The Devastatingly Beautiful Series (23 page)

Rob

We’ve brought Molly to my safe house in Maine. She hasn’t spoken to me in the three days we’ve been here, but I know it’s just a matter of time. She can’t keep going like this, she needs food and water eventually. Of course, Molly doesn’t know where we are, and the basement is a dark and damp place for her to be. I can’t risk her getting out, though. I’m not stupid. If Tatum ever finds out where I am, I’m a dead man.

Kidnapping her had never been the plan. The plan was originally to steal her from Tatum and enjoy her for myself for a while. Eventually I’d grow tired of her, like every other woman, and throw her aside, ruined for all other men. Unfortunately, the events of that day made it hard for me to let her leave. Her eyes gave away too much. She needs to be silenced and Tatum needs to know how it feels to be left without the one you love. To say my family is pissed is an understatement, but someone has to pay for my sister’s death. She was my fucking twin… we had just reunited for Christ’s sake!

Since she was shoved in the car, Molly’s been a handful. I see why Tatum is so taken with her. She is feisty, strong willed, and doesn’t show fear. She is a beautiful women, curves where they should be, wild red hair, emotional eyes. I would have had her by now, but rape isn’t really my style. I’d rather her be willing, and willing she will be. If tempted enough, in enough time any red blooded women will give into me. I am Robert Delany after all, I break women easily.

4

Tatum

Present Day

Eddie and I spent the entire night scouring all of the Delany files. I don’t sleep well anymore, so when Eddie called it a night and headed off to the guest room, I stayed up to continue my search for her. Every time I close my eyes I see her, and it hurts me physically when I wake up from the dream and she isn’t next to me. It’s best for everyone around me if I don’t sleep.

I know I’ve become somewhat of an asshole to be around lately, but the woman I love was torn out of my life and I can’t do anything to find her. I’m doing the best I can, my father is doing the best he can, but none of us have been good enough. Hell, I’m even keeping her business afloat for her with the help of a friend just so when she comes home she has something to come back to.

All I can keep thinking is that it shouldn’t be this hard. It shouldn’t be hard to track where Robert Delany has been. It shouldn’t be this hard to track a fucking bank account or credit card. Unfortunately, the Delany family seems to be in pristine standing these last two months. It’s almost as if they know what he did and are watching their behavior as to not throw anyone off. I wouldn’t doubt it, given the past that they have with my family, but someone as bound to mess up, and when they do I will catch it. Over and over I look through the money movement in his family, looking for a bit of a pattern. Eddie’s been focusing on watching the credit cards, the phone bills, even where family members are filling up on gas. I thought maybe taking a cross-glance at the bank statements could tell us something that we didn’t already see. My eyes hurt, my head hurts, but I can’t stop. I won’t stop, not until she’s in my arms again.

It’s 3:33 am when I see it. My entire body tenses as I compare the files of three different Delany family members, none of whom I’ve ever heard of. I do a quick search for each name and come up completely empty. Those fucking assholes made up names to put on accounts and thought we wouldn’t find it. This is too much, everything lines up perfectly. Could this really be what we’ve been looking for? The movement of money from their account to one of an unknown source all happens at the same time each week. And it started two months ago.

Shit!

I ran into Eddie’s room, scaring the piss out of him as I turn on the light and throw a nearby box at him.  He jolts up, rubbing his arm.

“The fuck, Savage?!” he growls. Eddie isn’t a morning person, and being that he went to bed two hours ago he isn’t going to get up so easily. This, though. This is enough to get him up.

“Look. Do you see it?” I ask frantically as I hand him the papers, praying that it just isn’t my tired eyes playing tricks on me. He studies them for a few moments then looks up at me, eyes wide.

“How the hell did you find this? We’ve spent endless fucking hours scouring these accounts...” he mumbles as he gets up and throws on his pants. The man is about as built as I used to be, just a few inches shorter. We could pass as brothers, actually, if put side by side. The dark short hair, toned muscles, even the same skin tone, though his was covered in tattoos. He really doesn’t fit the look of computer nerd, but man he was good at his job. He strides into the office and sits back at his computer, rubbing his face to wake up. Soon, he starts clicking at the keys, eyes flicking from one screen to another. For too long he doesn’t talk, just compares papers to the screens in front of him. Finally, the words I’ve been waiting two months to hear came out of his mouth.

“I think you may have just found your girl, dude.”

5

Molly

One month ago

I’ve never been a weak person. I’ve never given up. When faced with the horror that I have faced in my past, I have gotten up each day and pushed on. I moved across the country without a dime to my name. I opened and business on my own that was doing very well before this ordeal. I let my parents wonder where I was for five years because I didn’t want then to be in danger. Now, though, as I sit here in his bed, I hate myself more than I have ever imagined possible.

I lasted four weeks in that basement. Four weeks of hell. Every day he would come down, the light from upstairs illuminating his rock hard, shirtless body as he strode down the short staircase to me. Every day he would run his hands down my jaw, down my neck. He never went much further than that, but every time he would wear me down more and more. Every day those touches would bring more and more unwanted feelings. Make me second guess my life, everything that I thought I knew about love and relationships. He had taken my clothes and replaced them with his underwear and under shirt. He also cut my hair short, more ‘to his liking’. I had his smell on me daily and hated it. I hate him. I hate what he would whisper to me.

You won’t be able to stay down here forever, Molly. Come with me.

I’ll wait until you’re ready, Molly.

It won’t be long now, doll.

Baby, come with me. You know how good we could be.

You are going to taste so damn sweet.

Each day I would be tortured, as his words trickled in my ear, down my neck. Each day he did this, then left me alone. One day turned into two. Two turned into three. The first few days I was so angry that I was tied to a water pipe in a dark cold basement, in God-knows what state. I was keeping hope that Tatum was coming for me, but each day that passed I lost a little more hope. He would have found me by now, right? I dreamed of him at night. The way he touched me, the way he held me. I woke up mid climax more times than I could count. I missed him so much I didn’t know what to do with myself.

I was strung so tight that the last time Rob walked down the stairs to attempt to coax me into being with him that I went back up with him willingly. Even if it was only for release, I still did it. I still willingly slept with Robert Delany. I’ve gone against everything I stand for and slept with the man that kidnapped me and kept me tied to a pipe in the basement.

Just the thought makes me want to puke, and I run for the bathroom before dry heaving into the toilet. There’s nothing in me. I haven’t had a full meal in a month. He’s offered meals, but I won’t eat what he gives me. I’ve had water every day as my way to stay alive. I know I’ve lost weight and I probably look horrific. Why a man as beautiful as Robert Delany would want me at this point in my life is beyond me. Hell, I went a full month without seeing sunlight. I’m sure that does wonders for a person’s skin. I know he’s using me to piss Tatum off, but how much will be enough?

Sitting on the bathroom floor the realization of what I just did hits me full force. Oh God, what if he finds out!? Is Tatum even going to want me back?
Shit, no!
The thought of him with another woman breaks me, why didn’t I think of him!?  The thought never crossed my mind! I was so worn down and frustrated from recently waking from another dream about Tatum, that when Rob came down with his rock hard body and whispered promises, I didn’t have much resistance left!
Oh my God
. I’m shaking on the bathroom floor, wearing nothing but his t-shirt. I have nothing left. Tatum won’t have me back once he learns what I did, what I had to do to be free from the basement and free from the darkness that was settling over me. Robert’s just using me as payback and once Tatum is over me and no longer cares that I’m gone, I’m sure Rob will throw me away like the others.

No.

I refuse to be a casualty of Robert Delany. I’ve seen photos of what he does to women. The bruises, the cuts, the black eyes. Looking at those pictures has always made me angry that the women didn’t leave before it escalated. Sitting in his bathroom I realize that leaving may not have been an option for them. At least this way I don’t turn into a walking zombie by the time he’s done with me. I already feel myself pulling into the darkness, not caring about anything anymore. I can’t have that. I won’t have it. I was born to be stronger than this, and it’s going to take a whole hell of a lot of strength to do what I have to do to get out of this house.

Standing up I turn on the light and wince at the brightness. The woman looking back at me in the mirror isn’t the woman I remember. Shorter, unruly hair. He cut it with an old pair of scissors, so it is uneven and curlier than before, if that’s even possible. The woman I see in the mirror has dark circles under her eyes, even significant weight loss in her facial features. This woman isn’t me. I don’t want to continue this. I don’t want to live in this prison, and that’s exactly what this is. I know what Robert Delany does to women, and I won’t be one of them.  I lock the door and turn on the shower, grabbing the hair cutting scissors on my way and plugging the drain at the bottom of the tub. If this is my only way out, then so be it.

Rob

She finally fucking gave in. She caved, just like I knew she would. It was so sweet, being inside her. After a month with nothing, she was so tight I wasn’t sure how long I would last. Amazingly, she was already wet with need. Jesus that woman. My body is filled with so much joy that I just effectively ripped out Tatum’s heart and stomped on it. He needs to know this. He needs to know she’s no longer his. I want to jump with excitement at what just happened, but I can’t. I know he’s out there, looking. I know it’s a matter of time before he finds us, but now I’m prepared. Now I have the ultimate payback. Walking to the printer, I send a few photos through to be printed. He should enjoy these. I’ll wait until the rest of her clothes have been sent before sending this to fuck with him.

I was starting to get worried it would never happen. I was starting to worry that I would have a dead woman on my hands before she finally gave into her desires for me. She is a stubborn woman, indeed. It made the victory that much sweeter.

Now all I need to do is keep her at arm’s reach. I can’t put her back in the basement now that I’ve learned just how good she can be in bed, but I can damn sure make certain that she has zero contact with the outside world. No way she’s getting out now that I’ve finally wore her down. Now the real fun begins. Sure the blood stained clothing articles were a good touch, but the thought that she willingly had sex with me is so much better. She gave up on him and gave into me. GOD I wish I could see his reaction to this news. My cell phone rings, breaking my joyous thoughts.

“What,” I snap.

“Move her,” is all my father says.

“You know that can’t happen.”

“You will move her, or the money and assistance stop. Once those stop, he finds you and I don’t want to have a damn thing to do with that fallout. The house you are in belongs to a Delany. The name alone is enough to send him sniffing. Move the fucking girl or I’ll do it for you.”

I sigh and know he’s right. After all, he is my father, one of the meanest men in the country. When he says he will move her, he means in a body bag to the bottom of the ocean. I’m not quite done with my fun yet, though. I agree and hang up. Now to figure out where the fuck to go, and what to do when we get there.

I walk back into the bedroom and hear the door to the bathroom lock. Figures. Giving her no time to think about what just happened, I grab the key and let myself in. The steam is billowing out of the shower and the curtain is already pulled shut. Leaving my pants on, as I never shower with the women I am fucking, I pull back the curtain and freeze.

Tears running down her cheeks, hands shaking as she is caught trying to press the scissors into her wrist. Fury runs through me. I yell, grab her by her hair, and throw her in the bedroom. What a fucking bitch! She will not do this to me! I have a fucking plan!

I only hit her a couple times, but she goes down immediately. She will know after tonight that she doesn’t fuck with me. If I want her dead it will be by my hand, not some pussy way out behind my back. Fucking cutting her wrists. Ha! If she wants pain, I can give her pain.

6

Molly

Present Day

Ever since that day in the shower, Rob hasn’t left me alone in a room. He also has taken to hitting me daily to ‘remind me who is in charge’. Apparently it really pissed him off that I was trying to ruin his master plan. The guards all see the black eyes and bruises he gives me but no one says a word. I’m so miserable here, I can’t do this much longer. I keep trying to find ways to end it, to put myself out of my misery but I can’t. I don’t want to be here anymore, but I don’t want to die, either.  Tatum probably gave up on looking for me long ago. I have nothing anymore, and Rob just wants to fuck me. Each night I lay there, unresponsive to his advances, and each night I end up being fucked by that pig. I want to cut his dick off while he’s sleeping, but he had all of the sharp objects taken away.

Though I’m not chained downstairs anymore I am still a prisoner. I’m allowed in the bedroom, bathroom, and living room. If I go anywhere else I pay for it. I have bruises on my ribs currently as proof. Rob has been working furiously to find another place to hide me but from what I can tell is coming up empty. I can feel he is starting to get frantic, but I really don’t care. I’ve checked out. I sit here, watching the wall most days. There is a tiny shred of me, the girl I used to be, that is pissed I allowed myself to be broken this easily. She’s so fucking mad that I gave in, that I don’t believe Tatum is coming for me. She’s still holding on to hope. She’s the only reason I’m still thinking clearly. She’s giving me that tiny bit of hope that things are going to get better. I know they aren’t, but sometimes it helps to hope.

I hear him yelling from somewhere else in the house. Something about not caring where the money is going or how it gets there. He’s been in an increasingly bad mood, and it gives me pleasure to find him so miserable. There are some days I sit here and imagine all of the awful things I’d do to him if I ever had the chance. It’s morbid, but it keeps me calm. I have never hated anyone so much in my entire life as I hate Robert Delany.

I hear him walk up the stairs and into my room. I don’t share a room with him thank the Lord. I wouldn’t ever sleep if I had to share a bed with this animal. Sleep is bad enough as it is. I now not only continue my nightmares about Evie’s murder, but I’ve also started having nightmares about never seeing Tatum again. There have been some where he walks away and doesn’t come back, there have been the ones where he can’t hear me yelling for him, but the darkest ones are the ones where he’s moved on without me and he looks at me with utter disgust. Those are the ones that eat at me the worst.

Robert clears his throat to announce his presence, then speaks to me as if I were a child.

“Put these on. We’re leaving.” He tosses clothes onto the bed. I stare at him, not responding, letting his words sink in. He’s taking me somewhere else.

I start to panic inside. The part of me that was holding on hope that Tatum would find me starts to flip. What if he is on his way here and when he gets here I’ll be gone, then it’ll take another two months to find me again, and then I may be gone from there… he’s never going to find me!

“He’s not even looking for you anymore, Molly. He’s moved on,” he growls. “With a more suitable bitch,” he adds with irritation, then slams the door.

Just like that, the remaining pieces of my world crumble.