he just beat me? Hurt me? Break my heart again?

Anything but this.

“You’re lying,” I said. “Every word is a lie. You’re trying to confuse me, but I know Darius killed my father.”