Page 89 of Backfire
I was not a commodity to be traded.
“Si, Sydney.” Pascello sat back and tipped his brow my way. “Brava ragazza.”
I don’t know what he said. I didn’t care. Why should I? He didn’t care about me.
Placing my palms on the table, I slid my chair out and stood up. “I’m not hungry.”
My intent was to leave and go hide in my room, but Pascello chased me out.
“Sydney, wait.”
I rolled my eyes and huffed out an exasperated breath. “What?”
Pascello grabbed my hand and held it with both of his. “I know you have no reason to trust me.”
He could say that again. A part of me wanted to trust him. This man was the only connection to my father that I had. But I didn’t know him, and most importantly, he didn’t know me. I was starting to think nobody did.
“I need you to hear me when I say, you have even less reason to trust them.”
That got my attention.
I looked up into his silver eyes just as Devlin came barging out into the hall. “Time to go, Ricci.”
Pascello gave me a small smile and patted the top of my hand. “Call me.”
Devlin didn’t waste any time escorting my uncle out. I stood there watching them go, then looked down at the note in my hand.
You are but a sheep in the wolves’ den.
Underneath was a phone number.
Imanaged to tuck the piece of paper in my pocket before Devlin stormed up and snatched my arm. “What did he say to you?”
“None of your business.” I sneered up at him and attempted to tear my arm out of his strong grip.
He tightened his hold and dug his fingers into my flesh. “Everything you do is my business.”
Like hell it was.
My arm swung through the air, cracking my palm loudly off the side of his face. Nothing was quite as satisfying as the way his head snapped to the side. Fuck him, fuck the Adairs, and fuck my so-called uncle. Charmaine and I didn’t need them.
When Devlin’s darkening glare slowly rolled back, I lifted on my tiptoes and hissed in his face, “You don’t own me.”
All my bravado and the world fell away as Devlin’s lips curled in a slow smile.
“We’ll see about that.”
He scooped me up and threw me over his shoulder so quickly that all I could do was cling onto the back of his shirt in hopes that I wouldn’t go careening headfirst over the other side. It was terrifying how strong he was.
A smart person would’ve taken that as their cue to stop fighting. Unfortunately, I was not that person. Once upon a time, I was the one who made the smart choice.
Then I came here, and asshole stepbrothers turned into horny teachers and stepfathers who thought they could act like fathers. The sudden pop up of an uncle was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
I was done.
Devlin could fill the hole in his chest by tormenting someone else.
Refusing to give into anymore demands, I bucked my hips and kicked my feet. Was I worried about falling down and kissing the ground? Hell no. My lips were puckered in readiness. Bring the floor on.
