Tied Bond: Bonded Duet: Book Two Read online

  “I’ll come eat in the living room—”

  “No,” he interrupted. “You need to stay in bed and rest.” He waited a beat. “I’ll be back.”

  I listened as he walked back into the living room of the cabin and heard him puttering about in the kitchen. Part of me wanted to get up and do it myself, but the other part was glad I didn’t have to get out of bed. Well, unless it was to pee. I was just debating whether to get up to do my business when Curtis appeared with a tray.

  “Dinner is served,” he joked and placed the tray on my lap. A bowl of steaming soup took center stage, and beside that was a bread roll that had my mouth watering at the thought of it. It was simple food, but I craved it more than anything.

  “Thank you,” I murmured, already pulling the roll apart. I dipped it into the soup, then groaned as I bit into it. Within minutes I’d eaten the lot, and my stomach was much happier with me than it had been when I’d woken up.

  “Better?”

  I leaned my head back to look up at Curtis. “Much.”

  He stood and took the tray from my lap. “Why don’t you get some more rest? I’m gonna clean up the kitchen.”

  I shuffled a little on the bed, about to tell him I had to get up to use the bathroom, but the look on his face stopped me. Something had me on edge, but I couldn’t place what it was.

  I’d made up my mind that I was going home. It had happened somewhere between having the first pain and now. I didn’t know how I’d get there, or what I’d do, but I knew I couldn’t stay here. I needed support from the people who loved me the most. I had to broach the subject with Curtis, but I wasn’t sure how to approach it. The last time I’d mentioned it, he’d seemed…off.

  So I kept my mouth shut as he walked out of the room. It felt like I was keeping a secret, but I told myself I’d call my mom first, then inform Curtis of the plan. At least that way there was no backing out at the last minute. I knew the right thing to do because today had scared me. All I’d been able to think about was how alone I would have been having this baby, and I didn’t want time to push those thoughts away. I had to stay in the moment and do what I had to.

  I reached into my bedside table and plucked out the cell I’d dismantled on the way here all those months ago. It was the burner cell Ford had given me, and I dreaded to think what I’d find once I switched it on. But before I could think about it, the baby moved, and my bladder screamed at me. I heard the front door shut and waited for several seconds, then got out of bed.

  It didn’t take long for me to finish my business, and as I was walking past Curtis’ bedroom, I halted. His door was ajar, and plugged into the socket next to his bed was his charging cord. I hadn’t brought one with me when we came here—I hadn’t brought anything with me—and I knew his cord would fit my cell. I waited for a couple of seconds to see if Curtis had come back inside, but when it was silent, I sneaked into his room, grabbed the cord, and then rushed back to my bedroom.

  I stood at the side of my bed and plugged my cell in, but I couldn’t wait to see what messages would pop up, so I backed away as if it was a snake about to strike. Curtis had said to stay in bed, but I wasn’t the kind of person who could sit and do nothing. I needed something to occupy my brain, so I wandered into the living room, calling, “Curtis?” as I went.

  My feet carried me into the living room and I headed for the arched entrance to the kitchen, but frowned at something on the floor. It looked like Curtis had spilled something, but—was that blood? My hand flew to my mouth as I took a step closer. The unmistakable dark-red color couldn’t have been anything but blood. As I took stock of the living room and kitchen, I could see splatter up the refrigerator and on the cupboard doors, and finally, sitting on the kitchen counter was a gun with a silencer attached.

  What the hell was going on?

  My feet were glued to the floor as I tried to piece it all together, but my brain wasn’t working properly, refusing to click in place what was obvious and right in front of me.

  I spotted Curtis out of the kitchen window. His back was to me. My feet moved to the front door, needing to get a clearer picture of what he was doing. The front screen door creaked as I opened it, and the wooden porch seemed to sway as I took two more steps and saw what he was doing. His body was bent as he dragged something, and from this position, I could see bright clothing covering the body, which he was dragging through the grassed area. But it was when I saw the mustard-colored bow tie that I stumbled back.

  Only one person wore clothing like that—Leopold—and as the thought flashed in my mind, I gasped. The sound echoed, causing Curtis to halt. The seconds dragged as he turned his head in what felt like slow motion. His gaze met mine, gluing me to the spot. The light was dimming, complete darkness threatening to take over, but I could see clearly what he was doing, and he knew that.

  Curtis’ body straightened, his gaze not leaving mine as he sauntered toward me like it was any other day. “I told you to stay in bed,” he said, his voice sounding bored. He didn’t seem bothered one bit by what I’d seen. “You need to learn to do as you’re told, Belle.”

  My mouth opened, ready to answer him, but…I wasn’t sure what to say. I was trying to process it all, but my brain wasn’t working fast enough. It needed to catch up, asap. “What…what are you doing?” I spluttered out, needing an extra couple of seconds.

  Curtis was several feet away from me now, only the framework of the porch separating us. “I’m protecting you.” He said it so easily, but protecting me shouldn’t have involved blood, a gun, and dragging a lifeless body toward the back of the cabin.

  “Wh-what?”

  “I know you’re not deaf, Belle.” He blew out a breath as if he was tired of the conversation—tired of me. “I’m protecting you, just like I always do.”

  I glanced over at where he’d been standing, catching sight of bright material—a waistcoat to be specific. “From Leopold?” I looked back at him, finally finding my voice. “You were protecting me from Leopold?”

  “Yes,” Curtis answered immediately, and he shot forward. I squealed, and my instincts kicked in. I spun around to get back into the cabin, but his hand gripping my hair stopped me. He slammed my side into the wall between the front door and the kitchen window, knocking the breath out of me. “Where do you think you’re going?” he asked in my ear, his voice merely a whisper.

  “You’re hurting me,” I gritted out, trying to push him away, but it was no use. He had the upper hand, and he knew it.

  “Good.” He crushed his body against mine. “You hurt me every day I see that baby growing inside of you, but you don’t hear me complaining, do you?” He growled and gripped my hair tighter. He yanked my head back, and a pain shot up the side of my neck, and then he slammed my face into the side of the cabin. My cheek throbbed from the impact, and I called out, but I knew no one could hear me, not here.

  “Stop!” I screamed.

  “Or what? You gonna call Daddy on me?” He laughed, the sound unhinged. “Daddy can’t help you hear, Belle. Daddy doesn’t know where you are, I made sure of that.”

  My breaths sawed in and out of me at his words, and the truth to them hit harder than anything. He was right. My dad didn’t know where I was. He wouldn’t be able to come and save me. But I wasn’t sure what I needed saving from. “What did you do?” I asked.

  He twirled me so my back was against the cabin and his hand was around my throat. He applied enough pressure to keep me still, and as soon as my gaze met his, I knew this wasn’t the Curtis I’d met. His shoulders were straighter, his face darker, causing his expression to be one I’d never seen on him before. But above all that, his eyes were pitch black, no light in sight.

  “I already told you, I’m protecting you.” He paused and gripped my throat tighter, causing my instincts to kick in. I grabbed his arm, scraping my nails across his skin, but he didn’t even flinch. It was as if he couldn’t feel it. “He was trying to take you away from me.” His eyes were like a vortex h
e couldn’t escape. “I didn’t have a choice.” His hand flexed and then let up a little, letting me catch a breath. “He wouldn’t leave.”

  “Who?” I gasped out. “Who wouldn’t leave?”

  “All of them,” he ground out, his eyes focusing on me again. “They can’t come between us now, Belle.” He pressed his body closer to mine, but my bump separated us, and he looked down at it, sneering, “Especially not that.”

  I swallowed and bucked my body, trying to get away from him, but it was no use. He overpowered me in every way possible, and there was nothing I could do. It wasn’t just me I had to protect, but my baby too.

  “I waited and waited. For so fuckin’ long.” He pressed his face closer to mine. “You have no idea how patient I’ve been. I’d thought I’d taken out all the obstacles, and then that happened.”

  “Please, Curtis. You’re hurting me.” I punctured his skin with my nails, not preparing to go down without a fight, but he was calm. So calm it was frightening me more than his body pressed against me, keeping me in place. “Let go, please.”

  “I’ll never let you go, Belle.” He leaned his face closer to mine, his lips only centimeters away. “All we have to do now is wait until this spawn is here, and then we can finally be alone.” He paused and smiled at me like I’d just confessed my love to him. “Then we can be together. Just you and me. No one else around to get in the way.”

  “I…” I didn’t know what to say, how to act, how to process everything he was saying. It was all too much at once. And when he slammed his lips down onto mine, it took me several seconds to realize what he was doing, but when I did, I clamped my teeth down onto his lip, causing him to howl out in pain, but I didn’t let go until I tasted blood.

  A punch to my stomach had my breath escaping me, and I let go of his mouth. He stumbled back, blood flowing down his chin. “You put up a fight.” He grinned, and I darted to the left. “I like that.” He swiped his hand over his mouth. “It was more than Stella did.”

  I halted, my eyes widening. “What did you just say?”

  He laughed, the sound echoing, and I knew I should have taken my escape, but something was keeping me in place. Something told me not to run and turn my back on him.

  “She screamed at first, but once I slit Justin’s throat, she gave in.” Curtis shrugged, acting as if he was talking about the weather. “She had no fight in her. It was disheartening if I’m honest.”

  My heart raced in my chest, and I moved another step away, causing my back to hit the screen door. “You’re a monster,” I whispered. I couldn’t believe what he was telling me. It all felt like a dream—a nightmare.

  He lunged for me, and I threw my hands up to protect myself, but he grabbed my wrist and yanked it aside. I heard something crack and pain exploded down my arm, but that didn’t mean I’d stop fighting. He’d confessed to me what he’d done to Justin and Stella, and knowing Leopold’s body was only a foot away from us had me more on edge. He wasn’t afraid to take what he wanted, and he’d decimate anything which stood in his way.

  “You’re mine, Belle.” He leaned lower, his face coming level with mine. “You’ve been mine from the first moment I saw you.” He stared into my eyes and pushed his knee into the side of my stomach, and gone was the fight. All I could think about was protecting the baby inside of me. For the first time in my life, I wondered if I’d make it out of here alive.

  This wasn’t the Curtis I knew. This was the real Curtis. The one I’d spent all of that time with was a fraud he’d put in place to fool me. My eyes were wide open now, and I knew if I wanted to get out of here alive, I’d have to take drastic measures.

  “Please, just let me go,” I begged. I didn’t know what else to do other than appeal to him, giving me enough time to get away.

  I spotted his shoulder moving out of the corner of my eye, but I hadn’t expected his fist to make contact with my face. Agony nearly knocked me off my feet, but I managed to stay upright until he threw me down onto the wraparound porch.

  “I already told you,” he ground out, clambering on top of me. “I’ll never let you go.” He placed his hand around my throat again, this time applying pressure right away. “I’ll never let anyone have you. Not the cartel, and definitely not Ford.” He grinned and wound his arm back again. “I made sure to take care of that one, though.” His fist hit my eye a second time with so much force it caused the world to spin. Everything was blurry, and my body was giving in.

  I turned my head to the side, staring into the cabin, and something shiny caught my attention.

  The gun.

  The gun he’d used to shoot Leopold. And now it all made sense. It was the sound of the silencer going off that had woken me up. He’d said he needed to clean the kitchen, but what he really meant was he needed to dispose of the body—dispose of Leopold. He was trying to get rid of the evidence. And as I turned my head and stared at him, I had no doubt he’d do the same to this baby once it was born. He’d talked about us being together, just the two of us.

  But there would never be a two of us. I’d fight to the death, even if it meant I had to kill someone.

  I bucked and tried to catch my breath, but the pressure was too much. My arms extended, and I winced at the twinge of pain in my wrist. But I couldn’t stop, so I continued to reach any piece of his body I could claw my nails against with my good arm. I made contact with his face and felt for his eyes, then dug my thumbs in as hard as I could. He squealed, causing his hands to move off my neck, but I didn’t stop.

  It was him or me. Fight or flight.

  I scraped my nails down his face and bucked at him. He swayed to the left, and I crawled out of his grip and grabbed on to the screen door. I yanked it open, crawled a couple of feet inside, and pulled myself up using the kitchen counter. My hand reached for the gun, and I screamed as he threw himself onto me, slamming his fists into my side and my face, not letting up for even a second.

  But it was okay, because cold metal skimmed the palm of my hand, and I gripped on to it.

  “You fuckin’ bitch!” he bellowed, and followed it up with another hit to the face, this one was harder than the rest, and I saw stars. I wasn’t sure where I was or what was happening, but I knew I had to get out, and there was only one way I’d be able to do that.

  “I hate you!” I screamed, trying to look at him, but my eye was swelling fast, and everything was blurry.

  I whipped my arm down, pointing the gun straight at his head, and he stared at me for a millisecond. His cold eyes didn’t believe I’d pull the trigger, but he was wrong. He may have taken away everyone I cared about, everyone who I was close to, but he would never hurt my baby.

  I pulled the trigger.

  The silencer muffled the shot.

  The kickback made me cry out from the pain in my arm.

  Blood smacked me in the face, along with brain matter.

  But his eyes had lost focus, and I didn’t look away as the life drained from him, and his body sagged half onto me and half onto the floor. I kept the gun in one hand as I rolled him off me. The strength I’d managed to conjure up from somewhere was quickly waning as the blood pooled around his head, his eyes still open and focused on me. I crawled back, staring at his body, which was halfway in the house and halfway on the front porch. The screen door was hanging off, blood covering most of it.

  I tried to stand, but my legs wouldn’t let me, so I continued to crawl away until my back hit the sofa.

  I’d taken his life. I’d stopped him. But in the process, he’d stolen a piece of me I’d never be able to get back.

  Chapter Five

  BELLE

  I wasn’t sure how long I stared at his body, watching the blood flow out of him, but I needed to make sure he was dead and wasn’t going to get back up again. I held the gun in my hand, my grip as tight as it could be. My only option had been to use his own weapon against him.

  The longer I sat there, the more pain took over. My body was aching in places I hadn’t
realized he’d hurt, and my face was swelling up so much I couldn’t open one of my eyes at all now. He’d made sure to leave his mark, I just wasn’t sure whether it was permanent or not yet.

  My hand drifted to my stomach, and the baby kicked in response. I needed to get checked out, not just for me, but for the human growing inside me. Curtis had made sure to throw his fist into my stomach, blow after blow, and I needed to make sure the baby was okay. The kicking had me a little relieved, but it didn’t mean everything was okay. Not yet. I considered calling Dr. Ponts, but I vetoed that idea right away. There was no way I could ask her to come here and help me, not with the dead body lying in the doorway.

  I needed help, I just didn’t know who to ask—

  I gasped and cursed at myself. I didn’t need to sit here, debating what I should do next. I knew exactly what I had to do, so I used the back of the sofa to pull me into a standing position, readying myself for what I was about to get myself into. There was only one person I could call that would help me right now, and even though I knew he was hours away, there wasn’t a single doubt in my mind.

  Backing out of the room slowly, I cradled my one arm against my chest and held the gun up with my other hand, just in case. I had no idea what could happen that I’d need to use it again, but I knew I was alone—for now anyway—which meant I had to protect myself. I darted into my bedroom and yanked my cell off my bedside table where it had been charging, and went back into the living room.

  Curtis’ lifeless body was still there, so I pressed my back against the wall near the hallway to our bedrooms and slid down it until my ass hit the floor. I unlocked the cell and glanced at it long enough to bring the number up, then pressed call and focused my attention back on the lifeless body.