“Where is the birthday girl?”

“Showering. I was just about to run through myself.”

“I see that.” She glanced down at the wet spot on my shirt. “Want some company?” she asked, a coy smile on her lips, her eyebrow raised.

“Come on.” I began to climb the stairs with Amanda behind me. “Set the water. I’m going to put this on her bed.” I carried the package into Annie’s room. I could hear the water still running, and there was a pair of dark-blue panties on the floor outside of the stall.

I dropped the box and closed her bedroom door behind me as I crossed the hall. The water was running in my own bathroom, and Amanda was inside. I stared at her naked silhouette through the fogged glass as I pulled my shirt over my head and slid my jeans down to the floor.

I stepped in behind her, my cock stiff as I pressed it against her ass with a groan. The last few days had been nothing but stressful. Connor had barely called, and I was on edge for tonight. I needed to relieve some tension.

“Let’s get dirty, and then we can get clean.” I gripped her hips and pushed against her. “Put your hands on the wall.” I ran my lips over her damp shoulder.

“I want to face you.” It was a little late to be modest given the things I had done to her in the past, but she played the part of willing victim well.

“I want you just like this,” I whispered against her ear as I pulled back on her hips, bending her at the waist. “Don’t take your hands off the wall.” With one hand holding her, I grabbed my cock with the other and positioned myself against her bare entrance. I pushed slowly inside her as I panted against her wet blond hair. She moaned as I pulled back, nearly sliding out of her before slamming against her, hard. She cried out as I pulled her hips back with each rough thrust. Gripping her harder, I used my other hand to cover her mouth, muffling her cries, and her teeth scraping against my flesh only fueled my desire.

I rested my forehead against the top of her head as I held her still, fucking her fast. My breathing was ragged as I struggled to rid my mind of all other thoughts and focus on coming. I wasn’t the type for soft and gentle caresses. I liked angry, violent fucking, and Amanda only wanted to please me. That was why I put up with her mindless bullshit and shallow personality. My feelings for her were as much of an illusion as my public persona. It was easier for me to fuck a stranger than to share my feelings with someone I loved—not that I was even capable.

I growled, gripping hard enough to bruise as I thrust into her one last time, coming hard inside her as her walls gripped me and she found her own release. I struggled to catch my breath as my hand slipped from her mouth and down over her throat as I pressed a kiss into her damp hair.

“Did I hurt you?” I asked between heavy breaths as I brushed her hair from the back of her neck and placed a kiss in between her shoulder blades.

“No.” She was equally breathless.

We washed ourselves quickly and engaged in minimal small talk as we both got dressed for the party.

“It’s a shame your dad couldn’t be here,” Amanda called to me from the bathroom as she fixed her makeup in the mirror.

“Yeah, it is.” I slipped my shoe on and stood to look over myself in the full-length mirror next to my closet, and I saw the reflection of the monster I was raised to be in Taylor’s commune. I hated that part of myself that still lurked below the surface, begging to be let out to play, and I struggled against the demented urges daily.

Amanda came to stand next to me, her hand on my stomach as she smiled at our reflection. “You look handsome.”

I gazed over my dark jeans and black polo shirt. I was in no mood for a suit, and tonight was about making Annie comfortable. Amanda was wearing a black strapless dress that barely covered her ass, and I tried not to let my possessive nature take over. I’ve never been good at sharing my toys.

“Where’s the rest of your dress?” I asked as I ran my finger along her exposed upper thigh.

“I like to keep you jealous so you won’t ever forget how good you have it,” she said with a smirk as she walked to the bedroom door.

I groaned, hating that I had to deal with her little games. “I’m going to grab Annie’s present. I’ll be right down.”

“All right. I’ll go see if she needs help getting ready.” With a smile she left, and I blew out a heavy breath, running my hand over my hair. I turned to face my walk-in closet as I heard Annie and Amanda talking in the hall.

I turned on the light and walked through the racks of clothing to the back where a mahogany dresser was built into the wall. Bending down, I pulled open the bottom drawer, wiggling it free from its track and pulling it all the way out to set it on the floor. The small space below the drawer was where I kept things I didn’t want Grace finding when she cleaned the house. It was all that remained aside from the nightmares and Annie. There were a few old photos, and I smiled as I picked one up of Annie and me. I was always taller than her. Our hands were linked together as she smiled weakly, but her eyes told of heartache, and I wore an angry scowl. The day this picture was taken was seared into my memory.

“It’s not her,” I repeated again to Taylor, who was pacing the floor.

“How do you know if you haven’t tried?” He bent down to my eye level, gripping the arm rests of my chair.

“She’s not a sinner; she’s just a victim of circumstance. She said you forced her to come here.” Trying to hold a rational conversation with an irrational person was frustrating, to say the least. I’d lost my grip on reality years ago, but I still understood the basic concept of right and wrong, even if my actions didn’t reflect that.

“So tempt her.” His eyes were wild behind his thick brown frames and devoid of all reasoning. “She trusts you.”

“I’m not you. I can’t do it.”

The back of his hand came down across my cheek, and in an instant my chair flew back against the wall. Then I was standing, towering over him as he took a step back.

“If you ever touch me again, you will be meeting God a lot sooner than planned.” Any compassion I had felt for this man in all of my years had vanished in that singular act of betrayal. He should be proud. He’d raised me in his image, and I’d grown to exceed the monster he was. All I wanted in that moment was to spill his blood, bathe in it. I rationalized it in my mind—so many others would be saved by sacrificing one.

“Colin…Colin…you need to listen to me. We’ve worked for years.” His eyes fell closed as he shook his head, his hands extended toward me looking for mercy. Where was his mercy for those girls?

“I won’t do it.” I swiped my hand in the air in front of me, finalizing my decision. As I turned my back toward him, his hand fell on my shoulder.

“Then I’ll find someone else.”

I slowly turned around, murderous rage coursing through my body. There was a steely, determined look in his eye, and I knew he wasn’t bluffing. It was only a matter of time before something happened to Annabel, and her blood would be on my hands. I had to buy us some time. There were too many of them. I left his office and hurried across the field, anxious to get back to Annie. I’d left her in my cabin studying Bible verses. Being one of Taylor’s favorites had its perks, and that included privacy.

When I opened the door, I was immediately filled with a sense of calm seeing her lying across my bed reading, oblivious to the deals I was making with the devil himself to keep her safe. Every day we grew a little closer, and slowly she’d begun to trust me, opening up and telling me stories of her life outside the commune. It fascinated me to hear how she was raised by a single mother because her father had left them when she was only a few months old.

The Bible, a book that I had learned to use as a guide to immorality, brought her comfort as she worried about her mother and her own safety. I lay down beside her on my stomach, glancing over her shoulder to see what passage she was reading. She no longer recoiled, but turned her head to smile at me. That was when I did something that to this day I couldn’t explain; I kissed her. It was a chaste kiss on the lips, but it was anything but innocent, at least on my end. I rationalized it as testing how much she trusted me, but the thrill of someone looking me in the eye and not being afraid, for her to smile when I walked in the door—it was addictive.

I set the pictures back in the corner and pulled out a tiny box. I flipped the black velvet lid open and looked down at the old cross necklace my mother had worn until the day she had died. It was a present from my father.

Still, it was the one thing that had a true connection to my past, to a time when I still had some semblance of a conscience. After she passed away, my innocence was lost with her. It was only fitting now that at the age she could officially act on her own, I gave Annie this symbol of our past to remind her of what our freedom had cost us, what freedom truly meant.

I slid the necklace into my pocket and replaced the drawer before turning off the closet light and closing the door behind me. I left my bedroom and made my way downstairs to where Amanda and Annie stood, giggling as they chatted about the impending event.

Annie was wearing a simple white dress that flowed to just above the knee. It was strapless, but the snowy color made it seem innocent and virginal, the polar opposite of Amanda’s dress.

“Little Orphan Annie, all grown up.” I smiled down at her, wondering how she had somehow managed to make it to adulthood in one piece. I continued to descend the stairs as she shook her head.