Page 14 of His to Ruin

He makes it sound as if I was a willing participant when he took those photos, rather than the naïve eighteen-year-old he pressured into it.

“How?”

“Joey asked someone to keep them safe for him. They’re willing to give them back to you.”

I narrow my eyes as I’m gripped by suspicion. “Why?”

He grins. “For money, of course.”

I should have known. It always comes down to money. Heaven forbid anyone act out of the goodness of their heart.

“It’s not much of a gift if I’m paying for them.”

“The gift is me introducing you to the person who has them.”

“I see.” I smile tightly. “And how much do they want?”

“You can discuss that when you meet her.” Dario winces. I don’t think he meant to reveal it’s a woman. That’s interesting. I try to think who Joey might have entrusted the photos to. He wasn’t married, but perhaps he had a girlfriend he trusted.

“When does she want to meet?”

“Right now. I came to bring you to her.”

I shake my head. Even if I could get out of here without being trailed by bodyguards who report back to my big brothers, I don’t trust this situation.

“I can’t do that.”

Dario steps closer. When he speaks, his voice is softer, more persuasive. “Come on, Liv, it’s easy. Just tell your guards we’re going to a club. We’ll lose them on the way.”

Shaking off my brothers’ men would be harder than he thinks. They know I’m marrying Piotr Reznov at the end of the week. They’d be suspicious of me going off with some man they know nothing about.

“It’s almost impossible.”

“No, it’s not, Liv.” Dario reaches out and curves his hand around my cheek. “Look, I’m trying to help you here. I know I hurt you before, but I’ve changed. I want to put things right.”

He sounds so sincere it would be easy to believe him, but I’ve trusted Dario before and he betrayed me in the worst possible way.

“Dario, I…”

Whatever I was about to say disappears behind a scream as Dario is suddenly wrenched away from me and thrown against the wall. He’s not a small man, but next to the angry Russian who has him pinned with an arm across his chest, he suddenly seems completely insignificant.

“Piotr, I…”

“Shut your mouth, Olivia.” Despite the violence radiating from him, his voice is cold. “I want this piece of shit to explain why he dares touch my fiancée.”

“We’re just friends,” Dario grits out. He doesn’t try to fight Piotr off, either because he knows exactly who he’s dealing with or because Donnie and Salvatore, another of my brothers’ men, are standing by the door.

“That’s not what I asked.” Piotr pulls Dario forward, only to slam him against the wall again. There’s a sickening thud, and Dario’s head lolls forward like he’s dazed. Piotr shoves him toward my brothers’ men. “Teach him a lesson and send him on his way.”

As Donnie and Salvatore lead a struggling Dario out of the house, my heart thunders in my chest. Piotr turns to me. His expression is blank, but his eyes burn with rage.

“Now, Olivia, I think we need to get a few things straight, don’t you?”

CHAPTER 5

Piotr

Though I have a powerful urge to strip Olivia bare and show her just who she belongs to, I resist. Call me old-fashioned, but I want to wait until our wedding night to fuck her. The first time I sink my cock into her snug pussy, the act will be symbolic, a sealing of the legal bond we’ve created. It will make her irrevocably mine. That doesn’t mean she’ll escape the consequences of allowing another man to touch her, though.

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