My whole body shakes, but I keep my arms wrapped tightly around my stomach.
“Please. Don’t hurt my baby.”
“But, Riley, that’s the whole point. Didyereally thinkyewould be able to humiliate me and walk away without anyconsequences? Ifyedid,ye’re not as clever asyerbrother madeyeout to be.”
My heart pounds so hard it echoes in my ears.
“Please. We can work this out?—”
“That’s exactly what I’m doing, because this is justice.Yeruncle and I had an agreement, andyechose to run straight into the arms of Kieran Sullivan. Now, I take great offense to that. And seeing asyeruncle and brother are unwilling to honor the contract, I’m taking matters intomeown hands.”
I can see it in his eyes, this isn’t just about hatred, it’s about obsession. The kind that festers until it rots you from the inside. He sees me not as a human being, but as an object that belongs to him. There is no reasoning with someone who thinks like that, and yet if I don’t, I’m going to die.
“You don’t understand?—”
“Oh, I understand perfectly.” His tone is almost casual now. “Yethoughtyecould play me. Thatyecould crawl into that bastard’s bed and hope that I would forget whoyereally belonged to. Butyewere wrong.”
My body trembles, and I can’t tell if it’s with fear or rage or both. So, I squeeze my eyes shut, not wanting to see the sick satisfaction on Sean’s face any longer as a sob tears from my throat.
The cuff around my ankle digs in as I try to pull away, but that only makes him laugh.
He’s enjoying every second of this, and the more I struggle and beg, the more I play right into his hand.
“Yewere supposed to be mine,” he snarls as he takes my chin in his hand and my eyes fly open. “Doyeknow how long I’ve waited for this? To make youfeelwhat I felt when you turnedyerback on me?”
“Please, Sean,” I choke out, my voice trembling.
Something like satisfaction flicker across his face, and my stomach sinks.
Nothing I say will convince him to change his mind. He’s too far gone.
“Sleep well, princess.” He traces his fingers along my jaw, and I shrink beneath his touch. “Ye’re going to need it.”
Tears stream down my cheeks as Sean gets to his feet, and the urge to scream claws at my throat.
The door slams shut before any sound can escape. So, I curl back up on the mattress and close my eyes.
That brings with it a whole different kind of nightmare because all I can see is Kieran’s face, frozen in that look of disgust he gave me when he realized I had lied to him about the baby.
His words play on repeat in my head.
There is no us.
He has to know I’m gone by now, but does that mean he’s looking for me?
I want to believe he’s out there, that he’s coming for me and our baby that I’m growing inside me.
But what if he’s not?
Chapter Thirty-Two
KIERAN
Ronan’s estatepulses with barely contained panic as we search for Riley.
Lights flood the lawn as our men search the perimeter, trying to piece together how the hell Sean could have infiltrated the estate and taken out so many of our guys without any of us realizing.
Our men fan out, some of them following the tire marks that lead toward a back lane while others split off to comb the hedgerows.
