Page 95 of Destroy (Deadly Hearts 2)

ChapterForty-Two

Declan

The simmering under my skin is making it difficult to breathe. I am furious with her. I knew she was plotting something. I could see it in her eyes all the way back in Ireland. Making an excuse to leave us, set my radar off.

“Are you going to disobey me, Princess?” I ask. “Or do I have to tie you up and send you to the naughty corner?”

She shakes her head. She’s decided she will play after all.

“Stand up,” I order her.

She does so immediately.

“David. Undress her.”

He is more than happy to do my bidding, and steps forward to strip her down to her knickers.

Standing barefoot in front of me, she is several inches shorter than me, about a foot and a bit shorter than Layton, who is looming at her back.

“Do you know why we are cross with you, sweetheart?” he asks her.

She shakes her head.

He fists his hand into her hair again and pulls her head back. “Wrong answer. Try again.”

“Because you’re worried about me,” she says quietly.

“That is an understatement,” I murmur. “You were about to do the same thing that got you in trouble just over a month ago. Did you really think we wouldn’t know you were planning something?”

She shakes her head. “I was hoping you would let me go,” she sulks.

I can’t help the fact that it makes my dick go stiff. She is firmly in her Little Girl role, and I want to ravage her. But she needs to be punished first.

“What makes you think we would allow that?” Layton asks, holding his hand out for the knife in my hand. Cillian’s knife that I managed to smuggle on board the plane in a lead lined false bottom of a bag. I wasn’t having him leave it behind. It means too much to him, for good reason. It is the knife I gutted our father with the very last time he abused us. His own knife finished him off, which has a sense of poetic justice to it.

I hand it over and watch with growing desire as he scrapes it gently down the side of her neck.

“What do you have to say for yourself, sweetheart?”

“I’m sorry,” she whimpers.

“You should be,” I reprimand her. “Your actions last time landed you in trouble, Princess. You were abducted, tortured, sexually assaulted, stabbed and left for dead.” I stroke her face gently. “I know how much you have suffered, darling. I know. It breaks my heart to see you struggling with this yet putting on a brave face for the world. I want to take the pain away from you, so you never have to feel it again, but you have to realize that we are hurting too. You hurt us by putting yourself into a dangerous situation. We have had to hold onto our own inner strength to help you through this and it has taken its toll on us as well, Princess. Do you understand that? Can you open up your eyes for one minute and see what you did to us by going off on your own? You don’t need to do that anymore. We are here. All of us. There isn’t a single thing in the world that we wouldn’t do for you. Accept that we are here and that we aren’t going anywhere. But don’t make us regret staying, Princess. Please don't put us through any more torment because we are not as strong as you.”

She gulps and tears well up in her eyes. They spill out, slowly rolling down her cheeks.

“Have you heard what I’ve said?” I ask.

“Yes,” she whispers. “Yes, and I’m sorry.”

“Do you trust us?” I ask.

“Of course…”

“Then why ditch us to go after Connor on your own?” I shout at her, going from calm and quiet to full on rage.

She quakes and shrinks back from my anger. “I don’t want any of you to get hurt. This is my mess; I’ll clean it up.”

“Your mess?” I ask with disgust. “Yours? You still don’t get it, do you?” I turn from her, a very clear indication that I am disappointed in her.

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