Panic opened my eyes.

My vision was hazy, unfocused, especially in my right pupil. What the f**k happened?

“Ah, you’ve finally decided to stop sleeping away your final minutes, Mercer.” Lynx appeared, but all I saw were his crimson shoes.

I frowned, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. Blinking hard, I forced my eyesight to make sense of something that made no sense at all.

I’m upside down.

Clenching my stomach muscles, I arched upright, taking note of my bound and very na**d body. Black ropes wrapped around my ankles, tethering me to the ceiling. The gunshot in my thigh looked awful and bloody. My arms were lassoed to my sides, coiled tightly with twine.

Hot lacing terror filled my heart. “Wh—what?” My swollen tongue couldn’t form syllables. It felt as if I’d bitten it again. “Tell—”

Lynx laughed. “If you’re trying to figure out how you came to be hanging in the same dungeon you were invited to enjoy an orgy in, then I can clarify.” His hand struck out, stroking my chin almost tenderly. “I pushed you down the stairs. You hit your head pretty hard at the bottom. Smashed a tile.” He tutted as if I’d ruined his entire decor. “However, passing out you gave us the great advantage of preparing you like this with no other issues or complications.” He patted my cheek. “Thanks for that.”

My chest rose and fell as adrenaline turned me from rational to drunk on the need to run or fight or both. I never took my eyes off Dante as he snapped his fingers, silently ordering two men to place a small table beside my head. On it rested a small towel and a row of buckets of water.

I gulped—not that it worked hanging upside down. The pressure of vertigo made the ache in my neck and residue unconsciousness scream for mercy.

In the distance hung a sex swing with ropes, pulleys, and a wall groaning with sexual torture equipment. The cold black tiles of the floor and the chains looping from the ceiling made it seem as if I’d stepped back in time. I’d woken in a nineteenth century torture chamber.

“You came for me, Q. You saved me from them.”

My eyes snapped closed at the memory of finding Tess in Rio. Those conditions had been worse. If she survived that I could survive this.

“I offered a civilized way out of this, Mercer. You’re an idiot for not taking it.” Lynx came closer, running a fingertip down my chest, swirling around the upside down sparrows.

I stiffened. I wanted to tear his body to pieces. My blood was cold and ready for his death.

He held out his hand. One of his guards placed a baseball bat into his open grip.

Oh, f**k.

My stomach muscles clenched in preparation; my entire body locking down to protect vulnerable organs.

“I think we’ll begin with a warm up—don’t you?” The thwack of the bat wrenched a groan from my lips, echoing around the chamber.

I jerked in the chains, dangling like a punching bag. I tried to double over, but my weight kept me hanging, completely at his mercy.

“Tenderize you a bit. Be a good way to relieve tension.” Lynx laughed. He hit me again on my lower belly, scarily close to my cock.

A c**k that’d been sucked by a woman who wasn’t Tess. It deserved to be punished.

Lynx twisted the handle, securing a better grip. He swung hard and fast, walloping me as if I were a homerun.

I cried out, groaning as something crunched inside. A rib. The sharp shooting pain compounded to all the rest—consuming my thoughts with agony. My ragged breathing turned short and shallow, working through the wash of darkness.

Another blow. This one right on my chest.

My vision went black. Pain ebbed away as my soul tried to run.

“I love you, Q. I love your ruthlessness and strength. I love knowing you’ll always come for me.” Shit. Tears pricked my eyes. I’d broken a promise. I would no longer be there for Tess. I wouldn’t be there to rescue her.

Be happy you fixed her mind. Before…before I was stupid enough to let this happen.

“You still with me, Mercer?” A white hot jolt seized my muscles. I turned into a plank of human flesh as Dante electrified me with extreme volts from a Taser.

My jaw locked, bones hummed. Every inch of me stood to f**king attention.

Lynx stopped the current passing through my body, trailing a fingertip around my waist to my back. “Don’t pass out. You do and you won’t wake up.”

I wasn’t weak but the sound of passing out was entirely too tempting.

The next strike came from behind. The baseball bat struck my lower back, lighting up a different sort of pain—a radiating sensation-stealing pain.

I screamed.

I wasn’t proud I screamed. I hated that he’d hurt me enough to earn it but f**k—it devastated my willpower. All feeling to my freezing legs above suddenly disappeared. The heat from the gunshot was gone. The tingles from the electric shock existed no more. He’d either traumatised my spine or crippled me.

The thought of not being able to stand beside Tess to marry her, or walk beside her as we grew old tore my heart into pieces.

It doesn’t matter. You’re about to die anyway.

Incredibly, the thought granted peace. Dante could do whatever the hell he pleased because ultimately it didn’t matter. I would still end up in the same place.

I lost the will to tense. What was the point? It would only prolong it.

The next swing slammed into my kidneys like a bulldozer. Agony blazed in my groin and lower belly. Lynx prowled around, dragging a hand along my quivering body. I tried to twist away, moaning at the spreading pain. I wanted to curse him—but again—what was the f**king point?

He chuckled, sounding evil in the cold black dungeon. “I’m thinking we need to get rid of this tattoo.” His hand slapped over the ink, trailing down to the ‘T’ branded over my heart. He clucked his tongue. “What the hell is this?” He shoved me with the tip of the baseball bat. I swung backward, creaking in the chains.

That is the one good thing in my life. The one redemption. My one untarnished love. Tess. She would always be the key to whatever heaven I entered.

I swallowed back my sadness—I’d never see her again. See her smile. Hear her laugh. I’d done everything I could to protect her. I just hoped she wouldn’t switch herself off again. She couldn’t live a life removed from emotion. I’d tried to teach her that—but I wouldn’t be there to enforce it.