Page 10 of Breaker

Reaper promised he’d never let me go. That they would always come for me, and I have to believe this, or I’ll go insane. Because I don’t know what Rune will do now that he thinks they’ve had me. Stained me. Perverted my body and maybe even my mind against him.

He leans in, breath hitting my face like acid. “If you spread your legs for them in my club, you’d do it again.”

He may as well have slapped me with how harsh his words sting.

“Rune,” Clyde growls, stepping close but stops when Rune casts him lethal glare. Clyde clears his throat and says, “She’s been traumatized, and she’s—“

Rune grips my arms, tugging me forward so roughly that I crash into his chest. With a deadly gleam in his eyes, he says, “Was it the big one? Did you fuck him?”

I’m released and shoved away like I’m too tainted to touch a second longer.

“No, Papa,” I say, knowing he means Reaper. The man who, in his eyes, violated his daughter in his place of business.

Rune backs away, running fingers through his hair, gripping it at the roots, pacing in short, rigid steps in front of me.

“Leave her alone, Rune,” Clyde says from behind me. “Who she’s slept with and when are none of your concern.”

I stifle a laugh. Poor Clyde. He has no idea.

“They are sick,” Rune says, more to himself. “Those men are sick. Murderers. And they fucking violated my daughter!”

I swallow, tasting the bitterness. Daughter, not daughters. Then again, I’m not his blood. I’m his whore.

Rune rocks his head back and forth, rolling his shoulders, trying to keep himself in check.

Don’t want to let Clyde see what you really are, I think.

“Those men do atrocious things,” Rune growls, resuming his pacing. “They’ve been trained to be killers.”

“You know them?” I ask, eyeing Rune. He pauses, slowly pivoting to face me. “You know the men who took us?”

He glances at Clyde. Unease settles in my stomach, realizing heknowsthem. Rune knows the men, and they know him. I was right. It’s more than pride or money that made Rune kill their brother. It’s personal.

The realization hits like a punch to the gut. That’s why they never came for us. They didn’t know where we were, but they knew who had us. I can’t help but wonder if he knows more about them than I do. If he knows the silver-haired man who took me. With the way he’s acting, he has to.

“Was he there?” Rune asks. “Their father?”

My heart thunders, picturing the man Reaper handed me over to. “I only saw him once. Who is he?”

Rune’s features turn to ice. “What did he say to you? Did he touch you?”

“Nothing. And no, he never touched me.”

Rune releases a strange, choked sound. Relief? I can’t tell.

“Where did they keep you?” Clyde asks, derailing Rune from his line of questioning.

Thank god I don’t have to lie anymore. “I don’t know where we were. They put us in a room. We barely saw them.”

“What do you mean?” Clyde asks. “Tell us everything.”

The best lies are the ones closest to the truth. I suck in a breath, closing my eyes like I’m too scared, too traumatized to talk about it. Part of that is true. I may not be traumatized, but I sure is shit am scared.

“They kept us apart,” I say shakily as I open my eyes. Rune’s own narrow and fear slithers through my belly. I don’t know what he knows. They’ve obviously had some sort of communication. At least enough to send word that I was coming back and where to meet to gather me. “For over a week, I think. They gave me food three times a day. I counted how many times, and it added up to nine days.”

“Who?” Rune barks. “The big one?”

He’s really fucking obsessed with Reaper.

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