Page 85 of Royal Desire

“Yes,” he growls into my ear. He continues to maul me between the legs, rough and mortifying. “I will fuck him up in ways you cannot imagine. Then I’ll come after your old hag of a grandma. And if that’s not enough, your bastard brother. He’ll be an easy enough target.”

Fear slices through me. The three people I love most in the world.

“My son does not need you. He’s brilliant and has a future you do not belong in. Payne will not marry trash, do you understand me? The only way to protect them all is to leave. I don’t mean break up with him, I mean fucking leave. And if you think I don’t have the power to do all of that and more, try me.” He holds me between my legs tighter than I thought possible and jerks me around. “Fucking try me, Ruby. I will take you out along with your family and my son. I never want to see you again.”

I can’t form words.

“Open your eyes and look at me, dammit.”

I do as he says. He’s so close, his bloodshot eyes sear into me.

“Are you going to leave?”

My heart splits in two.

“Answer me!” he bellows in my face.

“Yes,” I cry. “Just leave them alone. All of them. Please. Please, don’t hurt them.”

He exhales in my face. The stench of his breath covers me like a swath of polluted air. Then his hold on me changes.

He’s not delivering a warning any longer. This is worse.

He’s touching me.

I shut my eyes to block him out.

“Yeah, I get it. Payne will never leave you. Just the thought of you makes me want to take you right now. But that’s messy, and I do not do messy.”

The next thing I know, I’m thrown on the floor at his feet. I scramble up as fast as I can. He takes two steps to the side and picks up the crystal glass and tosses back its contents.

“Get out. Get the fuck out and get far away from Payne. If you don’t, I’m coming after you first. Be glad I don’t like messy in my own house. Anywhere else, and you’ll regret crossing me.”

I can’t catch my breath. I grab my cell that fell to the floor and struggle to open the office door with my trembling hands.

Owen laughs from where he’s moved behind his desk.

When I finally break out of the office, I almost trip getting to the front door. I’m at an all-out run by the time I get to my car and tear out of the drive as fast as I can.

I can’t stop the tears. They keep coming and coming and coming. Once I get through the gates of the Deacon property, I pull off onto a dirt road that leads to nowhere. How many times did Payne and I park here in high school?

I don’t know how long I sit and cry into my steering wheel. But then a call comes across my phone.

Through my blurry vision, I easily see who it is.

I want to answer it. More than anything in the world, I want to tell him that I’m sorry. Beg him not to hate me. And tell him that I’ll love him forever. That there will never be anyone but him.

But the pain in my scalp, my face, and yes, even between my legs start to pound as a reminder.

Oh, God. What am I going to do?

I send Payne to voicemail.

Thirty seconds later, I’m not surprised when it rings again.

This happens for the next ten minutes straight.

Finally, I turn off the damn phone, throw it across my car, and hear glass crack. When it lands on my dirty floorboard, the broken screen stares up at me.