Page 15 of Vow of Vengeance
Is this what life with him will be like? A good day sprinkled between the layers of pain and humiliation? I thought we were making progress, understanding one another on a deeper than superficial level. I thought that we were laying the foundation for something. But maybe I am really just his toy, a thing for him to play with, to break, to pass along when he's done with.
"You're not going to eat?" He glowers, disappointment heavy in his gaze as it runs over me.
"I'm not hungry." I lie, crossing my arms at the eggs in front of me.
"Bullshit." He laughs, taking a sip of his orange juice as if this is a completely normal breakfast for a completely normal couple. "You worked up an appetite last night, I guarantee it. Surely your body wants something more than my cock?"
His grin is arrogant, and part of me entertains the thought of reaching across the table to swat it off his face.
"Coffee." I say, my eyes darting to the pot on the counter behind him. I won't ask him for it, and I sure as hell won't risk rising out of this wooden chair that makes my ass throb and let him see that parts of me are still sore.
"Help yourself." He gestures behind him lazily, but the smirk on his lips tells me he knows exactly what he's doing to me. I want to scream.
All of the progress we made on this vacation has just evaporated. I feel like an entirely different person is sitting across from me, someone who doesn't care about me, as he says he does. This is someone who enjoys being cruel, doing exactly what he promised from the start— destroying me.
Maybe that was all part of the game. Make me fall, make me care about him so that when he pulls the rug out from under my feet, I can't find my footing.
I set my jaw, stubbornly refusing to stand. I don't know what pisses me off more— the way he smirks at me like he knows he lingers inside of me or the way I feel betrayed by a monster. "When do we go home?" I ask, wrapping my arms around myself to ward off some of the chill that seems to be sneaking into my bones.
"I don't know." Declan shrugs. "I've enjoyed our little vacation. Haven't you?"
I don't grace him with an answer, setting my jaw instead as I look out at the gray day.
Yesterday, the same weather was cozy. Today, it's gloomy.
"I want to go home."
Declan rolls his eyes, huffing a sigh. He rises from the table, and I expect that he'll leave me here to wallow in my own self-pity. Instead, he goes to the coffee maker and begins to prepare a pot. "That's not what you said you wanted the other day."
I stare at the back of his shoulders, wondering what I said I wanted then. I don't ask, and he doesn't answer until he sets the mug of coffee in front of me, his gaze even with mine when he settles in his seat again.
"You said you wanted justice. Is that still true?"
I don't answer him immediately, waiting for him to elaborate of his own accord.
"What I mean to say is, would you still want justice if it meant that the person you were delivering it to wasn't who you think it is?"
I blink at him, too tired to try and untangle the mess of that sentence.
"What? I don't know who it is. I told you that already."
"Yeah," he agrees. "But what I mean is, would you seek justice even if it was going to destroy you? The truth can be a terrible thing, little bird." He leans back in his chair, appraising me. "Sometimes it hurts more than not knowing."
Whatever he's saying, or more accurately, whatever he'snotsaying, is suspicious.
"Do you know something I don't?"
"I know many things you don't." He sighs, dragging a hand over his face. "Just answer the question, Ren. It's important."
"Yes." I snap, my irritation growing with each vague question. "I would want to know, even if it hurts."
"Mm." He nods, contemplating something slowly. When his eyes glance up to meet mine, they're less stormy. "You're strong enough to handle it."
I glare at him, wondering whether that was supposed to be a question. Apparently not, because he nods like he's decidedsomething and gets up from his chair, walking around to take my hand. I snatch it away from him, annoyed at his audacity to touch me, but he isn't deterred.
"There's something you have to see."
"No." I set my jaw. "I'm not going anywhere with you. After what you did— "
