Page 11 of Vengeful Valentine

That changed things. If it was her choice…surely his brothers would understand.

His mind churned with a thousand excuses and scenarios as he imagined an entirely new future.

Maybe, just maybe, he could have everything he wanted.

One with Ashmine as hiswife. The mother of his children.

He rolled to the side, lying next to her.

Mistaking his move as rejection, she reached for him and grumbled, “Silas.”

He clicked on the bedside lamp. “I want to see you better.” He shifted back, hovering over her fully. Watching her face. “You choose me?” he asked.

She rolled her lips between her teeth, her eyes shifting over his shoulder, before resettling on him. “Always.”

“Little girl, I need you to understand. That this will change everything. Once you are mine. I willneverlet you go. I won’t allow you out of my sight. And when it is time, I will breed you and leave you barefoot and pregnant for my brothers to come home to. There will be no mistake of whose you are.”

This time when she grabbed for him, he met her halfway, pressing his lips back to hers.

That night, she may have chosen him…but it wasn’t until later that he learned it had all been a lie.

That he wasn’t the only one she had been with.

In fact, Silas had been the last of them.

But that wasn’t even the worst of it.

***

Hawk shifting in his periphery brought Silas back to the here and now.

Hawk rolled a table into the room. An operation table. They had stuffed it away in a locked hallway closet in preparation for this night.

Ace had found out Ashmine was dating thisprofessorand they had quickly formed a plan. Acquired a run down cabin, left brochures for theprofessorto find. All to lure Ashmine out here. To her demise.

Next, Hawk stepped to the man that was on the ground, nudging him with his foot. “He seems to be unconscious,” Hawk expelled hoarsely.

Silas’s lips curled cruelly. He couldn’t believe she chose such a useless partner.

But much to his chagrin, Ashmine hadn’t screamed or cried out. In fact, she was surprisingly silent and still.

As if she were resigned to her fate.

“Little girl, nothing left to say? Or did you speak all of your words when you were at the courthouse? When you condemned Ace to his fate?” Silas snarled out, losing his patience and reaching out to grab Ashmine by the shoulders.

She was smaller than he remembered.

His fingers dug into her bone as he shook her, but she paid him no mind, watching over his shoulder.

She was wearing a ridiculous sundress with bright purple flowers that didn’t belong here.

Silas hated it. Hated that she probably wore it for the man that didn’t deserve her.

“Look at me, when I speak to you,” he roared, the sound echoing around the cramped space.

Finally, her eyes glanced up to his.

Whatever he expected to see. The terror, anxiety, unease.

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