***LONDON’S POV***
I carry the cookie tray to the table where Reaper is watching a hockey match. He looks happy and I smile at him. Zane is behind me with the coffee.
“Do you want some cookies? Zane gave me,” I tell him kindly.
Reaper grunts but doesn’t say no. I guess he isn’t the chatty type. Zane disappears, so, I use this as my chance to thank Reaper for saving me.
“Uhm… Reaper? Thank you for earlier,” I stutter out as I focus my vision on the TV.
I don’t want to look at him, but from the corner of my right eye, I see him stop mid-bite, staring at me.
“You don’t have to thank me. That is exactly why the Boss kept me around. To stop him if he went so hard on punishing you,” he says calmly.
My eyes widen in shock, Zane would freaking do that? I blink the tears that were threatening to flow down my cheeks.
Zane might have not meant me harm in the end at all. I know I keep pushing every damn one of his buttons but it isn’t always likely to end that way, well, with me bent over his knees though.
“And about saving me from my room then? Or let me say… Kidnapping me?” I ask raising my brows at him.
Reaper does a fine job hiding his cheeky smile behind his coffee mug.
When I take a small sip of my coffee, I notice that it is not coffee but hot chocolate. There were mini marshmallows in them.
“Zzz… Zane?” I call out happily.
He comes in a blink of an eye and he stands there staring at me.
“You need anything, little girl?” he questions raising his brows quizzically.
Despite how thick the tension was between us, I seem to have calmed down a little and I pull my mug up, showing him the contents.
“I thought you said you were making coffee for me?” I ask pouting.
“You don’t like that?” he asks coming towards me. He lifts me and takes my place on the couch.
Zane pulls me to his thigh so effortlessly, and I shamelessly make myself comfortable between his legs. I turn to him Zane with my mug in my arms and push it towards his mouth.
“Taste this,” I tell him.
Zane takes a large gulp from my mug and swallows it nicely.
“Yummy,” he says and I giggle like a young girl.
“Uhn Uhh! What is wrong with your mug, little human?” he asks still not getting what . y problem is.
“Chocolate. You gave me chocolate when you said you were going to brew me some coffee,” I explain with the little patience I have in my body.
Zane chuckles, then smooths my hair back.
“I want to treat you for being honest with me,” he tells me.
I blush as I look at Reaper. If he is listening to us, he makes no sign of it.
“Alright, baby girl, I want you to eat your snack and relax now, okay? I want to have a small chat with Reaper,” he says.
Zane nods at Reaper, he sets me back on the chair, grabs the side of my head, and kisses me blindly.
“Behave while I talk to him,” he says easily.
Reaper chuckles behind him and he shoots him a stern look. The hulk of a man gives me the remote control of the TV and walks away.
**
Zane and Reaper had gone to his office, and I had switched the channel to one fashion channel and was watching it when I sensed a presence outside before I actually saw the shadow.
It materialized at the window, Micah.
“Oh, my God!” I whisper-shout, but quickly cover my mouth when Micah signs out for me to be quiet.
I nod my head. Looking around for any sign of Zane or Reaper. When I am satisfied no one is around, I rush out of the door and around the corner. I wrap my arms around my elder brother’s neck, tears painting my cheeks as I cry.
“Micah, Jesus, Micah,” I cry out as I pepper kisses to his slightly swollen face.
“Baby sister, this is not the time or the place to reconcile, but I need you to listen to me,” he says pressing his hands together against each side of my face as he holds me, trying to steady me to focus.
I nod my head repeatedly, glaring at him, forcing myself to be focused.
“What is it, Micah, what is going on? Why are you hurt?” I ask the questions, and many more questions file through my head.
Micah presses his hand behind the pocket of his jeans, he brings out a burner phone, it is very small and he hands it to me.
“Keep this save okay? I will call you late today, you will come out here and meet me by the lake, got it?” he asks as he looks at me.
I look at the phone in my hand and check it. It is on silence and the only number there is Micah’s own.
“But…” I start, and Micah cut me short.
“Hush, London, I am trying to remove you from Zane’s hands, he will kill me if he knows I even got into his property, but you have to trust me,” he says.
I nod my head. Although I put Micah into his shitty mess, I try to listen to his instructions keenly.
“But I don’t know where the lake is,” I blurt out staring at him for answers.
“It is on the Eastern of the property, after the wooden bridge, I will be there waiting for you,” he says then kisses me on the forehead.
“I am scared, Micah. Zane scares me,” I say reminiscing what he will do to me if he founds out that I disobeyed him.
I swear, Zane wouldn’t take it lightly, but will I give in to him hurting Micah, no, I guess now.
“I know, Baby sister. Now, promise me you will come. You should be out of the house by eleven p. m. I will be waiting for you,” he tells me, squeaking his brows to form a pathetic wave.
I know Micah has a lot of explanations to do, I can’t let him down right now, hell no, so, I try my best to actually make this fucking work.
“Fine, I will be there,” I say.
Micah presses a kiss on my forehead, hugs me, and leaves.
I put the phone in my bra. Good enough that Zane had let me dress decently after he had relieved me of my corner time. I was putting on a long sleeve and a pair of jean trousers, that will do.
*
Inside the house, I rush upstairs and into one of those rooms on the third floor, I set the burner phone in a drawer, cover it with clothes, and left the room.
I make sure to remove the key from the door and take it with me. I keep it in between the walls of the closet I discovered the other day.
I guess Zane wouldn’t come up here because this house is so big.
I return to the kitchen and notice that the men are still in Zane’s office. Whatever they are talking about must be important because no one has shown up around here since they left.
I reach for the cabinet that Zane had left the cookie box but it is too high, or… I am too short.
“Arghh! I hate being short,” I mutter as I start climbing the small cupboard to reach the higher cabinets.
I quickly remember what had happened to me the other day when I had attempted to get a towel. I don’t give up though, that was a useless act and I don’t plan on committing it again.
I grab the cookie box and make it down safely.
I sigh softly and smile sweetly at my prize. I eat directly from the box.
Thirty minutes later, I finish eating the chocolate chips and my stomach hurts so badly that I start crying.
Jeez, a cartoon has about twenty cookie chips and I have eaten everything. I feel sick. I hear Zane’s office open and I know I am in big danger. I carry the box and struggle to make it to the kitchen.
“London?” Zane calls out.
I make it up the hard sink, and I throw the empty packet in there.
“Yes, Zane,” I say as I slide down and hurry outside.
This movement only makes me sick even more. Tears start prickling around the corners of my eyes.
Reaper is walking towards the door and he stares at me saying kindly,
“Bye, London,” he lets out easily.
I wave at him. I hear the click of the door and I face Zane.
One look at my green face and he shakes his head.
“What…” he doesn’t finish his sentence because I break into a run, I don’t make it up the stairs, so, I use the guest bathroom down the hall. I don’t have the time to lock the door as I start throwing up.
“Fuck, London,” Zane says walking into the bathroom and rubbing his hand around my small back.
I don’t feel better as I throw up. I feel totally bad for Zane because he doesn’t leave, and I can’t imagine how badly he inhales my liquids.
“My stomach aches,” I cry out as I hold it, vomiting even more.
Zane looks at me, his eyes sorrowful, I think I will pass out if I were in his shoes.
Finally, I get myself under control and I stand. I didn’t even realize that Zane had been holding my hair up, I feel so grateful.
I walk to the sink and rinse my mouth. Zane flushes the toilet. I am terrible for forgetting to do that.
Damn it.
“I brush my teeth with a new toothbrush I find in the bathroom and splash clean water on my face.
I watch how Zane stares at me like a hawk. He must be planning to give me the lecture of his life because when I finish using mouthwash, he leads the way out of the bathroom.
“To my office, little girl, and bring your little friend with you,” he says.
I stand for a moment, not knowing who he is talking about. I soon figure out that he is talking about the packet of cookies that I had just devoured, the ones that made me sick.
“Yes, Zane,” I reply as I walk towards the kitchen, while he heads to his office.
Doing my same risky move, I retrieve the box, and how empty it rings the wrong alarm bells in my head. Zane will kill me.
I don’t hide trying to forge the cookies though, I just brought the empty packet with me.
I knock on Zane’s office door and enter. He is sitting behind his desk. This office is literally the room of doom. I gulp as I stand there with shaky legs.
“Close the door and walk over to me, London,” he says.
“Yes, Zane,” I call out and sniff softly.
I push the door closed but I don’t lock it, in case running is an alternative. I start making tentative steps toward Zane.
“THREE!” he calls out.
“What… Excuse me?” I ask not understanding why Zane is counting.
“TWO!” he bites out.
I try deciphering it and it rings a bell in my head. This is how fast or slow Zane wants me to reach his side and it will determine what I get as punishment.
“One!” Zane calls out as I sprint to his side.
I am panting and my hand is on my chest, heaving heavily.
“You did well picking up the pace, London, now, take a seat,” he says pointing at the chair opposite him.
I am dreading this meeting, it wouldn’t end well for me.
“I can explain,” I mutter as I fill the silence.
Zane teasing laughter taunts my soul.
“Oh, yes baby, you have a lot of explanation to do while I fuck that tight cunt of yours,” he grunts out.
I moan slowly, feeling heat soaking my panties already.