“You don’t get to ask that of me.”
“I just did.”
“And I’m telling you no.”
His eyes narrowed.“You dare to defy me?”
“I think this is my life,” I fired back.“And I’m done having it dictated by the men around me.”
His jaw locked.“You’re not seeing him again.”
“And what if I do?”I challenged, stepping into his space now, reckless and furious.“What then?Are you going to throw me across the room again?Lock me up?Kill him?”
Something dangerous flickered in his gaze.
“That’s exactly what I’ll do.”
For a second, I couldn’t breathe.Because I believed he would do it.
I let out a slow, shaky breath and shook my head, something cold settling into my bones.
“You’re unbelievable.”
“I’m protecting you.”
“No,” I corrected, my voice dropping.“Just like every other time, you’re controlling me.”
His face hardened.“Same thing.”
My hands curled into fists at my sides.
We stood there, breathing hard, the room still wrecked around us.Two sides of the same bloodline.At war.
Finally, I shook my head and stepped back, exhaustion crashing in behind the adrenaline.
“Get out,” I hissed.
He blinked.“What?”
“Get.Out.”
“Tone—”
“Leave me the fuck alone, Raze.”
25
Archie
The whiskey burned.
I let it sit on my tongue longer than necessary, like that might force oblivion to find me.
Nothing came.
I swallowed.Still nothing.
I downed the third glass.Then the fourth.And the fifth.
