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“You didn’t have a choice,” Lilac said fiercely.
“Wish I’d never met the bastard,” Opal said. “But yeah, I didn’t have a choice then. Earlier . . . fuck, maybe not then either.”
“What did you do?” Linc asked Ryleigh.
“Something really stupid,” she said. “I ran out of there. Through the house until I collided with someone.”
“Stefan?” Alec said grimly.
“Yes. I asked him if it was true. If he’d hurt Opal? If she was his mistress? And he just . . . he smiled. Then he grabbed my throat and pushed me into the wall. He said . . . he said did I really expect that he didn’t have needs? That he wouldn’t get them met from someone else? But I didn’t . . . I didn’t even care that he’d been sleeping with Opal. He hurt her. For the first time, I was really scared. He cut off my air. I thought he was going to kill me.”
“What stopped him?” Linc asked, looking ill and furious.
“Me,” Lilac said.
Fuck. Fuck.
“When Stefan is in a mood, the only person who has a chance of breaking through to him is Lilac,” Opal said.
Christ, he hated that. He wished she’d been able to run and hide, even knowing that she wouldn’t do that.
Fuck. This conversation was the last thing she needed after coming out of the hospital.
His poor girl.
Lilac cleared her throat.
“Alec, can you get Lilac some water?” he asked.
“I’m all right,” she protested.
But Alec was already moving to the kitchen. He returned with a glass of water, handing it to Tanner.
Tanner ignored the blush on her cheeks and the way she tried to take hold of the glass. He held it to her mouth. “Small sips. Good, baby.”
“Fuck. I want that,” Opal moaned. “Without the being in the hospital part. They fucking suck.”
“Back to what happened,” Linc said.
“Lilac called out his name,” Ryleigh said.
“I didn’t know if I’d get through to him,” Lilac said. “I never know how he’s going to react. I told him that I needed his help picking a dress for my date with Don.”
“Who the fuck is Don?” Tanner demanded.
“The guy who became our ticket out of there,” Lilac explained. “He was one of my prospective grooms. Stefan had plans to marry me off to help build his empire, and there were several men vying for my attention. Not because they wanted me. They wanted a connection to Stefan. Don was the best of them. The others were creepy. The way they looked at me, touched me. Once, one of them . . . he tried to, uh . . . he tried to rape me in the backseat of his limo. I managed to fight him off and I jumped from the car. Thankfully, it had slowed for a stop light. There was a car coming the next way. They nearly ran me over. But they stopped in time and took me to the hospital. God, Stefan was so angry.”
“At that asshole for trying to rape you?” Tanner would have fucking murdered him.
“No, at me. For jumping out of the car and attracting so much attention.”
“What the fuck?” Tanner was going to kill him. Extra slowly.
“It must have been my fault,” she said. “It was always my fault if I attracted a man’s attention. And he was always upset at me.”
“Because he wanted you for himself but couldn’t have you,” Opal said.
Lilac shuddered. “Gross.”
