Warning: nonconsensual touching in this chapter. Just a heads up before you read. Thanks for the reviews guys.

Chapter Ten

Regaining consciousness was not fun for him by any means. As soon as he began to feel the sensations of the outside world returning to him, he wished he was back under. It was too much for him to take. His head was pounding. His tongue felt thick. There was a strange metallic taste in his mouth that clearly didn't belong. His stomach was rolling, threatening to empty itself of its contents. He felt wrong. Utterly and completely wrong. He forced his unnaturally heavy lids open, blinking his eyes but they didn't want to adjust to the bright light being shone in them. He tried to move his arms but quickly realized they were strapped to the arms of a chair. Next he tried his legs and came to the same conclusion. He was fully restrained. He wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. Sweat ran down his forehead into his eyes but he was unable to wipe it away. Fuck. He really wished he was not wearing a suit right now. He was going to pass out from heatstroke. Suddenly feeling exhausted after barely moving, he let his head fall forward, chin resting on his chest. There was something seriously wrong with him. What was wrong with him and where was he?

"Well, look at that. Sleeping beauty is finally awake."

He thought he was alone in the room so when he heard someone speak, it immediately got his attention. His head snapped back up to try and locate the man who spoke. That voice. He had heard it before. He knows he has. He blinked again, squinting hard at the figure in front of him. The person standing there refused to come into focus, appearing only as a blur of color.

"Don't worry. You are a little disoriented right now but it's only the drugs. We had to drug you up pretty good to make sure you didn't wake up while we moved you. You will feel better in a few hours. You know, this wasn't part of my original plan but I'm all about compromising. It will work out better for me anyway."

"Who are you? What do you want?" He asked his captor, his voice sounding gravelly and wrong to his own ears.

"Oh, come on. You can figure this out, Anthony. You are a genius, right?"

And when the man moved the light to the side and knelt down directly in front of him, he finally came into focus. His eyes widened in shock at the realization of who he had been talking to. It was a person he never thought he would see walking free again.

"Justin Hammer."

"Anthony Stark." Hammer beamed at him, rising back up to his full height, and Tony wanted nothing more than to punch in his teeth and see who was left smiling then. God, did he hate this asshole with the fire of a thousands suns. "Did you miss me?"

"I thought you were in prison," was all he could think to say.

"Oh, I was. Trust me. I was. For a long ass time thanks to you and your...girl." He was obviously about to call Pepper a derogatory name but stopped himself at the last moment. He shrugged lazily taking off his glasses to clean them on his shirt. "But...I did my time, and I'm out now."

"You won't be for long. Kidnapping is a crime or didn't you know that?"

"Oh, no. No. No. No. I'm not going back. I'm never going back." Hammer leaned in close, looming over Tony, trying to come off as intimidating but failing miserably. Hammer could be many things but intimidating was not one of them. "You are never going to see the light of day again, Anthony. You are going to live the rest of your days in this room and nobody will ever find you. Now you can know what it is like to be forgotten."

Tony scoffed loudly. He couldn't help himself. Hammer was delusional if he actually thought people would forget about him. "People will be out looking for me. They likely already are. Tony Stark disappearing is worldwide news."

And then Hammer did something surprising by smiling at him. He didn't get mad. He smiled. He actually smiled. "That's where you are wrong. You just died in a plane crash. It's all over the news. Haven't you heard?"

"What?" It was hard for Tony to form words. Justin was bluffing. He had to be bluffing. "What are you talking about?"

"Your company plane went down with you in it. Tragic accident really. Nobody will look for you. You are a dead man, Anthony Stark."

The world around him tilted and whirled and it wasn't because of the drugs. Tony grabbed onto the arms of the chair as he held on for dear life, his nails digging into the metal until it hurt. Justin Hammer had somehow kidnapped him and caused his plane to crash. That's where he had been earlier. He had gotten on the jet to head to Malibu. He was pretty sure he had been on the plane when it took off. No. He was sure he was. But he never remembered landing. It made sense now. He never did land in Malibu. The jet had gone down without him in it. The whole world now thought he was dead.

And then it hit him like a ton of bricks. Pepper. Pepper thought he was dead. Oh, God no. Not Pepper. They had just found out they were going to be parents, and now she had to be thinking she was going to have to do it without him...that he had left her. Pepper had told him about how she had felt after Killian had destroyed the mansion, and she had thought he was dead for hours before finally receiving the message assuring her that he was alright. She told him how she had wandered around the remains of their mansion for hours, searching for any clue that he was still alive. How she had found one of his helmets and clutched onto it for dear life, thinking it was the only thing left of him, as if holding on to it would somehow keep him with her. How she hadn't allowed herself to feel much of anything because of the huge implications of it all. He was her world, she had told him. He had been for as long as she could remember and trying to imagine herself living without him was impossible.

His throat tightened. Fuck. How long had he been out of it? How long ago was the plane crash? Had it been hours? Days? He could still feel Pepper's soft lips brushing over his skin as she whispered over and over how much she loved him before telling him she had to go. That he had to get to Malibu.

He couldn't allow himself to think about what she was currently going through or he would break down right then and there. He didn't want to give Hammer the satisfaction of seeing him cry so he channeled his sadness into anger instead, focusing all of his strength on not turning into a sobbing mess in front of the man he hated most in the world. He could break down later. Now he had to be strong. "Why didn't you just kill me then? Why go through this whole charade at all?"

"Well, I could have and while I do have the urge to put my hands around your neck and squeeze the life out of you, my partner wanted to keep you around. Plus, if you do what I demand then I won't drag Pepper into this, and believe me, I will drag her into it. I will drag her in by her pretty red hair."

The image of Hammer doing exactly that made Tony see red. "Don't. You. Dare. Threaten. Pepper." He took the time to enunciate each word, making sure the smarmy bastard knew he meant what he was saying. It didn't matter that he was the one being held against his will. If anything happened to Pepper, he would make sure he suffered.

Turning away from him, Hammer didn't seem the slightest bit intimidated by his threat. It was being made by a man secured to a chair after all. "She is safe as long as you comply. I promise."

"Your promises mean jack shit to me." Tony snarled.

Hammer shrugged, not even bothering to glance in Tony's direction. That asshole was so damn cocky. He was fucking lucky he was fully restrained. "Fair enough."

"What the hell do you want?" Now Tony was agitated. That jerk off was being so nonchalant about kidnapping him. Who the hell did he think he was? He pulled against the heavy straps on his arms and legs, knowing full well that he was just wasting his energy but couldn't take the time to care. He would have burns and bruises from all of the harsh movements he was making but Hammer was so good at pissing him off that he just didn't give a damn.

"That's a long complicated answer but we can take our time going over everything. I want to savor the fact that the world thinks you are dead for awhile before we do anything else. I have all the time in the world. I'm in no rush."

Of course he wasn't going to tell him what he wanted. He was going to make him wait for answers. Of all of the people in the world who could have kidnapped him, why did it have to be Justin Hammer? While Hammer wasn't going to offer up information on what he wanted to know, he was still going to try to get something useful out of him. He stopped struggling, taking a few deep breaths to try and calm himself before he spoke. "You said you had a partner. Who is it?"

Hammer finally met his eyes. "You know what? I could drag this out but what the hell? I'm in a good mood so let's move this thing right along...shall we? You can meet them right now. I will leave you two alone to get reacquainted. I have something I need to do anyway. I'm going to issue a statement about how terrible a tragedy it is that the world lost a prodigy like the great Anthony Stark."

Tony watched Hammer until he disappeared behind him, keeping the snarky comment he wanted to throw back at the man to himself. He heard a door open and then close. Wait. Had he said reacquainted as in he already knew the person? Who in the hell did Tony know that would help Hammer hold him hostage? Just as he was trying to figure it out by himself, Hammer's accomplice came around his shoulder and his question was answered.

Tony was sure his mouth was hanging open in shock as he stared wide eyed at the blond haired woman. "Everhart." He was pretty sure his voice was an octave higher than normal. Whoever he had been expecting to come into the room, she definitely had not been on the list.

"Tony, please call me Christine. We are on a first name basis here."

Tony finally composed himself enough to form sentences instead of single words. "Why are you working with Hammer? What do you want?"

The expression on Christine's face told him the answer before she even spoke. He knew that look well enough having been surrounded by hordes of women giving him those same eyes almost every day of his life. He swallowed. Oh shit. He was in so much more trouble than he could have possibly imagined. Christine walked her fingers up his arm and his stomach lurched violently when she leaned in to press her lips against his ear. "You."

Tony swallowed what he was going to say next because honestly, what the hell could a person say to that? He figured it would be about money. It was usually always about money. Money would be easy. He had money. Money meant nothing to him but this, this was anything but easy. He didn't want Christine. The only woman he wanted was Pepper. He wanted absolutely nothing to do with this woman but he was secured to a chair. There wasn't anything he could do. He couldn't escape. Hell, he couldn't even move. He was at her mercy. She could do whatever she wanted to him and he wouldn't be unable to stop it. Now his reaction to seeing her was panic. Yep. Most definitely panic. He would rather be tortured by Hammer than forced to endure whatever she had planned for him. Hell, the torture he went through in Afghanistan would be a walk in the park compared to what this crazy woman likely had planned.

When she climbed onto him to straddle his lap, he turned his face away toward the wall. She was wearing a low cut tight red shirt that left absolutely nothing to the imagination. He knew for a fact she wasn't wearing a bra, and her short skirt rode up high, exposing her thighs as she settled herself onto his legs. He would bet money that she wasn't wearing any panties. Shit. Shit. Shit. His mind was screaming at him to get away. He was in fight or flight mode and he didn't have the option of doing either of those things. It was making him want to crawl out of his own skin in an effort to get away from the determined woman on top of him.

Suddenly a hand grasp his chin firmly and forced his gaze from the wall. Christine's eyes were gleaming in the light in an almost frightening way. That look did not belong on a human being but a predator. Those were not the eyes of a sane person. He didn't know what happened to her over the years but something in her had shifted, and he knew for a fact if she had that same look in her eyes years ago, he never would have slept with her. She was dangerous. Her nose was mostly healed but there was a tiny bit of swelling near her eyes from where Pepper's fist had broken it. Oh God. Pepper. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to wish Christine away.

A perfectly manicured red nail traced the outline of his jaw as he tried his hardest to move away from her forced touch. She wasn't even touching any of his intimate parts yet and still he felt violated. "Come on. You know you want me, Tony. You are mine to do with whatever I please and please me you will."

He opened his eyes and glared at her defiantly. If she honestly thought he was going to touch her willingly and actually enjoy it, she was crazier than he originally thought. There wasn't enough alcohol in the world. "Over my dead body."

Instead of getting upset about the challenge in his voice, it only seemed to make her more determined and outgoing in her actions as she scooted forward on his lap. "No, honey," she purred as she ran her hands up his chest to stop at the back of his neck, leaning in to rub her cheek against his, shuddering as she pressed her lips to his ear. "Over Pepper's dead body."

Pepper. Every muscle in his body tensed as her hands slid to thread into his hair and she tipped his head back, exposing his neck to her. He shivered and not from desire but fear as she ran her nose along the column of his throat. He didn't know how far she would actually go when it came to carrying out a threat but she had gotten herself involved with Justin Hammer after all, and he of all people wanted to personally bring about his destruction. He couldn't let anything happen to Pepper.

"If you aren't a good boy, if you threaten me like you did with Justin, I will not tolerate it like he did. I will take it out on Pepper and you don't want that...do you?"

He wanted to get mad. He wanted to scream at her but what would be the point? She had access to Pepper. He didn't. The drugs in his system were making him feel weak. He was disoriented and had no fucking idea where he was. He was strapped into a metal chair in a room that came across as more of a dungeon than anything else. He needed time to think about how in the hell he was going to get himself out of this situation. He needed to keep his temper under control and find a way to keep both Christine and Justin happy. It was the only way to keep Pepper safe. Tony pushed the anger down and gave a single shake of his head. It was all he could do to make sure he didn't say something he would later regret. Pepper, please forgive me. I'm so sorry.

It was apparently enough of an answer for Christine as she wrapped his tie, the tie Pepper had given him around her wrist and pulled him against her, burying her face in his hair. "Good boy."