Page 21 of Poison Vows

“O-our vows?” I stutter.

“You can only belong to me,” he states hoarsely. “And the punishment for attempting to break them won’t be pretty.”

Now, that was a threat… with far more potent results than what I can do.

I need to get out of here.

“Is there anything else?” I demand, my voice dry and so, so low, it feels like it belongs to a stranger.

“You wait for the next instruction.”

“Instruction?” I scoff, then laugh. “Of course. My life is now dictated by you, so I guess you’ll be the one instructing me on how to reel in your rival. Including when I should spread my legs for him, be his se?—”

“Say those venomous words, I dare you!” Emmett’s green orbs are like blazing, liquid emeralds, burning a hole into me, but I don’t care.

“Am I wrong?” I spit out past the thorns in my throat. “By selling me to your cousin, isn’t this exactly what you want me to do? Be your whore?”

“Shut your fucking mouth!” Emmett grinds out through clenched teeth. “Demeaning yourself in front of me won’t give you the results you think it will.”

In this moment, I have never hated anyone as much as I hate this jerk.

“Please, I don’t expect a damn thing from you!” I snap. “I let go of the flimsy notion that you’re capable of anything human, let alone civil, a long time ago. This, selling people, setting up horror shows, this is all you, you psychopath!”

“Are you only realizing that now?”

His response stings.

“Yes. I’m the naïve fool who believed you were maybe someone who had a line that you’d never cross,” I seethe. “Turns out that you’re nothing but a sadistic, pathetic, lifeless bastard!”

His nostrils flare in anger.

Good. I want that anger. It’s evidence that he’s not as untouchable as he pretends to be.

“What? Did I strike a nerve?” I mock. “If you’re going to kill me for what I just said, then spare me the torture of anticipation and just do it!”

Emmett suddenly tenses. I feel the bristling anger from him, all of it focused squarely on me.

Yup… I drove him to the edge.

Good.

“Is death so simple to you?” Emmett asks gently.

The hairs on the back of my neck stand up on end almost immediately.

Caution! Tread carefully!

While this alarm blasts in my head, I quickly chuck it away and ignore it. My tirade much bigger than the danger I’m in.

“I fear nothing now, thanks to my stupidity and your manipulation. Not even death.”

This seems like the wrong thing to say as Emmett’s entire aura shifts in front of my eyes.

“You don’t fear death?” he asks slowly.

Four simple words, but as they leave his sinfully wicked mouth, unease rolls down my spine.

Emmett chuckles, but it’s humorless, cold, and empty.

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