“Could I get an infection, Ella?” I asked as I stepped closer.
“Let me take a look,” she said, and I sat beside her.
Alec shot me a glare.
“You’ll live, dickhead,” he muttered.
I held my hands out for Ella, and she slipped her fingers around them, holding them up as she inspected the broken skin.
My jaw clenched when I stared at the damage that bastard did to her.
It felt like failure all over again.
Only worse.
This time, I wasn’t a child, but a man.
Chapter 36
Rowan
They were both milking it—first Alec, now Nick. Ella dabbed antiseptic over Nick’s knuckles while he pulled her in for a kiss.
I shook my head and glanced at Alec. He was watching them, smiling.
“You had it right. She clicks with all of us,” he murmured, taking a sip from his glass.
“Of course I was right,” I grunted as I sat down.
“So,” he continued,“you sliced up a testicle. How was that?”
“More enjoyable than I’d expected,” I said, remembering the feel of cutting through the wrinkled sac.
“Anything left for me?”
“We’ll pick him up in a few days if you want the rest of his balls.”
Ella didn’t play coy—we’d notice if she did. She did her job and always stayed professional. Women like Sophie had clients in Dominion, and we’d turned a blind eye to her side hustle because it kept everyone happy. We never thought it would come back to bite us.
Ella didn’t allow another man to touch her.
She punched him in the face.
“I love sharing her and testing her limits,” Alec said, settling across my desk.
I knew exactly what he meant.
Watching each other with Ella during our individual days had been… inspiring. When evening came, we reunited with Ella at our centre. It wasn’t like the past—when Nick or Alec wanted to kill whoever crossed the line.
This could really work for us long-term.
Ella was the deciding factor. She wasn’t like the women from our past—and that difference changed everything.
???
She stared into the night as we drove home. Her eye was red, still slightly swollen despite the ice packs we’d rotated through. Back in the office, watching Nick and Alec with her, something had finally clicked into place.
We’d taken from Ella—no denying that.
