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“No, I didn’t touch her like that,” he spits through blood-stained teeth.
I nod, and there is a slight ease of rage that uncoils from within my gut. “And that’s the only reason I will not kill you right now.”
I hit him again, enjoying the way the pain rips through my arm and my shoulder as it makes contact with his body.
“Please,” Celia whispers behind me. An ache builds in my chest as I turn to look at her. In all the times I held her, she’d never begged me like that, never for herself. But she will for him? For another fucking man?
I release my grip and he slides to the floor. I let him stay there, his head lolling side to side as he grapples with consciousness.
She’s on her knees, tears ringing her beautiful eyes, and I crouch in front of her so I can look at her better. “Why? Why are you begging for his life when he kidnapped you again? Why beg for his life when you didn’t even beg me for your own?”
Without blinking, she says, “He saved me. If it weren’t for him, I would be a sex slave right now.”
Her words deliver another blow. She doesn’t know I was coming back for her, and I doubt she’d believe me if I told her. I sold her, and I can never take that back. Still, I don’t think that’s the only reason. There is more, something she isn’t telling me.
I shake my head and lift her chin, forcing our gazes together. “Not good enough. Tell me why you really want to save him. Give me a reason I’ll actually buy.”
Her shuddering exhale tells me more than she thinks. “Lucas is my half-brother.”
“Excuse me?” I’m taken aback by her response.
“Lucas is my half-brother, but before you freak out, we are not related.” She waves a hand at him before her arm falls limply back to her sides. “He saved me because he thinks I can tell him about my father, our father, but I want answers too, and if you kill him, then neither of us will get those.”
I shrug. “What does that matter to me?”
Her shoulders slump back as tears slip from her eyes and down the apples of her cheeks. My gaze gravitates to the red mark on her pale skin, and the pulsing need to pummel Lucas all over again reappears.
“Maybe I don’t want you to lose your only brother? I don’t want you to kill him, least of all for me. There’s no going back from that. I won’t be the cause for his blood on your hands.”
“You’ve called me a monster more times than I can count. What makes you think I give a shit? You’re mine, Celia. He knew that, and still, he took you from me. So, I’ll ask you one more time, princess, and you need to give me a straight answer, one worthy of his life. Why is it so important to you he stays alive?”
This time she doesn’t have an answer for me, and I’m through being patient. I stand and tower over her. “Well, if you don’t have a good enough reason, then give me a moment. I’ll take care of him, and then we can leave this place for good.”
She grabs my fist between her smaller palms, trying to stop me. “Please. He’s my brother too.” The words come out deflated. “I already lost my sister, and even if he’s fucking crazy, I can’t lose my only real family.”
Her brother. She did really say that a moment ago—the words real family ring inside my head.
I pause, and while my mind wants to fall into the implications of that statement, I can’t, not while she’s touching me of her own volition. Not while she’s wearing another fucking man’s clothes, not while she’s in someone else’s house.
I tug her hand off mine and throw it away. “I still don’t care who the fuck he is to you. You are mine.”
Still on her knees, she turns and tries to scramble away from me when she catches the look in my eyes. But there is no time. I reach down, snag her ankle and come down on my knees hard around her thighs.
Then I turn her onto her back and press her under my weight to the floor, so our faces line up, and she can’t possibly escape. “You’re mine.” I grit through my teeth. Even knowing how fucked up and wrong it is, I can’t possibly envision ever letting her go.
Her voice is pitiful when she finally answers. “I don’t belong to anyone but myself.”
I gently scoop stray bits of her hair off her tear-streaked face and smile. “Oh no, princess, you were mine from the moment I brought you home. I was just too stubborn to realize it.”
