Page 320 of Wild Mustang Security Firm

He grabbed her by the neck and, when she struggled to break his hold, dunked her under her bathwater. It was barely deep enough for the water to close over her nose and mouth when her head hit the bottom of the tub, but deep enough to drown. When her brother pinned and held her underwater, that’s exactly what she thought was going to happen.

Modesty gave way to instinctive survival.

For the first time in her life, she threw everything she had into fighting him off. Water went everywhere as she kicked and clawed, beating her limbs against the confines of the tub in her haste to pry herself up to where the air was waiting for her. Her head began to pulse, her lungs growing tight and achy with her mounting need to breathe. Clawing his hand, she tried to pry his fingers off her throat, but the more she fought, the worse the need became until with a kick of instinct that rocked her whole-body, her mouth opened against her will, and her lungs sucked.

Water rushed into her.

Fariq let her go, standing to get out of the way when she came barreling up out of the bath, coughing and retching. There was nothing lady-like about the way she fell out of the tub, naked on the white tiles, vomiting water with each involuntary gasp her spasming lungs forced her to take.

Picking up a dry hand towel off the counter by the sink, Fariq dried his hands and arms, and finally, dabbed his wet clothes inan ineffective effort to dry them. Anger once more firmly under control, he waited for her coughing heaves to calm, and she was lying there, limp and just trying to breathe.

“I am willing to be indulgent with you, Aliya, my love,” he coolly told her. “Your future husband may not be so inclined. Maidenly shyness is, after all, to be expected when a girl is at last ready to become a woman. Bear in mind, however, it is also tiresome, and your husband will expect you to welcome his use as often as he chooses.” Dropping the towel on the counter, he started to leave, only to pause after unlocking the door and looked back at her.

“Get up.”

She pushed shakily to her hands and knees, slowly crawling off the wet tiles until she was standing unsteadily. Her hair hung in wet straggles over her face, clinging to her shoulders and back. The urge to cover herself itched at her hands, but she didn’t dare.

“Chin up,” he ordered.

Swallowing hard, she obeyed but looked everywhere but directly at him, too afraid of what she might see as he gazed on her.

“I think I should start training you. We’ll start slowly,” he decided. “When next I come to you, I expect to find you in a far more obedient frame of mind. I have waited a long time for you to grow up. Perhaps I have spoiled you a little too much, but you would do well to remember that you are mine. Every inch of you belongs to me. Everything you have is because of me. Nothing comes for free in this world, my darling. You owe me a price, and of all the things I have offered up for auction over the course of my career, you will be my crown jewel. Don’t think for a second I won’t sell you to the highest bidder. Force me to punish you like this again, and I promise I will ensure your future husbandis less than gentle with you for your first time. Nod your head, so I know you understand.”

She nodded, tiny up and down shakes of assent.

“Good girl.” He opened the door, slipping out through the crack, not risking any of the men she could clearly hear roaming through her bedroom from catching a glimpse of her.

Because she was his. She belonged to him—right up to the moment he auctioned her off.

Her brother.

Her knees wobbled.

“Cover yourself,” he said, closing the door behind him again.

Aliya didn’t. The minute he was gone, she collapsed in a wet heap in the puddles on the floor. Cupping her aching throat, she rocked, too wounded to even cry.

Chapter

Eleven

This was how men—never mind double agents—got killed. Scaling the outer fortress walls from one balcony to another, like a lovelorn teenager incapable of thinking with anything but his dick. Yeah, well… his dick was pretty happy about everything, except thecoitus interruptusending he’d been forced to accept, but the rest… the rest had been better than he could ever have imagined.

Arm over arm, he hauled himself up the rope to his balcony as fast as he could move. Yanking the rope up behind him, he untied the knot, and just as he heard Fariq’s unmistakable voice, commanding Aliya’s room to be searched, he ducked back into his room. Jesus, he’d made it. The strain from how fast he’d had to climb could still be felt in his arms and shoulders, but there wasn’t time to rest. He changed his clothes, throwing off his jeans and yanking on a pair of black trousers, then casting aside his white shirt and donning a blood-red, short-sleeved jersey knit top. Wetting his head as if fresh from the shower, he hurried downstairs, running into a second crew of armed men halfway down the stairs, charging their way up to his quarters.

“I heard the boss is looking for me,” he said, only the men didn’t smile back when he flashed his. They didn’t stopcoming either. They grabbed him by the arms and hustled him downstairs. “What the hell is going on?”

“He’s on a real tear this time,” the merc to his right said; Christian thought his name was Phil. He was normally very good with names, but it had been a while since he’d hired the men who outfitted Fariq’s fortress. “They’re saying we have a spy.”

A lead stone dropped in the center of him.

“Who?” Reid said.

“I don’t know, but he’s been calling for you for the last half hour, and is he ever in a mood.”

That was worrisome, although not as half as worrisome as being taken straight to Aliya’s quarters instead of Fariq’s new office.

“What the hell’s going on?” Christian asked, stealing a hasty look around the room. There was no sign of Aliya, though she might have been in the bathroom Fariq stormed out of. Aliya didn’t follow, and he quickly closed the door behind him. Everything in him itched to shove past Fariq and check on her, but sure as that cold look on Fariq’s face—sister be damned—that would be the end of them both.

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