Free Shady: MC Romance by Harley McRide Page B

but I listened to all their antics, and even though I knew in my heart my home life was different, I still tried, you know. I would sneak to the kitchen to find junk food. I would talk on the phone late at night with my friends. All innocent fun,” Shady said quietly. “I admit I was a bit of a terror.”
    Slider snorted, “Baby, you are still a terror.”
    The guys smiled at Harmony who was frowning. They were trying to lighten the atmosphere. “Yeah, but I was Francesca then, and Francesca didn’t act out or she was punished. I just wanted to be normal for once. Of course, that never worked because my life was not normal, my family was so not fucking normal. I take that back, my mother was normal, before she met Dominic, maybe a little neurotic but normal. One night a friend and I were whispering on the phone, she told me to go and get some ice cream and we could have a slumber party on the phone together. Of course, I was excited, I was never allowed to have a slumber party or attend one. I hung up and told her I would call her back when I got my stash. There was a back stairway the maids used to take the laundry and cleaning supplies up and down. It was the servant’s staircase but it went directly to the kitchen. I slid down the stairs, giggling. I never thought anyone was awake or I would have never gone downstairs.”
    “Sure you did,” Harmony whispered. “Every girl wants to have a slumber party.”
    “I grabbed the ice cream and a spoon right before I heard the voices. I should have just run back upstairs, but for some reason I didn’t. I went to see what people were doing up in the middle of the night. I mean hell, everyone retired to their rooms at eight like clockwork, so I was curious.” Shady closed her eyes and began to shake. “Fucking bastard was teaching his son how to bring a woman to heel. I swear those were his exact words 'bring her to heel'. I couldn’t figure out what I was looking at to begin with. My stepfather and my stepbrother standing in the dining room, right at the table we ate at every single fucking night. They each had something in their hands but I couldn’t tell what it was. Then they moved and I saw. I saw the young girl tied to the table. Spread-eagled and stretched, she was crying, trying to move, but she couldn’t. I couldn’t move either, I was frozen in the small little cubby I was hiding in and couldn’t move, or look away. Then I saw it, Dominic and his father held little knives. They began to tell her stuff, sick and twisted stuff they wanted her to do, and she cried harder. Every time she cried, they cut her. A little on the leg, the arm, her breast. On and on, telling her she belonged to them, and they had rules. Then they untied her, I thought it was over but no, they were just beginning. I stood there for three hours watching, the things they made her do made me sick, and Dominic was calling her my name. "Francesca, get on your knees," he said and she cried, he hit her and then pushed her down. "Francesca, touch my cock," she cried and they hit her again and then cut her. By the time it was over, she was a bloody mess. They were laughing, talking about how I would be tougher to train, how they had to make sure they hid the bruises and the cuts. Then my stepfather told Dom they were done, and said it was his honor to have the kill. I was stunned, I mean, I knew in my head the girl was never going to be allowed to live, she would have talked, hell, any normal person would have talked. Dom held her hair, laughed, and then cut her throat. I must have made a noise because he turned, and looked right at me. I saw the blood splatters on his face. He was smiling, even though I had caught them. He smiled and then licked his lips. I ran. He followed, becoming the first night he came to my room. After that, it was a game, my stepfather thought Dom was a genius, bringing in a girl to torture in front of me, making sure I knew exactly what I was supposed to do, and then