Page 19 of Don’t Hate Me (Secrets of Ravens Hollow #2)

My stack of pancakes with fresh berry compote is delicious, but I’m too distracted to really enjoy it. He hasn’t punished me yet, but I know it’s coming, brewing behind those dark eyes.

I collect my steaming mug of coffee, the rich aroma filling the air, and as I do, my eyes rise to find him watching me. “What?” I snap, not in the mood for his silent glances this morning. What is he going to do with me? The not knowing is worse than when he just snaps.

“Nothing,” he mutters, drinking his coffee way too calmly.

I let out a heavy sigh, wondering what the girls are up to at the club.

I need to think about anything else right now.

This time of the morning, I should be finishing up my three-mile run, having a shower, and getting into a cute but professional outfit, ready to take on the day.

Instead, I can hardly walk, and I’m trapped on a fucking island with a man who has a thing for me but won’t do anything about it, and the worst part is the feeling is reciprocated.

Yes, I’m officially that fucked in the head.

I’m into my captor. And I’m secretly hoping his punishment is sexual.

Orlando’s phone rings, and his lips twitch up at the sides ever so slightly as he locks eyes with me. “Brother,” he answers the call, flicking it to speaker phone, he places it on the table in front of him so I can hear as well.

My heart goes into overdrive at the use of the name brother. Is it Romeo? I fix my eyes on Orlando, placing my coffee mug down on the table.

“You have my attention. Where the fuck are you holding her?” Romeo’s voice booms down the line, angry and frustrated. He sounds like he wants to rip his brother’s head off, and I don’t blame him.

My heart constricts, already knowing he’s calling because of the video fucking Orlando sent them all. But how the hell did he get Orlando’s number?

Orlando’s eyes meet with mine, a smugness in his expression that tells me he gave it to them.

He wanted them to call. He’s playing with them.

And maybe even me. Is this my punishment?

“Have you taken care of Syd yet? That is the only reason you should be calling me,” he mutters, way too casual about it all.

“I got the intel you left. Reef is doing everything he can with his team. We can’t fucking find him. The slimy piece of shit has gone back into hiding. Everyone is looking for him, all the Stryker boys, the Morettis, everyone is on it. You need to let us see her.”

“Sloane stays with me until you take care of him,” Orlando growls.

Fuck, they’re all going crazy trying to find Syd. I stand in a rush, moving toward the phone as quickly as my ankle will let me, desperate to talk to him. “Romeo,” I call his name, not caring what Orlando will do to me for it.

“Doll face, are you okay?” he calls back, a desperation in his voice that kills me.

Orlando moves so quickly, I don’t have time to answer him before his hand is over my mouth.

“Take care of the old man or you will never see her again.” Orlando disconnects the call, his voice so cold it sends shivers down my arms. He moves me so I’m pressed into the table, glaring at me. “That wasn’t very smart, treasure.”

Disappointment fills me. “Ahh, you’re fucking infuriating. You couldn’t just let me talk to him, what was it going to hurt?”

With his large frame he crowds me, pressing me into the table behind, his body closer than I want it to be when I’m so mad with him. “I don’t know who’s listening in on the call, so no.” He brushes a strand of hair behind my ear, trying to be smooth.

I shake my head, anger vibrating through me. “It’s more than that. You’re keeping us apart out of your own jealousy,” I snap back at him, positive that’s what it is and sick of it. It’s not fair.

His head drops to the side of my face, his stubble brushing my cheek, and I feel him inhale deeply.

His other hand moves down my back delicately as he slides a knee in between my legs in a way that sends a shiver right through to my pussy.

“Jealousy, no. Selfishness, probably. Our daddy never taught us to share, treasure, not me anyway.”

Fuck. I swallow the lump in my throat, trying to get my body under control.

With a surge of anger, I shove him away, my hands flat against his chest, the linen fabric of his shirt grating against my skin.

“But he taught you to play games with each other. You’re fucking cruel.

And you’re not only hurting your brother, you’re hurting Reef, Onyx, and me as well. ”

“Casualties of a war you could never understand,” he mutters, completely careless of the pain he is inflicting.

Something inside me snaps. I’m sick of him playing the victim here.

“Oh, I get it. Romeo got out and you had to stay in your fucked-up family and be the strong one, the dependable one, so you hate him. You blame him for the man you became to please your psycho papa. But you got out too. And you need to remember you were an adult when you learned the truth about how disposable you were to your papa, your twin was only a child. He had no family, nothing. He was all alone in that messed-up home.”

“He had those two, Onyx and Reef. They have always had each other, so close they are like brothers.”

A bitter laugh escapes me. I don’t know the half of it, but I’m not letting him for a second believe Romeo got off lightly. “He found those two when the three of them were trying to survive the hell your papa stuck him in. That home he was put in was more like a fucking prison. Worse.”

His head drops, and a wave of his despair washes over me, the silent knowledge in his posture heavy with burden.

“You think I don’t fucking know that? I know where he was sent, I was threatened with the same shit every time I messed up.

Both me and my younger brother were, it’s how we became the men we did.

Romeo learned to survive that place, and I survived our brutal papa in his absence. ”

We’re so close I can feel the way his heart races, remembering what he went through.

The hand that was gripping his shirt softens, gliding over his chest till the constant beat of his heart is thumping under my hand.

I don’t know why I do it, I just need the connection with him right now.

Or maybe I think he needs it. “How bad did it get?”

“What?” He searches my face.

“Orlando, tell me. How fucking bad did it get with him, with your papa? What did he make you do?”

“Things you couldn’t even imagine.”

The way he says it makes my blood curdle, but I can’t stop now. I need to know how bad it gets. What this man who is trying to protect me is capable of. “Tell me,” I demand.

“What do you want to hear, Sloane, that I came to Syd’s club that night with every intention of hurting you?

Stealing your innocence, taking you back to Italy to our family home, and making you mine.

My fucking possession, because I had been told since you were born you would be.

No matter how fucked up that is, I did what I had to so I could survive in that world.

I didn’t care who I hurt in the process. ”

Pain chokes up my throat, but I knew who he was, I knew what he did. But hearing him admit to it fucking hurts. “What would he have done to you if you didn’t comply with his rules, if you didn’t follow his order to hurt me?”

“He would have done it and made me watch. Then you would have still been made my wife. You were promised to me before you were even born. My papa wanted to strengthen his political ties and our bloodline. Your poor unsuspecting father had no idea what he was signing over to him when he asked for help with his election. When you went missing as a little girl, you threw my family’s plans into disarray.

But I found you.” He says it smugly, like he’s proud of his achievements.

Proud that he was the one who tracked me down.

“Must kill you that your brother beat you to it then,” I spit back at him because I’m angry. I’m hurt, I’m crushed for the girl I was, for what he planned on taking from me, just because he thought his family name meant he was entitled to it.

His face contorts in anger, and I know it does. “Romeo has been hell bent on taking every last thing he can from the family, and that includes you. He took you because he knew it was a major fuck-you to my papa. And you let him.” He throws it back at me like I did something wrong.

Fuck him. I slap him so damn hard across his face it surprises even me, leaving my hand throbbing in pain.

“I hate you,” I spit back at him. How dare he make it out that Romeo was just using me to get back at his family?

It might be true, might have been my suspicion all along, but coming from Orlando’s mouth in that way makes me want to fucking hurt him.

His eyes bore into mine as he grasps both of my hands, his grip firm and unwavering.

“You don’t hate me, Sloane. You hate yourself because you’re falling for me, and you can’t understand why.

It kills you to think that I am the same man that tried to hurt you.

But I’m not him. I will never be him again.

Nine years ago, I died, and now I’m the man you see in front of you.

I’m not perfect, but I’m not my papa. And this thing between us is meant to be. ”

I try to pull away, but he won’t let me.

He forces me to look at him, his burning gaze searing into mine, a heavy desire radiating from him.

He’s right, I know he is by the way my whole body feels lit up when he looks at me just like this.

My eyes fall to his lips, wondering if he’s going to go through with it this time.