Page 45 of Daddy's Reluctant Queen

I don’t stop coming for him. I front kick him. He catches my foot and holds me for a second. I leap up and bring my other foot around, hitting him again in the jaw.

This time, he stumbles sideways into the wall and his eyes glass over. I use the seconds that he’s dazed to grab the knife from the floor and stand up. I take a single step and Titus grabs my wrist.

“Sofia, stop?—”

I whirl around with my elbow, hitting him in the chest. He releases me and I go for this bald bastard again.

He’s had a second to get his bearings, so when I swipe the knife for his face, he puts up his arm to block it. The knife slices his arm, but he doesn’t flinch. He pushes his arm against my wrist, then grabs me around the throat with his other hand and forces me back until my head hits the wall.

I’m slightly dazed and his hand is squeezing my neck. I grab his wrist and lean my back into the wall, bringing my leg up and kicking him in the balls. His grip loosens as he curses. I heel punch him in the nose.

“Motherfucker!” he shouts as he lets me go. He grabs his nose as blood spurts from it. “Broke my fucking nose!Again!”

I go for him once more, but this time, I’m grabbed around the waist and lifted off my feet. The next thing I know, I’m in the air and tumbling to the floor. My elbows hit the hard marble, keeping my head from banging against it. I turn over onto my back to see Titus standing over me. Through clenched teeth, he growls, “Stay down.”

I go to move, and he pulls his gun on me. Shit…

Behind him, his man is cursing up a blue streak. “I’m gonna kill that bitch!” he shouts.

“No, you’re not,” Titus says without looking at him. “You’re going to leave. Get that nose checked out and go about doing the shit I told you to do.”

“But Titus?—”

“Leave out the back way. Now.”

I’m shaking all over. Adrenaline and anger course through my body as I look up at the barrel of Titus’s gun… then at his face. I’ve never seen this look before. His jaw’s clenched and his eyes are almost the color of fire with rage.

If I didn’t understand the line I just crossed before, I get it now. The punishment for this is going to be severe… if he lets me live.

His man doesn’t argue. He just gives me a pissy look from behind Titus, then takes a swipe at his bloody nose, turns, and walks way. The hall fills with the sound of his footfalls receding as Titus glares at me. He doesn’t say a word until he hears the back door open and close.

“He killed my brother,” I say to him in as measured a tone as I can muster. “You can’t expect?—”

“Shut your fucking mouth.” He lunges at me and grabs me by the hair, pulling me to my feet. He turns me around and shoves the gun under my chin. “If you were anyone else…”

His face is so close to mine that if feels like we’re sharing a breath. My hand is pressed against his chest and his heartpounds hard against it. The cold steel against my chin sends a cold chill through me… but also…

I am so fucking hot for him right now. The pain of his fist in my hair runs down my spine and around to my pussy, bringing about a hot dampness in my panties.

Is this how I die? Fearing for my life and desperately wanting him at the same time?

“Whatever are you going to do with me?” I say to him in a hoarse whisper. The rage in his eyes intensifies. This is the line. The moment in which he’s either going to decide to just kill me… or…

“This is the point,” he growls as he puts the gun back in his belt, “where I break you, Sofia.”

With that, he releases my hair, then leans down and lifts me up in a fireman’s carry and takes me up the stairs.

16

TITUS

It’s become very,veryclear that I’ve been far too lenient on my fuck toy.

I should have changed the locks on her door again. Better yet, I should have kept her chained up in that warehouse. Ignat was right about her. She’s fucking dangerous.

I kick open the door to her room and drop her on the bed. She lands on her back, looking up at me with a wide-eyed expression of worry. “Don’t you fucking move,” I growl at her.

She doesn’t, but she watches me as I go into her closet and drag out the chest I keep in here for special occasions. I set it down next to the bed and kick it open angrily.