Page 27 of Endgame

My heart splinters, tearing me from the inside.

I get what’s soperfectabout this situation now. It’s my downfall.

“Is that the worst you’ve got?” I’m acting proud, lifting my chin in defiance. “Taking a picture of me? Fucking do it. I’m not scared of you.”

“A picture?” His steely chuckle sends ice racing up my spine. “No, princess. A picture won’t hurt them—or you. A picture won’t get the point across.”

The sound of his bag hitting the bed makes me yelp. My body jerks, but Everett’s hold cements me into place.

Annoyed, I flatten my hands on his chest, trying to push him away.

I’d have better luck moving a mountain.

Despair is a hard fist locked around my lungs.

“Let me go,” I beg, twisting in his hold, just barely.

His free hand latches on my hip, yanking me to him. To his cock.

He’s harder than he was in his chambers. Bigger.

He isn’t ashamed of his throbbing dick. He weaponizes it against me.

A means to instill fear in me. It’s working. My face goes numb. My stomach bottoms out.

But I’m also painfully aroused.

I press my lips together to bury every ounce of fear. To silence the weak, needy sounds threatening to escape past my lips.

“Listen to me.” His eyes bore into mine. “We’re getting married. Tomorrow.”

“Old news,” I blurt out, forcing myself to be brave and taunt him. “To me and them.”

“Aurora.” Every contact point between us sends jolts of pain and humiliation through me. “Underestimating me won’t end well for you.”

His touch is possessive, a silent warning that he’s in control. As his fingers dig deeper into my flesh, his cock almost tears through both our clothes.

“What do you want, then?”

“This isn’t about what Iwant. This is about what’s going to happen.” His voice is strained, his control of me unrelenting. “Little by little, I’ll strip the three of you of your sense of security. From your comfortable lives.”

“You’re really going to hurt them?” Awe mixes with terror as I look at him. Finally, someone’s standing up to that couple. I don’t know why he hates them, and I don’t care. What unsettles me is knowing he probably hates me because of them. “What are you going to do?”

“You don’t deserve an answer.” Everett thrusts me into him. “I’m giving it to you anyway. Partially.”

“Well?” I hate him. I fear him. I have to hold my ground. “Talk.”

“It’ll hurt, princess.” His mouth hovers a hairbreadth from mine, electricity humming in the air around us. “I’m going to make you suffer, all of you, and by the time I’m done, you’ll be begging for death.”

I won’t. I’ll fight him every step of the way, starting now.

He already plans to do the unthinkable. At least I’ll go down with my dignity intact. Just another reason why I’ll never tell him I find him even remotely attractive. Never.

“Lucky fucking me,” I growl.

“Yes. Lucky fucking you.” Everett’s nostrils flare.

I don’t manage to say another single word.