Page 34 of Twisted Obsession

Not strictly true, and I pray she can’t tell that, but if Vito had raped me, you can be damn certain I wouldn’t have kept quiet about it. Mika might want to avoid a war, but I’d have let the wrath of my family rain down on them, regardless. But Dominic…

My feelings for him are complicated and if I know anything, it’s that any kind of internal examination will show recent sexual activity, and that’s not something I want to try and explain.

Doctor Margaret purses her lips. “Maybe we should do a rape kit…”

“Excuse me!?” I demand, incensed. “What are you saying? That you don’t believe me? That I’d protect that scum rather than tell the truth?”

Her eyes widen, and she takes a step back at my anger.

“No, of course not, Roisin. But rape is a traumatic experience. Many times, women don’t like to talk about it.”

“You’re damn right it is,” I tell her angrily. “And I know that, because yes, I came this close to being one of those statistics.” I hold my fingers an inch apart, right in front of her face. “But it didn’t happen. And it didn’t happen because Mika Rossi got me away from the Viper and protected me. And, for no other reasonthan that, I owe it to himnotto let this thing escalate into an all-out war between the factions.”

Doctor Margaret appears taken aback, but at least she looks like she believes me. I still add the kicker. “Believe me, doctor, I’ve been through enough that I don’t want you adding to my trauma.”

She raises her palms in supplication. “Of course, Roisin. I didn’t mean to upset you. I know this experience can’t have been easy.”

She doesn’t know the half of it.

When she leaves, I’m subjected to another grilling from Ciaran and Callum. It seems the good doctor wasted no time getting the information to them. They’ve already read it and are waiting for me the moment I step outside the sanctuary of my suite.

I don’t like it, but in deference to my brothers’ feelings and the trauma neither of them will admit to regarding my kidnapping, I accept the situation for what it is.

“So, brat, are you ready to tell us what happened now?” Callum asks, waving to a conspicuously empty seat they’ve arranged opposite the two of them.

I purposely ignore it and instead cross to the small bar in what has become our private family living area. Pouring myself a large glass of red wine, I then take a seat on the end of the couch and tuck my feet underneath me, making myself comfortable and forcing the two of them to maneuver their own seats to face me. I’ll be damned if my brothers ever make me feel like I’m facing a damned inquisition, even if thatistheir intention.

I mean, I know it’s not really. They’re just clueless Mafia men who never learned the subtleties of how to treat women. Godhelp their future wives… but at least they have me to straighten them out.

“Janey Mack,” Callum curses. “Do you try to be difficult on purpose?”

I cock an eyebrow at him to show just how unimpressed I am. “Let’s get one thing straight,” I tell him icily, my gaze switching to Ciaran to include him, too. “I’m not some enemy for you to interrogate, so don’t you dare damn well treat me like one.”

“We weren’t,” Ciaran objects, shock obvious on his handsome face. “We’d never do something like that to you.”

Callum, on the other hand, scowls. “Yeah, if you think we sit our adversaries down in a comfy armchair in our lounge while we enjoy a casual glass of scotch, then you really have no idea how we work,” he grunts, toasting me with the two fingers of amber liquid in his rocks glass.

“Uh-huh… that’s why you sat out a chair for me like I was facing some kind of cross-examination, is it?”

Callum, always the bolshie one, looks set to argue, but Ciaran intervenes, holding his hand up in a conciliatory gesture. “That wasn’t our intention, Roisin. I’m sorry, we should have been more sensitive.”

An unladylike snort erupts before I can stop myself. “Well, sensitive sure as heck isn’t something I’d ever associate with the two of ye, but you can treat me like normal, thank you very much.”

Callum puffs out what is more of a huff than a sigh. “Okay, you’ve made your point,deirfiúr. Now tell us what happened with LCN.”

Since that’s about all the candor I’d ever expect to get from twin two, I resign myself to the ‘talk’ I can’t put off any longer. It’s probably best to get it over with, anyway.

“Okay… so when did they take you?” Ciaran asks, throwing a warning look at his brother. Well, that’s what I perceive it as, anyway. They have that annoying twin habit of conversing without words, which I found infuriating as a child. It’s not much better now, if I’m honest.

“You don’t know?” I ask, surprised. I’d assumed the Viper would have been crowing about his victory as soon as he took me, but it seems that wasn’t the case. I wonder if the delay had anything to do with Mika’s intervention.

My brothers shake their heads in tandem.

“Okay, well, it was the day we argued. I left to go to Emylyah’s and they pounced almost as soon as I left the compound.”

Ciaran and Callum share a look but decline to comment… also infuriating.

“Okay, we’d surmised as much,” Ciaran finally admits. “Since Emylyah came over to visit because your phone was coming up as out of service…”

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