LEON’S POV

"Get on your knees," Niko commands softly.

He doesn’t shout. He doesn’t need to. The quiet authority in his voice acts like a physical weight on my shoulders. So, I don’t hesitate.

The desperate need for answers I feel, mixed with the intoxicating pull of his dominating control, overrides every self-preservation instinct I have.

I sink to the floor instantly, my knees hitting the plush carpet right at the tips of his polished leather boots. My blond hair falls forward into my eyes, obscuring my vision for a fraction of a second, but I tilt my head back immediately.

I keep my eyes trained upward, looking at him with the desperate, naked devotion of a beaten animal waiting for either a blow or a caress.

Though, I know that even if Niko likes seeing me cry, he prefers seeing it during sex. He won’t hurt me physically. Not yet.

"Good boy," Niko murmurs.

His large hand comes down, not to pet my head like he always does, but to grip my hair. His fingers tangle in my hair, fistfuls of blond strands twisting around his knuckles as he pulls my head back sharply.

A gasp escapes my lips, my spine arching automatically at the rough movement. A sharp spike of arousal hits me like an electric shock, hot and heavy in my gut.

The pain means he’s paying attention. Good.

"You want to know what Orion knows?" Niko leans forward, his face inches from mine. "Maybe we’ll talk about it after you’ve been thoroughly ruined. Alexis, come here."

Alexis steps forward, his breath coming in short, nervous puffs, loud in the quiet room. He stops a few feet away, entirely new to this, and clearly unaccustomed to the raw, dirt dynamic Niko and I share.

He looks down at me— at the proud, blond man he’s never seen before, brought so low to kneel at another man’s boots— and a dark, furious blush begins to creep up his throat, staining his cheeks crimson.

"Watch him, Alexis," Niko orders, his free hand moving to rub his thumb roughly over my lower lip, forcing my mouth open.

"See how pretty he looks when he’s terrified? This is what happens to boys who ask too many questions. They end up on the floor, begging."

I whimper against his thumb, my eyes watering from the pressure, but I don’t pull away. I can’t.

Niko doesn’t start anything without consent— that is his one ironclad rule, the thin line that separates his sadism from outright cruelty— but he is a master at extracting it.

He knows exactly which buttons to press, how to leverage my own cowardice and fractured mind against me. He’ll break me, but only if I give him the permission to.

He leans down further, his lips brushing against the sensitive shell of my ear. "Do you want it, Leon? Do you want me to take everything you’re hiding and rip it out of you?"

"Yes," I whine, my hands moving on their own to clutch desperately at his sturdy thighs for balance as the room seems to spin.

"Yes, please, Niko. Manhandle me. Break me. Make me forget."

Make me forget the terror I felt when I was trapped with that lunatic.

Niko’s eyes darken, amber turning to molten gold. "Then strip. Both of you."

The release of his grip sends me sprawling, but I scramble back to my feet immediately. My fingers slip and shake as I tear at the fabric of my expensive suit.

Fabric rips, buttons clatter onto the floorboards— fuck it! I don’t give a shit. I kick off my ahoes, shedding my trousers in a frantic, desperate rush to be bare before him.

Alexis is much slower. His hands tremble so violently that he can barely undo his buttons. His cheeks burn a deep, agonizing crimson as he sheds his clothes piece by piece, his eyes darting towards my smaller, paler frame with a mixture of awe and profound nervousness.

Niko doesn’t wait for either of us to become comfortable. He rises from the sofa, a towering, imposing figure in the dim light. He lunges forward, grabbing my upper arm.

His grip is bruisingly tight, his fingers sinking into my flesh so hard, I know they will leave marks. With a brutal twist of his torso, he throws me face-down onto the wide, dark leather sofa.

"Urgh..."

The impact rattles my ribs, knocking the wind from my lungs. A broken sob spills from my lips— not of pain, but of an intense, overwhelming sense of relief.

The sheer degradation he gives is like a drug. I crave the disrespect. I love being treated like dirt, like something disposable that he can break and discard at his whim.

It clears the noise from my head.

"Alexis, get up here," Niko commands. "Holds his arms down. If he moves, press him into the leather."

Alexis climbs the sofa, his trembling hands gripping my wrists and pinning them above my head. He’s surprisingly strong.

"Don’t move, Leon," Niko warns, his voice right above my ear as I feel the heavy, terrifying weight of him settle between my thighs.

"You know what happens if you disobey me. If you move an inch without permission, I’ll do the exact opposite of what you want. You want me to be gentle? I’ll break you. You want me to stop? I’ll go harder."

"I won’t move," I cry out, my forehead pressed against the leather, tears of anticipation finally leaking from my eyes. "I’ll be good, Niko, please, just fuck me, treat me dirty, don’t stop— "

"Shut up," Niko snarls, and then he takes me.

A loud, choked shriek tears from my throat as he drives into me without an ounce of hesitation, his large hands gripping my hips so tight I know there will be black-and-blue finger marks there by morning.

"How the hell are you always so fucking tight?" He groans hoarsely.

The pain he gives is sharp, blinding, and perfectly filthy. He sets a brutal, unrelenting rhythm, each thrust forcing the air from my lungs, turning my voice into a series of pathetic, high-pitched whimpers.

Fuck yes! This is it! This is what I need!

Alexis gasps above me, his grip on my wrists tightening as he watches Niko use me. The sight of my blond hair flying, my blue eyes clouded with tears and mindless pleasure, seems to undo him.

"He’s...he’s so loud," he whispers.

"He’s a whore, Alexis," Niko grunts, his pace increasing, his hips slamming into me with a wet, rhythmic slapping noise that fills the room.

"Look at him. Orion’s perfect little cousin, begging to be ruined on my dick," he purrs. "Kiss him, Alexis. Block that crying mouth."

Alexis leans down, lips finding mine in a messy, desperate kiss. I take it greedily. Niko’s hands move from my hips to my waist, lifting me higher, changing the angle until I’m practically sobbing into Alexis’s mouth from the sheer, overwhelming stretch of his cock.

"N-Niko!" I scream around Alexis’s lips, my body shaking violently. "Please! More! H-Harder— "

"I told you to shut up," Niko growls, and as punishment for the interruption, he pulls out entirely, leaving me cold and empty, whining on the cushions.

"N-no. Wait!— "

Before I can even process the loss, he grabs Alexis by the waist, flipping him underneath him with practiced ease.

"Watch, Leon," Niko commands, his amber eyes burning into mine as he thrusts into Alexis, who lets out a sharp cry, his hands clutching at the sofa cushions for stability.

"Watch what happens when boys don’t listen."

I lay there, completely exposed, my chest heaving, watching Niko dominate the darker-haired man with the same terrifying, beautiful cruelty. It’s an intoxicating sight.

I drag myself forward, my trembling hands reaching out to stroke Alexis’s thigh, helping him bear the weight. He moans and shudders with each of Niko’s punishing thrusts. It looks heavenly.

By the time Niko finishes, collapsing over both of us in a sweat-sheened pile of heavy limbs and ragged breathing, the room is quiet.

I lay trapped under Niko’s massive arm, my cheek pressed against Alexis’s damp shoulder. My body is aching, and even if I didn’t cum, I am deeply satisfied.

"Niko..." I whisper after several minutes, the phantom image of Orion’s smile flashing behind my eyelids. "What did you tell Orion?"

Niko shifts, his amber eyes opening slightly in the dark. He looks down at me, a slow, cruel smirk returning to his lips as he reaches out and flicks a stray tear from my eyelash.

"I already told you, pretty boy," he murmurs, his voice entirely devoid of any seriousness. "The garden has many shadows at that time of the day."

He yawns lazily. "If I can see perfectly in the dark, then I should be able to see starlight some measly shadows, don’t you think so too, pretty little Leon?"

Then he closes his eyes again, leaving me entirely in the dark, still terrified and still fucking clueless about everything.

It’s as if the predators in my cage keep evolving while I remain a rabbit.