“Answer the question, Chloe,” he growls against the shell of my ear.
“I don’t know,” I whimper as another sharp pain shoots through my hips.
There are a million differences between Ronan and his brother, but their brutality is the most obvious. Damon will always default to cruelty, where the youngest Lombardi is far gentler.
A single tear rolls down my cheek at the thought of him. Somewhere inside he’s waiting for me to return, and here I am being pinned down by his brother, my body on fire despite how wrong this is.
Maybe Damon’s right. Maybe I am a whore.
“Do you think she’d run inside to tell Ronan what a slut his precious girlfriend is?”
A fresh wave of shame hits me in the chest, and it’s only now I realize that this is just the latest installment in his torment.
How stupid of me to think he could ever really want me.
Damon has made it very clear that he wants nothing to do with me, so why would I ever think his opinions of me have suddenly changed?
Bracing myself on the railing for balance, I lift my heeled foot, and with every ounce of strength I can muster, I slam it back into his shin.
A roar of pain fills the dark night, and before he has a chance to right himself, I slip out from between him and the railing, putting some much-needed space between.
“Never fucking touch me again, Lombardi,” I hiss, not bothering to turn back before running inside, my heart beating so hard against my ribs I can barely breathe.
Glancing back to make sure Damon’s not following me, I allow my pace to slow when I find no one in the darkness.
Just as I turn back to look where I’m going, I slam into a hard chest and a startled scream tears from my throat.
“Chloe, it’s just me.” Ronan’s soft words should bring me the same comfort they normally do, but they don’t. They just make the guilt eating away at me that much stronger. “Did something happen?”
I shake my head. “I thought I saw a snake.”
If only I were talking about the same creature that adorns the Lombardi crest instead of the man that wants nothing more than to see my downfall.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
RONAN
NOW
Fuck, it’s cold.
It’s pretty much hot all year round in Miami, and even when I went to California for college, it was warm more often than not.
But upstate New York in November?
It’s fucking freezing.
I watch the scene unfolding from the parking lot, my fisted hands the only outward sign of how agitated I am.
Once upon time, I wore my heart on my sleeve. Every feeling, every emotion—it was written all over my face.
But not anymore.
Not since Chloe left.
Dad and Damon made sure of that.
I shake off the thought and refocus on Ryker pushing Chloe behind him. I know it’s my brother that he’s protecting her from, and while I would like to think he would never hurt her, I’m not an idiot.
