“You wanted me here. I’m here. Now tell them where the location of your gang is.” She folded her arms.
“Explain to me why you are here first.” He bristled. “How you could open your legs for other men, become a common whore?”
“Shut the fuck up,” she spat. His eyes went huge at her response, probably not used to her fighting back. “Do not call me thateveragain. If you do, I will walk out of here and never look back. Let them do whatever they want to you.” She stood over him, her voice cold and direct.
“You left me in squalor with your debts and crimes to pay off like the coward you are. I was beaten, tortured, and raped by the men you owed before Madam saved me. Here I am safe, fed, and protected from assholes like you. I have friends and independence. I choose who I want to sleep with, have my own money, and do what I want. I have finally paid offyourdebts, and I continue to stay because this is my home. My family. I have more here than I ever had with you.” She sneered at him, the years of anger flooding out. “So, you don’t get to judge me. You don’t get to say a fucking word to me unless it’s the whereabouts of your hideout. Do you understand me?”
He blinked, too stunned to move. The notorious, feared bandit was nothing more than a bully getting schooled. As if he were really seeing her, noticing the wife he knew, Nina, was nowhere to be seen now.
The English rose, the fiery bombshell, took the shambles he left her in and thrived. Grew thorns, becoming the strong woman she was today.
“I shouldn’t be surprised you became part of a gang who murders people for trinkets.”
“We are just trying to survive.” He justified himself.
“So are the people you attack,” she retaliated. “You are still a tyrant.”
“I’m not like that anymore. I’ve changed.” He tried to touch her again but drew back when she moved away from him. “I know it’s hard to believe, and I know the things I’ve done. For years, all I wanted was to see you again, to make it right. I thought I would never have the chance.”
“And you still won’t. You can never make it right.” Rosie sneered. “You don’t get to easeyourconscience. Though, I don’t hate you. Hate means I feel something about you. I won’t give you power anymore. You arenothingto me.”
I saw pain and anger in his eyes. It was in that moment I knew. She was his Achilles heel, his weakness. He thrived off controlling her, manipulating her. He could kill, rob, and terrorize others and come home and say he was doing it all for her. That when he beat her, it was because she made him do it.
He needed his drug.
She did not need him. And it angered him.
His cheeks reddened, his expression locking down.
“You fucking ungrateful bitch,” he lashed out. “I gave you everything. A home, nice clothes, an allowance, flowers every day.”
“Except the most important thing—love.” She tucked her red hair behind her ear, looking powerful. As if she just discovered the monster in her closet was nothing more than a stuffed animal. “Where is your hideout, Vincent?”
“I’m not telling you shit. Fuckingkurva.”Whore. Slut.
I felt Warwick move, but he was too late. The knife I shoved back in my boot was already pinned to Vincent’s throat.
“You utter one more insult at her, and I will cut off your dick and force you to eat it.” I pushed down on his wound again.
An anguished cry tore from him.
“Talk,” I ordered.
Spitting and snarling, he tried to breathe through the agony, his jaw grinding together. Perspiration ran down his face.
The blade cut deeper into his throat, my knuckle burrowing and twisting into the gunshot. Blood poured out of it, driving another scream from him.
“Fine,” he bellowed. “Stop!”
I stepped back, withdrawing my knife.
“Makin’ me hard again, Kovacs.”Warwick’s shadow rubbed up the back of me, his voice deep and gravelly. I sucked in sharply, feeling his erection pressing into me. For a second, the idea of him fucking me through the link, right here, heated my skin with a thrill.
No, Brex . . . bad, bad idea.
It took Vincent a few moments to control the loud grunting and breathing. “I’m bleeding out here.”
“We’ll get the doctor back in the moment you tell us something worth your life.” Warwick crossed his arms, leaning farther back on the wall.
