Page 66 of Forbidden Want

“Sersha?”

“Conn, whatever—”

“You wanna see him?”

“See… who?”

“The scum who put his hands on you without permission.”

Her chin rose; exhaustion vanished in a flash. “You have him?” she breathed out.

“Want me to finish it fast…? Please don’t ask me to finish it fast.”

She surged to her feet. “Where are you?”

“Daly will bring you.”

“We’re on our way.”

She hung up and turned.

Daly strode over. “We going?”

“We’re going,” she said, shutting her computer down. “Fast.”

“You got it.”

They were downstairs and in the car within a minute. She didn’t know where they were going or what was at the other end, other than Connel and her attacker.

Why was she going?

Yanking the liquor from its slot, she held it between her legs to pull out the stopper. Forgoing the glass, she drank from the bottle. Sure, her splinted arm didn’t help, but she didn’t care about decorum. Who was there to see her anyway?

How would she look into the eyes of the man who’d wanted to rape her? Blond guy was dead. Finished. This other guy… She could call Lachlan. That would be the responsible thing to do. Her brother could have the perpetrator arrested. He’d gather evidence, they’d go to court… She gulped more liquor. What would prison time mean for this guy? More connections, more skills. He’d come out to a Manzani hero’s welcome.

She swallowed. What was she capable of? What did Connel want her to do? Anything? Nothing? Witness her attacker’s death?

All she knew was she had to get there. She had to be there.

Stag. Before they even stopped, three guys in black came to the curb, waiting to open her door to usher her out. Daly stayed with her as they went inside, past the stairs, into the club and around to the back of the bar. Behind the wall of optics and colored bottles, a wide passage narrowed to a single door. They went through that, took a turn, another door and down. Down into the darkness. Into a large square hall with doors leading off it.

The guys closed around behind her, guiding her to the middle of the space. A door to the side opened and Connel joined them, giving his guys a discreet signal to leave, which they all did. Some went back the way she’d come, others went through the door Connel appeared from.

“You know what happens down here,” he said, coming close enough to cup her face. She nodded. “You can walk out of here any minute, any second. You don’t have to be here for this.”

“I want to be,” she whispered, stepping in to rest against him, laying her palm on his chest. “I don’t know why, but I do.”

“Because he violated you,” he said, his brow creasing. “Because he touched what didn’t belong to him. Because he…”

His head snapped to the side.

“He didn’t rape me,” she murmured, sliding her hand up to his jaw to bring his attention back to her. “He didn’t. They checked.”

“He thought about it,” he snarled, bowing a fraction lower. “That gets him a death sentence in my house.”

“This doesn’t change things between us,” she said, stroking his stubble. “I meant every word I said last night.”

“It’s not about us,” he said, though his hand skimmed around to splay on her back, forcing her against him. “If you need this, you get this. I can kill him quick if that’s what you want. I’ll bring you his head. I’ll do it, Macushla.”

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