Page 160 of Reaper and Ruin

He pulled me into his arms, holding me tight, his desperation thick in the choke of his voice. “Okay, but she’ll get better, and you’ll come home.”

I couldn’t give him the false hope I’d given Violet. Violet’s heart wouldn’t break when I didn’t return.

But Dax’s had to. It was the only way he would ever be able to move on. I couldn’t string this out, just hoping he’d forget. “I’m not coming back. And I don’t want you to come with me.”

It was like every word was a hot dagger of pain right to his stomach. Each one drawing out blood and vital organs he needed to live. I could see it in his expression.

He shook his head. “Don’t do this.”

But I had to. Out of the corner of my eye, my uncle lurked, watching, making sure I was the good little princess my father had always expected me to be.

I pressed up on my toes and kissed Dax’s mouth. Then delivered the death blow. The one I was hoping I wouldn’t have to use, because it would hurt so much. “Every time I see you, all I think about is the baby I lost. I can’t Dax. I just can’t. Please let me go.”

And because that man would always give me whatever I wanted, he did.

He let go of my fingers, despite the agony written all over his face.

He let go of me, despite the fact I wanted to fall straight back into his arms and tell him it was all lies.

He let me go because it was what I’d asked him for, even though I knew I would regret it for the rest of my life.

I walked away before I couldn’t. My legs shook, my fingers trembled. My father’s men fell into step beside me as we rounded the corner, out of Dax’s sight.

That was when I finally let the tears fall silently down my cheeks. Mourning him. Mourning the baby we’d lost. Mourningthe future we could have had together if I had been someone else.

I let my uncle lead me to a blacked-out car. He put me in the back seat.

I didn’t even acknowledge my father sitting on the other side, waiting for me with slicked-back hair and an expensive suit.

He didn’t try to touch me. Just nodded, like I was a good dog and he was pleased by my obedience.

It took me a long moment to even realize there was anyone else in the car.

But when I noticed the man sitting on the opposite-facing seats, my blood ran cold. “Why is he here?”

My father settled back in his seat, crossing his arms over his chest. “Your fiancé wanted to meet you in person.” He glanced over at the man. “See? She is just as I said. Worth every penny, is she not?”

The man’s dark gaze rolled over every inch of my body, my skin crawling beneath every sweep of his beady eyes. “Indeed, she is. For once, we agree on something.”

I shook my head at my father. “What are you doing? I’m not—”

His palm smacked across my face so hard blood spurted in my mouth.

I clapped my hand to my stinging cheek and stared at him in shock. He had never been a warm man, never loving or kind. But he’d never laid a finger on me.

Apparently, that reprieve was over. I was no longer something sacred.

I was just another one of the women he beat up on.

I stared at him with feral anger raging inside me. “This is who you’ve chosen for me? This is who you want me to marry? A fucking Guerra?”

The man sitting across the car smiled like a serpent, all teeth and hiss and venom.

My father was marrying me off to his enemy.

The End.