Page 90 of Ruin Me, Daddy

“Yeah, man. It’s me. Silver said to meet you guys here. Said you wanted to talk.”

Malice shone in his eyes when he turned back to face her, and she swallowed back a sob. “Oh really? Is that what she told you?”

Another sob rose up, threatening to choke her as she whipped her head side to side. “I didn’t, I swear,” she whispered, praying Ice would hear the threat in Ace’s voice and change tactics. “I didn’t tell him anything.”

“Ah, well, not exactly.” Ice’s voice came through the door again. “I followed her here. Gotta keep an eye on her, you know?”

If she’d been standing, relief would have knocked her to her knees at Ice’s backpedaling. Ace grinned, and relief faded to terror once more. “Tell me about it. She’s about as faithful as a two-dollar whore, this one.”

More faithful than you ever were, you psychotic son of a bitch.

From the other side of the door came a strained laugh. “I know. So, ah, can I come in? I don’t really want to have this conversation through the door.”

“Probably for the best.” Ace’s grin turned to a sneer. “We’ve had enough unwanted publicity lately, haven’t we?”

The second he turned his back, she jerked at the ropes binding her to the chair, fighting to free herself despite the blinding pain turning the edges of her vision black. Now slick with her blood, the ropes weren’t holding as tightly, and a desperate hope filled her chest, to the point she couldn’t pull in enough air to fill her lungs with that hope crowding her.

Please, please, please. I have to get free.

She risked a glance at the door, and her heart plummeted to her feet at the sight of Ice standing there, staring at the knife in Ace’s hand.

And she could be silent no longer.

“Ice! RUN!”

Chaos erupted around her, as if her words had triggered some kind of explosion. A giant came barreling through the door, slamming into Ace and taking him to the ground. The knife skittered across the floor, and then Ace was screaming.

“Get the fuck off of me! Do you have any idea who I am?”

The giant sat up, easily flipping Ace onto his stomach and pinning his hands behind his back. It wasn’t until he glanced over that she recognized him as Frankie’s Giant Silver Fox Daddy.

“Silver!” Rushing past the duo on the floor, Ice dropped to his knees in front of her, and she saw her own terror reflected in his eyes as he reached for the blood-soaked ropes. “Oh, god. Baby. What did he do to you?”

“He-he cut me. Bad. Ice.” A strange sort of numbness settled in her chest as she stared down at him. “Ice, I can’t move my fingers.”

She was dimly aware of Holden on the phone, barking orders for an ambulance right fucking now. Of Braden and Beckett stepping into the room, their eyes wide with horror.

“I need a knife!” The sharpness of Ice’s voice seemed to spur them both into action. Beckett strode forward, pulling a pocketknife from his perfectly tailored slacks.

Who would have thought stern, sophisticated Beckett would be the type to carry a switchblade on him?

Laughter bubbled out of her as Ice slipped the blade between her wrists and the rope, and she saw Beckett and Braden share a worried look.

“Sil? You with me? Eyes on me, baby. Daddy’s got you.”

Ice’s words were like a magnet, pulling her gaze to his. And though he smiled, she could see the fear, the worry in his eyes. “There’s my girl. Can you breathe for me, Sil? In through your nose.”

It wasn’t until the metallic scent of her own blood filled her nostrils that she realized she’d stopped breathing. Tears blurred her vision as he yanked off his shirt, using Beckett’s knife to rip it to shreds. “I can’t move my fingers.”

“It’s okay, baby. We’re going to get you to a hospital and the doctors are going to fix you right up. I promise.”

Liar. She could hear it in his voice as he wrapped a strip of fabric around her shredded palm. But she clung to that lie with everything she had, because the alternative was more than she could bear.

More noise, more chaos as sirens pierced the air around them and moments later men in uniforms poured into the apartment. She watched as two of them put a zip tie around Ace’s wrists and hauled him to his feet. He was screaming again, his face contorted with rage as he spewed all the hateful things she imagined he’d thought about saying to her for months. Years, maybe.

Had he always hated her this much? Or was that new?

“Silver, baby. Eyes on me.”

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