Page 177 of Seizing Control: Part One

Fuck.

Unbidden, my hand slides inside my suit jacket. His light-blue gaze tracks my movement, then Slash dismisses the threat I pose with a sneer. He pins Lily’s arms above her head, and the room is plunged into darkness after he slaps down the light switch. In the time it takes for my eyes to adjust, Slash circles his fingers around Lily’s neck. A feral rumble emerges from the depths of my soul as I recognise one of my sweet thing’s triggers. He chokes her. I pull my pistol free. An ashen hue floods Lily’s face when he stops her breathing. The wild protectiveness that surges within me dies when she leans into his grip.

This I don’t comprehend.

Lily cannot stand having her throat collared.

Not after Alex…

Yet, I can’t deny what I’m seeing with my own eyes.

Slash’s voice is monotone as he remarks, “I already know—that motherfucker never stopped braggin’ about havin’ you in his bed. He tortured me for years. Fucked with my head on the daily. Now, I’m gonna take what shoulda been mine the entire time.”

As he loosens his grip, I’m met with a dark reminder of my claim on Lily.

The feral need I’ve had to possess her since she was born.

First platonic, then carnal.

Abruptly letting her go, the fuckhead allows her to fall to the floor. He gives Lily his back instead of checking that she’s okay. Intent on making me know what he intends to do next, Slash stomps over to me. Hands on his hips, he scowls. I hold my pistol out, silently beckoning him to take another step forward. Alerting him that I will shoot him, point blank, without flinching.

Behind Slash, Lily fights to regulate her breathing.

I can see evidence of his cruelty marking her skin already.

It drives me wild.

She should only ever bear my marks.

Not another man’s.

As Lily stumbles back to her feet, I end my stare down with her temporary husband. The bracelet I gave her clinks when she pats her stomach with one hand. Anxiety flashes in her pretty blue eyes. Lily is lost. Sad. Floundering. Trapped between me and Slash in a way that I know is solely my fault. When my woman reaches this level of despair, there’s only two things that will save her sanity.

Cutting or submitting.

She doesn’t want Slash, she needs him.

Because I’m not here to give her the brutality that heals her psyche.

Fuck.

As another unexpected ramification of my plan to save her stabs me in the heart, the desire to end this ruse completely tries to overwhelm me. I choke on my jealousy. Drown in my ineptitude. For a second, I want to reveal myself, then Slash grins at me and the opportunity is gone.

“You gonna stick around to watch me fuck her?” His murmured challenge is for my ears only. The gleam of victory in his eyes is sickening. I swallow down the bile that surges into my mouth, all pretence of breathing through this body blow gone. “I’ll show you exactly how much she likes me touchin’ her.”

The threat I levelled at him at the Perth lockup thuds around my skull.

Touch her and die.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

Each word is a blow that hurts more than the last. I’m in agony—self-inflicted pain. My absence has caused this. I’ve broken Lily to the point where she needs Slash more than she desires the idea of remaining loyal to my memory. My deliberate abandonment provided the opening he needed to steal more of her heart. I played my hand without thinking, allowed my emotions to blind me.

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