Descent (Condemned Book 6) Read online

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Titles by Gemma James

  Summary

  Note To Readers

  1. The Irony of Time

  2. Out For Blood

  3. Game On

  4. Leverage

  5. Barter

  6. Failure

  7. Shock and Submit

  8. Crazy

  9. No Ecstacy

  10. The Pit

  11. Save Yourself

  12. The Cavalry

  13. The Monster in the Mirror

  14. Rescue Squad

  15. Field of Nightmares

  16. Reunion

  17. Unbridled

  18. Home Sweet Home

  19. Twice the Loss

  20. A Fate Worse Than Death

  21. Another Angle

  22. Tender Sting

  23. Something To Prove

  24. The Gift of Ginger

  Epilogue

  Also Available

  Playlist

  Acknowledgements

  About the Author

  Descent

  Copyright © 2019 Gemma James

  Ebook cover and interior design by Gemma James

  Cover image used under license from istockphoto.com

  All rights reserved.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

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  TITLES BY GEMMA JAMES

  (STANDALONE NOVELS)

  Epiphany

  Swallow Me Whole

  (CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE)

  Trashy Affair Series

  Trashy Foreplay (Trashy Affair #1)

  Trashy Conquest (Trashy Affair #2)

  (DARK ROMANCE)

  Condemned Series

  Torrent (Condemned #1)

  Rampant (Condemned #2)

  Fervent (Condemned #3)

  Vagrant (Condemned #4)

  Deviant (Condemned #5)

  Descent (Condemned #6)

  Devil’s Kiss Series

  The Devil’s Kiss (Devil’s Kiss #1)

  The Devil’s Claim (Devil’s Kiss #2)

  The Devil’s Wife (Devil’s Kiss #3)

  The Devil’s Spawn (Devil’s Kiss #4)

  SUMMARY

  We did it. We said the vows, dressed for the occasion, dared to believe in Happily Ever After.

  Alex Mason. It has a nice ring to it, the promise of forever.

  Until I awake the morning after to an empty bed and my worst nightmare waiting to strike.

  Rafe is gone, but his twisted desires leave me with the chance for survival. He rebuilt this cabin for us, down to the prison in the wine cellar. Locking myself inside is my only defense against the madman determined to take me away from him forever.

  But time is running out. I have a secret growing inside me, and I’ll do whatever it takes to protect it.

  NOTE TO READERS

  Descent is a dark romance with disturbing themes that may offend some readers. Intended for mature audiences. Part 6 is the final part in the Condemned series.

  1. The Irony of Time

  Alex

  Agitated footfalls hit the cement floor, each thud a thunderous assault on my sanity, going back, forth, back, forth, back, forth…

  Like a feral animal trapped in a cage.

  I almost snorted at the irony, since I was the one sitting behind bars. Huddling on the cot inside the prison, my back against the concrete wall and knees drawn to my chest, I hid my nudity from Zach the best I could while still keeping his pacing form in my periphery.

  Even inside these bars, I wasn’t about to turn my back on him.

  He seemed to be debating with himself, muttering every so often, shaking his head. His madness was a toxin in the air, a poison that clung to my skin, growing more lethal the longer he was incapable of getting his hands on me.

  I tightened my arms around my knees and prayed to God Zach wouldn’t notice how badly I was shaking. Even locking myself inside this cell, out of his reach, hadn’t staunched the tremors of terror. Because I was safe only as long as he couldn’t get that door open, and I wasn’t foolish enough to think he wouldn’t break in here eventually.

  He’d already tried busting the lock panel with a hammer. But Rafe had built this prison to keep me inside, and he wasn’t the kind of man to half-ass shit. I had no chance of escape. Lucky for me, that also meant it would be harder for Zach to breach the door.

  “You think you’re so goddamn smart, don’t you, Lex?” He came to a stop on the other side of the bars.

  “Smart enough to keep you away from me.” I shot him a seething glance through the dark curls obscuring my face.

  With a grunt, he began pacing again, hands fisted at his sides, menace shadowing the angles of his face. If you only studied the surface, you’d see a dangerously handsome guy, his strong jaw and sensuous mouth enough to draw the female eye. But beyond the gorgeous face lay the ugliness festering behind those chilly hazel eyes.

  Beautiful, manic eyes.

  He flexed his fists, arm muscles rippling, and the fiery dragon tattoo winding down his right bicep drew my focus. I’d always despised that ink, saw it as a reminder of all the times those arms restrained me while he used my body as a fuck hole.

  That’s all I was to him.

  A toy.

  A possession.

  A thing he could control, contour, constrain to suit his needs.

  I was all those things to Rafe as well, but underneath his twisted darkness lay a heart bigger than the hearts of most people.

  A heart as fragile as his body was strong.

  As light as his soul was dark.

  A heart that beat solely for me.

  He would come back for me. Rafe Mason would move Heaven and Earth to return to the island, because that’s the type of man he was—a man who would do anything to protect those he loved.

  And he loved me.

  But he also loved his son, and for that, I loved him even more. Because that’s the way a father should behave—willing to put their child above anything and anyone.

  “You’re just delaying the inevitable.” Zach came to an abrupt stop again. “Where’s the fucking key, Lex?”

  “Where’s Rafe?” I countered.

  “He’s not your concern anymore.”

  “He’s my husband. Pretending he doesn’t exist doesn’t make it so.”

  Zach’s hazel eyes zeroed in on my wedding ring. “Your marriage is just a worthless piece of paper.”

  “Not to me. Tell me where he is.”

  Another step brought him that much closer to the bars separating us. “You wanna know where he is? Fine. I’ll tell you. Shelton has him. The fucker is his problem now.”

  Shelton…as in the guy who’d tried to pit Rafe and Zach against each other in a fight to the death. Vomit rose as the realization sank in, twisting in my gut like a knife, and I swallowed hard. “What does Shelton want with him?”

  “Not my business, Lex.” He crossed his arms. “All I know is I get you. Now, where’s the fucking key?”

  I shrugged. It wasn’t the first time he’d pressed me for it, and it wouldn’t be the last.

&nbs
p; “You think I won’t get that door open, but I will.” Lip curling in a sneer, he wrapped his fingers around the bars. “So what’s your game plan in the meantime? What happens when you get hungry, huh? Did you stop to think about that?”

  Of course I’d thought about it. I hadn’t eaten since last night, and the morning sickness…God, how badly I wanted to retch into the toilet in the corner of this cell, but so far I’d managed to tamp down the urge.

  Under no circumstances could Zach learn of my pregnancy.

  I got to my feet and went to the sink next to the toilet. Gathering my hair back from my face, I dipped toward the faucet for a drink before giving him a pointed look. “I can survive without food.”

  It wouldn’t be fun, but as long as he didn’t break past that door, I had everything I needed. The room was cool but not freezing, considering the late summer season, so I wouldn’t freeze to death down here while I waited for help. And I had a place to rest, water to drink, and a toilet. Other than Zach, time was my biggest enemy. Ironically, it was also my biggest weapon.

  I returned to my spot on the bed and continued ignoring him. Still, the shakes wouldn’t cease. His dark presence was enough to send my heartbeat into an unnatural rhythm.

  “You know,” he said, taking on a conversational tone, “I was going to fuck you brainless in his bed. Before I took you away from here for good, I was going to ruin the memory of this place for him.” He let out a snort. “I never realized he was so fucking deranged. Did you have any idea this prison was down here?”

  I bit my lip to keep quiet, because as fucked up as Zach was, I didn’t want Rafe’s tendencies to give him more ideas.

  He brushed off the question with a wave of his hand. “Stay silent all you want, Lex. Those bars won’t save you from me.”

  “You’re delusional.”

  “No, I’m smart enough to beat you at your own goddamn game. You wanna play? Game on, baby.” He stomped up the stairs, and the cellar plunged into oppressive blackness as the door slammed shut. My heart rate took off in a gallop, and I gulped in lungfuls of air as if I were about to suffocate.

  Vomit burned my throat, refusing to be pushed down this time. I made my way through the darkness, hands in front of me in search of the toilet. Falling to my knees, I jerked up the lid and dry-heaved.

  There was nothing left in my belly to upchuck.

  No light to keep me company.

  No hope for escape.

  As I dragged myself back to the cot, I blinked to stave off the threat of tears, but they slid down my cool cheeks anyway. I would allow myself this moment, because when Zach was around, I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of my tears.

  Seconds slipped past. Minutes and hours of utter aloneness, clinging to my last fraying thread of hope. Even after all of these years, I still couldn’t wrap my head around what made Zach tick. Evil was a pervasive entity, crawling across the earth in search of a willing host—a susceptible lost soul that not only welcomed such darkness but embraced it.

  Zach had been infiltrated, a breeding ground for evil in its purest form. It had been quietly growing inside of him for years.

  Maybe he’d been born with it.

  I placed a hand over my belly. Would my baby come into the world innocent like most people believed infants were born? Or would it be tainted by an unavoidable defect of humankind? I wanted to protect my child from everything, but at this point, I was struggling just to keep the both of us safe from my brother.

  Brother.

  Funny, how my mind slipped up sometimes, reverting for a split second to the time when I’d considered Zach family. But family didn’t hurt each other the way Zach had hurt me.

  The way he’d hurt me again.

  There was no if, only when.

  When he busted through that door and bent me to the breaking point. When he got what he wanted from me. The last time I’d been at his mercy, my hopelessness had saved me. Two slits down my forearms to end it all. In a weird twist of fate, trying to take my own life had saved me.

  But that wouldn’t be an option this time, no matter how much Zach hurt and degraded me. No matter the level of my desperation.

  I had too much to live for, and that was all the leverage he needed.

  2. Out For Blood

  Rafe

  I left her there.

  I fucking left her with Zach.

  Panic rose, worsened by the stifling hood Shelton’s goons had put over my head after we left the island. Through gritted teeth, I tested the metal cuffs binding my hands to no avail.

  It’d been minutes.

  It’d been hours.

  Fuck, I had no idea how long I’d been in this damn vehicle. I only knew that each mile took me further away from Alex.

  “Where the fuck are you taking me?”

  More silence.

  Shelton’s goons hadn’t acknowledged a single question, let alone offered an answer. And I knew they wouldn’t, but that didn’t stop me from hounding them at every turn.

  The vehicle veered left and bounced over rough ground. Wherever they were taking me, it was off the well-beaten path. A couple minutes later, the car hit another pothole, slowed, then came to an abrupt stop. The men on either side of me stirred, doors opened, and then they ordered me out of the vehicle. Blindly, I scooted my ass across the leather seat and stood, bare feet sinking into the cool, damp grass. A breeze blew across my chest, carrying a hint of the ocean to my nostrils.

  At least now I had a good idea of the location.

  Shelton Briggs owned an estate a few miles inland of the coastline, in addition to a number of other properties scattered throughout the area. Some he used for the fights, like the barn Jax had burned down last winter so Alex and I could escape.

  Others, I knew, he kept for more nefarious purposes.

  Two hands pushed me into motion, accompanied by a gruff “get moving.” They ushered me through an endless field of grass that reached above the knee before we climbed a set of wooden steps. Keys jingled, a door squeaked open, hinges beyond needing oiled. Then we were moving again, navigating what felt like a narrow hallway on uneven floorboards.

  More hinges squeaked, and someone shoved me forward before yanking the hood off my head. My lids flickered as the windowless room came into focus. The space was no bigger than a prison cell. I spied a twin mattress on the worn plank flooring and nothing else. Above me, shackles hung from a sturdy beam.

  A cocktail of dread and deja vu twisted in my gut, but unlike last year when Perrone’s assholes had taken Alex and me, I wasn’t drugged this time. I straightened my spine, body strung tight, ready to fight and defend, even without the full use of my hands.

  “Don’t do anything stupid,” one of Shelton’s escorts said, sounding bored. He and the other men stood between the door and me, giving off a vibe of nonchalance. Because the fuckers had leverage, and even if I did overpower the three of them, that still didn’t solve the issue of my son.

  “Where’s the boy?” I demanded, matching the guy’s apathetic tone as I dusted off my black pants. The less significance I put on my relationship with William, nonexistent as it was, the better. I was his father, and that gave them enough leverage as it was—they sure as hell didn’t need to know how terrified I was for my son’s safety.

  “The kid is fine,” the guy on the right said. He was built with a couple inches on me. His blond hair was cropped short, and something about the way he stood straight as a pillar screamed ex-military. He pointed at me, a no-nonsense line transforming his lips. “Sit tight. Boss will be here in a bit.”

  I gritted my teeth as the three of them filed out of the room. The heavy wooden door slammed shut, and a lock clanked into place, giving off the sound of finality. I didn’t do patience well, especially under these circumstances. Leaning against the far wall with nothing to do but wait, I fisted my shackled hands.

  That’s when my wedding band caught the faint light coming from the single bulb in the ceiling. A band of despair wound ar
ound my heart like a vise, squeezing the life from it. This time yesterday, I was preparing to marry the love of my life. My mind dove off the deep end, straight into the happiest fucking memories of my existence.

  The way Alex had watched me as she’d walked down the aisle in that sexy-as-hell white dress. The joy of her smile during the exchanging of vows. The trust in her jade eyes later that night when she’d bared her ass to Jax’s paddle as her mouth sucked my cock down her delicate throat.

  Then I imagined her horror-filled expression when she awoke and realized I’d left her alone to fend off Zach. Bitter anger stung my eyes. Intense self-hatred.

  How could I have left her?

  Blinking away the burgeoning sting, I tried to come up with an answer but failed. I had no fucking clue how I’d been capable of walking away knowing she was asleep upstairs, content in the illusion of safety while Zach lay in wait.

  The chaos in my head overflowed. Shelton’s holding cell and its isolation was going to drive me mad. Every thought and fear amplified, sharpening with sickening clarity. I saw Zach putting his hands on her, forcing her legs apart, beating her. Glorifying in her pleas for help that would never come.

  Holy fuck, I was going to be sick. I sank to my haunches and hung my head, breathing deep and even, counting each breath until the vomit in my throat receded. But there was no way I could ignore how dire of a situation I’d left her in. I recalled Alex’s frail state after she’d escaped Zach the first time, when I’d found her in that hospital bed, alone and broken.

  No, never broken.

  I’d been the one broken, my mind fractured and void of memories. Even after I left her in that hospital, she’d still had the strength to break free of her father and Zach. She’d been brave, facing her phobia of water long enough to cross a river and knock on my door, despite believing I didn’t give two fucks about her.