Page 47 of Deadly Don's Savage Vows

Everywhere he touches me is like a thousand bees stinging my skin.

I hate him.

I hate him.

I hate him.

And I’m terrified.

My tears rush from my eyes and spill over his hand, still locked on my mouth.

“Shh, poppet. I’m only taking back what already belongs to me.” He chuckles, it sounds like a dark current of oil on the surface of a pristine lake. He is a stain, a virus, a monster.

Marcus lifts me off my feet and starts carrying me towards a black SUV. No matter how hard I fight it’s useless. He is far too strong. I don’t stand a chance.

I know I should save my energy - that’s the logic - but fear outweighs logic right now and I keep fighting, lashing out, trying to escape.

Until he spins me around and punches me right in the face.

The shock of it sends a ripple of silence through me.

A bright white light flashes in my eyes.

I go rigid and still.

“Keep fighting me - you know what will happen. Or have you forgotten the rules, poppet?”

He tosses me onto the passenger seat, slams the door and walks around to the driver’s side.

I try the handle, but it doesn’t budge.

Marcus climbs into the car and grins at me. His manic eyes, and calm smile are straight out of a horror movie.

My past flashes through my mind, all the things he’s done to me, all the pain he has inflicted.

I squeeze my eyes closed. I don’t want to give him the satisfaction of my tears. He loves to see me cry. He loves to see the results of the pain he has dished out.

I sit in the car, staring straight ahead.

He isn’t headed to my apartment. He is going somewhere else. That means he isn’t aware of my son. I can hope.

“Have you missed me?” He asks, running his hand over my thigh.

I cringe away from him, nauseated. The low growl that rumbles through him is a warning. A warning that I must do as I’m told.

“You will be my bride, poppet. You were always meant to be my bride. But this time it’s going be a little different.”

Lisa will realize something is wrong. When I don’t arrive home, she will try to phone me - then maybe, just maybe she will try to phone the office and if I’m lucky Nico will answer.

“It’s going to be different because the first chance you had to marry me - it would have been beautiful. But you lost thatchance. This time you are going to wear your punishment on your face - on your beautiful skin. The blood and bruises will be a lesson, a warning to you, that you should never try to leave me again.”

I swallow hard and clench my fists in my lap. Nico will save me. He saved me last time. He can do it again.

We arrive at an underground parking area, and he drags me into a lift that carries us straight up to the penthouse suite of the building. The elevator opens into the living room.

His hand is gripped around my arm that the blood has been cut off and pins and needles are tingling along my skin.

He throws me onto the ground and stands over me, smiling that evil smile. “Do you want to know what I love about this place, poppet?”

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