Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 82094 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82094 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
“Understand something,” I say, staring into her eyes. She doesn’t want to look back, but she can’t help herself, the filthy girl. “Whatever your father did to the Panagos family, I won’t let them hurt you.”
“Right, you couldn’t risk the merchandise. You worked too hard to secure it.”
“You want me to say shit like that, don’t you? It’d be a lot easier if you thought I saw you as some fuck doll. Some little plaything. Is that what you want? Is that what makes you wet? I bet you’ve never been objectified once in your pretty little life.”
“Oh, go to hell,” she whispers fiercely. “You think I’ve never been hit on? Never been harassed? I’m a woman, for god’s sake, of course I’ve been harassed.”
“And yet here you are, breathing hard, staring at me like you want me to spread your knees wide and lick your pussy from top to bottom. No, this isn’t about protecting an investment, filthy girl. It’s about protecting what I want.”
“There you go talking about wanting me again when we already established we can barely stand each other.”
“How many more times are you going to make me show you that the world isn’t all simple black and white? We’re down here in the mucky, dirty gray, my darling.”
“You might be, but I won’t be forced to your level.”
I crack a half-smile and stay there on my knees in front of her for a moment longer before pulling away. She lets out a breath like the tension’s sliding out of her in a wave.
“That’s the thing, filthy girl,” I say quietly as I look out the window. “You’ve always been at my level, you just don’t realize it yet.”
She says nothing. Not that I expected her to. It’s not easy to come to grips with the ugly truth of your world, but here she is, being forced to see it for all its flaws and rot.
Chapter 12
Brice
I can’t stop thinking about that Greek gangster after dinner.
For a little while, I was actually having a nice time. Carmine was asking questions about my friends and their businesses, and I liked being able to give him information he needed. I was the expert for once, and he wasn’t being a total prick.
Until the limo ride back home.
God, that man is incapable of kindness. He has to rub my face in what my father did every chance he gets. He seems to think that just because Daddy did something terrible, that means I’m also tainted, and my whole family is tainted, and we’re somehow the same, but we’re not the same. Carmine runs a mafia family. He kills people and sells drugs. Daddy made a mistake, but that doesn’t make us criminals, not in the way that Carmine is.
Back at home, I get changed in the bathroom where he can’t see me and climb into bed in the darkness. Carmine’s already lying under the covers and I can feel the heat rolling off him and can smell him on the sheets, despite the king-sized mattress. I try to roll onto my side, showing my back to him, but I’m intensely aware of him there beside me, and I can’t seem to sleep.
“You’re going to roll around all night, aren’t you?” he whispers and I nearly yelp at the sudden sound.
“No, I’m not, and I was almost asleep.” Which isn’t true at all, but I’m not sure what else to say.
“I know what you’re thinking. You’re mad about what I said.”
“No, I’m mad about the whole situation. You’re only one piece.”
He’s quiet for a moment. I listen to his breathing and roll onto my back. I tilt my head so I can see him, and he’s staring up at the ceiling, a strange, pensive look on his face. “I know you want to see me as the villain because that’s easy for you, but you’re wrong, Brice. I’m the one rescuing you.”
I can’t help but laugh bitterly. “You call this a rescue? Forcing me to marry you so you’ll deign to save my family? It feels more like blackmail.”
“And yet that’s where you’re wrong.”
I take a deep breath and let it out before looking at him again. “When my mother died, Daddy threw himself into our relationship. He was the best father I ever could’ve wanted, always there for me, always available. They had demands of me, high expectations, that sort of thing, but Daddy loved me so much it was palpable. Do you know what that’s like, to be loved?”
“No,” Carmine says at nearly a whisper. “I don’t.”
“Then that’s why all you can see is the ugly things in the world. So what if I’m neat and orderly? So what if I don’t walk around cursing and acting like a slobbering beast? I like control in my life. I like things put together and in their right place. That doesn’t mean I’m wrong about everything.”