Page 35 of Sin & Sapphire

“She needs discipline and boundaries,” he went on. “And punishment. Regardless of what Boris wants, she’s cost me millions.”

“She’s a twenty-six-year-old woman, not a child,” I answered, even though my mind was flying at the thought of my angel on her knees beside me, my fingers tangled in her hair as she nuzzled her face against my thigh. The thought was as appealing as her lips wrapped around my cock as tears streamed down her face while I bruised the back of her throat. Or spoiling her rotten like I’d wanted to do since she was sixteen and I fell in love with my brother’s daughter.

“That’s right,” Valentin continued. “She’s not a child anymore, and she hasn’t been for a long time. We can teach her, train her—tameher—break her spirit so when we do finally marry her off, she doesn’t run.”

I’d flown to Yorkfield when the Russos had murdered my brother in cold blood. Ana had been as breathtaking then as she’d been ten years before. Ten long years of avoiding her, of self-loathing. I might be a monster, but I sure as fuck wasn’t going to act on it. I hadn’t when she was sixteen, and I hadn’t since.

But now, Valentin was beside me, his breath warm in my ear, telling me I could. Telling me Ishould. Telling me he could hurt her, and I could have her on her knees looking up at me with sweet submission in her eyes.

Grégoire raped her. Ana deserved sweetness, not pain.

“Angelo,” Valentin rasped. What if Ana could give him what he needed too?Cazzo. We were bad men.

“What are you thinking?”

15

ANA

I awoke chainedto the bed naked, my arms attached to the headboard and my feet spread apart, revealing every inch of my body. I struggled and shouted, terror making me indiscreet as I screamed for help.

None came.

I yanked on my hands, only to find the soft fur-lined cuffs held me too tightly to let me go. My feet were equally well secured, but in a way that would make me work to hurt myself. I screamed and struggled for what felt like hours, until my entire body ached, and my voice was hoarse from the abuse.

Those fuckers.

What. The. Fuck. Were they thinking?

“Uncle Angelo! Let me go! I’m your fuckingniece!”

No matter that he was adopted. He was my father’s brother in spirit, if not blood, raised by the same parents, in the same house, and?—

The door opened, and Valentin filled the frame, still clad in dress slacks and an untucked button-down shirt that did nothing to hide the wide sweep of his shoulders or the casual strength radiating from him when he leaned against the wall. “Knock it off, princess.”

My heart raced. I couldn’t catch my breath, and my entire body shook with terror. Heedless of my audience, I thrashed against my chains, desperate to escape. My vision narrowed to a tunnel in front of me and I couldn’t see a thing.

Strong fingers wrapped around my throat. A heavy palm rested on my neck, not constricting my airway, simply resting there, a calm and steady presence.

“Breathe,” a silky voice commanded me.Valentin.I took a deep breath in. “Let it out,” he commanded. A thumb brushed against my cheek, collecting a tear.

My heart rate slowed, and I opened my eyes to find Valentin looming over me, his expression inscrutable.

“Fuck you,” I spat, my voice hoarse from what felt like hours of yelling, refusing to acknowledge that he’d brought me back to earth before my panic attack could even start. “Let me go.”

“Ask me nicely.”

“Uncle Valentin, would you please let me go?”

“Absolutely not.”

I screamed with rage, red tinging the edges of my vision as I fought and struggled on the bed.

He crossed his arms over his chest and watched me until I exhausted myself.

When I finally fell silent, the gentle touch of his fingers on my face as he moved my hair behind my ear undid me. Too shocked by his tenderness to move, I lay there, trembling and confused as he stroked his thumb over my cheek.

“Why are you doing this?” I asked, my voice whisper soft.

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