Page 315 of Wild Mustang Security Firm

“Stop!”

He broke his mouth from hers and let her go, but only far enough to spin her around. Instead of fisting her hair, his arm locked around her neck while his other wrapped her waist, pinning her firmly to him.

“I saved your life today,” he said, walking her farther into the room, heading straight toward her bed. “One would think you’d be a little grateful.”

“What are you doing?” The panic soared. “What are you doing? You’re my brother!”

“True, and with your virginity intact, you are so much more valuable,” he murmured behind her ear, his lips once more brushing a kiss across the nape of her neck. “But oh, so tempting. After all,… how much money do I need?”

She jabbed back with her elbow, ducking to get out of his octopus grip, but his arm around her neck tightened, momentarily cutting off her air.

“Stop!” she strangled.

Suddenly letting go of her, he violently shoved her belly-down onto the bed.

She was scrambling to get out from under him even as she felt him climbing on top of her, straddling her kicking legs as he caught her flailing hands, wrenching them up behind her back until shocks of pain stabbed into her shoulders. She kicked, her feet bouncing harmlessly off his back as he settled his weight on her upper thighs. Yanking her dress up out of his way, he bared her buttocks, clad now only in a thin pair of white satin panties. He tore them, the fragile fabric giving way to the brutality of his yank.

Now she was bare and could feel him, the rock of his hips as he mock thrust against her. The bulge behind the rough fabric of his fly ground against her buttocks, renewing her will to fight him off, although she didn’t have the leverage or the skill to match even half of what she was about combat.

She burst into tears, wrenching her head away from his kiss when she felt him leaning over her, and found herself suddenly staring back at the open balcony doorway.

Only it wasn’t empty anymore.

Christian was there, his gun in his hand, black fury darkening his handsome features as he strode silently across the threshold, taking aim at the back of her brother’s head. Whether he hesitated to pull the trigger because the potential of hitting her was so high, she didn’t know. All she knew was the sudden, sharp knock at her bedroom door stopped everything half a heartbeat later.

Swearing under his breath, Fariq growled, “What?”

The fury on Christian’s face blacked in an explosion of rage and helplessness before he quickly retreated out onto the balcony.

“We have a problem,” a man whose voice she didn’t recognize called back through the closed door.

Swearing under his breath again, her brother snapped, “Take it to Reid.”

“He’s being sent for,” the man on the other side of her door said. “But, sir, trust me… you’re going to want to see this.”

Sighing heavily, after a moment, Fariq let go of her hands. Shoving off her and the bed, he ignored her sobbing. Scrambling to get distance between them and her dress down over her exposed ass, she huddled at the headboard of the bed, staring at him with huge and wounded eyes.

“Work calls,” he said, adjusting himself in his pants. “Be a good girl. Needless to say, you’re grounded until I get back.”

Aliya held it together just long enough for him to walk out the door. Climbing off the bed, she ran to the balcony and very nearly collided with Christian hiding in the shadows, every breath he exhaled, a seething sound that hadn’t relaxed simply because Fariq left the room.

“I thought you were going to shoot him,” Aliya gasped, her voice barely above a whisper.

Watching the door Fariq had gone through, in case he came walking back inside, Christian finally asked, “Has he ever done that before?”

Stepping back, she wrapped her arms around herself, not even trying to pretend she didn’t understand what he was asking.

“No. Never. He... he’s kissed me. He’s... touched me, but never like that. It’s always been so cold and calculating… almost as if he was sizing me up.”

A tic of muscle pulsed twice in his jaw before he looked up the sheer stone face of the old fortress and taking hold of the rope that now dangled down to her balcony from where the other end was still tied to his.

“I have to go.”

“Take me with you!” she pleaded, but it was a ludicrous request, which she knew, even as she said it. It wasn’t as if he could just waltz out the front door with her hand in his and call her cab or smuggle her out folded up as small as she could hold herself in his suitcase. She was trapped, thoroughly pinned under Fariq’s ever-watchful eye. There was no getting out of here for her, nor would there be for him if she was with him.

“I can’t.” His look said he wished it were otherwise. She felt a tickle of... was that relief, he genuinely seemed to want to help her. “If I could...” He didn’t finish that sentiment, not that she didn’t know what he wanted to say. “Here.” He handed her the gun he’d brought with him. “Take this.”

It was surprisingly heavy, the textured grip still warm from where he’d gripped it. She’d never in her life held a gun of any kind.

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