No one came for me.

I heard voices. I heard movements throughout the house, and then I waited and waited, but no one came for me.

I finally relaxed when I realized that Rogue had left me alone. It shocked me. He wasn't the kind of man to let anyone get their way, but he didn't force me to meet his guests. I was glad for it, and I was glad I didn't force myself to stay in my room. Miriam kept me company in the living room. We played chess, even though I had no idea how to play, and I found out it was Rogue's favorite game. I wasn't surprised at all.

Miriam left me alone afterward. I tried to get the hang of the game, which I saw as an improvement a lot. When I got tired of playing, I felt like sneaking in on Rogue's friends but decided against it.

I was standing by the window, looking up at the sky and wondering where I would be right now if I had been at home, and the next thing I knew, I felt pain at the back of my head. Another sharp one came that had my knees buckling under, and the dizziness came. I tried to blink my eyes open to see who it was, but darkness wrapped itself around me.

I opened my eyes, finding myself lying on the couch. My head hurts so much, and I groaned, looking around the living room. That was when I saw Rogue sitting on a chair across from me, his attention far away from me. I tried sitting up, but pain and dizziness had me lay back down again.

"Rogue," I moaned out, rubbing my forehead. "What happened?" The last thing I remembered was standing by the window, pain, and then nothing.

"Ameenah." His voice rang out clear in the quiet room. My eyes darted to the maid that quickly appeared, eyes eagerly setting on her employer. Rogue waved his hand. "Repeat what you told me."

I looked back and forth between them, then decided to settled my gaze on Ameenah, who looked nervous and unhappy about his question. She darted a glance my way, and a sly smile curved at the corner of her lips.

"I was coming out of the kitchen when I heard noises. I thought it wasn't something out of the ordinary because you had guests over, but still, my heart was telling me to check. When I did, I found Beth walking into the living room. Her back was turned to me, so I thought it was nothing, and I prepared to leave when I saw it." Her voice went a little pitched high, full of disbelief and confusion.

My eyebrows shot up. What did she see?

"To my horror, she was holding a phone in her hand. I don't know how she got it, but she was preparing to call someone. I panicked, so I picked up a lamp and hit her to unconsciousness."

"Excuse me?" I shouted as I shot up into a sitting position. "What the hell did you just say?" She glared at me. I swept my gaze to Rogue, whom I now realized was holding a phone in his hand. The phone he must have thought was mine. "Rogue, you can't believe what she's saying."

"I would never lie to you, sir," Ameenah rushed out in alarm, throwing a glare my way. "Beth has been doing a lot of things behind your back."

"Shut up! You're lying through your teeth right now." I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I knew she didn't like me, but to lie to this extent? To knock me unconscious and plant fake evidence just to get me in trouble with Rogue? I knew I shouldn't have underestimated the bitch.

She crossed her arms. "Am I? Are you going to deny that you and Ms. Veronica haven't been plotting behind his back? Didn't she plan to get you out in three days? Did that not happen too?" she demanded with a satisfied smirk.

Panic choked me. No. No. How did she know about what Veronica and I had discussed? Was she eavesdropping on us that day? I can't deny it. I couldn't get myself and Veronica in trouble with him. I can't deny it. It was my word against Ameenah's.

"Stop lying!" The words came out of me louder than I had thought, and it scratched at my throat, trying to throw me into a coughing fit. I willed myself to calm down enough to continue, "Rogue, I don't know where and how she got that phone, but I had nothing to do with it. She's lying to you. Ameenah has it out for me for days now. Please, believe me."

"Mr. Slade, I have been working for you for two years now. I would never lie to you. I'm sorry for taking action without telling you, but I feared that by the time I got you here, the damage would have already been done."

"You fucking—"

"Ameenah," he stressed her name out with a wave of his hand. "You can go now."

The girl looked disappointed that she was asked to leave. Giving a soundless huff, she spun on her heels and left the room.

My mouth felt dry. I kept staring at him. "Rogue." My tongue pressed against the top of my mouth, trying to wet itself.

He looked up into my face. He didn't look angry. That was good. "There's one truth and one lie. I'm allowing you to tell me which one is the truth." The calmness with which he smiled back at me only made the statement creepier.

Lie. Don't lie. Lie. Don't lie. There wasn't any willpower in me left to lie. Lying to him would only make him angrier. It was better I tell him what he needed to hear. "Veronica," I whispered out, my throat achy. I scratched at the back of my head, biting my lip. "Please, don't hurt her. It wasn't her fault. She was just trying—"

"This is becoming very annoying, Beth." His eyes locked onto mine, and I tried hard not to look away. In the dim light, his pupils had grown into pools of black that threatened to swallow his irises. "Do you think what you've done wasn't defying me?"

"I wasn't going to leave. I had changed my mind," I lied. "I was waiting for her to come so I could tell her. I trust you. If it's time to leave, you will let me go."

"I asked you a question."

A sharp breath made my throat hurt even worse, but I couldn't help it. "Yes."

The beautiful monster glared at me, his eyebrows lowered over his eyes, and a muscle ticking in his jaw in rapid-fire clenched. "Yes, you thought you weren't defying me, or yes, you knew you were defying me?"

"I'm sorry," I pushed the words out through my teeth.

"What did you think was going to happen? That you could rely on Veronica to get you out of here? My Veronica?" He raised his brows, then rose to his feet.

His Veronica? Rogue started to come for me, and I pushed myself deeper into the couch. When he sat next to me, leaving no inch of space between us, I sucked in a breath.

He stared at me. "My world is not a clear sky that you can fly with all your freedom, Beth. It's a cage which only opens when I want." His words were so detached.

My breath halted in my lungs. "Y..yes," I answered him, feeling completely defeated. The word was choked as it left my lips.

Rogue gripped my hips and pulled me towards me, pressing his chest to my back. When I protested, he shushed me. "You won't ever see Veronica again," he whispered into my ear, and I stilled. His words weren't soothing, and the next thing he said came out hard, "Clearly, you haven't heard me well. She is not your friend."

A sharp breath made my throat hurt. "Don't take her away from me," I pleaded. He couldn't take the one person who had offered to help me from me. I needed her friendship. I desperately needed to hold onto someone in the outside world.

He smiled, and in front of my eyes, I saw him taking out a small knife. He inched it close to my skin, moving the blade up and down like a slow, sweet caress from a lover. My eyes immediately locked onto the sharp blade, and I swallowed to hold down a tremble.

"I can forgive you if you try to kill me, but your disloyalty can't be forgiven."

"I can do better," I lied effortlessly. "I will give you my loyalty if that's what you want. I can do it."

Rogue snorted. He looked up into my eyes, and I gazed back at the black abyss. I frowned at his unblemished skin, where the scar I saw earlier was completely hidden.

"Veronica, Veronica," he chanted her name ominously, then laughed shortly. "She's a nuisance, you know that? She brings destruction with her. She thinks she can plot against me and set you free." His blade moved dangerously close to my throat. "Time doesn't decide what happens in your life, Beth. I decide the time of the things that will happen, just like how your friendship with her is over."

"She's my friend."

"She's mine." He grasped my chin. "And the truth is, if one enters this house, then it's neither time nor god who decides when they come and when they depart, so your silly imaginations of escape are going to be that—your imagination."

One breath was all I could take, and then I was plunged into a kiss that smothered me. I was so shocked by it that I didn't have time to react. There was nothing gentle about Rogue Slade. The pressure of his lips was firm and intent. His tongue was thick as it dipped inside, tasting me in long licks.

I thought that I could pretend to kiss him back, but as he pressed against me the couch, I found myself unexpectedly pressing back, needing more from his kiss than I thought I had wanted. I couldn't breathe because I found myself wanting him so much. Wanting his hands all over me. His mouth on my neck, sucking me. His teeth against my skin. I threw one arm around his neck, needing to hold on to something. Needing to hold on to him. His kiss got deeper as if he liked the way I clutched on to him.

Then his hand came down along my side, sliding under the band of my jeans, under my panties. My breath hitched as he burrowed inside me. And it felt so good. Like a curtain catching on fire easily, spreading heat, growing hotter. Burning. Blazing. But my consciousness was jerked back suddenly, and I caught his hand, yanking it out of me.

Rogue stared down at me with eyes that were twinkling in amusement. His lip turned up, the closest thing to a smile that I had seen him on him. His face was striking, so captivating. He studied me intensely like I was an open book that he found so entertaining. I didn't like it one bit.

"You know I have a feeling that our future will be exciting," he said it so quietly it was almost a whisper.

"There's no future," I hissed out firmly. "When I leave here, we're done."

That certainly made him laugh. "You made me had a taste, Beth, and now, it won't be so easy to get rid of me. I'm a greedy bastard. What I want, I don't just take, but I make sure I own it."

My heart pummeled in my chest. "You won't own me." I breathed hard.

He considered me a moment longer. Then chuckled, and his hand reached out to touch my hip. I grabbed it with my one free hand, but his hand took mine and twisted it up over my head suddenly, pinning. His cheek was pressed against my temple, his mouth at my ear. I could feel every bit of his strength, and my entire body was immobilized under his.

"The moment you walked in here, you lost ownership to yourself." His hand came running along my bare side, brushing against my shoulder and my arm. A deep shiver ran through me, and I glared at him.

"I didn't walk in. You kidnapped me."

"And you didn't make things so much easier." He kissed my neck, his teeth grazing my skin only slightly. I twisted under his grasp, but every movement from me only made his hold stronger, more permanent. "I think you owe me a lot. You owe me more than a kiss."

"Fuck off, Rogue." I felt his leg shove between my thighs, pressing against me down there, and I whimpered, my body clutching into itself hard.

"Do you like this?" he asked, and the words seemed to surround me.

"No," I choked out, and he nudged me again. I gritted my teeth to stop the whimper from leaving my mouth, but it was too late. I couldn't hold it in.

Rogue chuckled huskily. "It sounds like you do." His hand went to my hip and rubbed. "It sounds like you want this. If you close your eyes, you can even pretend I'm anyone at all. Pretend I'm the hero saving you from the monster who has you clutched in his hands. Pretend I'm your guy next door. Would you like that, Beth?"

My protest trailed off into another whimper.

"You can pretend, can you?" he asked, leaving wet trails on my neck and shoulder.

"Like how you can pretend that I'm Veronica?" I blurted out.

Rogue's tongue and hands were gone. He got off me so abruptly that one could assume he had stared at death itself. I sat up breathlessly, watching him stare at me with a blank look. With courage and wobbled legs, I rose to my feet.

"Why are you suddenly quiet? You don't like what I said?"

He doesn't even flinch at my questions, and I knew I entered dangerous territory. Glaring, he didn't say a word to me. Rogue had been pushing my buttons ever since I got here, and I had never seen him so worked out until now. I felt trapped in the darkness of his eyes, the silence threatening to break the little courage left in me.

"I saw the two of you," I revealed. "That day she came here and in that room. I saw you, and I saw you kissed her. What did it feel like? The pain and desire? Good, I hope?"

Hidden darkness peered out from Rogue's eyes. "When she told me how messed up you are, she failed to mention that she's just as messed up. She's also psychotic, isn't she?"

"Don't call her that."

His words took my breath away, but the delivery almost knocked me unconscious. My stomach turned to stone. There was so much malice in his voice. He was defensive. It knocked me off guard. I didn't think I would feel annoyed like this.

"Why? You've been hinting at it." My chest heaved. I had no fucking clue what I was doing, but it didn't matter. What mattered was the reaction I was getting from him.

"Beth," he warned. "Don't piss me the fuck off. What you just said right now, don't think about saying it to her face, or you won't like what I would do to you." His dark voice sent a warning that made my breathing come in frantic pants.

I sucked in a breath, closing my eyes against the anger and protectiveness in his gaze.

"Aren't you even ashamed? She's married, for fucks sake."

Rogue's entire face changed as he stared at me with contempt. He put one foot forward, and I held up his knife, pointing the edge at him. He looked surprised that I had somehow gotten hold of his knife without his knowledge. I wanted to tell him that he shouldn't have been so distracted.

"What do you intend to do with that, sweetheart?" he asked, the corner of his mouth pulling up into a smile. I could imagine him overpowering me and ripping my weapon from my hand.

Rogue took another step forward, holding his hand up like he was approaching a wounded animal. "Be a sweetheart and put the knife down. This little thing won't hurt me, and I don't want to have to punish you."

I knew I couldn't fight him, and I didn't stand a chance. I had no idea why I was trying to fight with him. It was stupid. I was stupid. The second I drifted away, he was on me. I screamed as his body slammed against mine, and he pushed me down onto the rug. Rogue snatched the knife from my hand and threw it across the room.

I thrashed under him, but his weight was too heavy. He caged me in, leaning his chest against mine. The position also forced me still, unable to move much at all. Minutes passed. My racing heart started to slow, and the adrenaline rushing in my blood began to melt away. I lay still under him, not knowing what he was going to do next.

"You shouldn't have done that, Bethany," he said after a long while.

"I don't regret it." The words slipped past my lips instinctively.

"Being what? Stupid? I see it's something that comes naturally to you." He tsked in my ear. He slowly rose, pinning my wrists down at my side. "Tell me something, Beth. When was the last time you screamed?"

He flipped me over and splayed his hand on my shoulders, leaving me completely vulnerable to him. My breathing came in ragged pants. Rogue placed a sweet kiss on the nape of my neck, pushing my hair out of his way.

His lips were directly next to my ears. "What do you say we make you scream again?"

And then his hand came down hard on my ass.