“Please,” she whispers, looking between the three of us with desperate eyes. “Please don’t throw me out. I know I don’t deserve your forgiveness, but I’m begging you not to make me leave. I’ll do anything. I’ll tell you everything Robert wanted. I’ll help you take him down. Just please don’t make me go.”
Dad stands slowly, and she flinches like she thinks he’s going to hit her. Instead, he walks around the table and grips her chin, forcing her to look up at him.
“We’re not throwing you out,” he says, and I see relief flood her face before he continues. “But you need to understand that lying to this family has consequences. Betrayal has consequences. And you’re going to learn exactly what those consequences are.”
“I understand,” she says quickly. “Whatever you want. I’ll do whatever you want.”
“Good.” Dad releases her chin and steps back. “Because we’re going to show you exactly who you belong to now. We’re going to make sure you understand that you’re ours, regardless of why you came here or what you intended to do. And you’re going to prove to us that you’re done with Robert and his revenge plan.”
I watch understanding dawn in her eyes, followed by fear and something that might be anticipation, and I feel that dark satisfaction spreading through my chest.
She lied to us. Betrayed us. Came here with the intention of destroying everything we’ve built.
But she’s ours now, and we’re going to make damn sure she never forgets it.
33
GRANT
When I gripSamantha’s arm to pull her to her feet, she comes without resistance because she knows there’s nowhere else to go and nothing left to say that will change what’s about to happen.
“Come with us,” I tell her, and my voice is calm in a way that seems to frighten her more than anger would, because calm means control and control means I’ve already decided exactly how this is going to unfold.
She follows me out of the dining room with Donovan and Kai flanking her on either side, and the walk to my bedroom feels both endless and too short because my mind is racing through everything she confessed and everything we learned last night. She lied to us from the moment she arrived, came here specifically to destroy us, and yet somewhere in the middle of all those lies, something real developed that I can’t simply erase, no matter how much the betrayal burns.
When we reach my bedroom, I close the door behind us and lock it while Samantha stands in the center of the room with her arms wrapped around herself and tears still streaming down her face. She looks small and breakable, and part of me wants to comforther while another part wants to make her understand exactly what she’s done to this family.
“Do you have the pills?” I ask, and she flinches at the question before nodding slowly.
“In my room. Hidden in my drawer.”
“Kai, get them.” He leaves without a word, and the silence that follows is suffocating until he returns minutes later with a small package wrapped in tissues.
I take them from him and hold them up so Samantha can see. “These were your solution? Ending the pregnancy and pretending it never happened?”
“I didn’t know what else to do,” she whispers, her voice breaking. “I thought I couldn’t have a baby for men I came here to destroy.”
“But you couldn’t do it, could you?” I move closer until I’m standing directly in front of her, close enough to see every tear that falls and every tremor that runs through her body. “You couldn’t take them because somewhere between the lies and the revenge plan, you realized you wanted this baby. You wanted us.”
“Yes,” she sobs. “I want all of it. I want you and the baby and this life, but I don’t deserve any of it because I came here to hurt you.”
I drop the pills on my dresser where they land with a soft sound that seems too quiet for the weight they carry. “You’re right. You don’t deserve it. But you’re going to get it anyway, because you’re ours now and we don’t let go of what belongs to us.”
She looks up at me with confusion and hope warring in her expression. “I don’t understand.”
“You will.” I step back and gesture to Donovan and Kai. “We’re going to show you exactly what it means to betray this family and then expect forgiveness. We’re going to make you understand that lying to us has consequences. And we’re going to claim you in a way that leaves no doubt about who you belong to.”
Understanding dawns in her eyes along with something that might be fear or might be anticipation, and when Donovan moves to stand behind her while Kai positions himself to her left, she doesn’t try to move away.
“Are you going to fight us?” I ask, and she shakes her head.
“No. I’ll take whatever punishment you think I deserve.”
“Good girl,” Kai murmurs, and the words roll through her like a touch. I watch her thighs press together, watch the tremor that starts in her knees and climbs her spine.
I don’t give her time to brace.
I grip the front of her dress and tear. The fabric rips clean down the center, buttons scattering across the hardwood. She gasps as cool air hits her skin, but she doesn’t move to cover herself. I strip the ruined dress away, let it fall, and she stands naked except for the thin lace between her legs and the tears still sliding down her cheeks.
