Page 13 of The Aftermath

“A lot of women have kids and a career, Angel.”

“In this society?” I ask. He nods. “Who?”

“My mom, for one,” he replies like it’s no big deal. I nearly roll my eyes again. I know how his mom is, and she hardly counts, considering she’s a lawyer for the damn society.

“She doesn’t count, Simon.”

“Of course she does. She’s doing a job,” he snaps back at me.

“Who else?” I ask, challenging him to name someone who doesn’t actually work for the fucking society. Women aren’t allowed to work here. We have kids, raise them, and take care of the men. That’s our fucking role.

“I can’t come up with someone right off hand,” he says, and I snort a laugh. Simon doesn’t appreciate that at all. He reaches up and grabs my face roughly in his hand. I shift my eyes to see if anyone is watching and see the leaders taking us in. They won’t stop him. He’s doing what a King is supposed to do by correcting my bad behavior.

“You think you can talk to me any kind of way?” he hisses at me.

“Fuck you,” I murmur the words so everyone at the table doesn’t hear them.

“Oh, you do, don’t you? You think you can talk to a King in that manner and get away with it,” he says, smirking at me. “Stand up and follow me out of the room.” I swallow hard. There’s no way in fuck I’m following him anywhere.

“In your fucking dreams, Simon. I’m not going anywhere with you,” I hiss at him. His eyes grow rounder, larger as he looks me in the eye as if he wants to choke me right here at the table.

“I’ll make you suffer worse than your brother did,” he warns. What the fuck did he just say? How does he know that? How does he know what my brother did? He sees the look in my eyes and knows I want answers. “You want answers? Get the fuck up and follow me out.” My chest tightens as I shove to my feet, causing him to release his grip on my face. He shoves out of his chair, and I don’t bother to look over at Silas because I can feel his rage across the damn room.

Simon leads the way, and the Kings leaders look happy about it. My stomach ties in knots as I follow him down the hall and into a side room. We step in, and he slams the door shut before eyeing me.

“Fucking princess, my ass. You’ve whored yourself out to half the fucking Kings in attendance; I would assume,” he hisses at me.

“What the fuck? I have not!”

“Not what your brother says,” he adds.

“What do you know about Tom?” I ask, needing to know what the hell he knows.

“You’d like to know, wouldn’t you?”

“What do you want, Simon? What do you want to tell me?” He grins at me, and I want to throw up. I know exactly what the sick fuck wants, and he isn’t getting it. Not from me. I shake my head as he advances on me. I back up until my back hits the wall, and his smile grows.

“There’s nowhere you can run, Angel.”

“Don’t touch me.”

“Why? Hasn’t everyone else?” I shake my head once more. I’m not a whore. Not for anyone except Silas, but Simon doesn’t know that. He inches closer, and the thought of throwing up hits me hard. I reach up and cover my mouth so I don’t do it when he leans in. Just as he begins to reach for me, the door bursts open, and the guys come in. They look between Simon and me as I try not to throw up my dinner.

“What’s going on in here?” Rylan asks casually, as he picks up a small box off the dresser and looks it over before setting it back down.

“Teaching this little princess a lesson in manners,” Simon replies. Ry hums, but I can see the deadly look in Silas’s eyes.

“What did she do?” Levi asks, pulling his attention.

“She doesn’t know when to shut up for one,” he tells them as he grins. My heart leaps into my throat when Silas speaks.

“So what’s stopping you? Punish her,” he declares, nodding toward me. Tears cling to my lashes. He isn’t really going to let him do that, is he? Silas cut off someone’s fucking finger for touching me, and now he’s going to let Simon punish me? I look wide-eyed at Silas, but he ignores me, watching Simon instead.

“I don’t think I need an audience for this,” Simon tells them.

“What do you mean? That’s one of the rules. If a King without a Queen is to punish a princess, another King must be in attendance to witness. You know, in case something goes wrong,” Silas reminds him, still not looking at me. “Do what you want, man. We’re not going to tell.” Now, my heart hammers against my ribs. Why is Silas doing this? Why would he let him touch me?

Simon grins before turning back to me. I eye him up and down, ready to kick him in the balls if I have to. I don’t need Silas to save me from him; I’ll do it myself.

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