Summary: Kathryn and Sebastian have it out and deal with their past.
Chapter 11: This Love
* Kathryn *
I couldn't move. That was my first thought when I regained conscienceness. My arms were pulled behind me and my feet felt locked as if trapped in cement. However I knew I was sitting on something and I could feel a satiny fabric covering my body. Very slowly my eyes began to flutter open and focus. I was still in my bedroom but I couldn't tell what the hell was going on.
Groaning I tried to wiggle out of my constraints but was unsuccessful. I looked down and realized I was dressed in my short white satin robe and I was tied to a chair. While trying to pull my hands free I tried to remember how I got there. It all came crashing back to me when I glanced over at my bed and saw Sebastian lounging on it. He was now dressed and flipping through a magazine as casually as could be.
"What the fuck..." I muttered.
Sebastian looked up from his magazine and smiled at me "well look who's finally decided to wake up. Enjoy your nap princess?"
Right then I recalled what happened in the shower. One minute he was washing me down the next he was choking me to death. The son of a bitch had set me up and I fell for it! While trying to pull my hands free from the cuffs that where holding them I screamed "you are fucking deranged! Get over here and untie me NOW!"
His smug smile only widened as he chuckled "I'm deranged? I'm not the one who ran over my own mother. And about untying you, no I don't think so. Where would the fun be in that?"
I was always one to enjoy a mind game or two but not now and especially not with Sebastian. He may very well be one of the few people who could best me at my own game. Plus there was no telling what he was really up to. "Sebastian" I said to him as calmly as possible "why are you doing this?"
Tossing the magazine aside he sat on the edge of the bed facing me. Sebastian's amused smile turned into a sinister grin as he explained "I'm taking a page out of your book Kathryn. Revenge at any cost necessary."
"Revenge for what?"
"Gee I don't know, where do I start?" He got up and started to pace as he spoke "how about when you sent Ronald after me with some bullshit story about hitting you? Oh yeah by the way" he stopped in mid strut and smacked me suddenly across the face. "I believe I owed you that. Because of that little stunt I ended up in a wheel chair for two years."
"How the fuck was I suppose to know you two morons would get into a fight in the middle of the god damn street?"
Sebastian only scowled at me in response as he continued on "then there was sending that psycho Owen Crane after Annette. You know it was only a few weeks ago that I figured out the connection between you two. It was when I was rewatching that video you shot of the two of them that I remembered I had seen him somewhere before. He always looked familiar to me but it wasn't until I saw him fucking my wife did I realized I've seen him fuck someone else before. I couldn't figure out who until I recalled that summer in the Hamptons a few years back when I walked in on you and one of your boy toys. Owen and your boy where one in the same."
"Well done Nancy Drew" I hissed. "Now if I were you I'd put an end to this pathetic display and untie me before I start screaming. In case you don't know we aren't the only ones in the house. Two of my employees are staying here and they don't take well to people hurting me."
Sebastian hardly looked fazed by the threat. Placing his hands on either side of the chair he leaned into me and replied "yell all you want baby. They didn't bother us last night when you were screaming your lungs out while I fucked you senseless." His hand began caressing my thigh as he explained "they'll probably just assume we are doing more of the same."
"Get your hands off me asshole" I yelled as I tried to pull away from him.
"Fine be that way but if I were you I'd start being a little nicer to me. After all I do know about everything you've done since you returned to New York."
"Oh you know shit"
He pulled up a chair and sat across from me. "Well I know you're the reason Annette is in the psych ward. You pushed her over the edge by using Owen and dating her father. By the way I can't believe you can screw that bible thumping geriatric."
"I can't believe you can screw his daughter so I guess we're even."
Ignoring me he continued "and it seems Annette and old Ben weren't your only victims were they? You knocked off Court, put your mother in a wheel chair, and turned sweet little Cecile into a drug addicted whore."
I snickered "please are you going to actually tell me you care what I did to them?"
"No, I just think it's interesting how your depravity has grown in the past four years."
Studying him closely I realized Sebastian had yet to tell me what this sick little game was about. I didn't really see how handcuffing me to a chair would qualify as revenge. "Say I did all the things you are accusing me of, what the hell are you going to do about it? Kill me?"
Smiling Sebastian reached out and caressed my cheek "I can't say the thought didn't cross my mind. I mean watching you get dropped off a cliff after everything you've put me through does sound rather entertaining. Then again killing you would be too easy" he remarked squeezing my throat once again. "Does that sound familiar?"
I smiled at him "Annette."
He nodded "she told me how you held a fire poker to her throat. She thought you were going to kill her."
"Maybe I should have. It would have saved us both a lot of trouble."
"I told her you were many things but a killer wasn't one of them. I guess you proved me wrong."
Jerking my head away from his touch I replied coldly "yes I did."
Sitting up in his chair Sebastian watched me for a moment. Finally he said "I've decided I'm going to let you plead your case."
I sighed bored "maybe I don't want to play your sick little game."
Reaching into his pocket he pulled out a switchblade. He held it up for me to see before bringing it down quickly in between my legs. I gasped in surprise but luckily it didn't touch me. Sebastian then grabbed me by the hair and whispered in my ear "oh I think you'll want to play."
"Fine" I muttered pulling away from him. "Where would you like me to begin?"
"How about Court"
Rolling my eyes I asked "do I really need to explain why that bastard deserved to die?"
"No I suppose not but I'm assuming there was indeed a reason. What was it? Surely you still can't be annoyed by that whole Cecile matter?"
"No Cecile had nothing to do with it." Looking away from him I said "it had to do with that night on the beach after the dance. Do you remember that night?"
For the first time since I regained conscienceness the smug smile and the hard expression vanished from his face as he replied "yeah I remember."
I knew he would seeing as he was the one who found me that night. After Court and his buddies were finished with me they left me on the beach. Sebastian had gone down to look for me and when he found me I tried to hide what had happened. However I eventually broke down and told him. That was the only time I had ever cried in front of him.
"I never forgot that night and I vowed that when I returned he would be the first person I destroyed."
Forcing me to look at him Sebastian reminded me "I offered to take care of him but you turned me down."
"The scandal would have destroyed me and you know it. Court Reynolds was nothing more than a beer guzzling, frat boy, rapist and the only thing I regret is that I didn't make his death painful enough."
Sitting back in his seat Sebastian nodded "okay fair enough. Moving on, why did you run over your mother?"
"Because like Court killing her would not have been painful enough. Come on Sebastian you lived in the same house as her, you know what a monster my mother was. Since the time I was old enough to crawl she has been making it her life mission to hurt me. She never loved or cared about me, she told me as much right before she kicked me out. My father left me a small fortune but she stole it from me and left me homeless. I decided it would be poetic justice to return the favor."
Rolling his eyes he said "so you run her down, leave her paralyzed and now she's homeless and penniless."
"An eye for an eye" I explained with a cold smile.
This blue eyes locked with mine as he retorted "you are evil."
I shrugged "I never pretended to be other wise unlike some hypocrites I know."
"Why did you destroy Cecile?"
"Talk about hypocrites!" I laughed. "That whiny little bitch was well on her way to becoming the next Bunny Caldwell. A lying, two faced, gossip who spent her days lunching and lying on her back servicing the pool boy. I did the world a favor by destroying her!"
Sebastian smiled obviously amused "says you."
"Oh please it's the truth. Did you know she was cheating on both Ronald and Court? One of her little flings was her sorority sisters boyfriend. "
"Well apparently you taught her well."
"Yes but why should she get to live the life that should have been mine? If it hadn't been for that fucking journal I would be the one in college now having flings and attending luncheons but I'm not so I decided what a better way to pay little Cecile back then to turn her into what I once was. Everything comes full circle as they say."
His eyebrows shot up "you were a drug addicted prostitute?" When I didn't answer him he growled "fine then why don't you tell me what exactly Annette did to you? Other than getting the upper hand with you one time what did she really do? She didn't rape you or destroy your childhood, so what's your excuse?"
I hesitated telling him the truth. It would be easy just to feed him some line but for whatever reason I was feeling truthful. Glancing at him out of the corner of my eye I explained "Annette deserved it worse of all. She took you away from me."
Sebastian flinched in surprise before smiling smugly "I'm touched."
"Don't be" I spat. "Whatever I felt for you has long passed but that doesn't mean I'm not done with goldilocks. That little bitch is largely responsible for my down fall and I won't rest until she pays dearly."
"You really think I'm going to let you do that?"
I laughed at him "oh Valmong you might have the upper hand now but remember I'm better at this game than you are."
"Well it's always the best swimmers who drown." When I only smiled at him mockingly Sebastian got up suddenly from his chair and once again began to pace furiously. "Jesus Christ Kathryn what the fuck happened to you to turn you into this..."
"Monster" I finished for him. "Has it ever occurred to you Sebastian that I'm just evil? Maybe that's all there is to it. I'm just rotten to the heart."
"No" he said as he stood over me. "Even after all the evil shit you've done, even you Kathryn have a soul. I've seen it before and I saw it last night." Pulling his chair up beside me he told me "something happened to you and I want to know what it was."
I wasn't terribly eager to open up old wounds. No one really knew about my past except for Drake and Thomas but I had not even told them about all the particulars. Sebastian wasn't really the person I felt like confiding in however he knew everything else about me, why not this. Fixating my eyes on the lamp shade across the room I launched into my story.
"After I left New York I moved to Europe. I didn't stay in one place for very long but then I met up with this guy named William. He was wealthy and handsome but dabbled in various illegal things one of which was prostitution. Anyway I had officially run out of money so I went to work for him as one of his assistants. I was basically the liaison between him and the clients. Well apparently some of those clients had been offering William big money for a night in the sack with me. From early on I told him there was no way I would do it but he continued to press."
Sebastian sighed "but I get the feeling you gave in any way."
"I didn't really have a choice. William was so desperate for me to become one of his 'girls' he did a little digging into my past and found the journal. He threatened to expose me and alert the cops about my drug habits if I didn't cooperate. So the next night I took one of his clients to bed and I did it every night for eleven months. For nearly a year I was fucked, abused, humiliated and every other torture you can think of. If there indeed was any goodness in me to begin with, that time as William's slave drained it from me."
"Why didn't you just leave?"
I laughed coldly "if only it was that simple. I tried several times but lets just say William made it hard for me to get anywhere near the door. He of course never touched me, I guess he was afraid to get blood shed on his Armani suit. Instead he would send one of his employees to keep me in line so to speak. It was never so bad that my bruises were visible and I couldn't work. The only exception came when I had to stay in the hospital after he threw me down a flight of stairs."
"Why did he do that?"
"One of the clients knocked me up. Babies were generally frowned upon and for whatever reason it was my fault. So I did what I had to every night for those eleven months and I know I surely would have died if it wasn't for one constant thing that kept me going, the thought that I would soon get revenge. All those people who had led me to that hell hole were going to pay."
Out of the corner of my eye I could see him regarding me with a look of pity that made me angry but I was too upset at the moment to tell him to knock it off. "Well you obviously got away."
"Yes but it wasn't easy. After one particular night with a guy who thought knives were a form of foreplay, I decided I had enough. We were alone at Williams house that night so I thought it would be the perfect time to escape. When he found me he tried to stop me but I made it clear our time together was threw by bludgeoning him to death with a mallet. When William was dead I disposed of his body then cleared out his safe before taking off. I took his money, invested it and created a new identity to go along with my new company a few years later." When I finished my story I glanced over at him and muttered "is that enough of a explanation for you Dr. Freud?"
To my amazement Sebastian laughed "to think all this time I couldn't imagine there was anyone as bitter as me."
"Two of a kind, remember" I sighed.
"Indeed" he agreed. Reaching out he cupped my face and told me sincerely "I am sorry you had to go through that Kathryn."
Sensing he was softening somewhat I asked him something that had been plaguing me ever since I woke up tied to a chair. "Sebastian why did you sleep with me last night? How did that fit into your grand scheme of things if there is indeed some plan?"
Moving closer to me he traced a finger down my neck as he explained "I didn't plan it. However when I had you in my arms...guess I couldn't help myself. What can I say Kathryn, you've always been my downfall."
"Seems that way"
Smiling faintly he leaned in and brushed his lips against mine. I kissed him back as forcefully as I could with my arms tied behind my back. When he broke away he sighed "this isn't going to work."
Leaning forward in the chair I licked his ear and whispered "untie me so I can fuck you properly."
Sebastian said nothing but as he watched me I could see the doubt in his eyes. However he once again pulled me back into a kiss as he pulled key from his pocket and used it to uncuff my hands. Once free I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him closer while moaning slightly into his mouth.
A little while later he finally untied my legs. Once free I continued to make out with him until I was sure he was vulnerable. When he was I lifted my leg foot and promptly kicked him hard in the balls.
"Oww! You god damn bitch!" He screamed as he tumbled to his knees.
Taking a step forward I punched Sebastian hard in the face causing him to fall to the ground. Straddling him I continued to hit him screaming "you piece of shit!"
Getting his bearings suddenly Sebastian blocked my hit then threw me off of him. I fell back against the dresser and hit my head hard. Sebastian got up and before I could get to my feet he grabbed me by the hair and pulled me up "I knew I shouldn't have untied you!"
He dragged me to the bed all the while I screamed "LET ME GO!"
"Shut up!" Sebastian hit me hard across the face as I started to kick and wiggle away from him. "You're going back in your chair."
"No fucking way!" I kicked him off me but as he fell to the floor he pulled me down with him.
We continued to wrestle around on the floor screaming obscenities at one another when suddenly the bedroom door opened and Drake and Thomas came in. Immediately they pulled Sebastian off of me and started pounding on him. "Who the fuck are you?" Drake demanded as he kicked him hard.
Getting to my feet I watched them for a moment with a little perverse satisfaction. I could feel a trickle of blood coming from my nose and glancing in the vanity mirror I could tell I looked like hell. Look back at Sebastian who was getting the shit kicked out of him I took pity and yelled "OK ENOUGH, KNOCK IT OFF!"
The boys relented and Thomas looked to me and asked "who the hell is he Kathryn?"
"Meet Sebastian Richard Valmont" I sneered glaring down at him.
"Wait a minute, what?" Drake asked "Isn't he dead?"
"Apparently not, turns out he's Annette's mystery husband" I explained with contempt.
"Well isn't that interesting. Would you like us to finish him off?"
My eyes locked with Sebastian as I told them "no leave him to me."
"But Kathryn he-"
"It's fine" I told Thomas. "I can take care of it."
The two of them looked at each other than at me with concern before Drake sighed "okay do it your way but we'll be around if you need anything."
I watched as they two of them left closing the door behind them. When they were gone Sebastian sat up on the floor, his face bloodied as he grumbled "I knew you would screw me over."
Standing over him I hissed "actually I just saved your life. The two of them gladly would have killed you and they still will if I ask them to."
"Then by all means call them back in"
I shook my head "no they won't touch you and neither will I."
I headed for the door when Sebastian called out to me "so what are we even now?"
"I blame you for ruining my life and you blame me for ruining yours. I'm sick of keeping score so how about you leave and we pretend we never saw each other. Although I suggest you go back to Europe because I'm not quite finished with your little wife yet. I still have a score to settle with her."
"But me you'll let off the hook, why?"
"What can I say Sebastian, you're my downfall. Even after everything you've done to me I still care about you."
"Really?"
There was more I could have said to him but I didn't. Instead I turned and walked out of the bedroom. I knew Thomas and Drake were lurking about but they would give me my space. I went to the kitchen and got an ice pack from the freezer before walking into the sitting room and taking a seat on the couch. For a girl who was feeling empty fourteen hours ago I was feeling surprisingly emotionally overwhelmed. I never hated and loved Sebastian more than I did at that moment.
Needing desperately to feel distracted I turned on the TV and flipped around. I stopped when a news report came on that featured Ben Hardgrove. I had completely forgotten about arranging his downfall the night before. With a sigh I listened as the news reporter rattled on about impending charges that the DA was planning of bringing forth. "DA Baldwin is seeking at least ten years in prison for the former headmaster. So far we could not reach his family for a comment."
"My, my you are a dangerous woman to be around"
I jumped at the sound of Sebastian's voice. As he walked around to the TV I noticed he had cleaned the blood from his face but there were several bruises covering him. "I thought you left" I sighed.
"So you took down Ben and now you're going to finish off Annette?"
"That's right"
He nodded "so would you like a partner?"
For the second time in less that a day I was shocked. I was so surprised I burst out laughing "are you insane? No way!"
"Why not?"
Sitting up I explained "well for starters I trust you about as far as I can throw you."
"Yeah well I don't trust you either" he sneered. "It doesn't mean we couldn't make a good team."
"Oh when you put it that way...no." I laughed "do you honestly expect me to believe you've done a complete 180 and now you WANT to destroy Annette?
Slowly his handsome face went completely cold as he replied "yes I do. You told me the past four years dragged out any goodness in you well my marriage to Annette dragged the life out of me. I married her at her request, I moved twice, and I turned myself into a completely different man for her. I destroyed everything I once was because of her and in the end it was all for nothing. She cheated on me at the first opportunity that came along."
I raised an eyebrow at him "what happened to that all being my fault?"
"Oh you definitely played your part" he sneered as he sat down beside me on the couch. "However I realized that if it hadn't been Owen it would have been someone else. Annette lied, manipulated and destroyed my life. I want to see her pay for that."
"Aren't these grapes sour" I mocked him.
Sebastian scowled at me "I have two options, either I can bring you down or I can bring her down. I was going to destroy you but being with you again Kathryn..."
"Yes?"
"I've been miserable these past years but being with you changed that. I feel alive again."
"Right" I said coldly "and you decided to celebrate your new found lease on life by choking me unconscinece and tying me to a chair."
He rolled his eyes "please, you had that coming and you know it."
"Sebastian there's no way on earth I would ever partner up with you, EVER."
Grabbing me by the arm Sebastian pulled me onto his lap forcefully. I was tempted to scream for one of the boys but thought better of it when he took my ice pack and gently held it to my face. "You're actually going to sit there and tell me you're not tempted to partner up with me?"
"Yes" I told him even though it was a lie. There was a big part of me that wanted him to be on my side when I took Annette down. However my head was screaming for me not to trust him.
"Come on Kathryn" he coaxed "you need me and you know it."
"No I don't"
"Maybe not, but you definitely want me."
"Only in your sick, twisted, imagination."
"We have fun together."
"Fun?" I repeated incredulously. "You call what went on this morning fun?"
With a boyish smile he replied "yes it was, wasn't it?"
Slowly I smiled at him and shrugged "it had it's moments."
"So?"
I honestly didn't know if he was conning me or not. Yet I was too intrigued to say no to Sebastian. I knew there was a good chance I was making a huge mistake but for whatever reason I was willing to take the chance. "All right Sebastian you're on, but under one condition."
"What's that?"
"You have to prove yourself to me"
* Annette *
I had given up counting the days. Sitting inside my dingy cell complete with padded walls I tried to figure out how long I had been there but gave up after I realized it had been over two weeks. I was suppose to be here only a week but daddy's arrest had prevented it. Instead of releasing me like they promised the doctors decided to keep me here seeing as I had no one to release me and because they thought the arrest of my father might cause me to have some sort of set back.
One of the nurses had told me about my father because she was afraid I would hear it on the news. As soon as she told me I knew Kathryn was behind it. Only she could plan something as twisted as setting my father up an a pedophile. I hadn't been able to talk with him but his lawyer had come by. He hadn't brought good news, he only told me my fathers chances weren't good because not only did they have evidence they also had a witness. To top it off me being in the loony bin wasn't helping matters.
I was honestly starting to believe Kathryn really had won. Then the nurse came in and told me I had a visitor. I wasn't terribly excited about the news until Sebastian came into the room. Utterly shocked at seeing my husband I gasped "Richard, what are you doing here?"
He smiled softly "I came to get you out of this hell hole."
I threw my arms around him and held him close. It felt so good to have him hold me once again. "Oh thank god Richard! You have no idea what's been going on. Everything is such a mess!" Pulling away from him I pleaded "I'm so sorry about Owen but he wasn't who I thought he was. He was actually setting me up-"
"At Kathryn's request" he finished for me. "Yeah I know all about it."
I studied his face "what do you mean you know? How?"
He sighed "well I just spent the most interesting morning with Kathryn. I realized I recognized Owen before as one of her little friends and it wasn't hard to figure out it was her who's been behind everything." Cupping my face he smiled at me "I can't begin to apologize to you for all the crap she's done to you and your family. It's all my fault."
"No don't say that Richard" I pleaded with him. "The only person to blame for any of this is Kathryn."
He nodded grimly "I agree which is why we have to destroy that bitch before she can do anymore damage."
I smiled "well I'm on board. What did you have in mind?"
Reaching into his pocket he produced a tape player and hit play. Immediately Kathryn's cold voice filtered into the room "Court Reynolds was nothing more than a beer guzzling, frat boy, rapist and the only thing I regret is that I didn't make his death painful enough."
Richard's voice followed "okay fair enough. Moving on, why did you run over your mother?"
"Because like Court killing her would not have been painful enough."
When he turned the tape off I looked up at him in awe "how did you get that?"
He sighed "you don't want to know."
"Well we have to take this to the police"
"No" he said shaking his head "the police will never be able to nail her but I however will. You see I've managed to convince her that we are partners in taking you down. I've spent the past two weeks hatching out an elaborate revenge plan with her to set you up. Kathryn is completely under the impression that I resent you and want revenge."
I raised an eyebrow "you're kidding me. She actually bought that?"
"Oh yes" he laughed. "I have Kathryn right where I want her."
- to be continued (Please Review)