Page 428 of Rage

“I love you,” I tell him.

He drops a kiss to my forehead. “I love you more.”

I settle onto the throne, feeling like a fucking queen up here. The velvet’s smooth beneath my fingers. I sit up straighter. I’m in charge here, and this is my court. A new sense of strength rushes through me and I feel more like myself than I have in weeks.

Blake comes to my side so that we’re both facing Carl. He hasn’t moved since we entered the room, and I wonder if he’s actually still alive or not.

“What shall we do with him?” Blake keeps his voice low, even though it’s just us down here. “How do you want me to hurt him, magpie?”

I let all my anger, all my hurt, and the sense of being violated course through my body and embrace all the emotions that rise. Letting my imagination run wild, I think of stabbing him over and over until he bleeds out, of cutting off his dick and making him choke on it, of having someone take him against his will until he’s bloody and sobbing.

The fantasies, the possibilities keep coming. Though are they really fantasies when I can utter the word and make any of them a reality?

A sensation of dark empowerment sings in my veins. I was victimized by Carl, but I’m not the victim here today. I’m the Angel of Death and Vengeance. I’m the Queen of Revenge. I’m Carl’s worst nightmare—a powerful woman.

Which is why I don’t want to kill him, as temporarily satisfying as that would be. He needs to be a living example of what happens to men who have no respect for women, to men who think they’re untouchable because of their position in society.

Finally, he stirs. His puffy eyelids open, his gaze landing on me. The chains rattle as he struggles against the restraints. “Gin, you little bitch. You can’t do this to me! Tell them to let me go!”

Hmm. Why don’t his pleas move me? Maybe because he’s such a fucking asshole.

Blake steps up to Carl and backhands him across the face. “Don’t you dare speak to my wife like that.”

Carl’s eyes widen. He glances at me, then at Blake, and back again. “You’re his w-wife?”

I bob my head.

Apparently, he didn’t get the memo that I’m now Ginevra Baron, wife to the notorious and feared man called The Black Baron—for the lack of light shining in his soul.

“I-I didn’t know.” Too little, too late, Carl. I’m annoyed how he’s only afraid now because of my relationship with Blake. He’s only cowering because he’s afraid of my husband. That’s about to change. I want him to be terrified of me.

Behind every great man is a vengeful woman.

“Blake, darling, pull out your knife.” I instruct from my cushy throne. “You’ll also need something to cauterize the wounds.”

“Wh-what?” Carl tugs at his chains. “What are you going to do?” His panicked gaze darts between me and my husband, as Blake’s knife appears in his hand. “Tell him to stop, you crazy bitch!”

“Cut out his vile tongue.”

Blake grabs the tongs, forces Carl’s mouth open and stretches out his tongue. In one fluid motion, he brings the knife down and slices through the spongy meat. Carl screams, choking onhis own blood. He screams even louder when Blake presses a red-hot iron to the gushing wound.

I barely give Carl a moment to recover before catching Blake’s eye. Pointing at Carl’s flaccid dick, he nods, then cuts it from the man’s body.

This time, Carl passes out. The abrupt silence soothes my jagged nerves. I’m not a violent person—usually. Blake cauterizes the wound, then diligently cleans his knife.

I lean back in my chair. “You can have him returned to his parents now. Just make sure he knows that if he tries to come after us, we’ll kill him.”

“I think he’s bright enough to understand, but I’ll make sure of it.” Blake sneers at Carl’s limp, blood smeared body. “Do you want to keep anything for a souvenir?”

“Are you serious?” The idea of having even a drop of Carl’s blood on me is repulsive, much less anything… larger.

Blake shrugs. “I just want to give you everything and anything your heart desires. There’s no limit to what I’ll do for you, or what you can have. Some people like to collect pieces.”

“I’m definitely not one of them. But there is something…”

“Anything.” His brilliant blue gaze steals my breath away.

“I want to go back to the club, to that room where it happened.”

---