Page 43 of Merciless Wager
Not wanting to answer that question, I decided to go back to her earlier one. “Ronan Brannington was an abusive bastard who treated his grandsons and great-grandson like soldiers. We were forced to prove our loyalty over and over again, oftentimes via torture and abuse. It was physical... psychological...”
“That sounds terrible. I’m sorry, I?—”
“I said I don’t want your pity, or goddamned fucking empathy. The bastard is dead in Hell. I’m only sorry I wasn’t the one to put him there. Or at the very least, I wasn’t able to watch his last breath leave him before he began his descent downward.”
“For what it’s worth, he should be proud of you. Whether it was my father’s men, his methods, or even my abuse of you tonight, you’ve taken it all.”
My hand encircled her throat and she sucked a small breath in. “Being truthful, you kinda hit like a girl,” I teased.
She slapped playfully at my chest. “That’s because Iama girl.”
You’re my girl!
I pushed that thought away. She might belong to me right now, but that’d change one day. Once she was in Russia, Mikhail would finish breaking her, and I’d given the bastard a head start by cracking her.
“Actually, you’re a woman, Bellezza.”
My woman!
“Then let me be yours,” she said to me, and my hand slipped from her throat.
“What are you talking about?” I had an idea, which was why I slowly lifted her off me, then slipped out from under her. Once on my feet, I stared down at her.
Aurora was on her knees and the perfect height for me to remove my pants and thrust into her mouth. Her tongue darted out in invitation, and while I could deep throat her right now, I couldn’t give her what she needed. What she wanted.
“The plan is already in place, Aurora. You’ve been promised to Mikhail Bocharov, and there’s no getting out of it. In this world, our word is bond, and we’ve given the Bratva our assurance that you’ll be delivered to them.”
“This is America, Zarren. I should have a choice about who I want to be with. Why does everyone think I can’t make my own decisions about my future?”
“You did want to give your future to Drake Smythe, so that alone?—”
Her head snapped back as she released a sob. “You asshole.”
“Finally, something we can agree on. Now, if you want to open that mouth, let me stuff it full as I put it to better use.”
She clamped her lips shut so tightly that they formed a flat line, and it was not a sight I liked at all. Her eyes began to blaze, her searing gaze nearly singing me as I stood in front of her with my hands at my waistband. She scrambled off the couch and I followed her. Before I could anticipate her next action, she swung on me, this time with her fist, which I felt a lot more than her palm.
Ihadn’t slapped him, but instead had thrown a punch at him. I wasn’t sure who was more shocked by my actions, but I quickly recovered. As I watched him rub his cheek, sense finally returned. I slowly backed up as he advanced toward me.
Anger flared in his eyes, and a kind I’d never seen from him before. Did it bother me that it was directed at me? Yes, but I was pissed off, too. This man had single-handedly ruined my entire life, and one I’d worked so hard to build over the years.
If it hadn’t been for him and his fucking uncles, I might’ve had some hope for my future. Now, if I didn’t get away from him, it would only end with me being handed off to a madman, who was likely even more deranged than Zarren, and forced to marry him and provide children.
I turned and fled to my bedroom, then slammed the door shut behind me. I heard a loud thud, and while I might’ve even smiled over him literally running into it, I had no time for that. The door flung open with such force that I wouldn’t be surprised if he had torn it off its hinges altogether.
“Aurora,” he roared out from behind me, and something inside my chest twisted over his use of my actual name instead of the endearment he always used.
I knocked everything in my way down to try to slow him as I escaped back into the hallway smashing into the table with the lamp and large sculptures. They all fell in a trail behind me as I quickly rushed to the top of the staircase. Wasting no time, I began to run down them, then yelped the moment my foot gave out underneath me, and I nearly slipped.
Had it not been for the wrought iron rail... My mind temporarily flashed back to the first time he’d fucked me, but I couldn’t concern myself with that. Needing no added distractions, I quickly wiped my mind free until it was devoid of any and all memories and righted myself.
Heavy footsteps came closer, and the loud thud of them as he raced down the stairs after me caused me to propel forward. I cleared the last step, then tried to knock a few things over to evade him, but knew it was futile down here. He could simply go around my trail of destruction and cut me off before I even made it to the door.
I had no idea what the code was, but when I reached the keypad, I started to type in any combination of numbers I could think up until his low chuckle made me tense. I had no time to react as I went from facing the door to being slammed against it.
A groan left me as my cheek was now flush level with the heavy oak. As if he sensed my discomfort, he quickly spun me around, but my back met the same fate as my face. It also caused a small amount of pain, and one I knew was lessened by the adrenaline rushing through me.
I tried looking around for what, I had no idea. Anything to avoid making eye contact. He made a sound of pain, or was it frustration? Whatever it was, my attention moved to him as Istared up into his face. The first thing I noticed was his heavy breathing, which matched mine.
