Black Thorns: Chapter 9

The loud creaking sound of the door closing behind me shakes me to my core.

The courageous façade I put up in front of Sebastian cracks and crumbles all around me.

I lied.

It’s not going to be fine.

It’s going to be anything but fine.

My chin trembles and it takes all of my strength to keep from bawling my eyes out.

I want to get back in there and snuggle into Sebastian’s side. I want to hold his hand and take care of him. It doesn’t matter if we’re locked up or kidnapped or whatever as long as we’re together.

But I saw him.

I saw how his wound has turned into angry shades of violet and blue. Not to mention his fever that’s gone up, then down, then up again with no clear pattern.

He’s lost weight and his proud shoulders have sunken. His once-mesmerizing eyes have hollowed and dimmed as if he’s getting ready for death.

If I didn’t agree to this, I’d lose him.

This is only to save him, I tell myself. To save both of us. I meant what I said the other day. If he’s gone, I have no interest in life anymore.

Swallowing the onslaught of tears, I stare up and shiver. The hall I’m in is even more freezing than the room I just left. I wrap my arms around myself to ward off the biting lick of cold on my bare skin. I’m still in only my sports bra, despite Sebastian’s endless feverish attempts to have me wear his jacket.

I’m weak and hungry. My stomach stopped screaming for food after some time and is just clenching on its emptiness now.

The only thing that’s kept me strong and kicking is the need to save Sebastian and get him out of here.

I’ll make sure he’s safe, even if it’s the last thing I do.

Aside from the dimmed light, there’s not a soul around.

Hope blossoms at the base of my stomach. Maybe I can find an exit and get some help—

“I wanted Quarterback to watch, but he lost consciousness.”

I startle at the sound coming from right behind me and I whirl around, my heartbeat skyrocketing.

Ren stands in the shadows not far from the door and must’ve been there all along. Or at least, since I came out. A smirk tugs at his lips as he pushes off the wall and strolls over to where I’m standing.

Ren is exactly as I remember him from the first time I met him in our house a few weeks ago. Tall, lean, wears a black suit with no tie and snake tattoos peek from around his neck as a subtle translation of the anger he can possess. His black dot earrings give him a rebellious image that contradicts the rest of him.

Back then, he seemed like a mischievous person out for trouble, like the kids who plot a riot, then hide to watch it unfold.

The same sentiment hits me again. Only, this time, it looks as if he wants to be there to witness the action himself.

He circles around me as if I’m his latest prey. My limbs stiffen and my breathing becomes harsher.

I got off on being treated as prey in the past, but only as part of my games with Sebastian. Only because it was on both of our terms. Not once did I feel I was in danger, no matter how out of control he got or how rough he treated me.

Because he’s Sebastian, and deep down, I knew he’d never hurt me.

This situation is entirely different.

Ever since I met Ren, all he’s done is hurt me. The fact that I have no clue about his motives and goals is keeping me on my toes.

“Maybe I can douse Quarterback with water so he can watch you bouncing off my dick.” He grins. “What do you think?”

I swallow past the lump in my throat and adopt my firm tone. “You said you’d get him a doctor.”

“Bossy. Why am I not surprised?” He has a subtle accent when he speaks in English, one that’s similar to Mom’s. Which probably means that he’s originally from Japan.

But that barely tells me anything about him.

I widen my stance and stare him in the eyes. “You promised to get a doctor.”

“Only after I fuck you while you moan and scream. Especially the latter.”

The sick bastard is smiling at the thought of making me scream.

He reaches a hand out and when he touches a strand of my hair, I flinch back like I’ve been electrocuted. “Why are you acting so disgusted when we’re about to have fun?”

“I’m not doing it unless you get him a doctor.”

“That’s not the deal.”

“It is now.” I cross my arms over my chest. “How do I know you won’t leave him to die after you get what you want?”

“You don’t, which is the entire point.” Ren has a subtle grating way of talking. He does it slowly, almost methodically, with a permanent smirk on his lips.

It’s like his purpose of existing is to get on people’s nerves and provoke their nasty side.

“I won’t do it unless he has medical care.”

He lifts a shoulder. “Then he’ll just rot and die.”

Frustration bubbles in my veins and my heart shrinks behind my ribcage. If I don’t do it, I have no doubt that Ren will leave Sebastian to die. If I do it, there’s no guarantee that he’ll get him help.

I suck in a deep breath through my nose and choose the only option I have. “Fine, I agree.”

He licks his lips. “Are you sure? I’ll make sure Quarterback receives footage at some point in his life. Could be in a week or two. A year or a few. But he’ll see you fucking someone else while he’s passed out in the adjoining room like a weak, little bitch.”

I can’t control the moisture that gathers along my lids, but I use that as a strength instead of a weakness. “The only weak, little bitch here is you, asshole. You shot him so he’d become defenseless and now you’re using manipulation to get your limp dick wet. Do whatever you want, but I’ll make sure my dad knows about this. And when he kills you in cold blood, I’ll get footage of it and watch it for years to come.”

I tremble, my hands balled into fists on either side of me. I fully expect Ren to tackle me to the ground and rape me, then kill me. Or maybe the other way around.

Instead, he bursts out laughing, his head tipping back. The sound is so loud that I jump.

“You’re a Hitori, after all,” he says once he finishes his psychotic fit of laughter, slightly shaking his head. “Now, come on.”

“Come where?”

“You’ll see.”

I plant my feet on the ground. “I’m not going anywhere with you unless you tell me why and where.”

He leans over so fast, I don’t have the chance to push back. Then he grabs me by the arm as he peers down at me, his face mere inches from mine. “You don’t really have a say in it, now do you? Follow me quietly and without asking questions unless you want to open those legs here and now.”

I frown. Does that mean if I follow him, I don’t have to open my legs? Or maybe I’m reading too much into things.

Twisting my arm, I attempt to get away from him, but he tightens his hold until he cuts off my circulation.

“Let me go!” I strain.

The sound of a door opening makes me freeze. I stare in the opposite direction and completely forget about Ren and his savage grip.

The man who nonchalantly leans against the doorframe is the last person I expected to see in this place.

Though it all makes sense now.

He’s the one who talked to me through the door a few days ago. At the time, I couldn’t exactly identify him, because he sounds more aristocratic and composed when he speaks in Japanese than when he does in English.

“You heard the princess,” he tells Ren in Japanese. “Let her go.”

Ojou-sama.

Again. He’s calling me a princess and now I’m even more sure that I met him before this year.

Maybe when I was young…

“She’s resisting,” Ren says in the same language, sounding bored to death.

“Or you’re taking a long time to do a simple task, Ren.”

“Are you calling me useless?”

“Your words, not mine.”

“K-Kai…?” I stammer, cutting off their back and forth.

The man I thought was a PI slides his gaze to me. Unlike Ren’s mocking presence, Kai’s is serene, calm, soothing almost.

I always felt some sort of safety with him and even an urge to talk to him about everything and nothing.

That’s the type of image he projected, anyway. A big brother of sorts.

A pillar.

A manipulator.

Because now I’m even more sure that none of this was a coincidence. Not how I first connected with him, not how I remember him calling me Ojou-sama at some point in my life, and definitely not the black van and Ren’s involvement.

It all has to do with my father. The same father I never knew and who Mom protected me from because he’s dangerous.

Kai smiles and it’s warm, inviting. That’s what made me fall into his trap in the first place. His damn welcoming smile.

Now, I realize it’s no different than the devil when he’s on the mission of luring his victims.

“Hello again, princess.”

I twist my arm from Ren’s hold and he surprisingly lets me go. My entire attention is on Kai. “What is all of this about?”

“I said I’d take you to your father and I always keep my promises.”

“You couldn’t have done that without kidnapping me?”

He shakes his head once. “I told you, you need to suffer a loss.”

I point a finger at Ren. “He promised he’d get Sebastian a doctor.”

“That won’t work. He has a nasty infection and it must’ve spread to his lungs, because he’s barely able to breathe. He needs a hospital and ICU care, and in order to get them, he has to leave in about…” He stares at his watch. “Five minutes, more or less.”

God no.

I knew he was doing horribly, but I’d hoped it wasn’t that critical.

“Do it!” I snarl at Ren. “Fuck me and keep your word.”

“I’m insulted.” He places a hand on his chest. “You really think I’d finish in five minutes? I need at least…thirty?”

“You’re a monster.”

“More or less.” He grins.

“There will be no sex,” Kai’s voice cuts through our conversation.

My head snaps in his direction. “There won’t?”

“No. It was a test and you passed.”

I stare back at Ren and he grins again, showing his straight teeth. “You’re right. Your father would torture and kill me if I touched you. Though we could always do it behind his back?”

Oh.

So my father is really behind this.

I can’t help the taste of betrayal that gathers at the back of my throat. My little girl dreams incinerate, leaving a heap of ashes and slaughtered wishes. All these years, I’ve held on to a distant fantasy of reuniting with my father. I never thought it would be under such circumstances or that Sebastian could pay the price for it.

“What does he want?” I ask Kai because, for some reason, he seems to be the one in charge.

“It’s simple.” Kai tips his head in my direction. “You.”

“Me?”

“Yes. You see, he’s been wanting to reunite with you for as long as you have.”

“He could’ve just shown up instead of pulling this stunt!”

“Not with the way Riko has been poisoning your head about him, no. Everything requires the right timing.”

“Like how you pretended to be a damn PI?”

“I couldn’t let you go to some stranger when we have in-house intel, Ojou-sama.”

“So, now what?”

“You’ll agree to our terms and adopt your real name. Naomi Hitori.”

I’m sure their terms are equivalent to selling my soul to the devil. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have gone as far as kidnapping me, starving me, and shooting Sebastian.

They must know how much I care about him and that I would play right into their hands if his life was threatened.

And that’s true.

I don’t care what I have to do as long as it keeps him safe. If it means selling my soul for parts, so be it. He’s the one who made me well aware of that soul in the first place. It seems fitting to sacrifice it for him.

A part of me fractures and splinters into pieces all around me. I have no idea what awaits me, but something tells me it’ll be harder than anything I’ve ever been through.

The red night included.

I have to stay strong, though all I want to do is curl into Sebastian’s embrace and break down and cry in his arms. But I can’t do that if he dies.

I can’t do anything if he dies.

The decision is crystal clear in my head even as I fight the tears trying to escape. “I agree. But first, get Sebastian the help he needs. If anything happens to him, I’ll kill myself and deprive my father of the daughter he wants so much.”