Page 70 of Rebellion

“I don’t think that’s up to you.”

Colm raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms over his chest. “Then you obviously don’t know how this works. At the moment, you’re in my territory. You’re under my command. And that means you do as I tell you to.”

“And if I don’t?” she challenged.

His jaw seemed to tighten. There was a tick on his cheek. “You don’t want to find out.”

A shiver ran through her at the memories of all the times she’d gotten into ‘trouble’ with Oleg.

“Sofia? Hey, Sofia. Look at me. Look at me, baby.”

“Please don’t call me that,” she said hoarsely.

His head flicked back, his face filling with surprise and then hurt for a brief moment before it grew cold again.

Sofia wanted to cry. She wanted to beg him to show her how he really felt. But the words were stuck on her tongue.

How did she do this?

How did she let this man in?

Give him everything and trust that he wouldn’t twist that? That he wouldn’t turn it all against her?

She couldn’t. Because she couldn’t afford to trust him. She’d trusted the wrong person once and it had nearly ruined everything.

However, she did know that Colm would never hurt her physically.

Colm wasn’t the sort of man who had to harm a woman to make himself feel better. Or who gave into his rage. Or needed to control someone else through physical intimidation and force.

He was already intimidating without the need to be an asshole. Besides, people seemed to defer to him naturally.

“Of course.” He stood from where he’d been crouched in front of her.

He’d gone so cold.

Don’t cry.

You can’t let anyone see you break.

“I will show you to your room. But I should warn you that you will not be able to leave. This is for your safety, not because you are a prisoner.” He was at the door by now and held it open, waiting for her to get up. To move.

Sofia stood carefully as her back had seized up. She knew she was going to be in a world of trouble tomorrow.

The best idea was to keep moving, even though the pain could be agonizing.

She didn’t have any medication with her to ease the pain either. She couldn’t remember where her handbag was, but unless Oleg had taken it when he kidnapped her, it was likely back at her place.

“I need my phone,” she muttered.

“After you’ve slept, we’ll take you to see Anisimov and then you can retrieve it. There’s only a couple of hours until dawn.”

Right.

Which meant she was probably better off not even sleeping.

He headed toward the stairs and she followed him.

She was entirely overloaded, to the point that she could barely function.

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