Page 17 of Sweet Torment

“No, nothing like that.”

“Then what is it?” Tristan moves closer, catching my eye. “Why did he remove the bond with Whitney?”

I’m relieved to have the confirmation. “Is it completely gone?”

“Mostly,” Tristan confirms. “The chemical component is gone, and the original bond is weak, like it’s dying out. She’s not allowed to come near––.”

“She’s banned,” Owen interrupts, slamming his palm against the glass. “Not allowed within five hundred feet of us. Thank fuck. But why? What did you do?”

“Doesn’t matter why,” I say, trying to sound casual. “You’re out. You’re free. That’s what⁠—“

“Bullshit.” Owen’s voice drops to that dangerous register that usually makes me shiver. “We’re not morons, Princess. What did you give up?”

A bead of sweat rolls down my temple. Just being near them is making everything worse, my body recognizing what it wants but can’t have. The heat under my skin flares, and I shift uncomfortably.

“Bianca.” Tristan catches the movement immediately, and I can see his brilliant mind working to put the pieces together. His eyes widen slightly.

“Where did they move you?” I’m not sure how I want to explain this, how to make them understand. “Are your fathers treating you okay?”

“Stop deflecting,” Weller demands, his voice tight with growing panic. “Answer us.”

“We’re in the penthouse. There are guards, but it’s fine.” Tristan doesn’t take his eyes off me. “Now your turn. What did you give Montgomery?”

Montgomery’s voice comes through the speaker overhead. “Twelve minutes remaining.”

“Princess,” Owen says, and now his voice is pure warning. The calm before he loses his shit completely. “What. Did. You. Do?”

“It’s not a big deal. I’ll be fine.”

6

TRISTAN

“It’s not a big deal. I’ll be fine.”

She’s lying. It’s such a beautiful performance, I almost want to applaud.

Bianca deflects our questions with a casualness that might fool someone who didn’t spend years memorizing her every micro-expression. The way her fingers drift to Weller’s mark on her shoulder is a subconscious tell she’s not even aware of. The slight tremor in her hands she’s trying to hide by pressing them against the glass. The perspiration beading along her brow has nothing to do with the room temperature and everything to do with the lies catching in her throat.

She looks different.

Her hair’s down, falling in waves to her lower back. It catches the light when she moves, and my first thought isn’t how soft it is, but how good it would look fisted in my hand, my knuckles pressed to the nape of her neck while I whisper a thousand filthy things in her ear that are meant only for her.

I adjust the cuff of my shirt. A pointless movement to distract myself from the crude, messy thoughts.

Focus.

Her skin is flushed pink, spreading from her chest up her neck, and my mind helpfully supplies a high-definition replay of our night in the hotel. I didn’t sleep. The time was too valuable to waste, so I stayed up and watched her. I filed it all away, hoarding the memories because I knew they might have to last.

I’m an obsessive bastard when it comes to her, and any amount of time I get will never truly quench my need.

Six hours. A ridiculously small amount of time to have her to myself. Not nearly enough to satisfy the hunger that’s been building for years.

I spent hours tracing patterns on her hip, watching her skin react, feeling her pulse change under my fingertips. I kissed her while she was asleep. Soft, barely-there presses of my lips to her shoulder, her neck, the corner of her mouth. Over and over and over. Her body leaned into my touch and opened to me with a soft sigh, even in her sleep.

I should’ve claimed her then. Sunk my teeth into her neck before she had a chance to slip any further away. A colossal, unforgivable fuck-up.

Well, other than the one at the waterhole, when she stood in that pink bikini and kissed each of us, baring herself to us. We knew she was ours. We all fucking knew it. I could taste it on her lips. Nothing would ever compare. But we were cowards, running risk assessments instead of just taking what was ours.