Page 22 of Possessive Greek Chef

“He’ll know and he’ll cut your throat,” I shout.

Digging his fingers into my arms, he leans forward and licks the side of my face, “Maybe, but I get to slit yours first.”

He takes both of my wrists in one of his big, fat hands and uses his other hand to touch himself through his pants, “But first, I’m gonna pull off that towel and fuck you.”

“You don’t want to do this. You’re a successful, famous chef. You’ll lose everything,” I try to reason with him.

“Successful? Your new boyfriend made sure that would never happen. Don’t you understand? He’s only using you to ruin me. He knew I wanted you so he took you and with you, he got all of my trade secrets.”

“No, he didn’t. He hasn’t asked me anything about your recipes. I swear.”

“How can I believe anything that comes out of your slut mouth? Shut up. The time for talking is over now. Now, it’s time for action.”

He lets go of my wrists and says, “Drop the towel.”

“No,” I shake my head. “You’ll just have to kill me. I’d rather die than have you touch me.”

His face turns red with rage and he grabs me by my throat. Struggling for breath, I grab his hands and try to pry them away. He squeezes harder, and my vision begins to blur. I can feel the life slipping from my body, and all I can think about is the time that I’ll miss with Atticus. My heart breaks as I wonder if you can still miss someone after you die. The world goes black and I feel my body crash down hard on the tile floor.

12

AWAKENING THE BEAST WITHIN

ATTICUS

The restaurant is deserted and silent until my phone chimes with an automated message from Aria’s alarm. My blood pressure rises but I take a deep breath and tell myself that the chances of her having a break-in on the very day that I installed the alarm is zero to none. I decide that it’s best to call her before I rush out the door for a false alarm.

The phone rings several times and then goes to voicemail. That’s not right. If the alarm went off, she’d be wide awake and probably scared out of her mind. She wouldn’t miss my call so I leap from my chair and grab my car keys, hoping I haven’t wasted too much time by calling her first.

There’s no traffic at this time of night, and I step on the gas and fly across town. I hit the curb as my car screeches to a stop in front of her place, and I jump out. With the keys still in the ignition and the door wide open, I rush inside the building. I take the stairs two at a time and rush down the hall to her door.

My vision goes red when I see the open door dangling from its hinges. I storm into the dark apartment and try to adjust my vision. I can see the flickering of candlelight coming from the bathroom and stomp in that direction with my fists clenched and heart pounding. I don’t know what I’ll find on the other side of that door but I’m prepared to take on any adversary.

What I find is my worst nightmare. A man with his back to me has Aria by the throat, choking the life out of her. In the absence of rational thought, my body reacts to the danger before me, and I punch the man between his shoulder blades. Stunned and winded by the blow, he lunges forward and drops Aria to the floor.

She’s wrapped in a towel and it falls away, leaving her naked and exposed in a lifeless heap that fuels my rage until fire shoots from my eyes. I spin the man around and stare him in the eyes. Bedros? Fucking Bedros? How could I have dismissed this deranged psychopath as a harmless crybaby?

He leaps at me and I grab him by the forehead and shove him out into the main room of the apartment. I squeeze, hoping his skull will crack under the pressure of my rage-fueled grip, but he thrashes and shakes his head until I have no choice but to release my hold on him.

Clearly out of his mind, the fat loser lunges toward me a second time. This time, I rear back my fist and strike him square in the nose with repeated blows until it cracks and a stream of blood flows out and down his face.

“You came here to hurt my girl? Nobody touches what’s mine,” I snarl and continue to pound on his face and torso until he crumbles and falls to his knees. Unsatisfied with the pain that I’ve inflicted, I kick him in the jaw. The force of the blow cracks his jaw and he melts into a ball on the floor.

“Atticus?” I hear Aria’s voice and turn to see her slumped against the bathroom door “I thought I was dead. He wanted to rape me and kill me.”

“I know, baby. You’re safe now,” I stand over Bedros’ limp body, wrestling with the desire to squeeze the last bit of life from him. Why would an animal like this deserve to live another day? I look back at Aria who’s also staring down at Bedros.

“Is he alive?” she asks.

“Yes, he is. Unfortunately,” I nod.

“I can’t call the police. He destroyed my phone. Call them, please.” She begins sobbing uncontrollably. I know in this instance if I end him, she’ll never look at me the same.

I walk to her and she collapses into my arms as I dial the police dispatch. Bedros is still unconscious, but I don’t take my eyes off him. He may live another day, but when I get finished with him, he’ll wish I’d killed him.

A long groan comes from Bedros’ swollen lips and he opens his eyes. I tell Aria to put on her clothes before the police arrive and walk over to him.

“Don’t move. If you move, I’ll make sure it’s the last time you do,” I lean over him and say.

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