Descent: A Dark Billionaire Romance (Black Heart Romance presents Heaven & Hell) Read online

  “Bastards, aren’t they?” I murmur, my lips tugging up in faint amusement.

  She takes a deep, fortifying breath and looks up to meet my gaze. I expect to see fear etched across her lovely features, but she has a look of quiet determination instead. “Who are you? What do you want with me?”

  “Calvin Cutler—we already covered the rest, remember?”

  “Look, Calvin… you seem like a reasonable man.”

  “I am.”

  She nods, her eyes brightening a bit with useless optimism. “Good. Being a reasonable man, you understand that I had no idea I was coming to…” She pauses to look around, as if unsure how to even categorize this place. “I don’t know, a secret sex club?” Directing her gaze back at me, she continues, “And you should certainly understand that I am not going to have sex with you. We’re complete strangers. I don’t have sex with strangers, no matter how attractive.”

  I cock my head, surprised at the offhanded compliment.

  I’m a little less surprised when she goes on, slyly trying to get her hand on the wheel and turn this car around.

  “Now, you’re obviously a man who wouldn’t have any trouble at all finding a willing female to come with you to a place like this, but it’s not me. I’m not willing. And my friend, Charity? She’s a lawyer. A damn good one. Now, I’m a peaceful person. I don’t enjoy conflict, especially unnecessary conflict, and this… this is unnecessary. We don’t need to see this through to its inevitable end—you get a quick, cheap thrill; I go straight to the hospital without showering to ensure they get as much physical evidence as humanly possible; Charity has to come back from her honeymoon and start preparing an ugly court case because I’ll sue you for damages on top of the criminal charges.” Her gaze sweeps my suit jacket as if impressed. “That looks like a really nice suit. I bet you’re pretty well-off. Do you really want to give your hard-earned money to me? Aren’t there cheaper and easier ways to get laid?”

  Reluctant amusement roots itself deep inside me, deeper than I’ve ever felt it. “Wow. You’re something else, aren’t you?”

  She looks up at me, her expression docile despite all the threats she just threw at me. “I’m just telling you how I see it.”

  I nod as if convinced. “I appreciate the peek into your mind. Now, would you like to hear how I see it?”

  Her eyes dim a bit. She swallows, but attempts to maintain a brave face. “Not really. Why don’t we just go with mine? I’ll leave, you can go about your business, and I’ll never speak to that little rat-faced weasel again. Everybody wins.”

  I smile at the insult to Jackson. “Yes, that ex-boyfriend of yours is a real piece of work. I can’t believe you showed up to help him, honestly. You should hear the way he talks about you.”

  She rolls her eyes. “His ego is bloated. He can’t fathom that I didn’t like him. It turned him into a crazy person—or maybe he was like that when we met and I just didn’t notice. That seems more likely.” Narrowing her eyes as she looks at me, she adds, “Wait, do I attract crazy people? How did I catch your attention?”

  The wave of amusement rolls over me again. “Handsome, reasonable, and crazy?”

  “You’re quite the catch.” Suddenly inspired, she lights up. “Hey, tell you what? Why don’t we leave this dungeon and go upstairs? I saw a bar on the way in. We could have a drink, get to know each other a little better. Then we won’t be strangers anymore,” she adds a bit enticingly, as if perhaps then she’ll consider sleeping with me.

  I ignore the blatant bait. “So you can pretend you have to pee and slip out of the club? I don’t think so.”

  Her nose wrinkles up adorably with annoyance. “Maybe that’s not my plan. Maybe I just want to hook you better with my dazzling personality. Maybe I’m a golddigger, and you’re a nice-looking prize.”

  I shake my head. “If you were, I’d be bored already. I like you more than I thought I would. You come across as sweet from a distance. I didn’t expect you to be wily.”

  “I am sweet, just not to men who lure me into dungeons with the intent of mistreating me.”

  Her unexpected bluntness gives me pause.

  For the damndest sliver of a second, I reconsider my plan. I like Hallie enough to spend more time with her. If I do what I initially intended to her tonight, I’ll burn her out in one go. She’ll want nothing to do with me afterward.

  Then again, it seems unlikely she would ever agree to go out with me after I lured her here tonight with bad intentions. Even if I could somehow convince her and I ended up enjoying a night out with her, it would likely only lead to boring sex—at best.

  It’s not as if I could convince her to come back through these doors with me after taking her out to dinner. I doubt I could even lure her upstairs, given she would have the advantage of knowing I almost pounced on her down here tonight. If I wanted to take her after dinner, it would have to be in the back of a limousine. Once I finished with her and she escaped with her tattered spirit and terrible memories of me, I would never see her again.

  Whether I enjoy Hallie Meadows for a whole evening or this one, single fuck, I’m only going to get one go at her.

  It’s the nature of the beast, unfortunately.

  I don’t know why, when I look into her endless ocean eyes, I get the sense that one time will never be enough. That it will haunt me as much as it haunts her. When she’s lying in bed alone at night replaying what I did to her, I’ll be across town in my own bed, thinking the same thoughts.

  Maybe I should heed the warning and turn back now, before it’s too late.

  I can’t bring myself to do it, though. If I can have one taste that lingers for a while or no tastes at all…

  I have to taste her.

  So I do.

  Chapter Three

  Hallie

  I thought it would work.

  I thought I could reason with him.

  Now I can’t think at all as adrenaline surges through my veins and my heart threatens to beat its way out of my chest.

  Whatever I expected him to do next, I didn’t expect him to kiss me.

  My hands press against his firm, muscled chest, useless as I try to push him away. Even though they’ve proven ineffective, he captures my hands and wrestles them behind my back, gathering both of my wrists in one of his massive hands and forcing me back against the cold, hard wall.

  I imagine I’ll be able to tug free, but I’m wrong. Even with one hand he’s able to keep my wrists trapped behind me, the only thing between my body and the cold cement blocks.

  Frustrated, I turn my face away to evade his brutal kiss, but he grabs my jaw with his free hand and forces my gaze back to his. My heart lurches at the coldness in his deep brown eyes.

  “I don’t know if you know this, Hallie, but it’s not much fun to kiss someone who won’t kiss you back.”

  “You’re a complete psycho if you think there’s even a chance I’ll kiss you back,” I tell him.

  His gaze warms with something I might call affection if I were a nutcase. I start as he loosens his grip on my jaw to caress it instead.

  A shiver dances down my spine. I don’t know what to make of this man. There’s something obviously off about him, but…

  It’s the ‘but’ that’s my damnation.

  A normal woman would look into the eyes of this predator and feel no faint pull of curiosity, only the self-preserving instinct to get the hell away from him.

  I do want to get away from him, but I’m curious, too. Maybe it’s the curiosity that keeps me from raising my knee and bringing it full force into his junk, incapacitating him just long enough to wrench the door open and flee this awful place.

  I’m not sure how far I’d get, though. Maybe that’s why I don’t do it.

  I’d rather get out of this peacefully than make him angry. He’s bigger and stronger than I am. He can hurt me if he wants to.

  He has men, too. The man that brought me here, the one he sent away because he doesn’t want an audience, I doubt he left. Even if I made it through those doors, the guard would probably catch me and haul me right back inside.

  Then I’d be right back where I began, but with my aggressor injured and angry.

  No, running won’t work.

  Appealing to his mercy still seems like the best option to me at the moment. There’s something off about him, but he seems rational. He’s not some raging, unthinking beast. He’s a man, just perhaps an odd one.

  As that thought flits through my head, he pushes a button on my blouse through its slit.

  The thought of him undressing me spurs me to action. “Wait. Please, let’s think about this.”

  “I appreciate your attempts to reason with me, Hallie, but you should know they won’t work.”

  As he says it, he releases my wrists and grabs my hips, turning me around so I’m facing the dungeon wall. Before I can do anything with my hands, he shoves me forward and uses his body to pin me against the wall.

  The hair on the back of my neck stands up as he reaches down and lifts my skirt, running his hands over my ass.

  “Very nice,” he says, as if appraising fruit at the market.

  He’s a psycho.

  My gaze flickers to the door. I’m still doubtful running will work, but I don’t know how else to keep his hands off me. If it’s my only chance to escape, I have to take it.

  Rearing back suddenly, I crack my skull against his as hard as I can.

  Ouch.

  It hurts like hell, but he wasn’t expecting it, so he stumbles back a step.

  Fear courses through me. I know he’ll be meaner if he catches me now, so I can’t let him. I lunge for the door, grabbing the handle to yank it open.

  Only when I pull with all my might, nothing happens. It’s like tugging on a handle attached to a solid brick wall.

  Horror floods me as I pull harder. It doesn’t make sense. I know this is a door. I came in through it. Why won’t it open?

  Why won’t it open?

  As if he can hear my frantic thoughts, Calvin explains, “It’s locked. You can’t get out of this room until I let you out.

  Until he lets me out?

  Dread blossoms in my chest.

  That can’t be true.

  It can’t.

  It can’t, it can’t, it can’t.

  “You’ll never let me out,” I whisper.

  “I will, after I’m finished with you.”

  His words slide over me slowly, depositing horror and dread everywhere they touch.

  He says it like I should find some solace in his promise, but his promise is horrific.

  Hopelessness swallows me up when he steps into sight. It’s the way he moves. He isn’t moving quickly, anxious to catch me before I can escape. He isn’t even trying to stop me like he would if I stood a chance at escaping him. Instead, he leans a shoulder against the cool wall and watches me yank uselessly on a door that won’t budge.

  Tears fill my eyes. This isn’t fair. I’m literally trapped inside this room with him.

  Giving up on pulling the door open, I clench my fists and beat on it instead. “Help! Somebody please help me! I’m here against my will. I’m trapped in here with a man who wants to hurt me. Please, help me!”

  Still unfazed, he examines his neatly trimmed nails. “No one will come.”

  This really is Hell.

  My chest begins to tighten, but I do my best to fight the onslaught of panic. I have to stay focused. A panic attack won’t get me anywhere.

  A little voice whispers at the back of my mind, echoing a hopelessness I can’t accept yet.

  Nothing will.

  No. No, no, no. I won’t accept that. I can’t.

  This can’t be happening.

  My mind races to fit together all of the information I have, but the picture it paints is an awful one. If I can’t get out of this room until he lets me out…

  I’m at his mercy in a way that’s grossly unfair. All I want is to leave, but I literally can’t until he chooses to release me. Letting me go has to be his choice, and he won’t make it until he’s been satisfied.

  I can’t win. I can’t get out of this. I’m trapped here until… until he’s finished with me.

  My stomach twists up until I think I might be sick.

  I don’t accept answers I don’t like, he said on the phone, and he really meant it.

  He’s not just an absolute psycho, he’s cruel. So cruel he has no qualms about stripping away my ability to defend myself just so he can get off.

  I tilt my chin up as he pushes off the wall and moves closer.

  I’m starting to realize there’s really nothing I can do to defend myself, but my defeat is so unfair, I’m struggling to come to terms with it.

  Tears glisten in my eyes. I refuse to look at him, so he grabs my jaw and tilts my face until I relent and meet his dark, unfeeling eyes.

  He leans in. My heart jumps when his lips brush mine again. I didn’t really feel it before, I was too shocked, too convinced I could get out of this somehow.

  Now, I’m trapped in cement shoes. I can feel the icky muck of inevitability beneath them, and I know there’s really nowhere to run.

  I have no choice but to please this monster, so I kiss him back.

  It feels terrifying and horrible at first, like selling a piece of my soul to the devil and praying he doesn’t demand the rest.

  As the horror ebbs, though, it begins to feel less like a deal with the devil and more like a kiss from a man. He tugs my tucked-in blouse out of my skirt. His hand slides beneath the fabric and skims my side, then he grabs my waist to pull me closer as his kiss deepens.

  Adrenaline and horror mingle together in my veins as he moves me away from the wall. I don’t know where he’s taking me, I only know he’s in charge. He doesn’t break the kiss as he walks me backward. He doesn’t break the kiss until the backs of my legs hit smooth black leather, then he does so abruptly and gives me a shove.

  I gasp as I fall back on the long black couch. Fear floods my gaze as he moves to climb on the couch with me. Out of some instinct that can’t serve me here, I try to back away from him.

  He smiles, amused, and grabs my ankle. My gaze darts to his long fingers closed around my foot. He tugs off my nude-colored heels and carefully puts them on the ground.

  His gentleness throws me. If he doesn’t care about hurting me, he certainly shouldn’t care about scuffing my shoes.

  I swallow, filling up with uncertainty. I don’t understand this man’s motives. He’s confusing to me, and I don’t know how to deal with it.

  Once my heels have been removed, he slides his hand up the inside of my bare leg. I squeeze my knees together, but he easily pushes them apart and slides his hand up my thigh, too.

  This can’t be happening.

  Defeat wraps its fingers around my throat, threatening to choke me out.

  Maybe I should let it. If there’s nothing I can do to stop this man from having his way with me, maybe I should just detach and let it happen. When he’s finished with me, I can leave, just like he said.

  As long as he isn’t lying.

  It’s the oddest thing to ask, but it’s the thought I grab onto, so as he climbs on top of me and starts to unbutton the rest of my shirt, I ask, “Are you a liar?”

  He seems to find the question curious, too. He doesn’t meet my gaze or pause in undressing me, but he does answer. “Not generally, no.”

  I wouldn’t count tonight as a common occurrence. “But you’ll lie if you have to.”

  His gaze meets mine. Understanding where the question is coming from, he tells me, “I’m not lying to you, Hallie.”

  “You’ll really let me leave? Even though… even though I know who you are?”

  He nods as if entirely untroubled by the prospect. “As I told you, if you try to tell on me, no one will believe you. Not fair, I realize, but that’s life.”

  Bullshit is what it is.

  “As for suing me, you can if you want to, but I’d settle out of court for a paltry sum your lawyer would get most of.” He rips my blouse open and meets my gaze. “If you want to be compensated, all you have to do is ask.”

  My heart thunders as he starts to peel my shirt off. Aggravated by how cavalier he’s being as he talks about throwing money at my pain, I shove him away and pull it closed. “You’re a real asshole, you know that?”

  His eyebrows rise in surprise. “I thought I was being quite accommodating.”

  I’m not doing this. I can’t. I don’t care if it means I’m trapped in this room for the rest of my short life, I refuse to be one more person who rolls over and lets this man have his way.

  I try to kick him in the face, but his reflexes are quick and he blocks me, grabbing my leg before I can do any damage.

  Frowning, he asks, “Did I offend you?”

  He cares about offending me when he’s totally fine with violating me?

  He’s insane. I try harder to kick him in his stupid face even though he catches my other leg, too. All it ends up doing is spreading my legs and trapping them in his strong hands so I can’t move easily.

  “How many women have you done this to?” I demand.

  His frown eases. A glint of pleasure dances in his eyes as he tells me, “You’re my first.”

  My heart sinks. He hasn’t done this before? Who just wakes up one day and decides to do something like this? “I don’t believe you,” I say, but he can hear the uncertainty in my voice.

  “It’s the truth. I’ve played out rape scenarios with other women, but they were all willing.”

  I’m horrified, but my curiosity is piqued. “Scenarios?”

  He nods, releasing my legs and grabbing me so he can turn me around. I clutch my open blouse as it tries to fall off, and Calvin pulls me back against his chest, locking an arm around my neck and leaning in to murmur in my ear. “Last time I reserved a room with a bed. My playmate curled up to sleep alone—naked, like a good girl—and I played the big bad home invader who forced his way into her home and her body.”