Page 34 of Sin & Sapphire

He exhaled sharply, then stroked his thumb along her neck. “Are you scared of me, princess?”

She pressed her lips together in a grim line, then looked at me, as if I would save her.

Valentin laughed softly, pressing his fingers along the sides of her neck to limit her air supply. “You’re a fool, Ana. I only want to hurt you.Angelowants your complete and utter submission.”

My stomach dropped as I understood why he’d brought her here, why he’d made her crawl to me. I needed complete submission, total power over my toys. Valentin couldn’t give me that, but?—

I traced my eyes over the scene before me, a beautiful woman, bruised and broken, proud and furious, shoved up against the door by my lover. He was giving me her as a gift, but did he realize how badly he wanted her too?

I met her eyes, then adjusted myself again with no subtlety whatsoever, accepting that I was a sick bastard who was finally getting everything he wanted in this life. I didn’t want to put a stop to this. “What’ll it be, Ana?”

“Fuck you,” she spat. “Fuck you both.”

Valentin’s lips twitched, as if he were about to smile, and then he squeezed her throat until she couldn’t breathe, held her gaze as she struggled for oxygen, then caught her once she collapsed, unconscious, into his arms.

Valentin slumpedonto the couch beside me, the harsh lines of his face softening with exhaustion. He hadn’t slept yet. Neither had I.

“I murdered three men in Monaco for laying their hands on her.”

As well he fucking should have. Rage so intense my hands trembled swept through me at the idea of anyone laying hands on her, followed by surprise.

“Murdered?”

“Hammad will handle the cleanup,” he said as he ran his hand over his scalp.

“Does Hammad know that?” I asked. Hammad fucking hated it when we left messes for him.

“They fucking beat her, and she was trying so hard to be strong in front of me, and I—” He scrubbed his face with his hands. “Bon dieu,j’sais pas.”

Valentin left wet work behind him when he left the French military, long before he met me. And yet, he hadn’t hesitated to punish the men who’d hurt my Ana.

“Three,” he muttered. “Three men laid their hands on your angel.” His knee knocked against mine as he shifted on the sofa, rotating his broad shoulders to work the kinks out.

“Three men and you,” I said, unable to hide the confused mix of anger and hurt in my tone.

Valentin looked at me with sad eyes. “Ouais. Et moi.” Yeah, and me. “And Grégoire Tchérnov before that.”

“He’s a dead man.”

To my surprise, Valentin nodded before moving the conversation on. “She needs discipline.”

“You don’t like brat taming,” I answered. I’d back Valentin up in front of her—he was my partner—but that didn’t mean I wasn’t pissed about him spanking her. Ana wasn’t one of his play partners.

When Valentin didn’t say anything, I looked at him. A vein in his forehead throbbed as he clenched his jaw.

“Valentin?”

“She’s a masochist.”

The oxygen left the room in a whoosh and left me reeling. He wanted her too. He wanted tohurther. And he thought she wanted it too. Even if she didn’t know it yet.

And he’d killed for her.

“No,” I growled.

“We can’t take her back to Yorkfield like this,” he continued, as I reeled from his revelations. “Now that she’s succeeded in running once, she’ll do it again and again and again. She’s the key to controlling Gio’s empire.”

“That’s why Boris wants the marriage.”

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