Page 110 of Bred

Which meant grinning and bearing the pain like it didn’t hurt.

Pushing my hair out of my face on an exhale, I got my foot settled and stared out the windows facing the Upper West Side.

We lived on the east side. Still a pleasant neighborhood. The best schools’ money could buy. This, though, was the ultra-rich neighborhood. None of the property sold under ten million, give or take a few. Even the street vendors were bougie.

The twinkling lights of the city gave off a soft yellow glow, turning the area golden. Any other time, I’d have thought the view was beautiful. Right now, I couldn’t even muster up any emotion. I couldn’t even say I wanted to go home, because going home meant facing parents who basically tossed me to a mob boss as insurance for a fucking debt I had nothing to do with.

Instead, I rearranged myself on the bed, pulling the covers up over my head so Ian the Barbarian couldn’t continue to stare at me. Even if he didn’t think I was aware of the heated caresses of his stare, the small hairs on the back of my neck stood up. He equal parts scared the shit out of me and did this funny thing to my stomach that I couldn’t quite name. I hoped, if I pretended to be asleep, he’d leave the room, and I could finally be blissfully alone.

At least, that’s what I told myself.

Little did I know, Mr. Baine would never leave my side again…

CHAPTER TWO

IAN

Inthethreeweeksmy little creature had been in this penthouse, I couldn’t get enough of her. She smelled of rosewater and citrus. Her long wavy black hair shielded her heart-shaped face, giving her a coy, haughty appearance that drove me wild. I watched the sway of her hips and the way her clothes hugged every curve of her voluptuous body. I also saw the marks left on her flesh. The red welts and fingerprints. The injured ankle and bruised cheek.

For every mark they left on her, I’d take my revenge with a pound of theirs. The thought struck me dead. I had no affection for this ethereal creature other than bodily want, yet every time I spied her tucking her pale, cracked lip between her teeth, brutal rage bloomed within my body.

Using someone for surety was one thing. Bringing harm to the innocent... My lip curled in disdain. Only small-minded, inferior bugs hurt people to get their way. As far as I was concerned, I’d been one of those people, too. A soldier. A sentinel. The muscle. The one thing that could scare others back into line without having to utter a word. I was darkness personified.

A red haze colored my vision.

I planned their deaths.

I envisioned their broken bodies bleeding.

The crimsons pool of their exsanguinated blood expanded around Roslin’s dainty feet while I fucked her from one orgasm to the next sent a shiver of anticipation down my spine. These aspirations would be my gifts and solemn oath to her.

“I told you, if I wanted your opinion, I’d give it to you,” Roslin snapped, baring her teeth at one of Dominic’s men.

He’d been hot on her ass since the moment she’d been unceremoniously shoved through the doors of Dominic’s penthouse on the eighty-seventh floor of the Demon's building. All of them were under the impression since she was the guarantee she’d been theirs to play with and torture.

They’d learn soon enough.

“Stop being a contemptuous bitch,” the man said, backhanding her.

Another mark added to the tally.

Another death warrant signed and sealed.

“Fuck you.”

She enraged me to the point of violence with her insolence and sharp mouth. Her inability to obey the simplest of tasks made my palms itch to correct her. She had a wild streak a mile long and the attitude to match. She was everything I hated about humanity, yet I couldn’t get enough of her. I wanted to feel her cutting tongue across my flesh, experience the cracking whip of impudence contained within her words.

Her topaz gaze cut toward me, and my dick jerked with excitement and anticipation. Her eyes burned with a fury I craved. I could see the awful, depraved ideas brewing in her beautifully broken mind. Watched the way she stared at the others as if she were calculating how each would die. I bit the inside of my cheek to stifle the moan building in my throat.

Raw, carnal arousal flowed through my veins. The giddy, manic part of my mind jumped for joy. I’d do anything for her. Kill for her. Burn for her. I’d take as many heads as she wanted me to, then fuck her while their lifeless bodies watched with sightless eyes.

I cocked a brow at her, my hands folded in front of me as I waited to see what she’d do next. The unpredictability of her nature was the truest gift. Would she fight again? Would she acquiesce? Show me something, creature, I hummed under my breath. The lashing of a coming storm building within her had tension crackling in the air. My body strained. The wildness within me craved being let out. I’d allow her to command me. Be her sword to wield as she wished.

Instead of saying a word, she straightened her spine, shifted her shoulders back, and lifted her chin. Her eyes were slits of contempt as she stared down at the man—I didn’t learn his name, nor the others. Only Dominic’s because I planned to kill him last. She lifted the corner of her mouth in hatred as blood trickled from the cut Dominic inflicted upon her delicate features, reopened by the bastard behind her's brutality.

“You will regret hitting me.” Her words were bitter. Detached. She took two steps before the fool grabbed her wrist.

Still, I didn’t move.