Chapter Sixty

**Noah**

I had been so close.

Ellie had finally been under my control and I had been able to release all my pent up fantasies onto her waiting flesh.

Well, nearly all of them.

She had been close to breaking before mother dearest turned up with her goons. I was sure Ellie had been teetering on the edge but before I could give her that final little push, I was interrupted and my little doll was taken from me.

I had watched with rage boiling my blood as one of the over muscled lapdogs released the bindings on Ellie's wrists and she had fallen to the floor like a puppet released from her strings. I kept thinking how close I was to being able to fix her in just the way I liked, to be a obedient little puppy eager to please her master. She would have done it so well too. Her big brown eyes would have begged me to give her what she deserved whenever she saw me. She would have given me everything I asked for if only I had been given just a little more time...

But now she's back with her brother and that waste of space boyfriend of hers who gives her false hope that she can be strong and fight back. I will admit the fire in her was a pleasant surprise and I had enjoyed how she had resisted the inevitable like a wild filly fighting against the bit and saddle. Funny considering I had actually restrained her with a bit-gag after she ran away and needed to be punished.

Her running away had been my mistake. I had let my concentration slip and thought she wouldn't fight back but I had been wrong. She still had a fire in her belly. It was the second time I had lost my temper with her. Maybe I had gone a bit too far that time in the woods but she knew how to make me so angry. If she had just obeyed me then I wouldn't have hurt her the way I did.

It didn't matter anyway. They had forced me to let my little bird go. They thought they could find a way of making me forget about Ellie by sending me to finish school in Europe.

"It will be good for you." Mother had said. "You will have Christmas here with us and then you will take a flight to Prague."

"Sounds more like you want to get rid of me." I replied coolly.

I had seen the glare in her eyes, the stoniness that all Winters women learn, even those who aren't of the bloodline. My mother had perfected it. However, unlike most people, it didn't work on me.

“Noah, you will forget about that girl and you will go to Europe and will stop causing trouble.” my mother spoke with her deadly calm voice before stalking away, leaving me sat alone.

I suspect my mother thought I would do just that but my mother never really understood. She thought I was like my brothers and sisters. I’d eventually comply because we had the family reputation to uphold. But I didn’t care about the family name. I didn’t care about the image we portrayed to our peers. I didn’t care about anything if I couldn’t have what I craved and what I craved had been taken from me and given back to her family.

I knew I had no choice in going to Europe. I’d be on that plane either by will or by force and I’d never get to see Ellie again or finish what I had started. Instead, she would forget about me and give herself to that prick of a boyfriend.

The thought had boiled my blood and I had seen red. Ellie was mine and I wouldn’t let her forget that. If I couldn’t have her, then no one would.

All I had to do was convince my mother that I was going to play along with her demands and wait for her to let her guard down.

It wouldn’t take long. My mother was a dragon to the world around us but she was soft when it came to her children, especially her youngest son. A few kind gestures like bringing her a cup of coffee when she was working in her study, or a peck on the cheek had my mother letting her guard down. It took a few days to win her back over and then I was able to make my move. The perfect opportunity had come when my parents had to attend one of the many christmas parties they insisted on going to. Normally the whole family goes to these things to put on a united front but on this occasion, only the parents were going, leaving me all alone.

So now here I am, watching as those two idiots that Ellie lives with head out, leaving her alone. You’d think they would have learnt by now but I guess they really thought my family had finally put an end to all of this. How wrong they were. There was no end to this, not until I got everything I wanted from Ellie and took her away from them once and for all.

The black truck passed me by as I stood at the end of the street patiently. I hadn’t taken my car or my phone. I had enjoyed the walk here, anticipating what was to come and savouring it. Once the silence of the night fell once more, I made my move.

I waited patiently for Ellie to answer the door after pressing the doorbell. I could see her moving towards me through the frosted glass. My heart skipped in excitement and felt a smile creep onto my lips as the door opened and those big brown eyes dropped any ounce of happiness and widen with fear.

“Hello Ellie,” I smirked. “Did you miss me?”

---

**Aiden**

"What are you doing, Ellie?" I sighed as I watched her rushing around the kitchen.

"Kyle and the others are coming over to watch movies and I forgot to make the cookies so I need to make something."

"You're meant to be taking it easy." I sighed. "The doctor said…"

"That my hip needs icing and resting and not much else. I know." Ellie rolled her eyes at me.

"Then how about you do that and Liam and I will pick something up for you guys." I smiled and gently pulled her to me, wrapping my arms around her and buried my face in her neck, kissing and nipping the skin until she was giggling.

"Okay! Okay!" She relented.

"Great." I sighed in relief and let her go. "Liam, come on!"

"Alright!" The giant yelled back from upstairs.

I didn't like leaving Ellie alone but the others would be here in a few minutes and we wouldn't be gone for long either. We just needed to sign some papers at the lawyer's office about the new business and then we would be right back to getting into the Christmas spirit. I also knew Ellie wasn't a child who needed monitoring every five seconds.

"Right, let's get this over with." Liam grumbled as he passed me to head to the door. "Later tater tots."

"Bye!" Ellie called from the living room.

Around us houses were glittering with an array of lights either hanging from them or just inside their windows. The Christmas spirit was in the air and I thought about the surprise date I had planned for Ellie tomorrow. I had decided to take her away for the day. There were Christmas markets in Portland this weekend and I knew she'd enjoy visiting them. I had even booked a room at a b&b for us to stay over the night. It hadn't been easy getting time alone with Liam around.

"The lawyer better not make us wait around for half an hour." Liam huffed as he set out on our journey.

"I mentioned we were busy so hopefully he's taken the hint." I replied.

We were only ten minutes into our journey when my phone lit up on the dashboard showing Ellie was calling. I hit the answer button assuming she wanted to tell us what to get.

"Hey Ellie, What's up?"

Yelling burst through the speaker, my blood running cold.

"Get away from me!"

"Not a chance. I'm going to show you who you really belong to!"

"No!"

I had never heard his voice before but it didn't take a genius to work out what was happening.

The line went dead.

Noah was back and he wanted to finish what he started.