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That same sinister smile takes over his face.
He whistles at the man holding the girl. Without a word, the man ushers the girl to stand by Caishen.
I gasp as my captor whips his arm back and meets the girl’s face so hard that the sound of impact bounces off the walls. She lets out a cry as she falls to the ground.
“It’s rude to ignore your host,” Caishen lectures.
“What is this?”
“This...is Pria.” He falls to his haunches to lean over her as she cups her cheek. His ring left a gash on her face, the blood covering her hands. “She is here to take your punishments.”
“What, like a whipping boy?”
“Scapegoat, fall guy, whatever you want to call it.” He shrugs as he moves to stand. “We’ll need you at all events on Xander’s arm. It’s not like I can have you running around looking like a punching bag. I’m not a complete monster. Pria is here to make sure you fall in line and stay there.”
“This is insane. Let her go.”
“Remember what I said about power. You have none, and her fate has been sealed.”
This man is so far gone there is no way to reason with him. The fact that any man can stand by him is nauseating. He smiles, signaling for his men to grab the girl as he turns for the exit.
I hear him sing off key, “Signed, sealed, delivered. I’m yours” before the door slams. Taking me back to that day in his office.
Asshole.
Chapter Twenty-Three
NICO
Ihaven’t slept. Or eaten.
Just the thought of lying in our bed, surrounded by her scent while she’s out there having god knows what done to her turns my insides into lead. I’m hoping he’ll leave her unharmed since she’s agreed to his terms, but I would put nothing past a fucker who would order his men to shoot a toddler without a second thought.
Caishen wasted no time handing over the annulment paperwork. When I get to the portion that states the reason, I almost laugh. If I didn’t want to gut the fucker, this is a solid joke. I let out a grunt of annoyance instead.
Dante looks up from his laptop next to me in the kitchen of my penthouse. “Chill, man. We’ll get her back. He’s probably ready to pay you to take her back.”
That gets a chuckle out of me. “It’s not that. Well, it is, but it’s also this.”
I hand over the paper and point to the section. Dante has no issue sharing a laugh at my expense.
“Damn, he could’ve stopped at fraud or duress, but he just had to add impotence.” Dante wheezes between laughs. “Gotta hand it to him—man’s got jokes.”
“He is a joke. He’ll be an even bigger joke when we get rid of him for good.” I crack my neck and knuckles, trying to relieve tension.
“Remember what Xander said.”
Be patient.
I don’t know if he realized that I don’t have a patient bone in my body. Not regarding Anya. It took me a day to orchestrate our real wedding.
God, I wish we could go back to that house in Virginia. Where I made love to her. Where I proposed. Where I made my vows. A place we could just be us.
“Are we really trusting this guy?” I ask my old friend.
It’s rhetorical, but it’s the only thing keeping my nerves in order.
“We don’t really have a choice. But I do believe him. After what his father did to him... At least you know he’s making sure she’s safe and unharmed... for the most part.”
