Page 53 of The Dollhouse

He would be put to the test, and how he responded to it would decide his fate. I would not let Zoey make a mockery of me; if she wanted to play the martyr, if she wanted to claim she would say goodbye to all of us, then so be it. I didn’t want that to happen, but I would not let her give herself to someone who didn’t deserve her.

When I had him at my house, I didn’t speak with him for long. Tonight, I planned on rectifying that, along with giving him some temptation and watching what he would do. When no one was around, when you could get away with it… most good men proved they were not, in fact, good. Men gave into temptation as long as they could hide it; I was not like them, but I never claimed to be a good man, so.

I could not say how long it took for Carter to return, but it was a while. He had to wait until the perfect moment to strike, so to speak. Zoey was in her apartment, and the last thing I needed was for her to see him there, what he was going to do.

Yes, I’d agreed to no kidnapping, but this was part of the test, so my hands were tied.

I did not get up when I heard the door open, didn’t even look to see them. Carter shoved Lake inside, and Lake stumbled on his feet, not hogtied or blindfolded. This time, he was very much aware of where he was, and the moment he saw me, his worry only intensified tenfold.

“No,” he muttered, “not you again.”

I smirked. “Me again.” I gestured to the sofa across from me. “Sit.”

Lake looked like the last thing he wanted to do was sit on that sofa, but he knew what was good for him; basically, he knew he had no choice in the matter, so he cautiously took a seat across from me, running his palms against his jeans, looking completely out of place in a club like this.

My eyes darted to Carter, and I waved him off. He left the room, though he did throw a glance at Lake, frowning. Carter… well, he wasn’t exactly thrilled about this, either.

Carter had just taken Zoey and Lake home, dropping them off. I knew he’d been itching to get his hands on her, his dick inside of her, but tonight wasn’t the time for that. Tonight had been… I didn’t know if enlightening was the correct word to use here.

When he got back, I was in the study, pouring myself a glass of whiskey, my favorite choice of drink. “Well,” Carter huffed, “that was… interesting.”

I turned toward him, giving him a frown. Interesting was definitely not the word I’d use, but to each his own. I took a sip from the glass, my frown intensifying as I leaned my back on the liquor cabinet. “What do you think of him?”

Carter laughed, though it was a bitter sound. “I think he’s nothing more than a pussy who should keep his nose stuck in a computer, not Zoey.” The exact response I expected from him, considering his feelings for Zoey. He hadn’t outright said he felt for her, but the man got distracted because he’d been thinking of her, which set this whole journey off.

Yeah, I’d thought time away from her would be a good thing. He’d needed to learn to separate work life from his personal life. Plus, it gave him some time to heal. He was still a little stiff, depending on how he moved his arm.

I finished off my glass, shooting him a stare. “She likes him, Carter. She’s willing to go against me to try to keep him.”

That got Carter to sneer. “I’ll fucking end him, and that’ll be that.”

“No,” I said, staring down into the now-empty glass. “No killing.”

He did not appreciate that. “If we aren’t going to remove him from the equation, what the fuck are we going to do?” Carter blinked, his green eyes studying me as it dawned on him. “Don’t tell me you’re thinking of letting her keep him? She’s yours, Roman—”

I turned around and poured myself more whiskey. “She’s just as much yours at this point as she is mine,” I muttered, baring my teeth to the glass as I lifted it to my lips. “If we want to keep her, if we want to have every single part of her, we might have to learn to make some secessions.” It was not something I took joy in admitting aloud, nor was it something Carter liked hearing, if his discernable unhappiness meant anything.

“Surely you don’t mean…” Carter stopped when I glared at him. He let out a great sigh, moving to my side. He said nothing else as he grabbed his own glass and poured himself some. Normally, I wouldn’t let him touch my liquor, but tonight—or, rather, this morning, since it was now dawn—had been a momentous day, one that will inevitably go down in history.

The day Roman Russo caved. The day Roman Russo let a woman dictate how he would live his life. Never thought I’d see the damned day when that happened, mostly because no other woman had ever affected me quite like Zoey did.

“Unfortunately, I do,” I spoke with a grimace. “But I have a plan.” And then I proceeded to tell Carter the plan. I didn’t think he was quite as into the plan as I was, for he only wanted to get rid of Lake entirely. I did agree with him, but we would only get rid of him if he failed the test I would lay before him.

Then and only then would I decide his fate. Would Lake live or would he die? It would depend on what kind of boy he was.

Lake sat across from me, looking terribly uneasy, kind of like he wanted to vomit. His blonde hair was a little messed up, his shirt wrinkled. With Carter now gone, I held all of his attention, as much as it was. I had to admit, he was not very impressive, not intimidating in the least. Frankly, I had no idea whatsoever what Zoey saw in him.

It would be one thing if he was on my level, but he wasn’t. I do suppose that might be the point, as I doubted anyone could handle more than one me in their life, but still.

“What is this?” Lake asked, shaking his head. “Why did you bring me here?”

“I did no such thing,” I said. “Carter did.” All he did was shake his head at my correction, as if he didn’t care about the semantics. “I brought you here to speak with you about Zoey. I did not get the chance to have you alone the last time we saw each other.”

“The last time you kidnapped me, you mean,” Lake spoke, frowning slightly. The expression did not sit well on his face.

My chest heaved a sigh, and I dug my fingers into the leather armrests on the chair beneath me. “I hear you’ve been ignoring her.” How I hated the fact that he’d dismissed her after our first meeting… only because it bothered Zoey. She thought I had something to do with it, which I most certainly did not. “You mean a lot to her, as much as I hate to admit it.”

“You’re… you’re not from her family, I take it?”

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