Breaking Hammer Read online

  warped need to replace the man who I'd supposedly been with. I looked behind him at the expanse of room, the sweeping windows that overlooked the lights, the hustle and bustle of Las Vegas. It was a place where you could disappear if you weren’t careful. I’d disappeared here before.

  "You're mine," he said.

  "I'm yours," I parroted.

  "Never forget it, Meia." He whispered the words in my ear, his breath hot on my skin, and I felt nauseous. My instinct was to run, to fight.

  But then my son would be dead.

  Aston's hands were up under my dress, sliding over my ass. "All of this is mine," he said. I could feel my entire body tense to his touch.

  And then he did what he wanted with me, his touch rough, his movements painful.

  Afterward, I straightened my clothing, smoothed my dress and my coat as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. At least he would let me leave, had no interest in seeing me until his lust for me had been stoked again. Thank heaven for small mercies. I didn't think I could bear it to live with my tormenter.

  Of course, I'd been forced to do it before, with the old man, the man who first bought me.

  "Aston," I said, my voice hoarse. He didn't look at me, standing on the other side of the room gazing out at the cityscape, sipping from a glass. "Can I talk to Ben?"

  I hated the way my voice sounded - small and timid. I hated to beg him for anything, but this is what I was reduced to doing.

  He still didn't turn. "Keith will set it up," he said. "Sunday. One hour."

  I exhaled, my relief palpable, and felt a welling up of emotion, a feeling of overwhelming gratitude toward him. Tears filled my eyes, and I wiped them away. I didn't want to cry here, not in front of him. And I hated that for a moment, I felt gratitude toward my captor for allowing me the small mercy of calling my child.

  The child he had stolen from me.

  As I walked away, I half-expected him to be behind me, to pull me back inside, to beat me for daring to request to speak with Ben. Aston didn't like it when I made requests of my own. It demonstrated my lack of respect for him, he'd say. And so I held my breath as I walked quickly down the hall, my heels making clicking sounds on the tile as I walked across the hall to stand at the elevator. I waited, my arms crossed around my waist, my fingers dancing on the fabric of my purse. I waited for him to open the door, to walk out to the elevator and drag me back into the penthouse by my hair, to beat me senseless. Every part of my body was on edge, tensed. I held my breath.

  Ready for the attack.

  I clutched the purse to me, my fingers turning numb at the ends from holding on so tightly.

  Then the doors to the elevator opened and I stepped inside, exhaling as they closed.

  My breath caught in my throat. You would think I would be used to this by now, the feeling of terror. It was always around me, my constant companion. It would never leave me.

  It was a feeling I'd known for years, since the beginning. One that only grew stronger, day by day. I'd thought it was bad when I was at the finishing school in Bangkok, but I didn't know horror, not until I was sold to the old man.

  ~ ~ ~

  Nine Years Ago

  Las Vegas

  I stood there, wearing the dress that had been chosen for me by my handlers. On the outside, I was the picture of elegance, wrapped in silk and jewels. But the jewels were fake, costume jewelry purchased by my handlers. And the dress hid the fading bruise on my back where I had been hit, an outburst by one of my instructors, who had been reprimanded for leaving the mark so close to when I’d be sold.

  It was a wedding day, of sorts.

  Not the one I’d dreamed of, when I was a child, living in Burma with my parents.

  That was a lifetime ago.

  The man stood before me, looking me over. “You are lovely,” he said, reaching for my hand.

  I smiled, just as I’d been taught, and bowed my head.

  Gracious.

  “Yes,” he said. “I think you’ll do nicely.” His thin fingers traced down my shoulder, then along my arm, as he looked into my eyes, his gaze intense. The way he looked at me chilled me to the depths of my soul.

  I might have had an inkling of what I was in for, but I had no idea the depths of what would be done to me.

  He was in his seventies I guessed, his hair white and sparse. His body was frail. But his mind was not. His mind was still active, full of perverse desires. And he was a sadistic man. He enjoyed inflicting pain, more than anything. More than sex.

  He would try to break me.

  I was fourteen then.

  “Meia,” he said, looking me over. “The name suits you.”

  I kept my head bowed, my heart continuing to thump in my chest.

  “Look at me, girl.” His voice was sharp and I obeyed. I didn’t realize then he would want to see my eyes, see what I looked like before he stole everything from me.

  What he didn’t know was what I had looked like before. Before any of this. He didn’t realize there was nothing there anymore. Nothing left to steal.

  He could torture me, but it was irrelevant. An irritation. Like the sharp bite of a mosquito on the skin.

  “You are to be given free reign here, provided you please me,” he said, taking my hand in his thin one. He guided me through the great room, toward the rest of the house. As we walked, I looked around at the vast expanse of my kingdom.

  I would be a caged bird.

  He coughed, the sound jolting me out of my thoughts. He brought a handkerchief to his mouth. “You are not a prisoner,” he said, as if he could read my thoughts.

  “No, sir,” I said, my voice barely more than a whisper. I would learn to call him Master.

  He stopped, turned toward me again, and I felt his eyes on me, but I looked straight ahead. “You are a rare beauty, Meia.”

  I nodded. It wasn’t a good thing. It was a curse.

  Later, when he showed me the room, the feeling of terror intensified again. I stood there, staring at the instruments, the implements I would come to know well, my child brain unable to wrap my mind around what could be done with them.

  That night, I would begin a new set of lessons. He would subject me to small pains at first, stimulating my body at the same time. Those were the pains I was used to from the finishing school in Bangkok...the sharp sting of the whip, the flat hand across my body. It was gentle compared to what I had suffered before.

  That first night was the easiest. It wasn’t until he had lulled me into a sense of security, treated me kindly over the course of the first week, that he began the torture.

  ~ ~ ~

  It was an irony that the thing that saved me from the old man - my pregnancy - was the very thing that would become my undoing, the very thing that would keep me bound to Aston. The old man was no longer interested in me after I became pregnant. He left my child and I money in the will, an apology of sorts, or at least I liked to think it was. It was the money that made me bold, made me think I could simply walk away from everything with my son. But I hadn't been so lucky. Aston had found us.

  "Fights?" I asked, looking around the old building behind the clubhouse. It was a small building, decrepit the last time I saw it and just about the same now, with a concrete floor and metal walls like any other warehouse. Except this looked like a fucking training facility, nothing fancy, but the type of thing you'd find in one of those old school boxing gyms - a makeshift ring in the center, some heavy bags hanging in the corners, and weights over in the side. Two of the brothers were inside, their hands wrapped, punching at the bags.

  "What the hell is this?" I asked, turning toward Blaze. "You guys starting a boxing gym or something?"

  Blaze smiled. "Benicio's doing some underground stuff." He shrugged. "Don't knock it. We get paid good for providing the muscle during the fights, running the books, and keeping the bullshit to a minimum."

  "What's with the set up here then?"

  Blaze shrugged. "A couple of the brothers have gott