Page 13 of Pretty Vengeful Queen

I only graze them, earning a vicious curse from the guy, because Tony is faster. The fucker yanks me backward before I can connect and do the damage I want, his moist breath on the back of my neck sending a disgusted shudder through me as he leans down to whisper in my ear.

“None of that, bitch. Jackson’s right. Once Austin gets what he needs from you, he ain’t gonna have any more use for you. And you know what he does with bitches he has no use for?”

His cock starts to swell against my back, and I struggle to get away from him, answering his question with a string of curses that gets me nothing but dark laughter from all three of them.

Tony yanks my elbows behind me, sending a shooting pain through my shoulders. “We’ve been stuck here watching over you, bored out of our fucking minds. Pretty sure he’ll let us pass you around since we deserve something for that.”

“You deserve to rot in fucking hell,” I grit out, panting as I struggle against him.

“Nah, like Jackson said, what we deserve is a little fun,” he says, wrapping a meaty hand around my neck and squeezing until I’m forced to go still. The shithead he called Jackson seems to take that as an open invitation, closing in on me again and grabbing my tits hard while Tony holds me in place.

His eyes are mean now that I’ve gone for his balls.

“What do you think,Mrs. McKenna?” he asks nastily as he gropes me. “Are you having fun yet?”

The front door bangs open before I can tell him to go fuck himself, startling all three guards. The guy against the wall straightens up and looks toward the front of the house, and Jackson backs off too.

It’s Austin, looking so fucking smug as he approaches that the brief surge of relief I felt at the interruption goes up in smoke. If he’s this pleased about something, there’s no way it can be anything good, and the way he’s looking at me sends my heart into my throat.

“All good, boss?” Jackson asks, backing off even more to give Austin room to pass.

“Very, very good,” Austin answers, his eyes locked onto mine as he walks right up to me. Tony quickly drops his hand from my throat without letting go of my arms, shifting back a few inches.

At least I don’t have to feel his cock pressing against me anymore.

Tony clears his throat. “I was just taking her to the bath—”

“Shh,” Austin says sharply, holding up a hand. I hear Tony’s mouth snap closed behind me, and Austin smiles. “It’s official, wifey,” he practically purrs, leaning in. “What’s yours is all mine. The accounts have all been officially transferred into my name. And do you know what that means?”

I don’t answer him, and I don’t give him the satisfaction of flinching away when he reaches out and strokes my cheek with one finger, either.

“It means I don’t need you anymore,” he says, slowly dragging his finger down to my throat before jerking it sideways in a vicious slicing motion.

I swallow hard, both adrenaline and fear stabbing through me, and Austin grins, a dark hunger flaring to life in his eyes. For a split second as he holds my gaze, I think he’s going to do it right now. But then he rocks back on his heels, tucking his hands behind his back.

“I was going to kill you, but Sienna gave me a better idea.”

He pauses, dragging it out, but I’m not going to feed his sadistic pleasure by begging to know my fate.

“You do still havesomevalue,” he finally goes on, watching me with an avaricious gleam in his eye. “No monetary value, not anymore, but since there are three men who still seem to want you anyway, you’re still going to be useful to me.”

For a single, horrifying moment, I think the three guards were right. Austin is going to give me to his men. He’ll let them pass me around and use me as their cum dump until IwishI was dead. But then the gloating expression on his face gives way to ugly rage, and he spits out a word that makes my heart sing.

“Reapers.”

My breath hitches, and as quickly as Austin’s mask slipped, he has it back in place, grinning at me with smug satisfaction.

“That’s right. Maddoc Gray and his seconds still have their people sniffing around for you, and Sienna pointed out that that gives me an advantage against them.”

My heart lurches. Are they really still out there looking for me?

Something both painful and warm spills into my chest, because I don’t even have to ask. Of course they are. I can’t deny that the three men I was living with… care about me. They’ve shown it, proven it, over and over. Just like they’ve proven that it’s not about the money.

Austin’s right. Theywillstill want me, even though it’s gone.

But I care about them too. I don’t want them to pay for their feelings for me like this. I don’t want Austin to use me as leverage.

He will, though. He’ll make them pay. He’ll use me to hurt Maddoc, Dante, and Logan.

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