A faint smile touches his mouth. "You seem to misunderstand. I protect what is mine."
"She isn't yours."
Adrian's expression shifts behind his eyes. He leans closer. "You took advantage of the wrong woman."
"I didn't take advantage of her."
His hand moves faster than expected, gripping my collar and yanking me forward until our faces are inches apart. "You don't deserve to live."
My pulse skyrockets. "If you kill me, you hurt her. And she'll fall back to hurting herself."
A vein throbs in his neck. Rage deepens over his expression along with a flicker of fear. He recovers, warning, "You think you can threaten me?"
"It's not a threat. You've miscalculated this situation."
More anger explodes over him. He tightens his grip on my shirt.
"Adrian," another man with a Russian accent warns.
He continues assessing me, then abruptly releases his grip. He straightens his jacket like this is nothing more than a boardroom disagreement. He snarls, "You are a man accustomed to control. You dominate in private. You command in public. But you do not understand legacy. Blood. Territory."
"She's not territory."
"She is my daughter."
"And she is not your property."
His jaw tightens. Something raw flickers. He holds out his phone and orders, "You will end it."
I lift my head. "No."
The room tenses. One of the men shifts his weight. Adrian studies me for a long, silent moment. Then he nods slowly, as if he expected this.
He gestures slightly.
The man behind me steps forward. The stun gun crackles to life again.
Fuck.
My body braces.
"Think carefully," Adrian says, almost conversationally. "Pain is temporary. Loss is not."
The shock hits again.
This time, I grit my teeth, but it doesn't matter. My muscles seize violently, every nerve screaming as electricity rips through me. My back arches against the chair. My hands clench uselessly behind me. A sound tears from my throat that I refuse to identify as a scream.
When it stops, my body slumps forward, shaking. Sweat drips down my temple. When I'm capable, I slowly lift my head. I rasp, "Youthink fear will make me leave her?"
Adrian's eyes turn to slits. "No. But I think survival might."
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Blue
Light cuts through the blinds and lands across the sheets, highlighting the purple marks on my skin. My throat tightens, and my heart skips another beat. I stare at the bruises from his mouth and hands, all proof that last night happened.
Why is it so quiet?
