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Lukus’s face contorted with rage. He threw the sponge he’d been holding against the wall and clenched his fist.
“Lukus, please calm down. The look on your face reminds me of the day I told Markus. He was ready to kill Jake, too.”
It was clear that Lukus was on the verge of losing control, but Brianna was completely unprepared when he reached out and roughly grabbed her arms, jerking her forward until there was little space between them. Despite how close they were, he was screaming at her. “Are you shitting me? It’s not Jake I’m ready to kill right now. What the hell were you thinking, going anywhere with him ever again? The bastard should be in jail. It’s bad enough that he hurt you in the past, but Jesus fucking Christ, Brianna! How stupid are you that you actually let him near you ever again? He could have really hurt you… or even worse. No wonder Markus is crushed. You didn’t just cheat on him. You cheated on him with a sadistic fucking rapist! How do you think that makes Markus feel? You might as well have castrated him! It couldn’t have hurt him any worse.”
His words hit home. Brianna was shattered. She’d been so selfishly worried about her own predicament she’d truly never stopped to look at this through Markus’s eyes. He’d given up his dominant side just to prove to Brianna that he was nothing like the man who had abused her. That she would cheat on him with that very man was the ultimate betrayal.
No wonder he wants a divorce. He must hate me.
Her tears were back as Lukus continued to stare her down with his rage-filled green eyes. “Don’t you dare even try to use your tears on me again, Brianna. I’m so fucking angry with you right now that it’s taking every ounce of my self-control to stop from dragging your ass out of this tub and paddling you until you can’t sit down for a week. The only thing stopping me is I refuse to do anything close to what that prick Jake would do in this situation. It makes me sick that I might ever be put into the same category as an asshole like him.”
“I’m so sorry, Lukus. Truly, I know how stupid I was. Even though he has shit that he’s blackmailing me with, I’ve messed this up so badly.”
Doubt wrinkled his forehead. “You mentioned that last night on stage, but I didn’t believe you. What kind of blackmail could he possibly have that would make you betray Markus?” Lukus questioned.
“It’s complicated. It’s mostly bogus shit from our past that not only implicates me, but Tiffany… her brothers. Shit, I should have listened to Tiffany.”
Bri trailed off, but Lukus pressed her. “Yes, you should have, but I need more information. What does he have? Pictures?”
“Yes, and… worse.”
“What’s worse? Video?” He was guessing.
“All of the above. I totally screwed up six months ago, and let him convince me to meet him—and, shit, we had sex— but I hated myself the moment it as over. I swore I’d never talk to him again—but I didn’t know he took pictures. I only went with him yesterday because he promised to give me a hard drive with all of the pictures. I told him I’d only stay in public areas, but… like always… he tricked me. I should have known better.” That’s when it hit Brianna. “I have no idea how much you and Markus heard yesterday when you were listening in, but you have to know, I wasn’t in that room willingly. He was just supposed to give me the hard drive. But once I was behind closed doors, he put tape over my mouth to keep me from screaming. He tied me down. He…”
Brianna let her voice trail off.Did it really make any difference?
“He what?” There was tension in Lukus’s voice and his jaw looked locked as he waited for her to say the words she didn’t want to say.
Their eyes met. “Does it still count as rape if he made me come?”
Lukus sucked in a deep breath, exhaling slowly. They sat in silence long enough she wasn’t sure he would answer her. When he did, she didn’t like what he had to say. “It didn’t sound like rape.”
“Didn’t you hear me warning him I’d call 911? Screaming for help before he gagged me?”
“Sorry, sweetheart. All we heard was him belting you and you clearly loving it. We heard him talking about taking your ass and making fun of Markus, calling him Vanilla, and promising to come see you the next time he was in town. And of course, we heard you coming over and over.”
“Dammit! If you were gonna listen in, you should have listened to everything.” She felt desperation closing in. “I just wanted the hard drive. He promised he’d give it to me. I was frantic to get the evidence so both Tiffany and I could finally relax. Shit, she begged me not to go, to call the police instead. She’s angry with me, too, just like you are. Like Markus. Oh, God. He really is going to divorce me, isn’t he? I’m going to lose Markus and Tiffany both.”
Brianna had been trying so hard to stay strong but hearing that Markus had only heard the damning parts of her time with Jake only made things worse. She finally succumbed, letting her sobs consume her as the guilt from her betrayal of the two most important people in her life threatened to drown her.
I have no one to blame but myself. I had it all and I threw it all away. Please, God, let them forgive me.
Chapter Sixteen
Lukus
Lukus was torn as he watched Brianna melt down before his eyes. Part of him wanted to kill her himself for being so stupid. The other part wanted to hold her and tell her everything was going to be okay.
I’m so fucked.
As she cried inconsolably, he knew he needed to take control, but he wasn’t sure if he could cross those lines again. If he’d known what had really happened with Jake the day before he never would have put her on stage or punished her the way he had. He could only hope he hadn’t added to the trauma that asshole had put her through… but it was also becoming clear that Markus’s avoidance of anything BDSM was the core issue between them. It was time Brianna started to understand what being a submissive was really about.
“That’s it,” he said. “I'm doing you no favors by letting you get away with this. Stop crying... right now."
Lukus roughly pulled Bri closer, completely oblivious to the water drenching him and sloshing to the floor. His grip was tight on her upper arms and he kept his gaze hard, yet he managed to wait patiently for her to calm down enough to listen. It took Bri several moments to catch her breath.
When she was finally still, he spoke. “You’re gonna listen to me, and more importantly, you're going to believe every word I say. Do you hear me, little girl?" When she didn’t answer, he grabbed her long hair and yanked her closer, their faces only inches apart. "Answer me. Are you listening?"
