Chapter 6
BLADE
She’s finally mine. The word echoes in my head, in sync with the thrum of my heartbeat. I’m no better than those seagulls from Finding Nemo .
Mine.
Mine.
Mine.
Every damn inch of her, every curve, every part of her body—I own it. She’s mine. Nobody else’s. Just mine.
I sound like a broken record player on repeat, but the thing is, I don’t fucking care.
She’s mine.
Last night… fuck . The best night of my life. And I wasn’t kidding about finally sleeping a happy man, I think this is the first time I’ve woken up actually refreshed. No nightmares. No sleep paralysis. Just a simple calm that followed me around all morning.
And then, I ruined it by coming to Harvey’s office.
This is the last place I want to be right now. But I need to make my relationship with Amelia official with the Serpents, and that can’t happen without the proper paperwork. It’s always struck me as weird how they make the members’ spouses sign random documents—NDAs, severance agreements, liability waivers. They act like we’re some covert sector of the FBI or something.
“May I ask why you’re here?” Harvey questions, raising an eyebrow. “You usually only show up here when I text. And sometimes not even then.”
“You told me to find a girlfriend. Well, I found one. Draw up the paperwork. Can’t have her running off with any secrets now, can we?”
He blinks, caught off guard for a moment before shaking his head. “Wow, you really took the initiative.” Swiveling in his chair, he pulls a stack of papers from a nearby file cabinet, thumbing through them. “Didn’t expect you to take it so seriously, especially after you flat-out refused last time.”
“I already had a girl in mind last visit.”
“Hm. So you said ‘fuck you, Harvey’ and ‘don’t tell me what to do’ for no reason then.”
A slow, mocking smirk spreads across my face. “I guess I just like saying fuck you to people I don’t like.”
“Well,” he clears his throat, “John will be glad to hear you’re cooperating.”
Cooperating? I never said I was having kids anytime soon. But, I’ll play along if it gets them off my back.
“Oh, and I also need—” I’m cut off mid-sentence by the sound of the door creaking open. I turn, ready to reprimand whoever is interrupting, only to be met with my favorite pair of hazel-green eyes. “Angel? What are you doing here?”
Her eyes look like they’ve been caught in headlights, widened and darting between me and Harvey. “What… What are you doing here?”
“Why are you answering my question with a question?”
Behind me, I hear Harvey freeze. The papers he’s holding crinkle as his grip tightens, and then out of nowhere, his eyes almost pop out of his head. “No. No no no. No !” He’s practically in the midst of a panic attack, staring at Amelia, his face pale, breathing erratic.
And that’s when the realization hits me like a punch to my gut. I pinch the bridge of my nose. “He’s your dad, isn’t he?”
Amelia responds with a slow nod, and I slump in my seat, sighing at the news. The man I hate, the man I’ve daydreamed countless times about killing, is going to be my fucking father-in-law. I know Harvey—the first thing he’s going to try to do is get me away from his daughter. Keyword, try , because he’s not going to be successful, not while I’m still breathing.
“Blade,” Harvey clears his throat. “Could you excuse us for a moment? I need to speak with my daughter alone.”
I turn back, narrowing my eyes at him. He’s planning something. I can see it in the twitch of his fingers, the way his gaze keeps darting to Amelia. “Don’t do anything stupid,” I warn.
“Just give me five minutes to talk to her. I’ll owe you one.” He forces a smile, fake as hell. He’s lucky I’m in a decent mood, even after finding out the worst possible news of him being her father.
I head for the door, but something catches my eye, stopping me dead in my tracks. Amelia’s bare neck. “Where’s your necklace?”
She didn’t fucking listen. My blood runs hot, creeping up the back of my neck. I tap my finger on my thigh, trying to rein in the irritation.
Her eyes widen. “Um, I-I didn’t know you’d be here… right now.”
“I see. Stupid me, I thought I told you to never take it off. Let me guess, you were coming here to ask your dad for help getting away from me, right?”
Being this close to her makes me want to melt into a puddle on the ground and kiss her feet, forgetting all about our current conversation. But wearing the necklace is serious , and she needs to understand that.
It’s a mark. It lets everyone know she’s mine. And it doesn’t hurt that I can yank on the chain, pulling her towards me whenever I want. Or even pull really tight to choke her with it. Watching her gasp for air until she realizes she has to give me whatever I want, or else she’ll run out of breath.
Fuck, this isn’t the place to get hard.
“Blade…” Harvey trails off, trying to come to her defense.
“Shut up, Harvey,” I snap. Turning back to her, I soften my tone. “Do you have it with you?” She nods. “Take it out and put it on.”
The anticipation courses through my veins, I’m finally going to see her wearing my necklace. Amelia was mine from the first day I saw her, but knowing she’ll have my claim around her pretty little neck stirs something primal and possessive inside me.
Her eyes dart to her father again, desperate, but I step in front of her, blocking her view.
“He’s not going to help you,” I rasp. “Nobody is.” And those words extend past just putting the necklace on. He can’t do anything about me making her mine, no one can, and that thought sends a wave of satisfaction through my veins.
Her breath hitches, but she doesn’t resist. I step behind her, pulling her hair aside with one hand, draping the necklace around her neck with the other. Her pulse pounds beneath my fingers, her trembling making it even sweeter. She’s nervous—and I fucking love it.
“Good girl,” I whisper darkly in her ear, and then, before she can even process what’s happening, I sink my teeth into the side of her neck—not hard enough to break skin, but enough to leave a mark. A warning. A reminder. Knowing Harvey won’t stop me. I could fuck her, right here, right now, and he wouldn’t be able to do a damn thing about it.
The wince that falls from her mouth makes my cock twitch. “Don’t take it off again,” I warn. “Or next time, I won’t be so gentle.”
I smirk at Harvey, before turning and walking out of the room, pulling the door shut behind me. But he’s half crazy if he thinks I’m leaving. I linger a few feet away, then quietly come back to lean against the wall, listening.
“What’s going on, dad? Are you a criminal? Apart of the… thing he’s in?”
I can’t believe he kept the Serpents hidden from her all this time, especially when he sent her to a college where they lurk, with no warning about keeping an eye out for them. Any one of them could’ve hurt her.
He exhales. “After your brother… they ruined his life before he passed. I didn’t want the same for you. I thought if I could just shelter you, then I could hide you from them.”
“So—so do something,” she pleads. “You told me to call you if something like this happened and you’d handle it.”
It’s so cute how she thinks she has a chance to get away from me. I’d trap her inside of hell with me before letting that happen. Over both our dead bodies.
“I said that before I knew he’d be the one to—” Harvey sighs. “I’m sorry, there’s nothing I can do.” There’s a beat of silence, and I know he’s trying to find something to say that won’t make him look even weaker.
“So you’re just giving up!”
“Amelia, you don’t understand. You’ve found yourself in the worst possible predicament. The only thing you really can do is… brace yourself.” There’s another pause before he speaks again. “How did he even give you that necklace last night, anyway? You called me at near midnight.”
“I, um, went to a party with my friend last night,” Amelia admits. Her voice is barely above a whisper, but part of my training included picking up sounds that the average person wouldn’t.
Harvey’s voice erupts, laced with anger. “Are you out of your fucking mind? A party ?!” My head perks up. “What the hell is wrong with you?! I thought you were the innocent victim in all this, but instead, you’re just a—”
I slam the door open, the force rattling it against the wall. Harvey instantly goes silent. My eyes find Amelia, sitting there, tears running down her cheeks. Without thinking, I pull her up into my arms. As I rub her back, she melts into me, starting to softly cry against my chest.
What the hell is wrong with him? Most college kids go to parties. Even if they didn’t, she still deserves some fucking respect. You’d think the one person a daughter could have to show her the meaning of respect is her father.
Fuck, her cries twist something in me.
Deciding to get her away from him, I lead her out of his office, but before we’re fully out the door, he gets up to close it.
“ Sit down ,” I seethe, and I don’t start moving again until he’s sat back down. “Leave this door open. I’m coming right back.”
Amelia points me to her room, and I gently lay her underneath the pink comforter set, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “Take a nap, pretty girl. I’ll be here when you wake up,” I whisper.
“He usually doesn’t… I mean sometimes…” she mumbles, sleep starting to take over.
“Shh… It’s going to be okay. I’ll handle him for you. You get some sleep, okay?” I’ve been wanting to run my hands through her hair for the longest time and it’s as soft as I imagined. She nods, her breathing evening out as she settles into a slumber.
The moment she’s asleep, I practically run back to Harvey’s office, slamming the door so hard the walls shake. The anger I’d pushed down while comforting Amelia flares back to life, burning hot and wild.
“Are you fucking insane speaking to my girlfriend like that?!” My voice echoes in the small space. It takes every bit of control I have left not to drive my knife through his jugular.
“Girlfriend?” he chokes out, as if the word is poison on his tongue. “Look, you have to reconsider. She’s my daughter.”
He still doesn’t get it. She’s mine . Not his. I don’t give a damn that two decades ago he fucked a woman and made a baby.
I laugh, a dark, humorless sound. “Oh, now you care that she’s your daughter. Where was all this concern for her when you were just tearing her apart?”
“Your mind is clouded. I’m sure you saw her at the party in a pretty outfit and maybe even had some fun, but this… infatuation will pass.”
“I’ve been following your daughter for over a month and a half now. This isn’t some fleeting thing from alcohol or a sexy dress.”
He raises his right eyebrow. “Sexy? What kind of dress was she wearing?”
“Whatever fucking dress she wanted to wear,” I retort, a sharp edge to my voice. “And not you, or anyone else has the right to say a damn thing about it. In fact—” My voice drops lower. “—if you talk to her like that again, I will pull out my knife, and I will cut off however many of your fingers I see fit. Not an exaggeration.”
“You can’t do this,” he tries again, and this time, I’m done with the conversation. How thick is his skull that he can’t understand one simple concept?
I slam my fist on the desk. “She’s mine now. Mine to protect, mine to take care of. Mine to break if I fucking want to. Mine to fuck and make babies with since you’re so worried about that. Mine to love, mine to claim, and mine to fucking worship.” I pause, letting the weight of my words settle. “So if you think for a second I’m going to let you treat her like that, you’ve got another thing coming.”