Gilded in Gold Ch. 09

Thank you all for being so patient with me, I truly appreciate it! As promised, here is Ch. 9! Don't worry, Ch. 10 will be here soon enough. As always, leave your wonderful feedback...

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Tibby hummed to herself as she stretched out her sore limbs along the satin sheets, the touch sending sinuous shivers up her calves, through her thighs creating a flutter of butterflies in her stomach. It was a poor mirror of Ezekiel's touch on her body last night. She inhaled uncomfortably as she felt a slight twinge at her core, the swollen muscles protesting any movement. Tibby spread her arms to her side and stared up at the painted ceiling, deciding she liked the slight pain. It reminded her she had finally let go and lived last night.

She'd gotten married!

Giggling, she rolled onto her stomach and groaned, any slight movement sent another arch of pain throughout her lower body. Not caring, she hugged a fluffy pillow to herself and buried her face in it. Relishing in joy, she let the pillow take and hide her happiness.

She almost couldn't come to terms with finally having sex for the first time in her life, let alone getting married. But she was in love and her body became this giddy mess of hormones, capable of making sounds - mainly squealing whenever Ezekiel's smoldering face came to mind.

She was married!

That wonderful thought went over and under in Tibby's mind until she just had to scream into her pillow again, her body an inadequate vessel to contain her joy. Smiling widely, she turned her face towards the artificial beam of sunlight wafting from her balcony. For once in a long time, the warmth didn't just sit on top of her skin, it penetrated deep within.

A knock at her door shook her out of her musings. Sitting up with great care, she reached for the robe she kept at the end of her bed. Shrugging on the silky pink material over her nude body, she called for the door to open. Mina's face appeared around the door.

"Are you decent?" Mina asked, her face marred with lines of worry.

Tibby finished belting her robe and smiled at Mina. "I am now, I thought you had work to do this morning?"

Mina looked behind her before she slipped into the room. Tibby frowned at her cautious antics, becoming worried herself as Mina's eyes kept shifting everywhere instead of facing her.

"Mina? What's wrong?"

She frantically shook her head, bringing her finger to her lips. Mina grabbed Tibby's arm and dragged her towards the open balcony doors. She closed the doors immediately behind Tibby as she whirled around to face her.

"Mina? Are you alright?"

Mina's audible swallow and pale, clammy skin indicated said she was not. "What did you do last night?"

Taken aback by the sudden and invasive question, Tibby merely blinked. Digging her fingers into Tibby's shoulders, Mina shook her hard.

"Tibby! What. Did.You. Do?"

Pushing Mina's hands away from herself, Tibby backed away form her frantic friend until the stone balustrade caught her back.

"I-I stayed in."

The lie slipped effortlessly from her lips.

Mina glared at her, crossing her arms under her chest.

"I'm not stupid Tibby. Those marks on your neck and cheeks don't come from rubbing your face against the pillow."

Subconsciously, Tibby touched her fingers to her burning cheeks, trying to cover her guilty face.

"You were with Mr. Ryan Ezekiel last night." Tibby nodded. "You had sex with him." Again, Tibby nodded. "You-You-"

"Married him," Tibby finished.

Gasping, Mina fell back against the closed doors.

"Right. Married. Is that what he told you?"

Becoming exasperated with Mina's absurd behavior, Tibby began to get defensive.

"What is wrong with you this morning? I don't understand why your acting this way."

She crossed her arms in front of her as if to defend herself from the feelings Mina's words were inspiring in her.

Looking conflicted, Mina refused to meet Tibby's eyes. "N-nothing. Nothing is wrong,"

She stuttered out, her demeanor softening as she leaned heavily against the wall behind her. Tibby walked forward and took Mina's hands in a gentle hold, trying to get her friend to look at her again.

"Mina, I think I might know what you're so concerned about."

Mina shook her head but Tibby tightened her hands around Mina's in order to get her to listen.

"Yes, I do know. I've only known Ezekiel a few days and you think I can't trust him so easily. But what I feel for him supersedes any doubt I might have."

"Oh, Tibby," Mina looked heartbroken, "That's an incredibly dangerous thing to say, let alone feel. You have no idea the amount of power you've just given a complete stranger."

Tibby smiled sadly. "I know, but for the longest time I haven't felt anything until Ryan Ezekiel came along. Not fear, sadness, happiness or excitement. But I've felt it all with him. I love him because of that."

Despite Tibby's impassioned speech, Mina still looked unconvinced. Her expression now reeked of pity and it just frustrated Tibby further.

"Mina, I don't need your approval," Tibby snapped petulantly. She'd thought to have at least one person in her corner giving her the support she needed since her brother certainly wasn't to give her his blessing.

"Have you read about those lights that used to have a wire attached that needed to be plugged into a wall to make it light up? Well, I felt like that for a long time, broken and unlit."

"No, no Tibby," Mina reached for Tibby's hand. "Don't let your life revolve around a man you think you know. Ryan Ezekiel is-"

Before she could finish, they heard the beep signaling the opening of Tibby's door. Tibby knew it was Daniel without him saying a word. For a moment she was scared that he'd overheard her conversation with Mina. Sparing Mina a suspicious look, she clutched at her robe and peered her head through the balcony door.

"Daniel?" She gazed at him as innocently as possible, although her trembling hands gave her away.

Daniel snapped wide and frantic eyes towards her, striding towards her with determination. Tibby squeaked and backed into Mina just as he reached her and grabbed her arm. He pushed her back into the room and almost flung her towards the closet.

"Get dressed!" he yelled.

Mina stood still, staring at them like a deer caught in headlights. Daniel paid her no mind. "Get her packed," he commanded and Mina scurried to comply.

"Daniel, what is going on?" Tibby dared to ask.

Daniel was nothing but calm and collected at all times, knowing that he could be angry on the inside but still maintain a cool demeanor is what provoked fear into Tibby. Seeing him frantic like this was so out of character Tibby knew immediately something was very, horribly wrong.

Daniel did a full circle, his wild eyes darting from wall to wall. His body was tensed and he huddled closer to himself as if he was closed into a box.

"Get dressed. You have to get dressed. Pack. We have to leave here, right now," he voiced in a rushed whisper but Tibby heard nonetheless.

For the first time in years, Tibby felt an inkling of concern for her brother rise to the surface, fighting against all her fear and repulsion of him. She could vaguely remember him like this when they were kids. He'd been deathly afraid of horses after one had almost trampled on him. She once found him hidden in the barn loft buried under a mound of hay. She hadn't said a word as he mumbled about his ordeal, she simply held him and slept with him for the next week until the nightmares subsided.

"Danny?"

Tibby inched her way closer to Daniel's huddled back, his outstretched fingers twitching with nerves.

He flinched when her fingers made contact with his back but didn't pull away. Feeling emboldened, she pressed her hand more firmly against his back and rubbed up and down. "Danny please, just explain what's happening. You're scaring me."

Suddenly, Daniel turned into her and clutched her into his arms. Tibby gasped as he nearly crushed her, laboring her breathing. Mina started towards them but Tibby frantically shook her head. Daniel was in a fragile state right now and she knew under normal circumstances he'd never live it through having broken down in front of a stranger - a servant no less. He could easily lash out and hurt Mina in this state.

Tibby mouthed for Mina to leave, but she refused, shaking her head in protest, Tibby silently pleaded. Conflicted, Mina's eyes darted from the door to the Tibby and Daniel. After a few seconds, her PACT rang and with a frustrated sigh, Mina discreetly let herself out of the room to see who had alerted her.

Turning her attention back to Daniel, Tibby concentrated on breathing in and out as Daniel's hold was beginning to set bruises into her soft skin. Her hands hovered above his shoulders, not knowing whether she should place them around him or not.

"Danny, please talk to me," she begged.

Daniel shook his head against her shoulder. "Can't, can't... not protected. Walls - down, gone, it's all gone. Everything - everything gone, Tibby," his voice broke as he stifled a cry against her skin. She could feel the wetness of his mouth as he breathed hotly against her neck. His hold was beginning to get uncomfortable for her and she tried in vain to extract herself from his hold.

"Daniel...Daniel," Tibby raised her voice just a bit as she pushed against his shoulder.

Her brother finally raised his head and looked directly at her, his eyes were glazed over and bloodshot. Looking down at her, he took in the way he was clinging to her. Her robe had fallen open to reveal the lacy camisole beneath; his pupils dilated at the tantalizing sight. In an instant he swooped in and kissed Tibby, catching her off guard, not knowing what his intentions are, his wet lips smacking obscenely against hers. Tibby screeched as she violently turned her face away and slapped Daniel. Her hand connected with a crisp blow to his cheek, he finally let her go.

Tibby quickly backed away until the edge of the bed caught the back of her knees. Clutching the edges of her robe close to her chest, saving herself from Daniel's lecherous gaze, her breath ragged as she waited for her brother to make a move. Glaring down to the floor as he wiped his mouth clean of the blood oozing where Tibby struck him.

Just as quickly he had burst into the room, Daniel strode to the door and flung it wide as he called loudly for his guards. With her heart beating wildly, Tibby cried frantically for Ezekiel through their bond even knowing that it was impossible. He could communicate with her but it was only a one way bond being that she is a non-psych. She held firmly on to the hope that her distress would communicate itself despite the one way bond.

She'd seen first hand what happened when the girls in the house fought back when Daniel called for his guards. It was called the "Free For All Trial" in their house. Daniel would his guards take a girl and "try them out" essentially mentally breaking them down. Nothing was off limits, they could do whatever for however long Daniel wanted as he watched over them. Tibby didn't think she was above such punishment just because Daniel was her brother. She did however, feel as though he'd want to keep her pure for himself. But then again she'd never physically lashed out at him before.

As Daniel's group of thugs filled the room, he began barking out orders for them. Tibby almost sagged to the floor in relief when his commands penetrated through the buzzing in her ears.

"Pack everything, right now. Bring only the essentials. Serge, round up the girls and put them in the hold of our ship. Time is of the essence. If everything isn't on the ship in an hour, I'll have your fucking head mounted on my breakfast plate!" Daniel was on a mission and his men were quick to comply. One of them flung open Tibby's closet and roughly grabbed the custom dresses Cass and Mina had made for her. She bit her lip to stifle a cry when she saw the fabric rip.

"Tibby, I'm not going to say it again, get dressed or I'll drag you out of here in your robe!" Daniel commanded coldly. Gone was the frightened boy who'd tricked her into feeling sympathy for him and there stood in front of her the tyrant she knew so well.

Outwardly she tried to convey a calm appearance as she moved gingerly towards her closet to get dressed, hands trembling as they touched upon the handles. She needed to get word to Ezekiel what was happening without Daniel knowing. How she was going to do that she had absolutely no idea. The only ones she could depend on were Mina and Cass. Unfortunately, Mina seemed to have something against Ezekiel and Cass was nowhere to be seen at this time. Some friend she was, didn't even know where the only two people who had been nice enough to befriend were most of the time.

She glanced over her shoulder to see the men haphazardly heap all her personal belongings into a compactor, not even bothering to place them in the right position. A compactor only worked to preserve a large quantity of things in a small space if they were carefully placed in the designated compartment. The way the men were going at it, all her things were going to be ruined.

Tibby mentally chastised herself for her inane thoughts. She couldn't seem to concentrate on anything important right now, like getting a message to Ezekiel. Tibby had to stop this. Ezekiel had risked so much by marrying her and here she was worrying about the insignificant clothes all bought with Daniel's blood money.

"Tibby!"

Daniel snapped, catching her staring at his men. Tibby quickly lowered her head and hurried into the bathroom with the clothes she'd blindly taken out of her closet and shut the door with a bang. With Daniel's state of mind he wouldn't think twice about ordering her to dress right there in full view of his men. With hurried and shaky movements, she put on the loose blouse and a pair of shorts. Not even a few seconds after she'd buttoned the snap, Daniel kicked open the door narrowly missing her.

Her scream was cut off midway as he grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the room. He began leading her out of the room as his men followed with her compactor.

"Danny, wait, I have to get my PACT," Tibby blurted out as she pointed towards her PACT set up on the bedside table. He hesitated before nodding once and letting go of her hand. Running towards her PACT, mindfully keeping her back to Daniel as she grabbed the device and pretended to drop it. She heard Daniel growl in impatience. She quickly scanned her eyes around the desk searching for any kind of instrument to write with but found nothing.

With time running out, growing incredibly desperate Tibby hastily bites down on the soft pad of her forefinger with her incisors, creating a shallow cut, quickly writing the coordinates of "-------" on the inside of the desk. She tried to hide her actions as she fumbled to pick up her PACT with her other hand before she was roughly snatched away by Daniel.

Stealing one last glance at her hurried message was not reassuring; a few of the numbers were mangled together and the final number was only halfway done in trail of swiped blood. She hoped to god Ryan found her. She knew he was the kind of man who wouldn't stop until he found her.

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A lone woman watched the Cross' and their group fly away. She watched the whole thing; had forced herself to watch the whole thing even as her hands clenched at her sides and her teeth clenched in fury. Mina started when she felt a hand at her shoulder. She turned with a jerk, only to frown in consternation when she saw it was just Cass.

"I was worried that you'd be too soft for this job. I was right, wasn't I?" Cass crossed her arms in front of her.

Mirroring Cass, Mina tipped her nose up and gazed the taller woman down. "I didn't say anything a good friend wouldn't have said."

Snorting, Cass rolled her eyes. "This was a job, Tibby was a-"

"A casualty?" Mina cut in. "Cass, do you have any idea what he did to her?"

Cass' eyes were devoid of any emotion as she nodded.

"Then you know what can happen to her if he decides to keep her," Mina hissed.

Cass shrugged as if that didn't concern her, perhaps it didn't. Cass' lack of emotional responses had been one of the things that had led Mina to break up with her years before when they'd were young, naive cadets barely out of the academy and in love. At least she had been in love; what Cass had been feeling was still a mystery to her even after a decade of knowing her.

"As soon as the compound is raided, she'll go to a correctional facility. She'll be relatively safe there if she keeps her head down. I highly doubt Xerxes is going to bother with her anymore after. It'll be like they never fucked and when she gets out she can meet a nice little man and fall in love and have little babies," Cass sneered.

Mina knew the last part was a dig at her; before they's broken up Mina had pushed for Cass to settle down.

"Fuck you," Mina growled quietly. Cass smirked at the rare utterance and continued on as if Mina hadn't just cursed at her.

"The idiot left coordinates in the room, it'll be easy to find her."

Mina felt her heart stutter at that bit of information and turned away from her former lover. Even though she knew better, she had held out the small hope that Xerxes wouldn't be able to find them. But he was the kind of man that wouldn't stop until he got what he wanted. And he wanted Daniel's demise. She wholeheartedly feared that Tibby would be one of the casualties.

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When they got back, the whole compound had been shut down for the first time since Tibby remembered it opening. The girls had been happy for the reprieve but it worried her. Daniel had the look of a caged in animal that had been cornered. He was liable to lash out at any minute. His violence towards the girls had escalated and on more than occasion she's seen a few girl's who had to be carried away from one of Daniel's encounters. She once made the mistake of confronting Daniel after the first time and as a result she was left with a scar on her thigh. Walking to her bedroom, where most of her time was spent, she lay in wait, hoping that a knock would manifest at the door and she'd see Ezekiel on the other side.

For the past week Daniel had secluded himself inside the basement lair. Everything was eerily quiet all around the compound, even the girls were getting antsy. Tibby herself had forgone food just to avoid coming down from her room and braving the lower floors. Unfortunately, after two days of water and toothpaste, her belly was rumbling for food.

It was late at night so she hoped most of the guards were either asleep or with Daniel. The kitchens were thankfully on the ground floor and not the basement but she hurried throughout the pantry anyway. They were almost empty; she had to make a note for the housekeeper to stock up soon. As she loaded her plate, she heard the hushed voices of three men. She recognized all three but only one of them surprised her. Two men were guards, that she knew, but the lower, rough voice of her father surprised her. He rarely visited her and Daniel. The last time she could remember him visiting them was hazy and as she tried to remember, a sharp pain went through her brain. She muffled her gasp on her arm as she heard them walking away. Instinctively, she knew they were heading for the basement.

Her food forgotten, she followed after them. Staying in the shadows, she kept hushed voices within earshot. Not once did they look back. As they entered Daniel's lair, Tibby sped up and knelt down by the door. Daniel liked for the girl's screams to travel whenever he brought them down to punish them so the was were not soundproof. For once she thanked god for that.