Page 6 of Fervent

I raised my eyes, opened my mouth to say something, but could hardly form a coherent thought, let alone a sentence. This must be a crazy dream.

Lucas Perrone didn’t smile, didn’t seem smug. In fact, he seemed bored, and that expression struck me hard in the chest because he’d often worn that look while we dated. Even the night he’d asked me to marry him, he’d lacked excitement. I’d always assumed it was because my dad had set us up. Now, gaping at him in utter shock, everything I thought I’d known about Lucas was a lie, nothing more than dust on the ground.

He gestured to the guy standing sentinel at my back. “Leave us. She won’t be a problem.”

The pressure of the weapon disappeared from my skull, and I sensed Lucas’ henchman moving away. I let out a breath at the absence of his gun. A few seconds later, the door clicked shut. But reality crashed in, and I wrestled beyond my state of shock to say something.

“Did my dad put you up to this?” My heart thundering behind my breastbone, I drew in a deep breath through my nose, determined not to give in to a full-blown panic attack.

Five in, hold, five out.

The twitch of his mouth interrupted the repeat part of my breathing ritual. He rubbed his chin, thumb whisking over the patch of hair sprinkled with gray, and folded into the leather seat on the other side of the desk. “Why would your father have you and Mason kidnapped?” Raising a brow, he ran a palm across the gleaming brown surface that matched the color of his eyes.

I glanced around the room, but my focus strayed to those unsettling photos displayed behind him. “If he didn’t do this, then why am I here? Why did you take us?”

“The two of you took something from me.”

“I-I don’t understand. I barely know you. The only reason I know you at all is because of my dad, and Rafe…” I glanced at my lap, only then realizing how I twisted my fingers in a display of unease. “He’s been in prison for the last eight years.”

“Exactly.”

“I’m not following.”

His brow furrowed, the one with the scar severing the perfect arch. “There was a time when I wanted you.” He rose and slowly rounded the desk. I kept my attention forward, but in my periphery I spied the strong build of his thighs at my side, hidden underneath the perfect fit of his slacks. He grasped my hair and tilted my head back until I returned his gaze.

“Rafe Mason is going to pay for what he did. You will too, for your part in this, but that doesn’t stop me from wanting you still.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said through gritted teeth. My mind raced in trying to decipher what Rafe and I could have done to earn his thirst for vengeance, but none of this made any sense. Unless my dad was involved somehow…that’s the only thing that clicked.

“What would you be willing to do to save Mason’s life?”

“What?” I jerked back, fighting against his hold.

“You heard me. What would you”—he let my hair slide through his fingers, and his hand descended to my lap—“be willing to do to save the man you love?” There was nothing to bar his access—just a flimsy scrap of underwear I’d worn to bed, thinking I was safe in Rafe’s room. Lucas parted my thighs and swiped my panties to the side, then he plunged a finger between my folds. I bit my lip hard.

“You never let me touch you like this when we were dating.” He bent and pressed his face to my temple, inhaling sharply. “I’ll spare his life if you let me fuck you.”

“Let him go.”

“That’s not going to happen.”

“I’ll do anything…” My gaze strayed to the photos of the woman, and I wondered who she was. How could I have spent so much time with him and never sense the darkness beneath the expensive suits and charming demeanor? When it came to noticing the depraved fibers in people, I was broken, my evil detector in pieces, probably rotting in the same place as my innocence.

“I’ll be your…your…slave. Let him go and keep me.”

His mouth lowered to my ear. “You’re perfect, Alex. Young, pliable, and best of all, trained to take a man’s cock like a pro.” He added more fingers and jammed them deep inside, stretching my opening with an uncomfortable burn. It was all I could do not to tense upon the crude intrusion. “But you’re under the misguided impression that you have a choice in the matter, that you have the ability to negotiate with me. You,” he said, his breath blasting my ear with moist heat, “are powerless here.”

He unbuttoned his slacks and lowered the zipper. “We’ll start slow, but I need a token of your respect. Show me why I should consider your wants in this situation. Show me why I shouldn’t kill Mason.”

I leaned toward him, each second bringing my mouth closer to the hard-on straining behind his boxer briefs, and reached for the band of cotton, pulling it down…down a little more. I glanced up and wished I could smack the gleam of triumph from his expression. He was toying with me, thinking he’d already won.

And he had. I’d do anything for Rafe.

“If I give you a blowjob, you’ll let him go?”

“Wrap that slutty mouth around my cock, and I might let him live.”

A few weeks ago, I would have succumbed, would have bent under his threats. But I knew better now, could better judge when someone was using my fears against me.

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