Neil is here.
Why? He hated Christian. Why hasn’t he left?
Christian shrugs. “Didn’t seem important. Now’s as good a time as any. Yes, Avaleigh. He’s dead. I made sure of it.”
“You killed him?”
Smug bastard. But it doesn’t make sense. Elias gave Christian everything—power, freedom, women, drugs. Everything. He was the only one who ever kept him on a leash.
“Why? He gave you everything. What psychotic?—”
“Because he gave you away!” Christian’s bitterness cuts like glass. His chest heaves. “He promised you to me. Virginity and all. And he sold you to that Russian to save his own skin.”
Psychotic. Delusional.Great.
What is everyone’s obsession with my virginity? Matthias hadn’t cared. He’d cared about me. But Christian…he’s enraged by what’s gone.
“Fuck you, Christian,” I scream, my voice hoarse. “I am not yours.”
He laughs mirthlessly. “Dashkov took your cherry? So what. I’ll take everything else. You’re the heiress to two Irish undergrounds. Once we’re married, I’ll wipe them out and take what I’m owed.”
“I am not marrying you, pig.” My body trembles from cold, wet skin, and lack of heat, hypothermia creeping in. “I’m not yours. You can’t marry me. Matthias is?—”
Neil coughs softly, shaking his head, eyes wide. Don’t mention it.
“Matthias will come for me.”
“You think so?” Christian snorts. “Right now, he’s in federal prison. Under the impression you betrayed him. Why would he come?”
“I did no such thing,” I snap, turning on Archer. “You want betrayal? Your buddy here is FBI.”
Suck on that.
But they smirk. Even Neil.
“Well, he plays one on TV.” Christian chuckles.
“I’m serious. His name is?—”
“Jonathon Archer?” Christian interrupts, smirking wider. “Came to your door, gave you an ultimatum…yada, yada. We knew. That was the plan. You did it beautifully.”
“No. That’s not?—”
“How naïve, Avaleigh.” He tsks. “Dad knew Anderson was playing you. What he didn’t know was I’d take his place, make the better deal. I get you and a new empire for helping take down the Dashkov and Ivankov Bratvas.”
My stomach lurches. Horror sinks in. They played me. I set Matthias up.
But I won’t break. I won’t submit.
“You’ll never have me, Christian.” My voice is flat, solid. “And I will never submit to you.”
His hand wrenches my wet hair back, forcing me to meet his cold eyes. “You’ll learn to submit, Little Lamb. You were raised to submit to me.”
Jesus, does he hear himself? Villain monologue in full swing.
I laugh darkly. “You really are an idiot. Who really pulled the trigger,brother? Cause it sure wasn’t you. You’re too much of a coward.”
His grip tightens, his eyes thunder. “Shut your mouth.”
