Page 127 of The Auction
Which means it’s just me and him.
“It’s time to go.”
“No.” I drop my purse on the table, trying to sound steady even though my stomach’s twisting itself into knots.
His eyes narrow. “Excuse me?”
“I said no. I’m not going. I’m not going through with it.” My hands are shaking, but I don’t let him see. “I’m in love with Jaxon. And I’m going to be with him. We can… we can work something else out.”
His expression morphs from disbelief to fury in a blink. “You’re in love with him? Are you fucking insane?” He steps closer, voice rising. “Did you fuck him?”
“That’s none of your business.”
“Oh but it is my fucking business. You were supposed to be a virgin, Cassidy. That was the whole deal, you stupid fucking bitch. He already saw your doctors exam confirming that slut cunt of yours was—shockingly—untouched.”
I cross my arms, forcing the words out before I lose my nerve. “Thenyougo marry the English lord. Take it up the ass if he needs a virgin hole to fuck… unless yours has already been claimed by someone before.”
The slap comes so fast I barely see his hand move. My head snaps to the side, skin stinging, eyes watering.
“You ungrateful little whore.” His breath is hot, sour with rage. “I’ve done everything for this family?—”
“No. You’ve done everything for yourself.” I’m backing away and reaching into my back pocket for my phone when he shoves me hard, my back hitting the wall with a thud. The edge of a picture frame digs into my shoulder.
I make a break for the door—I can run to Ben—but Jonathan catches my hair and yanks me back. My knee buckles, and the phone skids across the floor, clattering against the baseboard just as the doorbell rings.
Before I can move, he’s yanking me upright until my scalp burns. “We’re leaving,” he growls, dragging me toward the door. “You’re doing what you agreed to.”
“No, I’m not.”
I try to activate my phones voice command. “Call Jaxon.” God I hope it does.
I kick at his shins, nails raking at whatever skin I can find, but it only makes him yank my hair harder until white-hot pain shoots across my scalp. His other hand clamps around my face, fingers digging into my cheeks so hard I can taste blood from where my teeth cut the inside.
“You think this is a choice? You already agreed.” His voice is low and poisonous. “If you don’t cooperate, I’ll sell this house right out from under her. I’ll sell the horses—separately. And I’ll tell her it’s your fault. I’ll make her hate you.”
Hot tears spill down my cheeks. “You’re a monster.”
“No.” His smile is pure venom. “You’re the monster. Lord Greville is offering to get her better treatment—a shot at a real cure. All you had to do was marry him and let him fuck your virgin cunt.” His grip tightens, and I can’t even cry out. “But no… you had to go be a whore. For Jaxon.”
The doorbell rings again, shrill and jarring.
“Coming!” his voice booms at my back. Then, he returns to me in a hiss: “You want our mother to die and have it be your fault?”
“Don’t act like you’re doing this for her.” There is venom in my voice and tears running down my face.
“You think she can survive the cancer, losing the house, the horses? Knowing her daughter did it to her?” He leans in close,his breath a hot whisper against my ear. “No. She’ll die of a broken heart. And you’ll be the one who killed her.”
He drags me to the door by my hair, my scalp screaming. The door swings open.
A sleek black limo idles in the driveway. The man standing beside it—dressed in a tailored suit and wearing the coldest expression I’ve ever seen—doesn’t even blink at the sight of my brother manhandling me.
Before I can think, I’m shoved inside. I scramble for the opposite door, but the handle doesn’t budge. Of course it’s locked.
My brother slides in beside me, pushing me to the floorboard. The door shuts, sealing us in as he lands a kick right to my thigh. “Get the fuck away from me. Fucking pathetic.”
The engine hums, and the limo glides away from the house, from safety, from everything.
And I’m trapped inside with the devil.
