Page 19 of While You Sleep

“Not Cillian,” he spat. “He’s just an O’Rourke bastard. You’ll be marrying Adam, Seamus’s son and heir.”

For some reason, that felt even worse. Adam terrified me. Whenever he looked at me, I felt like scrubbing myself clean afterward. “I won’t do it. I won’t marry a complete stranger—”

“Sophia,” my father snapped.

I took a step back. “No. I won’t do it.”

“Yes, you will,” my father roared, slamming his hand down on the desk again. “You will do as you’re told.”

“No,” I said again, hating that it came out shaky and weak.

“Then our men will leave,” Cillian said to me. “More than half of the armed men outside protecting your family are ours. But know, the moment we go, Alto will move in. They will mow down your father’s men, and then your family, like they are nothing, and that includes your little brother. And since your father will be dead, you’ll no longer be needed, or important. Alto will either kill you, keep you as a whore for his men, or sell you. If you’re still a virgin, he’ll get a good price in some circles—”

“Enough,” my father snapped.

“You did this,” Cillian said, his calm voice sending an icy trickle down my spine. “You put your family in this position. Sophia needs to know the truth and the consequences of her decision.”

My heart was pounding in my chest, visions of what Cillian had said playing through my mind in grisly detail. Of my brother, of him being so scared, of his little body still and covered in blood. I couldn’t bear it. Despite all the lies Cillian had told me, about who he was, everything, I knew what he said now was the truth. He wasn’t feeding me lies to get his way, not this time, and judging by his dead gaze, he didn’t care either way.

“I’ll do it,” I choked out. “Just please, make sure Tommy’s safe.”

My father said nothing, but his relief was obvious.

I spun to the door, needing to get the hell out of there. Cillian blocked the way.

“Let me past.”

“If you run—”

“Where would I go? If I leave, my family dies, right?”

He nodded.

“You know how much my brother means to me, don’t you?” I said, somehow finding strength in the face of this lying monster, reminding him of the conversations we’d had over text. Talking back and forth for hours. This psychopath who’d played the role of someone warm and kind and funny and protective, so easily, knew all about me. I’d told him so much about myself, my hopes and dreams, everything. I thought he was my friend, when in truth I’d been sharing private details of my life with a man as cold and ruthless as a reptile.

His gaze searched mine, and when he saw whatever it was he was looking for, he finally stepped aside, but not all the way, forcing me to squeeze past him, my front to his side.

Another involuntary shiver raced through me, my traitorous body remembering what he’d done to me against my apartment wall, even though I was terrified of him, even though I hated him. He made a rough sound, and I knew he felt it too.

I ran upstairs, ignoring the looks from the men gathered around. In a matter of hours my world had been uprooted, torn away, and set ablaze, revealing the horror that lay beneath the facade I’d built for myself.

And there was no escape from it.

* * *

Cillian

An image of Sophia running up those stairs before I left Brennan’s house earlier had played through my mind most of the night.

Running away with nowhere to go.

I understood betrayal. I knew how it felt to be thrown to the wolves. She was suffering now, but it’d make her stronger.

I drew in a deep breath as the sounds she’d made when she came apart for me filled my mind, settling in my gut.

You...ah, smell really good…somehow, familiar.

That was because I had a bottle of her vanilla and cinnamon body lotion at home, that I was working my way through. I’d used it to stroke my cock, thinking about her before she’d called. Because I wanted her all over me, and that was the only way I could have her. That’s why I smelled familiar.

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