Page 209 of Conquered

“It’s a small thing in return for the kindness that you’ve shown my boy,” she whispers, her hands shaking, making the fork scrape lightly on the plate. “For helping him to...get clean.” She speaks the last part so quietly, if I weren’t already leaning in, I would have missed it.

My heart aches for her, tears springing to my eyes. Although I hope I would never be under the thumb of a man, to the point that I let him get my son addicted to drugs, I don’t blame her for being unable to stop it. By all accounts, she is the victim of domestic abuse, and you can see it clearly in the way she holds herself, like her very soul is injured.

“I love him,” I confess to her, just as quietly as she spoke to me. “I love them all, and would do so much more for them.”

“I know,” she whispers back. “And they clearly love you in return. I could see it the moment you walked in. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry for what is about to come.”

My heart throbs at her words, my breathing quickening as visions of a bloodbath fills my mind's eye. Before I can respond, Julian stands up, hitting his wine glass gently with a fork, the tinkling sound halting all speech in the room.

“Before we move onto the main course of the evening, I have a little announcement to make,” he says, his face wreathed in smiles as he turns to look at me. Ash’s grip on my hand becomes bruising at the same time my brows furrow. “Asher?”

Ash lets go of my hand, turning in his chair to face me as he reaches into his trouser pocket. He’s wearing a tux like the others, but I barely register that as my vision zeros in on the small black velvet box that he’s holding out in front of him.

“Lilly Darling,” he starts, opening the box, and I see the twinkle of a diamond and ruby inside. “Will you make me the happiest of all men, and do me the greatest honour, of becoming my wife?”

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

LILLY

Istare at the unusual glittering diamond and ruby ring, nestled in deep crimson silk, dumfounded. The sound of a chair crashing to the floor behind me registers, along with a growled curse, but it’s as if it’s all far away, in some other place.

“Marry you?” I whisper, finally looking up into Ash’s face. His steel eyes are swirling, a myriad of emotions running through them, but the overarching one is a plea, begging me to trust him. My brows draw down, my head shaking slightly. “Why?” I ask, but this time I look at Julian. After all, he’s the one behind this, the puppetmaster. “Why do you want me to marry Ash?”

He smirks at me, and I want to fucking punch his perfectly straight teeth out of his devil’s mouth.

“How was your little trip to London, Darling?” he asks instead, tipping his head to one side like a snake contemplating its prey. I hate that he uses my surname like a term of endearment. Shivers cascade over me as I’m trapped in his predator’s leer, and in my peripheral vision, I see Ash stiffenfurther until he’s become the Ice Knight everyone knows him to be. “You didn’t think we wouldn’t know about your jaunt, did you?” And then Julian tsks at me like a naughty wayward child, and my blood boils at the fucking audacity of this man. “That somehow, we wouldn’t know about those bonds and shares inourcompany your mother had hidden away.”

I can feel my face go cold, the blood draining from it, and no doubt leaving me pale and terrified looking. And I am. I’m fucking scared shitless at what this means.

“Now,” he starts, stepping out from his space and coming slowly, menacingly, towards me, leering eyes holding mine. “We can’t have a slip of a girl like you, who knows nothing about the work that has gone into Black Knight Corporation to make it the great enterprise that it is today, holding us to ransom. At first, I thought that we could just...dispose of you, like we usually do to things that get in our way,” A growl sounds behind me—Jax, no doubt—but my eyes are full of the crazed grey of Julian’s, unable to look away. “But then, everything goes to your uncle, as your next of kin, and that doesn’t help us much either.”

He steps fully behind me, and my relief at no longer being under his scrutiny is short-lived as his hands come down on my shoulders, gently like a lover's caress, his thumbs stroking the base of my neck. Bile fills my mouth, and it takes everything in me not to throw up all over the glistening silverware.

“Father,” Ash grits out, jerking as if he wants to stand up and rip the older man’s hands off me.Please, Ash.

“I’m not done, boy,” Julian snarls, his grip tightening to the point of bruising, and a sharp gasp falls from my painted lips. “Where was I? Ah, yes. I had a better idea, so here is what will happen. You will marry Asher, be the happiest of brides, radiant on your wedding day, etcetera. Ash will become your next of kin, you will name him in your Will so that if anything unfortunate were to happen to you, he will inherit your stocks,shares, and bonds. Of course, you will remain a silent partner.” He pauses, going back to caressing my shoulders lovingly, and I can’t suppress the shudder that runs through me. “Oh, and they’ll be no more whoring yourself out to the other boys. I will not have bastard grandchildren.” His fingers dig in again, as if to reinforce his point, but I barely register the pain, my mind a maelstrom. Then I feel his breath against my ear as he leans down and whispers, so only I hear. “Although, if you ever want a real man between those pretty thighs, you only have to ask.”

Dizziness washes over me at his words, my nails digging into my palms deep enough to break the skin with a sharp sting. I feel dirty, a sense of violation settling deep within my soul as he straightens up, giving me one last caress before my back is cold once more when he moves away. My eyes are unseeing, staring straight ahead as I think about all that he's just said. I can't see a way out, and panic starts to flutter at the edges of my vision, black dots appearing before me.

Suddenly, I feel a solid weight settle on my thigh, gripping me hard and bringing me back into the room. Slowly my head turns, as if I'm underwater, and I meet Ash’s clear grey eyes. There's sorrow there, as well as a fierceness in the tight lines around his eyes that tells me we will get through this. He lets go of my thigh, taking my left hand in his, and bringing it in front of him. I don’t look away as I feel him slide the ring onto my finger, the cool metal soon heating up with the contact of my overheated skin. There's a flare of...something, that flashes in his grey orbs. It's very close to possession, and my heart thuds in my chest with the knowledge that I am his now, officially.

“A toast!” Julian cries, his voice jovial and full of merriment, and waiting staff step forward with pre-opened bottles of the finest Dom Pérignon.They must have known before I did.

The thought flies through my mind as I continue to stare at Ash, letting his strength flow through me, bolstering my wallsuntil they are solid enough to face these demons. He leans in, keeping his eyes locked with mine until he's no longer able to.

“I will not take them away from you, Princess. I promise,” he murmurs in my ear, the same one his father spoke into mere moments ago. But this time, my shoulders droop with relief, moisture stinging my eyes.

“Thank you,” I say back, my lips barely moving so as not to alert anyone else of our hushed conversation.

“Anything,” he tells me, pulling away just enough so that I can see the vow in his words. “Anything for you, my love.”

ASH

I try to reassure her with my eyes, her own hazel ones swimming with a mixture of gratitude and devastation. I can't deny the asshole in me loves the idea of her being my wife. Of owning her, having my family’s ring on her finger like countless generations of Vanderbilt women before her. The thought is enough to make me rock-fucking-solid, even with these jackals surrounding us.

But, cunt though I might be, I would never take her away from the others. I couldn’t do that to them, to her. She's theirs just as much as she's mine, regardless of what a piece of paper may say.

I look past her to see Jax, hands clenched into fists on the table, his flute of bubbling champagne untouched as he vibrates with anger. Slowly, he turns his head and meets my gaze.Fuck. His eyes are full of piercing blue rage, his lips pressed together in a tight line.