Breaker (Unmasked #3)

23. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Cora

I t’s only been three days since I was brought back, and I’m already exhausted. How I’m supposed to survive this, I have no clue.

Each day has gone by in a blur. I go to work and stare at the stacks of papers on my desk. I leave work and go back to Rune’s. Clyde makes me dinner I eat and go to sleep. It’s mundane and uneventful and somehow, we’ve ended up outside of Zane’s office for a meeting to discuss who knows what.

I’m spacing out more and more, like I’m floating through life barely feeling or seeing anything. I need to keep focused but the magnitude of my sorrow keeps pulling me under.

Clyde nudges my arm after he knocks on the door, and we wait for Zane’s assistant to let us in. “Do you want me take you shopping to pick a dress for the upcoming fundraiser?”

Fuck . Why I keep forgetting about the event, I don’t know. Maybe because the thought of being stuck in a public space as Zane’s arm candy and future wife makes me want to dive out of my office window.

After our encounter outside the office building, I’ve managed to avoid Zane. Mostly I’ve stayed in my office, staring at the files that stack higher each day, wishing I was back with Delly.

Wishing my life was different.

Which is foolish of me. Wishing never got anyone anywhere. It’s action that creates change. And as much as I know I need to do something to stop this marriage to Zane, I can’t seem to muster any energy. Not that I’ve come up with a plan, which is precisely what I need.

My only option to stop this marriage is so far from reach, I’m not sure it’s even an option. I could very well end up signing my death warrant.

“Did you hear me, girl?” Clyde asks, gripping my shoulders and turning me so I’m facing him. “Are you even listening?”

No.

“Who are we meeting with again?” I ask, smoothing my hands down my pencil skirt to remove the wrinkles. He told me earlier, but I’m too busy being miserable to care.

Clyde opens his mouth to answer but the door swings open, and Zane appears with a huff.

“You’re late,” he says, gaze slipping up and down my body leaving oily unease every place his eyes skim over.

All my senses scream awake, Zane’s proximity sending alarm bells through my head. I’ve been around him for years working in the same office, and maybe it’s because he was so fixated on Delly that he never bothered me before.

He bothers me now. As does that angry, inconvenienced expression he’s currently wearing.

“We’re only fifteen minute late,” I say, shoving him out of the way to enter his office. “I wanted to freshen up and eat something before sitting in on a meeting with a bunch of old men.”

Zane follows me through the luxurious sitting room outside his office, past the shelves lined with books he’s more than likely never read, and into his dark office. It’s dark because of the fact everything is painted a deep forest green. The walls, more shelves with more books, the curtains over the modern windows. Mixed in with the modern sleek furniture are heavy ornate antiques that remind of the mansion back with the men.

This room reminds me of Reaper. Dark, brooding. Intense. Beautiful.

“Sit.” Zane says, gesturing for Clyde to sit in one of the plush leather chairs, but Rune enters behind us and takes the seat. That’s when I notice Dave.

Delly’s sleazy ex-husband.

It’s not uncommon for Dave to sit in on certain meetings to make sure things are done correctly, or at least done in a way ensuring Rune won’t get caught. What’s uncommon are the tell-tale remnants of two black eyes, the skin around them slightly green like they’re old. And… Is his nose a little crooked?

I smile inwardly. Rune must have questioned him, as Rune tends to do, after we were taken. Or Clyde. Or both of them. Being that he’s still alive and still Rune’s lawyer means they believed he had nothing to do with us being taken.

I, of course known that, but satisfaction swirls in my belly, picturing Clyde punching him over and over. He probably enjoyed every second, considering Dave cheated on Delly.

“Glad you’re back,” he says standing, but I wave him off. He opens his mouth, and I feel with every fiber in my being he’s about to ask me about Delly but thinks better of it and sits back down.

“I take it Rune filled you in,” Zane says, stepping up to the sideboard and pouring two fingers of whisky into a glass.

“I have no clue what today’s about,” I tell him, snatching his glass and slamming it back.

I hiss at the burn traveling down my throat, reveling in Zane’s pinched expression, a perfect dark blonde brow quirking upwards slightly. If he wasn’t such a perverted creepy asshole, he’d be stunningly handsome, but instead it’s like a dark meanness seeps through his pores turning him slightly plastic and fake.

“You didn’t tell her?” Zane asks, but he’s talking to Rune.

I don’t bother to look at Rune, but I can picture his slight shoulder shrug of indifference.

“But I told you my expectations,” Zane snarls and all the niceness he was pretending to possess vanishes instantly, making my stomach clench

There he is. The Zane Devin I know. Rune’s second in command. The one who threatens men who refuse to do his bidding. Who will steal hundreds of thousands from a rival without batting an eye. The one who helps Rune decide who to dispose of and who to keep.

“Does it matter?” Rune says. “It’s done, so let’s move forward.”

Zane nods and sets the decanter down watching me as he does. The way his eyes skim my face, then move to my breasts feels like a different kind of violation. When his hazel eyes move to my lips, I give him a deadly smile.

He’s giving me no choice.

It’s going to end up being him or me. If I learned anything from my time with the men, it’s that I will fight for me. Even if it kills me.

Zane rips his gaze away from my smirk, and steps back. I suck in air, not realizing his proximity, his slick eyes moving over my like invasive fingers, had me holding my breath. My nerves skitter along my spine as I watch him move to his ornate desk in front of the windows and pick up a large manilla envelope. He pulls out several sheets, skimming over them.

“It was taken out?” he asks, glancing up briefly to look at Rune. “It was part of the agreement.”

“Yes,” Rune says. “And as you can see everything is in order, but it may take a few weeks, maybe months for all I know before things are back to normal.”

Zane nods, glancing my way, then turns his attention to the papers in his hand. “Nothing to be concerned about? Everything’s clear?”

Rune gestures to the papers. “As you can see from the report, everything is fine.”

“Nothing that needs taking care of?” Zane asks, eyes landing on my belly for a heartbeat. “Or is it too soon to tell?”

“The test was negative,” Rune says and my stomach lurches.

“What test?” I ask, reaching for the papers in Zane’s greedy hands, turning over various reports in my mind, trying to figure out what sort of test they mean. My finger’s curl into the papers, glaring at him as I rip them from his grasp. It takes a second for the words to register, but when they do my gasp is audible.

“You gave him the results of my exam?” I nearly scream, marching toward Rune. Rage burns my cheeks, humiliation making my palms sweat. How dare he? He just continues to violate me, and I’m stupid enough to be surprised by it.

Behind Rune, standing by the door, Clyde shifts, clasping his hands behind his back, chin dropping to look at his feet. I pin my glare on him. How dare he have the nerve to look upset.

I turn back to Zane, shaking the papers in his face. “Was it you who requested the fucking exam? Needed to make sure your trophy isn’t tarnished?”

“You’re no trophy, and you’re already tarnished,” he says that slick classic Zane smile returning. Slightly smug and gleeful. “You’ve had enough dick in you that I’m surprised your tests came back clean.”

I step forward, shoving the papers in his face, but he smacks my hand away before I can smash them into his mouth.

This invasion feels so awful, my body flooding with shame, my gut churning with violence. I’m so sick of being violated. Used. Controlled. Humiliated for being female.

“Fuck you Zane,” I seethe, taking a step away to stop myself from slapping him.

“I plan on it,” he says, setting the papers down and leaning back on his desk, hands resting behind him on the edge. “But I want to make sure my wife’s fuckable.”

Wife. The word cuts me cleanly.

It’s one thing to think about why I’m here. It’s another to know it. Have them say it. Hear them discuss my body like my only value is between my legs.

The thought of Zane touching me makes me even sicker than Rune. I know where he’s been. I know so many vile things about him the thought of Zane coming near me, the thought that he even wants to fuck me, makes bile rise in my throat.

I swallow it and my anger down, balling my shaking hands into fists as I lock my eyes with his. “I’m surprised you want someone so young, Zane.”

His eyes freeze over, shoulders growing rigid. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

Ignoring him, I head for the door. “This meeting is over.”

Clyde comes alive, his body tense as he reaches for the door and opens it for me. He gestures for me to exit, casting a deadly glance Zane’s way as I stalk through.

The man’s been hot on my heels for days and I know why. I have a feeling Zane has suddenly become more of a threat than Rune.

***

Outside crickets chirp, and in the distance I hear the rev of an engine, making me glance up from my seat behind Rune’s desk. With my heart hammering I place my palms on the wood desk wait.

After this afternoon, I know I need to do everything in my power to stop from being handed over to Zane. So, I’m in Rune’s office waiting for him. The only reason I’m risking being alone with him at all is because Clyde’s in the house, and Rune wouldn’t dare touch me in any way out of fear Clyde could walk in.

I think.

I hope.

As annoying as it’s been having Clyde following me while I roamed from room to room, attempting to pout alone, I’m glad he’s here. I just hope he stays a while, or Rune lets me return to my condo soon. Clyde may be Rune’s closest and oldest friend, but I know he’ll get sick of him sleeping in the guest room any day now.

I don’t have much time.

By the time Rune comes home it’s been dark for a while, and my nerves are frayed. When the front door slams shut, my heart shifts into overdrive, pulse pounding in my ears.

As he walks into the room, I clear my throat. Rune stops in the center of his office, blue eyes landing on me, when he sees me sitting in his leather chair behind his desk. He glances over his shoulder nervously, like Clyde’s right behind him, wagging an accusatory finger at him for fucking me so many times in this office.

“What are you doing?” Rune asks features changing from shock to annoyance.

“I’m not marrying Zane,” I say. “I refuse.”

Rune’s jaw pops and now that irritation is anger.

“You really think I’m just going agree to this?” I ask, my heart pounding so hard it feels like my whole body trembles with it. “Or were you planning on forcing me to sign the marriage certificate and hand my assets over to Zane like a good little wife?”

He drops his briefcase on the wingback chair I sat in the other night and steps forward, bracing his hands on the desk as he says, “You’re going to do exactly as I say and you’re going to thank me for protecting you your entire life.”

My laugh makes him stiffen, and some remote part of my brain knows I should be scared, but I’m so sick of being taken advantage of. Being forced to do things I don’t want. I wanted to go to dance school, but no, Rune said I was going to take violin. When I wanted to go off to college in another state, I wasn’t allowed. I was sent to the same school as Delly so he could use us to hide his millions.

Now I’m supposed to marry Zane so he can gain control over my money and the shares of the corporation I inherited from my parents There’s no other reason he’d arrange this marriage. I learned long ago Rune cared about money, sex, and power. And he’s got all three of those from me.

Viper said power is created. Rune’s created his power over me using fear.

Not anymore.

“You’re going to have to find another way to steal my money and my shares, Rune,” I say standing up. “I’m not a puppet. You don’t pull a string, and I move in any and every direction you tell me.”

“Ungrateful brat,” he grates, the anger turning harder. Meaner. Making his handsome face contort cruelly. “I’ve given you everything. I took you in, cared for you. And when it’s time for you to repay me, you refuse?”

“Repay?” Somehow I manage not to scream. “For what Papa? For raising me with my parents money? For threatening lawyers so you can steal portions of my inheritance?”

“That money is mine,” he says voice deadly low. “Your parents—“

“Are traitors and dead,” I snap. When did I become so bold?

“And I took you in and raised you as my own,” he says, tapping a finger down on his desk to emphasize his statement. “I sent you to private schools, hired tutors, you had a fucking good life because of me.”

“As your own?” I sneer. “Do you bend Delly over your desk and fuck her too?”

Rune’s entire body goes so still, as if he turned to stone. “Careful, girl.”

His warning grates across my skin. My stomach lurches and my body goes rigid, waiting. Because I never know what to expect from Rune when he’s angry. He could lash out. He could walk away and save it for later. He could verbally tear me apart. Physically hurt me.

I keep my eyes pinned on his and see the change. My heart skips with fear, but I can’t seem to move. It’s like this every time. He’s trained me to fawn or freeze and right now I’m frozen in place, feet stuck to the ground as I watch Rune slowly walk around the desk and step in next to me. He grips my arm, right over the bandage and squeezes. I yelp in pain, but he slams a hand over my mouth, pulling me close so that his body molds to mine. I feel his dick, growing harder against my thigh, making my already roiling stomach sour with fear. With hatred.

When I jerk sideways, trying to get away from him, he squeezes my arm even harder and I gasp in pain.

He leans in, breathing heavily on my neck. “You’re playing with fire,” he whispers. “Don’t make your Papa teach you a lesson.”

His grasp on my arm releases, but that dangerous gleam doesn’t leave his eyes. Rune’s hand lands on my lower back. The touch feels like a punch even though it’s just a graze of a palm as his hand follows the curve of my ass and snakes lower. Lower still.

Without thinking, I bring my hand up and it lands hard on the side of his head. He must be so stunned that his hand drops and I shove him back, rushing around the desk to put something, anything solid between us as my mind screams, over and over that I’m going to pay.

Stupid girl.

When I’ve rounded the desk I turn to face him, feeling his rage clawing at my back like a tiger. He’s still standing in front of his chair, body rigid with rage, eyes boring holes through me.

He leans forward, propping his knuckles on his desk. “You’re going to marry Zane,” he says coldly.

“So, he can fuck your pretty little girl?” I ask, heart thundering so hard I can barely get the words out. It’s like I’ve tasted freedom, savored being defiant, and now I can’t stop. “I wasn’t aware you were okay with sharing.”

I don’t know how his teeth don’t crack with how hard he’s clenching his jaw.

“I will not marry Zane,” I say, backing away toward the door.

He has the fucking nerve to laugh.

“Call it off, or I’ll tell Clyde everything.”

If rage had a color, it’s the shade of red that burns on Rune’s face as he shoots forward, teeth bared, fury twisting his features. “Don’t threaten me, girl,” he snarls.

I suck in air, trying to keep my hands from trembling as I reach for the doorknob behind me. My fear slick palms slip over the cool metal. Terror floods my chest, and my heart nearly explodes as he marches closer.

“No one will believe you. You’re a nasty fucking whore and everyone knows it.”

I grip the knob, but he’s on me. My back hits the door as his hand wraps around my throat, fingers digging painfully into the soft place under my jaw. I don’t fight. I know better.

Using his body to trap me, Rune pins me to the door, making panic and fear tangle in my throat. He’s not a big man, not like our men. He’s fit for his age, lean muscles like a runner, but not much bulk. It’s his meanness that gives him strength, and he’s using every ounce of that meanness against me now.

Stupid, stupid girl.

“Everyone knows you’ll fuck anything with a dick,” he whispers, spittle hitting my face. I flinch at the venom in his voice but gather a breath to spew my own. I open my mouth to tell him that I fucked his daughter, so it’s not just dicks anymore. That I ate her cunt, and she did mine when his hand slams over my mouth trapping my words in place. “No one will believe that I, the man who took you in after your mother murdered my wife, her best friend over money, would ever lay a finger on you.” He drags in a breath, anger and hatred making his chest heave. “No one would believe that the man who raised you as his daughter would ever—“ his hips punch and his dick hits my belly, ”—ever hurt his little girl.”

His hand smashes into my nose, forcing my head to the side, his slick palm slipping over my cheek. A tear breaks free.

He’s right.

All that pain that was let go when I confessed. All that hope that I was safe. All that stupid courage I felt after telling Delly and the men what Rune had done to me, vanishes.

My mother was right. I am a stupid girl.

And Rune’s right.

No one will believe me.

No one with any power to do anything.

Clyde may be Rune’s advisor, but he’s just that. He holds no power. Not over a man like Rune.

His hand smashes harder down over my mouth and he leans in to sweep his lips over my cheek. “Cora, my little girl, don’t cry.”

More tears leak out, slipping down my cheeks and pooling where his hand covers my mouth. Rune grinds his hardness into my waist and I gasp out a sob under his palm, the tears flowing freely. His hand drops from my mouth, but the one at my throat squeezes tighter. Bile rises in my throat, nearly choking me as his vile mouth drags along my jaw, ragged breaths like rank fumes along my skin as his lips skim down the side of my neck, over my collarbone, then down to my breast. My fingers curl into the wood door at my back, fear making my limbs weak. When a soft kiss lands on the top of my breasts, my body goes still.

“Papa,” I whisper, panic needling up my arms. Down my back. Making my hands clench into fists. I want to push him away but in the past any time I’ve tried, the consequences have been so much worse.

“ Shh ,” he whispers, heat seeping through my shirt and searing my skin.

I already know what’s going to happen before he does it.

I know from the last time I tried to stand up to him.

Rune presses against my windpipe, so hard I choke on my gasp just as his teeth sink into my flesh though my shirt. My scream is trapped in my throat, agony ripping a hole through me as he bites harder. Harder still.

When he finally lets me go, pain stabs through my chest. I crumble to my knees, gasping for air through my sobs.

Be quiet. Be quiet. Clyde can’t hear.

“Get up,” Rune says. “Go to your room and I swear to god, Cora, never threaten me again.”

He uses the tip of his shoe to nudge me out of his way and the door shuts quietly behind him.