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“He took away your choices.” Zak’s lips twist, a grimace darkening his disdainful expression. “Just like my father did to Valentina.”
“You’re no better. You did the exact same thing to me, punishing me for things my father did and for people he associated with.” My pulse hammers hard, drowning out my words. Goosebumps pebble my arms and legs as Zak closes the space between us. “You broke me. Shattered me into the tiniest pieces because your loyalty was to your family. You’ll always choose them, just like my father will always choose himself.”
Blood rushes between my ears, my finger stuck on the trigger. “Either way, nobody chooses me. And that’s not the life I want for myself.Ichoose me. So fuck all of you.”
A loud crash right outside the door makes me jump. I yelp, whirl around, and squeeze the trigger hard. My hand flies into the air as the shot fires, an unexpected force knocking the wind out of me. I drop the gun on the floor, a scream tearing through my chest.
Zak darts past me and peers out the window next to the door.
“Did they find us?” I whisper-shout, cowering against the wall.
He crawls over to me. I slide my hand over his hard pecs. Still inked. Not bullet-torn. “Thank God you’re okay. I didn’t hit you.” I let out a shaky breath, my head collapsing back against the wall.
The corners of his lips lift. “Nah, you got the ceiling instead. Alek is gonna be pissed about that hole.”
“What the hell was that crash outside?”
“Iguana. He ran right into a potted plant. That’s what you heard. It must’ve fallen over and cracked against the concrete.”
I hang my head. “I could have killed you.”
“That’s what you wanted, right?”
Shaking my head, I look up at him. “No. And I hate myself for even saying that because I really want to hurt you the way you hurt me. But instead, I keep letting you do it. I’ve been telling you what a pathetic piece of shit you are but really, it’s me who’s so pathetic because I can’t get over you, no matter how hard I try.” I cover my face with my hand and let out a groan. “I’m obviously a glutton for punishment.”
“Youhavebeen a very bad girl.” He grazes the bottom of my chin, tilting my head upward. “I’m gonna enjoy punishing you for all of it.”
“Just stop, okay? You don’t need to. Zak, you don’t need me to protect your family.” My voice is barely above a whisper, my heart clenching harder with every word I croak out. “My father needs someone to save his ass. Make him a deal. He’ll do anything to clear his name. Band together with him, get access to his network or whatever you need to take down Van Dyne and that other guy, Stepa-whatever. You can do it without me.”
I suck in a breath, unable to blink back the tears. “Just let me go. You don’t want me and you don’t need me anymore. Give me a chance to live my life the way I want, away from all of this. Don’t I deserve that?”
“You deserve to be happy.”
“Fucking-A right, I do.”
“And you deserve to know the truth.” He slowly rises to his knees and pulls me up by my hand, staring into my eyes so intently, a rush of heat floods my cheeks. “So here it is. Nothing that ever happened between us was bullshit. It started out that way, and I tried like hell to stop it, but I fell in love with you. And fuck me if I haven’t fantasized about you for the past four years, because for as much as I tried, I couldn’t forget you.”
My ears clang so loud, still ringing from the gunshot, that I question whether I really heard him say those words. I’d wanted him to say them for so long, now that they’re out there, I don’t even know how to react. My heart flutters in my chest, my belly alive with butterflies at the possibility that what he says is real.
But he still lied to me. He still broke my heart. And he still betrayed me and my family.
Words are just that. Meaningless without action.
He may have saved me from the men who came after me yesterday, but he had an ulterior motive. His agenda trumps my safety. It always has.
And sure, he can fuck me from now until kingdom come, but that’s just sex. It doesn’t take love to sizzle someone’s mind and body with otherworldly orgasms.
“I fucked up.” He trails his fingertips along the side of my face. “Too many times to count. Stay with me, baby girl. Let me make it right.”
I bite down on my lower lip to keep it from trembling. “You can’t. Too much has happened. I’ll always be a tool in your arsenal, nothing more.”
“No. I want you, Skyla. Forever.” He drags his fingers down the front of my neck and stops when they wrap around the string bikini top. “But I won’t make you stay. You still wanna go? I won’t stop you. I’ll make whatever arrangements you want, send you wherever you want to go so you’re safe and out of Miami. I’ll do that for you if it’ll make you happy.”
He rubs my nipples through the flimsy fabric. They tighten and tingle at his rough touch. My pussy clenches, wet with anticipation.
My God, I hate that bitch.
“Do you want me to stop?”
