Page 71 of Falcon's Prey

“No one has ever loved us.”

I laughed.

“Love? Seriously, princess?” I gripped her chin so she was forced to look at me. “Love is one of the words that gets thrown around like it’s nothing. That word is a weakness—a disease. People say it without meaning it; they use it for manipulation. Love is just a word with no meaning.” I bent my head, my mouth millimeters from hers. “A word is just a word. It’s actions that give them power.”

I always thoughtlove was power, something that money couldn’t buy. I knew it was dangerous, but maybe Ren was right, and I was scared of the unknown. Or perhaps we both had no idea what something we’d gone without meant or how to wield it—two sides to the same word.

Ren kept staring at me, and when I didn’t say more, he got out of the bed and went to the bathroom. I needed a moment to gather my thoughts. Hell, to figure out exactly what was going on. I was his prisoner, right? Except being in his arms didn’t feel like a cage. They felt strong like pillars, something to give strength to a crumbling structure.

There was no doubt in my mind I was crumbling. Who was I after everything essential to my being got stripped away? No money, no jewelry, no drugs, and no home. I had nothing to hide behind—no place to cower. Everything I’d hidden behind the façade was now in the open, all the ugly parts of me on display, ready to pick apart and dissect.Who am I now that I have nothing?

“Get up. Get dressed. We have shit to do today.”

Ren walked out of the bathroom, the steam from the hot shower he took coming out like a fog behind him. A towel was draped across his waist. The ripples of his abs glistened with water droplets, and his hair was messy, but he looked divine.

“What are you going to do with me?” I held on to the bedsheet tight, as if it were a shield protecting me against him.

“That’s none of your concern,” he said as he made his way to one of the drawers.

“So am I like your sex slave?”

Ren snorted. “You’re weak, princess. You couldn’t take me how I want you. For now, you’re going to be whatever I need you to be.”

Right. Because right now, he owned me. He needed his pound of flesh, and I was available.

“I have nothing,” I reminded him.

I had been out of it for I didn’t even know how long. Except now that I was wide-awake, the craving was there in the back of my mind, a small buzzing sound begging me to feed and give in to it.

Ren didn’t answer. He dropped the towel, showing me his ah-ma-zing backside, put pants on, and walked out the door, leaving it open. Where was I going to go naked? The asshole probably did it on purpose.

Not even five minutes later, Ren walked back with clothes in his hands. “Put those on.”

He threw the clothes at me and then went to the chair in the corner to tie his shoelaces.

I guess no privacy for me today.

Who was I when everything got stripped back and I was left with nothing?

You are a diamond, and diamonds don’t break.

So I swallowed my shame because the one thing I had, one thing no one would ever take away from me, was my pride. I threw the bed shit aside and got out of bed, aware that I had lost weight. I was just skin and bones now. I knew it, and Ren did too. The clothes were big on me, not only because of my weight loss, but they were meant for someone curvier, and that had never been me. I bit my tongue and didn’t ask who they belonged to.

Once changed, I looked up, holding my head high. Ren was leaned back in the chair, still shirtless, just looking at me. As I looked at his body, I noticed things that I never had before, like the way his skin was puckered in certain areas with faded scars, all of them a road map to who he was. I didn’t want to look into his gaze for fear of what I would find behind his icy stare.

I raised my brow at him, fighting the urge to cross my arms.

You are a diamond, and diamonds don’t break.

His eyes trailed from my head down to my toes, making me feel naked in a way I hadn’t felt lying down in bed next to him. He then got up, opened another drawer, and grabbed a shirt.

When he walked out the door, I took a deep breath, then followed him. The place was spacious but not very bright. It looked like I was inside a warehouse that had been duped into a home. Small windows were on the top high enough so no one could snoop in and big enough to offer sunlight to come through. The stairs were made from concrete and tile—cold beneath my bare feet.

As I walked down the stairs, I started to close and open my palms, the chills had nothing to do with the coolness of the warehouse. They weren’t as strong as they used to be, but still an inconvenience. A reminder of how far I had fallen.

Ren walked to a kitchen—small but practical. Without being told, I took a seat at the table that was by the corner. I was stronger, but nowhere near my old health. Ren was right; I couldn’t even take a good fucking at the moment since I passed out on him right after.

I sat in silence as I watched Ren get to work in the kitchen, my mind going to drugs, Silas, and my father. One I was dependent on, the other one got deep in my skin, haunting from within, and the last was someone I wanted to protect even if he never protected me. What would Silas do now that I wasn’t his punching bag? Would he take it out on his brother? One thing I was sure of was that family didn’t mean shit to him. I was a means to an end who fell for empty words and hollow promises.

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