Page 52 of Breaker

Wishing my life was different.

Which is foolish of me. Wishing never got anyone anywhere. It’s action that creates change. And as much as I know I need to do something to stop this marriage to Zane, I can’t seem to muster any energy. Not that I’ve come up with a plan, which is precisely what I need.

My only option to stop this marriage is so far from reach, I’m not sure it’s even an option. I could very well end up signing my death warrant.

“Did you hear me, girl?” Clyde asks, gripping my shoulders and turning me so I’m facing him. “Are you even listening?”

No.

“Who are we meeting with again?” I ask, smoothing my hands down my pencil skirt to remove the wrinkles. He told me earlier, but I’m too busy being miserable to care.

Clyde opens his mouth to answer but the door swings open, and Zane appears with a huff.

“You’re late,” he says, gaze slipping up and down my body leaving oily unease every place his eyes skim over.

All my senses scream awake, Zane’s proximity sending alarm bells through my head. I’ve been around him for years working in the same office, and maybe it’s because he was so fixated on Delly that he never bothered me before.

He bothers me now. As does that angry, inconvenienced expression he’s currently wearing.

“We’re only fifteen minute late,” I say, shoving him out of the way to enter his office. “I wanted to freshen up and eatsomething before sitting in on a meeting with a bunch of old men.”

Zane follows me through the luxurious sitting room outside his office, past the shelves lined with books he’s more than likely never read, and into his dark office. It’s dark because of the fact everything is painted a deep forest green. The walls, more shelves with more books, the curtains over the modern windows. Mixed in with the modern sleek furniture are heavy ornate antiques that remind of the mansion back with the men.

This room reminds me of Reaper. Dark, brooding. Intense. Beautiful.

“Sit.” Zane says, gesturing for Clyde to sit in one of the plush leather chairs, but Rune enters behind us and takes the seat. That’s when I notice Dave.

Delly’s sleazy ex-husband.

It’s not uncommon for Dave to sit in on certain meetings to make sure things are done correctly, or at least done in a way ensuring Rune won’t get caught. What’s uncommon are the tell-tale remnants of two black eyes, the skin around them slightly green like they’re old. And… Is his nose a little crooked?

I smile inwardly. Rune must have questioned him, as Rune tends to do, after we were taken. Or Clyde. Or both of them. Being that he’s still alive and still Rune’s lawyer means they believed he had nothing to do with us being taken.

I, of course known that, but satisfaction swirls in my belly, picturing Clyde punching him over and over. He probably enjoyed every second, considering Dave cheated on Delly.

“Glad you’re back,” he says standing, but I wave him off. He opens his mouth, and I feel with every fiber in my being he’s about to ask me about Delly but thinks better of it and sits back down.

“I take it Rune filled you in,” Zane says, stepping up to the sideboard and pouring two fingers of whisky into a glass.

“I have no clue what today’s about,” I tell him, snatching his glass and slamming it back.

I hiss at the burn traveling down my throat, reveling in Zane’s pinched expression, a perfect dark blonde brow quirking upwards slightly. If he wasn’t such a perverted creepy asshole, he’d be stunningly handsome, but instead it’s like a dark meanness seeps through his pores turning him slightly plastic and fake.

“You didn’t tell her?” Zane asks, but he’s talking to Rune.

I don’t bother to look at Rune, but I can picture his slight shoulder shrug of indifference.

“But I told you my expectations,” Zane snarls and all the niceness he was pretending to possess vanishes instantly, making my stomach clench

There he is. The Zane Devin I know. Rune’s second in command. The one who threatens men who refuse to do his bidding. Who will steal hundreds of thousands from a rival without batting an eye. The one who helps Rune decide who to dispose of and who to keep.

“Does it matter?” Rune says. “It’s done, so let’s move forward.”

Zane nods and sets the decanter down watching me as he does. The way his eyes skim my face, then move to my breasts feels like a different kind of violation. When his hazel eyes move to my lips, I give him a deadly smile.

He’s giving me no choice.

It’s going to end up being him or me. If I learned anything from my time with the men, it’s that I will fight for me. Even if it kills me.

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