Page 91 of Savage Don

The disgusting attempt at flattery makes me roll my eyes.

“Take care of your husband,” I grunt. “I have to go.”

“Wait!” Sonia cries again, sticking her neck in through the window.

“What?!” I growl, my patience wearing so fucking thin.

“Is she alright?”

“Like you care.”

“I’m her step-mother.”

“Then go find out for yourself.”

With that, I leave Sonia in my dust and drive away from the suffocating mansion, feeling more guilty that I’m leaving Francesca with that woman than I am for flushing her birth control pills down the toilet.

Fuck.

Gripping the steering wheel, I try not to think of how I’ll be sleeping in an empty bed tonight. Still, it’s impossible to throw Francesca from my mind.

She isn’t like Sonia at all.

… Maybe that’s why my heart kicks and screams behind it’s icy prison as I turn onto the highway and press down hard on the gas.

Stay in control, Ray. The guilt will pass, but what you’re building will last forever.

I’ll see my princess again in a couple of days. I’ll make sure to treat her to something nice.

… And to something naughty.

19

Francesca

“We need to talk…”

Father’s voice bleeds through the walls like an approaching storm. Each time his fist slams against my locked bedroom door, I wince.

It’s been two days since Ray dragged me back home, and I’m already almost wishing he hadn’t—no matter how terrifying he became near the end of my stay with him.

“I’ve already told you everything I know!” I shout back. Tucking my face into my knees, I try to hide from the world.

These past forty-eight hours have been utter shit. Without a laptop or a phone or school to distract myself with, I’ve been forced to sit back and remember my strange weekend with the older Irish stranger, over and over again. Every word he said to me, every way he touched me, kissed me. Everything he revealed.

My heart sinks as I close my eyes and do my best to ignore my father’s demands.

I’m trapped. Again.

This time, though, that little bit of hope that I had worked so hard to build has been destroyed.

There’s almost no chance I’ll be able to finish this semester at school. Father will be keeping an extra close eye on me. That means I’ll probably fail my classes, or at least get such bad grades that nothing will matter anymore. And since Ray kept my phone and my laptop, I can’t even contact anyone to beg for leniency.

Not that I expect leniency from anyone anymore.

I’m just a pawn.

It hurts to think. But it’s the truth.