Page 30 of Fear Me, Love Me

I give Vivienne an admiring smile. My kitten is unsheathing her claws to defend me.

“Why do you care if I’m a sick bastard or not?” I ask Stone. “You disowned your daughter, and I’m picking up the pieces.” I stroke Vivienne’s nape, right over the lump in her neck. I can’t help but caress that lovely spot. “Don’t worry, angel. I told you I’ll always take care of you, and I will.”

Vivienne rubs the back of her neck. “Whatisthat?” She’s frowning at me, and I don’t look guilty because I sure as hell don’t feel guilty. “Tyrant, you do know what this lump is, don’t you?”

There’s no reason to hide it anymore. After tonight, she’s coming home with me forever. It’s time she understood how deadly serious I am about her.

“Yes. I know what it is,” I say calmly. “It’s a tracker.”

Her eyes widen. “How do you know that?”

“Because I put it there.”

“You what? When?”

“The night you slept in my bed and in my arms.”

Her hand drops from her neck and she pulls herself out of my embrace. “Please tell me you’re joking.”

Vivienne has seen my obsessively secure home. She’s heard what I say to her when I fuck her. My possessiveness. My desire for her. I haven’t hidden who I am from my woman. It may be a slight shock to find out just how far I’ll go to protect her, but she’ll understand that it was necessary soon enough.

“This town is full of vipers, and I need to know where you are at all times so I can keep you safe.” I take her hand and draw her back into my arms. She’s trembling as I murmur, “All those times you needed me, aren’t you happy I was there? I couldn’t have let you leave my side without knowing I could get to you at all times. Do you think me so careless that I’d lose sight of my little lamb?”

Past her shoulder, Stone is gazing at her in disgust. “Enjoy your psychopath. You two deserve each other.” He turns away and limps through the doors.

Anger flares in my chest, and I nearly follow him, prepared to break his other arm and his stupid fucking neck as well, but I’m not leaving Vivienne here on her own.

I turn back and pull her against me once more. “Your father can rot in hell, and so can your stepmother, but don’t worry, angel. You’re not going to lose Barlow. I’ll take care of everything. You want me to do that for you, don’t you?”

Vivienne gazes up at me, perplexed. “What do you mean, take care of everything?”

“You don’t need to know all the gory details. If you want Barlow, just ask me, and I’ll go and get him for you.”

“Get Barlow? How? Steal him again? Dad and Samantha will be heartbroken.”

After everything that’s happened, she must have realized that I can’t let these people live. They’ve made her too unhappy. “Hearts that don’t beat, can’t break.”

Vivienne gasps and shakes her head. “Tyrant, you can’t be serious. Dad doesn’t want me, but as much as that hurts, I don’t want him or Samantha to be killed.”

I take her face between my hands and say urgently, “I’m deadly serious. It was always going to be this way the moment I saw those scars on your body.Theyput them there. They hurt you. They’re going to pay for each and every cut, and then I’m going to take Barlow and bring him home for us.”

Vivienne rips my hands from her face and backs away from me, breathing fast. “Are youcrazy? You can’t kill them just so we can take their son.”

“Did they hurt you?”

She raises a hand and touches her ribs. Her stomach. All the scars that she bears because of them. Pain is etched on her brow as she remembers all her loneliness, all their cruelty. “Yes, but…”

“Will you ever forgive them?”

“No, but…”

“Then they have to die.”

Vivienne drops her hand. “Tyrant, no. If you really think they deserve death for neglecting me, then you’re a monster.”

Her angel wings are luminous in the moonlight. Her halo gleams atop her long, glorious hair. She’s everything a devil like me craves.

I take a step toward her. “A monster? Is it monstrous to want to make a family with you? I’m giving you everything you’ve ever wanted. You said it yourself, those people never made you feel like you belonged. I can do that for you. It’s the only thing I want.”

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