"I doubt you have a choice." He laughed.
"Where's Adam?" I pressed against the rail of the balcony, the cold bars digging against my thigh.
"With his two lovers, I assume. He sure wasn't around to stop me from entering. They do everything together, as you know. I made a calculation when I set that hole in the wall donut shop on fire that they'd all rush to that old woman's side. Looks like my calculations were correct."
My hand went to my mouth as I gasped. "Mimi. Oh god, is she..."
"Dead? Most likely. There was no way for the hag to escape unless she exited through the door I did, but she'd have to go through the fire to get there."
"My guards," I whispered, thinking if all three of my men went to Mimi's side, then Max and Drew would be here with me.
"Dead. How easy it is to sneak up on people in the dead of night during a storm. Every little rustle is written off as the wind. It was too damn easy to kill your property border patrols. And the men stationed by the door... gutted from throat to navel."
"No."
"Yes." He laughed as he advanced, and I had nowhere else to go unless I jumped over the edge.
I didn't want to believe it. It couldn't be. Not when I looked into Drew's eyes just this morning as we shared an inside joke about Ace. Not when Max grumbled about carrying all my bags upstairs and yet still did it when I asked. They were fine; they had to be fine. Everyone was fine.
Hysteria bubbled inside of me. "I don't believe you."
"You don't have to believe me. It doesn't change facts." He laughed, and from this close, I could smell his rancid breath,and I fought not to gag at my repulsion. "I'll say it again, since I wasn't clear. I'm taking you. I'm taking my grandson, and we're leaving here. They'll come home, and it will be too late. You will be mine. You will have this child, and if you're lucky, I'll let you live and be my whore, too. I bet you'd like that, wouldn't you? You'd like to spread your legs for the father just like you did for the son."
"No."
"Yes." He laughed. "You think I didn't watch. That I didn't stroke my cock watching your limp thighs welcome him into your body. It was perfection."
The purr of the predator, the memory I knew I lost, forced a tear to fall from my eye. Before I could wipe it away, he reached out, his fingers like sandpaper against my cheek as he used his thumb to catch the tear before bringing it to his mouth and sucking it from his skin. "I love the taste of your defeat."
I was not defeated. I refused to be. But before I could utter a single word about how I'd rather die than go with him — how my daughter would have his genetics, but everything good would come from the fathers who stuck by my side during my pregnancy, or how he'd never win — he reached forward. His fingers wound in my hair and pulled. I fell forward before he yanked my hair down, forcing me to my knees.
The cement of the balcony dug into my knees, tearing at the skin, and I screamed, trying to fight against his hold. It was no use. He had me at a disadvantage. He used his free hand to press down on my shoulder, forcing me to remain on the ground. With all the venom I could muster, I spat out, "I'll never give you what you want."
"You don't have a choice." He yanked hard, snapping my head back as his hand moved from my shoulder to my throat. "It's not a choice you get to make." His fingers squeezed, rendering me unable to move as he released my hair, workinghis belt buckle with his hand. "Haven't you realized by now that, in this world, men take what they want? Like Ferrari, for example. He took you. Shot my son dead for this worthless cunt. Wonder if it was all worth it to him. Losing so many men to protect this."
"He'll kill you!" my voice screeched out.
"He can try." He reached into his pants, stroking his cock, working it from flaccid. "But he'll never succeed."
I should have kept my mouth shut. I knew this. But maybe living with these men for so long gave me the illusion that I could speak my mind to whoever, whenever. "They killed your son, remember? Your brother too. You think they can't take you out?"
In a blink, my head was slammed against the stone. My eyes blinked rapidly to fight against the burst of lights and blurred vision. Pain radiated from my skull, and when I reached back, the warmth of blood coated my fingers. "You will not speak of my family, fucking whore. They'd be alive if it wasn't for you."
"Me?" God, my head hurt, but I couldn't keep quiet. "This started long before me. You killed Adam's family."
"Adam," he drew his name out, "took my business."
"You sent him the video. I hadn't known it happened; I hadn't the memory."
"He would have found out, eventually. I needed your father out of the way. His alliance had become useless." He turned, using my hair to drag me toward the library. I struggled, trying to get my feet under me. "But you, your existence, made him attack my docks. He wanted more. It's what we all want when we have a family on the way. I'm shocked he didn't disregard you. It's what I would have done."
"He's a good person," I sobbed out. "And your docks, everything he's done to you, was owed. Deserved. Long overdue."
"So fucking naïve." He dropped me in the doorway, my body sprawled between the door frame, half inside, half outside. "On your knees. I want to see what has the beasts so damn enthralled. How good is this mouth that it has them all doing your bidding?"
Instead of following directions, I tried to crawl away. My body twisted as I scurried, but the ground was slippery from the rain. Thunder boomed, reminding me of my misfortune as a weight slammed against my back, pushing me down. Pain radiated through my stomach as I gasped, "The baby."
"Fuck the child. If it's too weak to live, it's no blood of mine." He growled as he yanked my head back, forcing my back to arch painfully.