Page 163 of Merciless Desires

“It’s nothing you need to worry about, honey.” I stand and move closer, wanting to interject into this conversation. She’s my daughter. “I didn’t want Ana to be alone. We have this big house. Is that okay?”

I hold my breath, waiting for her to answer. I’m not a parent who lets a child make the decisions. But this is a big deal, a woman living with us, having a baby. A woman who I want to share my bed.

“Yes, Daddy.”

CHAPTER 16

Ana

“Shhh,” a raspy whisper comes from behind me on the bed, waking me from a deep sleep.

It’s almost four a.m. I snuck back into my room a few hours ago, like I’ve been doing, so Sophie doesn’t catch me in her father’s bed.

Darragh’s arms imprison me, holding me down, immediately signaling what he wants. The darkest before the dawn is when he turns feral, primal.

“Mmmm.” I turn my head to kiss him, but he forces my face away.

Brutally.

He closes his hands around my throat and lowers his mouth to my ear. “You like getting pounded big and pregnant like this?”

I truly get off on how Darragh gets rough with me, but keeps me safe at the same time. He brings me to a razor-sharp, painful edge, but the other side is bliss. “Yes, I love when you take me like this. But aren’t you tired? You have to be—”

He tightens his hold on my neck. “Shut the fuck up.” A sharp hissing whistle sickens my stomach. It’s the sound of ‘fuck’ through a missing front tooth.

My breath hitches, and my body goes cold. Catching a stream of moonlight from a rare cloudless night, I claw at the hands around my neck enough to see what I already know.

Tattooed fingers.

This isn’t Darragh…

I twist my face and yell, “Stop! Get off me!”

Cormac covers my mouth and yanks my head, so we’re face to face. He looks wild, worse than I remember, a raging, crazed man. And the fear I’d been able to let go of rushes back like it never left. My worst nightmare is happening. Cormac found me. He wants me dead for sure. I’m evidence. I’m carrying evidence.

“You didn’t tell me to stop when you begged me to fuck you.” Shaking me, he rambles on, “You knew you were ovulating. You knew you’d get pregnant, thinking I’d let you go.”

I don’t bother arguing such nonsense. Instead, I bite his fingers and cry out louder this time, “Darragh! Help me!”

“Ow!” Cormac slaps me across the face. “You’ll pay for that, Stasia.”

I kick, but it’s no use. With all my might, I scream again, even if it wakes up Sophie. She needs to hide.

“I do miss that tight cunt of yours. Won’t be so tight soon, though. My brother will get rid of you the way he got rid of his wife.” Cormac lets go of my neck, only to put a knife against my throat.

I swallow hard, and try to stay still, my mind all over the place with these accusations and revelations. “What do you want, Cormac?”

“You. Dead.”

My bedroom door bangs open, and Darragh rushes in. He’s shirtless, bathed in the hallway light. I know every curve of his body and every inch of un-inked skin. It’s him. It’s my Darragh.

And he’s got a gun.

“Ana, what’s the matter?” Darragh throws the main light on and gasps. “What the hell are you doing here?”

He lunges for us, but I shout, “No, if he’s on something, he’ll overpower you.”

Darragh stops in his tracks. “Get the fuck off her, Cormac.”

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