Page 46 of Tyrant (The Villetti Chronicles)

“Oh, is it? I thought you wanted me to call you da—”

I shoved her in front of me and slapped my hand over her mouth. If I heard her say it again, I might not survive it.

“You are going to shut up, Arianna, because so fucking help me, I will show you how fucking tyrannical I can be if you don’t.”

It was a struggle to get her upstairs because she kept fighting me, but I managed it. I shoved her into the bedroom I’d given her, holding her in place while I unlocked the handcuffs. Then I was retreating to the door as she spun around. Before she could move towards me, I was out of the room and pushing the door shut. I turned the key in the lock. The handcuffs dropped from my fingers as her hand slammed down on the other side of the door.

“What the fuck, Zayn!”

I didn’t say a word, merely leant both my hands against the frame and took a deep breath.

“You can’t lock me up because you don’t like what I had to say. That’s not fair.”

This entire situation was unfair. I had to be in some kind of nightmare. Arianna didn’t know who I really was, so how the fuck could she say she wanted me. She didn’t know what she was saying. She’d been angry at me. There was a fine line between hate and lust.

Her tiny fists hammered against the door. I should have walked away, but I couldn’t move. I couldn’t leave her.

“I don’t even understand why the fuck I want you. You’re mean, you punish me and don’t allow me to do a single thing without your say so.” The gasping breath she took had my heart squeezing hard in my chest. “But then you can be kind too… you take care of me. Fuck, you even let me cry on you last night and sleep in your bed when I was supposed to be on the floor. I don’t know why you do that, Zayn, but I need it. I need you.” Her voice cracked on the last word, absolutely gutting me. “I don’t care about our stupid deal. All I want is to stop wanting you and I can’t, so you can punish me for it, but it won’t make it go away. I just want it to go away.”

I want to stop wanting you too, Tinkerbell, but I can’t either.

Sixteen

Zayn

The thump of her body hitting the floor had my hands squeezing around the wood of the doorframe. Her words made something break inside me. I hadn’t told her the entire truth about why this would be impossible between us. Yes, her age and her father were two huge fucking issues, but the worst one was my own family.

My father’s presence today reminded me I was expected to marry a woman he approved of. One who would fit into our family. No way in hell would he ever accept Ari, not that I actually planned on marrying anyone, let alone her. Didn’t matter if he was in business with her father. Gang leader’s daughters were not appropriate wife material for the son of the mafia kingpin.

So you admit you want her as your partner. Not your pet. Not a girl you fuck. But a woman to stand by your side.

How else could I explain why this caused me such a fucking headache? Sure, I could take her to bed and not have it mean anything. The only problem with that was I already cared about her far too much to let her leave me.

If I told her my father wouldn’t think she was good enough for me, it would be fucking insulting. I didn’t think that about her at all. She was strong, fiery and beautiful in my eyes… so fucking beautiful. I longed to tangle my fingers in her curly hair, kiss every freckle on her skin and worship her curves. To look after her at all times because she was my responsibility. I couldn’t give her up now I had her here with me. I just… couldn’t.

“I didn’t know I needed someone to take care of me until you started doing it,” she murmured through the door, her voice shaking with each word as if she was about to cry. “I’m not saying Dad neglected me, but it wasn’t easy for him with his gang life and being a single parent. I felt like a-a-a burden to him. You never made me feel that way even though you didn’t have to do any of it… but now… now I feel like I’m one to you as well.”

The soft sounds of her crying when she finished seized my entire fucking soul. Her words were damning on every single level. No fucking wonder she thrived under my care. I’d been putting her needs first without a second thought. No one else in her life had done that for her.

“I’m sorry,” she sobbed. “I’m sorry I came to you for help and made a mess of your life. I didn’t want to disappoint Dad. I thought he wouldn’t believe me if I told him about Uncle Justin and… I was scared. I killed a man in cold blood. I guess I thought you would understand and… and you were capable of keeping me safe. I just fucked everything up instead.”

She hiccupped on her sobs. I couldn’t take it, hearing her misery and knowing I was responsible for it. My hands fell from the doorframe and went to the lock.

“Move away from the door, Tinkerbell,” I told her, keeping my voice soft as I turned the key. “I don’t want it to hit you.”

Her shuffling movements told me she’d heard. I turned the handle and cracked it open, peering in to find her close by. She was hugging her knees with tears spilling down her cheeks unheeded. The sight of it gutted me. Pushing the door open wider, I strode in, got down on my knees, and pulled her into my lap, cradling my little fairy to my chest. She buried her face in my neck and curled her arms around me, breaking down completely in my embrace.

“Shh, I’m here,” I whispered, pressing my mouth to the top of her head. “I’m right here.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Hush now, it’s okay. You don’t need to apologise.” I rocked her gently, wanting to reassure her I wasn’t angry. “You’re not a burden, my little fairy. Quite the opposite. I want to take care of you as much as you need me to.”

My words only made her cry harder. Fuck, I was confusing her. On the one hand, I kept driving it home that I wanted to take care of her, but on the other, I’d told her we couldn’t be anything more than what we already were. If only I could kiss away her tears and reassure her things would be okay. I’d find a way to make it work. The realistic part of me knew there was no simple answer. No way out that didn’t require both of us going against our families for each other. And somehow I knew it would only end in bloodshed one way or another. The way of our worlds was violent and unforgiving.

“I… I don’t want to… to… to need you,” she sobbed into my neck. “Not when you… you… you won’t give me m-m-more.”

I’d never resented the life I’d been born into more than I did right then. And I’d built up a hell of a lot of resentment towards my father over the years.

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