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CHAPTER10
Candy
Prisoner. The cage might be pretty, but that’s exactly what it was, a cage.
I tried to comprehend his change in demeanor as well as his level of cruelty, but I couldn’t fathom how a switch had been flipped. Had everything we’d shared been a total lie? I was aching inside, hurt from his brutal words. Tears threatened to form but there was no way in hell I was going to allow that to happen.
He didn’t deserve anything from me. Not one thing. Not that it was going to matter. It was obvious he was going to take what he wanted.
Never deny him.
It was as if all the passion we’d shared had been a lie. Had he been using me to gather information? No, that was insane. He was right. I’d gone to him. Was it possible he’d purposely annoyed me? Hell, I didn’t know. I couldn’t stand not putting the pieces together. Everything was unraveling. Could the Walsh family be as corrupt as the Bratva? I wouldn’t know.
His words were terrifying, even more so because of the inflection in his voice. My heart was ready to explode, the fear unlike anything I’d known before. I studied him carefully, fisting my hands and longing to pummel them against his chest but his hold was too strong. I forced myself to try to relax just to be able to get out of his clutches. My cage. Had I traded one for another?
The same questions rolled through my mind in a never-ending loop.
Random thoughts splintered my mind. Why would Rian do this? Was he involved in something as sinister as Kirill’s occupation? Could I even call what the brutal Russian did for a living a job? I closed my eyes, still able to see the ugliness of the three men shot dead, their vacant eyes staring up at the darkened sky.
He was so violent and uncaring, but I’d seen another side. Or maybe I’d convinced myself that he was capable of anything other than violence.
Killing those men had seemed so easy for Kirill to do. Just another day at the office. A nervous laugh threatened to bubble to the surface, but I managed to squelch it. When I started to squirm, he shook me once, issuing a guttural sound.
“Breathe for me, Candy. While I am going to punish you, I don’t intend on hurting you unless you give me no other choice.”
“Maybe you already have.”
He sighed, looking away briefly. “A necessary part of my job.”
“What am I supposed to say, that I forgive you for uprooting my life or saving me from a different species of bad guys?”
“As I said before,” he said quietly, loosening his grip, “I need you to tell me everything you know about the man you called Rory. Everything, Candy. Do not leave anything out.”
“I wasn’t paying that much attention as they were dragging me by the hair toward their damn vehicle.”
My forceful words yanked at the beast inside of him. He hissed, every part of his body tensing. He was intimidating yet sexy, the heat he exuded wrapping around me. I had the feeling of lust again, the connection unbreakable even by his change in demeanor.
He took a deep breath before speaking. “Try and think about it, Candy. It’s important. I need to find out who they are. Did they say anything to you before they dumped you in the trunk?”
I thought about the question, hating the fact I had to remember the horrible event. But I did, the entire few moments flashing in my mind in vivid color. “That they were providing an intervention and that I’d make a fabulous prize. What the hell does that mean?”
His snarl was a terrifying sound, his upper lip curling. Then he placed his hand on the back of my head, forcing my face against his chest. As he held me, sweeping his long fingers down in even strokes, I was finally able to breathe easier. A moment of softness returned to his actions, but he’d already done enough damage. He didn’t care about me. I was nothing more than a method of obtaining information.
Or worse.
“You’re safe now.”
With him? That was never going to be possible. I don’t care how much passion we’d shared or how lurid my thoughts had become. He wasn’t my savior.
He was my captor.
I was now his prize, instead of being the prize of the horrible man who’d dumped me in the trunk. What was the real difference? I’d become more daunted by him than I was before, his size overwhelming where it had been sexy before. But a part of my frazzled brain was locked in the two nights we’d shared, which was utterly ridiculous.
I pushed hard against him, managing to encourage him to release his hold on my head. I wanted to see his eyes. You could tell everything by a man’s eyes. They weren’t just a window to his soul; they were a clear indication of truth.
As well as good versus evil.
He was strange combination of both, a tortured conscience that he’d never been able to appease. In those seconds, he decided to kiss me, catching me completely off guard. When he crushed his mouth over mine, I was frozen stiff for a few seconds, longing to have the strength to shove him away, but around him, taking control was impossible.
