Page 7

7

ELLIE

I should poison him and be done with this whole charade.

Though I don’t know how I would get the poison into Sean’s house, let alone slip it into his food while he’s not looking, the idea is appealing.

It’s only one of the million scenarios I’ve gone through over the course of the last couple days.

Killing him may earn me jail time if I’m caught, but even that could be better than spending a life with him.

The door to my room opens just as I’m pinching together the front clasp of my inky black lace bra.

Sean’s gaze rakes up and down my body before he glances just past me to the terrace and the windows that overlook the massive garden and the waterfront.

I stride into the closet, ignoring him since he couldn’t be bothered to knock.

Though I always assumed Malcolm raised Sean like he was a rabid wild animal, there was a tiny part of me that thought there could have been a sliver of humanity in the beast.

After spending the last three days living under his roof, I’m beginning to see that my small shred of hope was grossly misplaced.

Sean sighs, his irritation ringing through the bedroom and into the closet. “Ellie, get dressed. We’re going out.”

My fingers trail over the silky material of the formal dresses in the corner before I cross the massive closet, dodging the paneled island in the middle. “You could ask if I want to go out with you.”

Right now, I’m sure his scowl is set deeper than ever before. He’s probably patting his pockets and searching for the box of cigarettes I hid after he went to sleep last night.

If I can’t have a bit of fun while living in this damn house, then I’m going to go insane.

Getting under his skin is proving to be my favorite hobby. Which means that the short white shorts and black sheer top I grab are going to do nothing but infuriate him more.

As I head back into the bedroom, he’s leaning against the wall, his arms crossed. The holstered gun at his hip is more obvious than usual, his shirt riding higher as he shifts his position on the wall.

His eyes nearly bulge out of his head as I drop my shirt on the bed and take my time pulling up the shorts. “What the hell do you think you’re wearing?”

I shrug and grab the shirt, pulling it over my head. “Clothing. It’s comfortable. I have to go over some case studies on palliative care today.”

His lips press into a tight line. “Didn’t I just tell you that we were going out?”

“I go back to work tomorrow and one of the patients I have is undergoing palliative care for their cancer. I need to go over some studies so they can get the best quality of care possible.”

Sean’s nostrils flare, his cheeks turning red. “That’s not clothing. Put something on that doesn’t make you look like you’re selling yourself on a corner.”

My nails dig into my palms so hard there are little half-moon imprints on them. “I just told you that I have to do some extra work for one of my patients. I don’t have time to go out today.”

His jaw clenches, the vein in his neck throbbing. “Damn it, Ellie. This isn’t up for discussion. Put on something that doesn’t make you look like you went shopping at the prostitute department store and get your ass downstairs.”

Sean spins and walks out the door, slamming it so hard behind him that some of the trinkets on the bookshelves rattle.

I perch on the edge of the bed, taking a deep breath.

This isn’t what I wanted my life to look like. I’m supposed to be picking up extra shifts at the clinic right now, not sitting on a California king bed decked out in white linens and staring out at a garden with stone walkways and a shimmering pool.

Aiden didn’t spend the last sixteen years raising me to just sit and take Sean’s demands. He raised me to be the sister to a mafia leader. Strong and independent, only deferring to a man who earned my respect.

Sean’s already killed my father, and now he just keeps digging the hole deeper.

I push off the bed and head into the closet, swapping the shorts and shirt for a sundress with a low back that scrapes just inches down from the top of my thighs.

Kara sighs from the terrace as she comes back inside, shutting the glass door and turning the lock. “You know he’s going to lose his shit when you do down there looking like that.”

“I don’t really care.”

I head over to the little gilded dish on the white vanity, picking up the dainty gold necklace with my initial on it.

Kara leaves the room as I put the necklace on, thinking of it as my armor for battle. It was the last thing Dad got me before he died.

He wouldn’t want me to bow down without a fight. Especially not to the man who killed him.

After putting on a spritz of my favorite perfume, I take my time descending the winding staircase, heading past the hallway that leads to the theatre and gym and instead taking the one that leads to the living room.

Sean is sitting in one of the cream armchairs, his heels on the table and an unlit cigarette dangling from his lips.

A small pool of heat builds in my lower stomach, but I extinguish it as fast as possible.

The devil is only attractive to lure his victims in before punishing them.

Kara is standing to the side, two other bodyguards behind her. Both of them are big men wearing matching scowls with muscles that nearly bulge out of their black t-shirts.

Sean glances at me, cigarette falling to the ground as he gets to his feet. “What the hell do you think you’re wearing?”

“You told me to get changed. I got changed.” I hold my arms out to the sides slightly, twirling in a slow circle. “What do you think? Personally, I think it really shows off my legs.”

The way his teeth grind together only makes me smirk.

He crosses the room in two large strides, his chest nearly brushing against mine. I have to tilt my head back to meet his heated gaze, and when I do, the air is stolen from my lungs.

Alarm bells ring in my mind, telling me that I’m messing with the wrong man.

I don’t care.

Everything else in my life that I love has been taken away already. There’s nothing left for him to steal. Every single piece of me has been given to my family and their war.

Sean’s lips are too close to mine, the scent of his cologne making my head spin. “You’re not going out in public dressed like that. No wife of mine is going to parade around in a dress that barely covers her ass just so men can stare at her.”

“I’m wearing it because I like the dress. Not because men are going to stare at me.”

He scoffs, putting a couple inches between us, but not enough. “Men are going to stare, and when they do, I’m going to gouge their eyeballs out.”

The way he says it is so casual and unbothered that I believe him.

His finger traces under the thin string masquerading as a strap before he rips it. “Looks like you’re going to need to go change.”

I tuck the broken strap into the front of the dress, my skin stinging from how hard he pulled it. “It’s fine.”

“When it’s just the two of us, you can walk around naked for all I care.” He slides his finger beneath the other strap, pausing for a moment.

“Fine, then. I will.”

Sean’s jaw works overtime before he pulls hard on the other strap. It digs into my skin like the first before it gives way. “Go get changed into something you can wear to the gun range.”

Another argument is on the tip of my tongue, but I don’t miss the way Kara and the other two guards are watching us.

Continuing to disobey him when he’s given me an order in front of his people isn’t an option. Until he demanded that I go upstairs, this could have looked like foreplay to them.

It’s more like two people holding blades to the other’s throat and playing a deadly game of chicken.

I spin on my heel, one hand clasped to the front of my dress to hold it up as I climb the stairs.

After getting changed into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, I head back downstairs.

Even though I would rather stay home and look into ways to improve my patient’s quality of life, some time at the gun range is needed.

Years of martial arts training wasn’t enough to protect me from Noah and his men, but sharpening my gun skills might be.

“Having three guards is overkill.” I follow Sean into the small gun range, leaving our bodyguards outside to watch over the building.

He punches a code into a glowing panel on the cement wall, and a door opens, revealing enough guns to stock a small armory. “Pick something.”

I take one of the pistols, checking it over before snatching a magazine and some ammunition.

As he selects his gun, I load mine and walk over to the counter. Down the range are two targets, both with human silhouettes and sections marked off. Little numbers denote the amount of points gained for shooting that section.

Sean stands beside me, his shoulders tense. “You want less bodyguards. I think you need more since you can’t seem to take care of yourself, so we’re going to settle this my way.”

“A shooting competition?” The corner of my mouth twitches.

“Yes. Beat me, and you can have things your way. I beat you, and you stop arguing with me about the bodyguards.”

I lean against the counter, keeping the pistol pointed at the ground and the safety on. “You think you’re that good of a shot, do you?”

He shifts away from me, widening his stance. “I know I am, and I also know that you couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn if you tried.”

Smothering the smile that tries to surface, I shrug. “Don’t have much experience with guns.”

“Whoever gets the most points wins.”

“You go first.” I pull my bottom lip between my teeth, glancing at the targets before turning my gaze to my shoes. “I think I should at least get to see what I have to beat since there’s only a slim chance I could.”

“Fine. Ten shots each.”

Sean turns to the targets, hitting a button to move them a couple yards closer than they already are. He puts in a pair of earplugs before flicking the safety off and firing. I grab my earplugs, cramming them in as I stand back.

The first shot cracks through the air and goes through the silhouette’s head. The next hits its heart.

The other eight shots land close to the heart, but a couple stray a little to the right, hitting the silhouette closer to the shoulder than the heart, losing Sean several points.

He smirks at me, flicking the safety back on the pistol. “Ninety-three.”

“I don’t know if I can beat that.” I swallow hard, stepping up to the counter and widening my stance slightly.

As I aim, he shifts beside me. I don’t let it bother me, keeping the pistol aimed at the heart.

My finger wraps around the trigger and the shot echoes, the bullet whizzing through the ten-point section. I change my aim slightly to the nine-point section, firing twice.

The rest of my shots stay in either the head or the heart, each one racking up another ten points.

When I’ve fired my ten shots, I shove the safety back into place and turn to him with a smirk. “I think that makes ninety-eight.”

His deep-brown eyes narrow, so dark they almost look black in this lighting. “You played me.”

I shrug, pulling out the earplugs. “You’re the one who doesn’t bother spending time studying their enemy. If you spent a little more time asking questions instead of pretending you’re the boss of me, you might have learned that.”

After reloading the magazine while he fumes, I put the gun away.

Sean follows me, storing his gun and punching in the code to shut the panel. “This isn’t over, you know that. I’m your husband now and I know what’s best for you. You need the bodyguards.”

“So, I take it that means you aren’t a man of your word.”

“I am.”

“Great, then because I won—as stated in your terms before entering the competition, I get to decide how many bodyguards I have.” I tuck my hands into the pockets of my jeans. “Me and my one bodyguard are going to go home so I can prepare for work.”

Sean’s hand shoots out, wrapping around my wrist and stopping me before I can leave. “What are you planning?”

Sweat beads on the back of my neck.

There’s no way that he knows I’m working on a plan to get the hell out of here, but it wouldn’t take a genius to figure out that I might.

“Nothing.”

“Aiden told me about the times you used to sneak out of the house when he put you on lockdown.” His hand tightens around my wrist, fingers pressing against my pulse. “Do you think I’m stupid?”

“No. I’m not up to anything, though. You’re just paranoid because you’ve spent your entire life screwing people over and now you’re just waiting for life to punish you.”

He scoffs, dropping my wrist like he’s been burned. “You better stop whatever the fuck it is you think you’re doing before you get everyone you love killed.”