Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 81947 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81947 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
I struggled against his grasp. “You’re not making sense.”
He tightened his fingers around my wrist. “You almost died today. On my watch.”
I pulled my shoulders up off the mattress as I strained against him. “It had nothing to do with you. It was just a stupid accident.”
“You don’t know that for certain. You defied me and returned to your apartment, knowing there was a man out there gunning for you. That will not happen again.”
“The Russian guy is taken care of.”
His breath came fast and harsh against my cheek as he angrily tightened his grasp around my wrists. “You have no way of knowing that. Christ, Vivian. We still don’t know his fucking name or which syndicate he works for. Do you have any idea how many of these bastards are talented enough to kill you and make it look like an accident?”
I shook my head. “No. I won’t let you gaslight me into thinking I’m in some kind of danger and need to marry you for my own protection. I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing, Var, but I’m not falling for it.”
And I truly didn’t know what game he was playing.
It wasn’t like I was an heiress or some mafia princess with awesome criminal credentials.
I was a decent art forger. That was it.
Wait.
Could that be it?
Var had all but admitted that he mixed in the art world to launder money. Had he lied about not wanting me to create any more forgeries? Could he be trying to trap me into marriage to force me to paint exclusively for him?
No.
That was not possible.
Marriage was an intense, permanent solution to a temporary problem.
Unless it wouldn’t be permanent for him…
My gaze moved over his face. Anger radiated off him like heat. It was no secret he’d committed violence in his career with the mafia. Just because he promised not to kill me then, when he found me in the warehouse, didn’t mean he promised never to kill me.
His lips thinned as a muscle in his cheek twitched. He clenched his jaw so tightly, I swore I heard a tooth crack from the pressure. “You think we’re playing a fucking game, Viv?”
He shifted my wrists to one hand and ran his free hand over the side of my face, to my neck. “Fine. Then let me explain the rules to you.”
CHAPTER 35
VAR
Violent men do violent things.
My life was soaked in violence.
It was how I solved problems.
And right now, Vivian was a problem.
Twisting my fist into the flimsy fabric of her hospital gown, I tore it off her.
Before she could move, I cupped her pussy. “Let me explain so you will understand.”
My middle two fingers moved between her lips as I teased her clit with my thumb.
She inhaled sharply as her hips rose.
With a shift of my hips, I placed my right knee against her inner thigh, pinning her legs open.
“You have direct knowledge about three murders my syndicate covered up.”
I pushed a single finger inside her tight pussy.
Her eyes widened as she vigorously shook her head. “That was just a stupid threat. I would never, ever go to the police about what I know. You have to believe me, Var.”
My head tilted to the side as I studied her through hooded eyes. “I believe you, beautiful.”
Her body visibly relaxed.
“But that doesn’t mean the other men in my organization will.”
Her limbs stiffened.
I continued. “Which makes you a liability. If I were honest, they were less than thrilled to learn you hadn’t taken me up on my offer to leave the country.”
Her lower lip trembled. “I’ll leave now. The moment they discharge me, I’ll get on an airplane like you asked. You’ll never see me again.”
“Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. It’s far too late for that, baby girl.”
I pushed a second finger into her. “Then there are the various mafia syndicates who are actively searching for you.” My two fingers thrust in and out of her tight passage. “There are the Chinese. The mystery other Russian outfit. The Syrians. The Italians. The Irish. The list goes on. You’ve made a great deal of very dangerous people very angry.”
I added a third finger.
She whimpered and squirmed under my grasp.
My hand twisted in a circle. “You know what happens to you if they learn your identity?”
A tear escaped from the corner of her eye. “Please. Stop.”
I forced a fourth finger inside of her.
She yelped as her body bucked.
Breaking one hand free of my grasp, she wrapped her slim fingers around my wrist in a futile attempt to dislodge my hand.
“Pretty pleading with those gorgeous green eyes won’t work with them. You are not a person, you’re a commodity.”
Even less than that.
Fuck, I hated this. I hated doing this to her. Scaring her. But she needed to understand. There was no blissfully going back to her old life. She was in my world now, and in my world was where she would stay. And there was no surviving in my world without my protection.