Page 75 of Anorthic Anarchy

“Let him speak,” the man with a worried face at the opposite end of us says. Calum Von Dovish. Vincente says he’s the most dangerous person in the room—after me.

Their lack of respect for my husband makes me jump in before anyone else cuts him off. “Clavius and Herodius kidnapped me.”

Max Freidenberg glares at the consort. “Maybe that was agoodthing.”

“I can assure you, it was not, Senator Freidenberg. Butplease, continue to interrupt and watch your entire city be thrown into slavery.” I don’t mean to snap out the words with vitriol, but I’m disgusted and angry. It’s probably juvenile and not befitting the Queen of the North Side, but I need them to understand the urgency. “Oh, yes. They have plans to continue their trading here in our city. You’re still leaking your armories to them. And you—” I point to Cal Von Dovish. “They operate off your funds, too. And the casinos in the South.”

“But most of their money comes from sex trafficking. Aren’t you… I’m sorry. Aren’tyouhis slave?” Arianna Donovan nods at my neck, and my fingers instinctively touch the leather bound around it.

“No, I’m his wife.”

Mrs. Freidenberg clucks her tongue and shakes her head with a sneer painted on her upper lip. “And at eighteen, too… Did you even wait, Strauss? Child bride, was it?”

The feel of his fingers tightening around my hipbone makes me feel the same. If I only had a machete…

Sighing heavily, I try to keep them on track. My thoughts get muddled with the wrath that’s threatening to take over. “You’re not paying attention to the important points?—”

“Why should we listen to Strauss’s Stockholm bride?”

“This is a trap if I ever heard of one. What? Wanting us to go destitute for you? Make our people starve? We can’t starveharder, Strauss.”

“She’s achild!A literalchild!”

The murmurs all flow together, and I shake my head, trying to figure out how to get their attention. Vincente’s eyes seem to be directed around the perimeter as he considers the guards.

“What did they ask you for?” Cal Von Dovish interrupts everyone with a calm question, and all the heads at the table turn to face me again.

With the soothing nature of his voice, I’m able to give a polite reply. “Um…for my husband, bound, and at the Crimson Angel on the Winter Solstice.”

Mrs. Von Dovish speaks in a low tone to her husband, “That’s tomorrow.”

“So?” Ace Donovan rubs his hands through his hair.

I come to the realization of just how much these people hate the man I love. I spit out the question, hoping he’ll prove me wrong. “What do you mean?”

“So give him up already and let us be free. We can rule this city with three families. The fourth only gets in the way.” He points to his senators at the table. “The six of us are a great check and balance system. The people can have anactualvote instead of beingruledfrom here out.”

Mr. Freidenberg finishes his thought. “But only ifheis gone.”

My husband straightens up and clears his throat. “I apologize to the Senate. It seems you’ve been misled. I understand it would be best for the city if I’m gone. The people would get a vote, and you could lead by representation of your sides of the city. The North can be split equally among you all. But you still need the societies out of the way.”

With sadness coating his brow, he glares at the table. A soft murmur escapes as he speaks to the floor. “I never killed your families. I understand you won’t believe me, but Clavius killed the Freidenbergs as well as the East Side. Then they killed the Donovans for diverting the casino funds to an offshore company instead of paying what they considered their dues.” He lifts his gaze to consider the room of people who only scoff at his words. “My attempts to gain marriage with you, Mrs. Freidenberg, and you, Mrs. Donovan, were purely in an effort to produce anheir and combine families so that the societies wouldn’t gain a foothold.”

The cold strikes my side when he lets me go to brush off his suit coat with his palms. Fierce gray eyes meet every set in the room for a good, long minute before he finally speaks again. “I understand you think I should sacrifice myself for the good of the city. But you don’t deserve an ounce of it.Fuck every single one of you.”

With the deadliness in his tone, I feel like flipping every one of them off. So I do. As I hold up both middle fingers, my husband snatches one of my hands. He leads us toward the exit, but I pause and reach for a guard’s machine gun on the way out. The man turns away so I can’t take it from him as my husband continues to pull on my arm. “No, leave them. Let’s go.”

My nails dig into his forearms as I fight him to spit at the rest of the families still sitting at the table, but he picks me up and tosses me over his shoulder. “You heard him.Fuck you!” I scream as we leave the building.

“You gotta calm down before I spank you.”

Stilling in his hold, I heave a sigh as he tosses me in the backseat of the Hummer. “Please.”

“Please, what?”

“Please fucking spank me. Wreck me. Damage my insides. I’m desperate for it. I fuckingneedyou to be my master right now. Before I explode.”

Heated palms clutch my cheeks as his fingers press into my scalp. “Listen, little girl. Your master will take total control of your body if you say shit like that. Do you want me to hurt you?”

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