31. Nyx
Chapter 31
Nyx
There’s a knock at Savage’s bedroom door. I stare at it with a bemused slant on my lips.
“It’s Sam. You decent?”
“Not even a little, Sammy Boy.”
There’s a long pause. I imagine Sam standing outside, trying to puzzle out what the hell he’s supposed to do.
“I’m coming in.”
“You can try!” Again in that sing-song voice, because that’s the kind of fucking morning it’s been for me. Not only did I have a roaring hangover that made me want to shed enough tears to fill up the bottle of Llorona me and Andy nearly emptied last night, but I discovered Savage had locked me in.
Again.
There’s a pattern emerging between the two of us. I try to run away, he tries to lock me up. But his door must be reinforced with steel rebar because all my attempts at a prison break were in vain.
At least there were some Nyx-sized clothes piled on the coffee table for me. Seems my jailor actually cares for me, even if he does show it in unusual ways.
The door opens, and Sam withers under the heat of my glare. “Ole Sparky, or lethal injection? Do I at least get a last meal?”
Sam shrugs. “Maybe after yard time.”
I purse my lips as I storm past him. “Where is he?”
“Out back.”
“As in Australia?”
Sam frowns so hard, I could push a quarter between his brows and it would stay there.
“You know? Dingos and didgeridoos?”
“I mean out back, as in the backyard. He said to come fetch you.”
“What’s he doing in the yard?” It better be damn important for him to abandon me like this without so much as a single Cheerio for breakfast. Does he think I know how to work the coffee machine? Because you’d need an engineering degree just to switch it on.
“Playing with his dogs.”
Playing with his…?
My shoulders are hunched, my hands in creaking fists.
Why am I so angry? I should be fucking used to this by now. There’s only a handful of places inside this villa I haven’t been locked up in.
I get it. He can’t let me run loose, because I might kill someone. Can’t throw me out, because we’re fucking married.
Catch twenty-two, isn’t it?
I could make it a hell of a lot easier for him, though.
“Know any good divorce lawyers?” I grump at Sam over my shoulder. He’s keeping a respectable distance between us as he herds me toward the elevator.
“Don’t believe in divorce,” he says.
We step inside the elevator, and I lean my butt against the bronze mirror, turning to him with my head cocked and my arms crossed.
Sam looks up from his phone, giving me a double-take when he sees my expression. “Jesus, what?”
“You have no problem killing people, but divorce is where you draw the line?”
He has the audacity to roll his eyes at me.
Sam leads me through the villa’s sprawling garden, completely ignoring the cobblestone paths winding through the flower beds, and choosing the boring manicured lawn instead. I guess it’s a shorter path, but since I’m picking up a whole lot of nasty vibes from Sam, I’d have preferred a more leisurely tour through the garden.
We round a small copse of trees, and a shed comes into view in the distance. There’s a long stretch of rectangular lawn, goal posts on either side.
Up ahead, Savage leans back and throws a football. The pair of Rottweilers who’d been planted on their butts at his side tear after it. One of them leaps up and snatches the ball out of the air. When that dog turns to run back to Savage, it spots me and Sam, and detours.
It’s a frightening thing, having a five-hundred pound monster rushing you, especially when it’s foaming from the mouth.
My legs lock up, but as soon as Sam realizes I’ve stopped walking, he grabs my arm and drags me along after him.
Asshole.
I recognize Bella when she’s a few feet away.
And thank God she didn’t wake up and choose violence. Instead of mauling me, she drops the ball at my feet.
“You gonna throw it, or what?” Sam mutters, releasing my arm with a little shove to get me going.
“It’s covered in slobber.”
“Throw the damn ball.”
My eyes dart away from the slimy, saliva coated football to Bella’s bright eyes and drooling maw. I slowly lean down to pick up the ball, and she starts trotting in place, her massive paws pummeling the ground as she gets more and more excited.
Ew. This ball is so slimy.
I launch the football as far as I can, which is only a few yards. Bella tears after it, leaping up to snatch it out of the air.
Savage dusts his hands on his jeans as he walks over to us. He gives me a once-over and then lifts his chin at Sam. “Take Charlie back to his crate then go see if my uncle needs you for anything.”
“Sergio’s here?” I blurt out.
Sam’s already walking away, Bella and I assume Charlie chasing after him. He slaps Bella’s rump and then points back our way. Charlie stays at his side as the two of them make for the shed.
Her black ears flop against her massive head as she runs back to us, dropping the football in front of my feet and doing her little dance as she waits for me to throw it again.
I manage to toss it a little further this time.
“You lied to me,” Savage says, watching Bella race after the football as if he can’t even stand looking at me.
My jaw clenches.
How the fuck? There’s no way he can know…not unless Andy told him.
“I don’t know what you’re?—“
He turns on me so suddenly, my hands curl into fists as I subconsciously prepare to defend myself. “He laughed.”
“I’m going to need a little more context?—“
I know he’s mad, because he keeps fucking interrupting me. And I don’t want to piss him off even more, so I eat that shit like I’m starving.
“My uncle. When I told him Sullivan ordered a hit on him.”
I frown at Savage. “Did you not know he has an ego the size of a fucking blimp? Of course he finds it funny that someone like me?—”
“No, Nyx. He laughed because he knew Sullivan would never have him killed.”
“I’m not lying,” I mutter through clenched teeth.
Savage says nothing, his eyes as cold and dangerous as black ice.
My throat is closing in panic at the thought of telling Savage what happened.
But I don’t have a choice.
I need him to trust me.
He just keeps watching me. More than a foot of air between us. That’s when I realize something’s different. He hasn’t touched me. Hasn’t called me Angel. Hasn’t looked at my mouth like he wants to kiss me. Or my throat like he wants to choke me.
Cool. Detached. Like he pissed over the fire we kept burning between us to extinguish it.
Bella comes back with the football, but she doesn’t drop it this time. She keeps it in her salivating jowls as she stares up, glancing from me to Savage, then back again.
Damn, this mutt knows how to read a room better than her dad.
“But it doesn’t matter what I say to you, does it?” I murmur. “You’ve already made up your mind.”
He tilts his head. “I’m giving you what you so obviously want, Nyx.” He snatches up my hand, and for a moment as we touch, there’s a flicker of fire in his eyes, a heat he douses as soon as it sparks.
“Your freedom.”
I wince when he rips the wedding ring off my finger, then curl my hand into a fist and tug it out of his grasp.
“Coward,” I breathe, holding my hand against my chest like it’s burning. It feels that way, the skin still raw where he dragged the snug ring free.
His eyes narrow, but that’s his only response.
“You should have left me there at the restaurant.” My voice is getting louder. Bella drops the ball and sits on her butt, watching our exchange with a gaping mouth as she slowly pants in the day’s building heat. “None of this would have happened. I wouldn’t even be a fucking blip on Sullivan’s radar.”
“You know that decision wasn’t mine to make. If I had my way, you’d be dead.”
A part of me dies then, because I know it’s true. I can see it in his eyes, the way he studies me like he’s picturing me as a corpse, and how much relief that would bring him.
No more broken noses.
No more drama.
Not another word about rescuing the Gray sisters.
Sweet. Fucking. Peace.
“Then do it.” My voice shakes as I step up to him, lifting my chin, staring at him over my nose even though he’s a foot taller than me. “I’ve been a nuisance since day one, so just get rid of me already.”
“I can’t.” He sounds deeply regretful about it.
“Why? Does your poor delusional daddy still think I’m the guy who saved him? Or does your uncle want to keep me around so he can fuck me whenever he wants?”
Jesus, what the hell happened to Savage? He should be trying to punch me, not staring at me like we’re discussing the weather.
Is this it? It’s over?
I didn’t even realize we were in round three, and he’s gone and knocked me out already.
But it can’t be over.
“I need you,” I whisper.
And then, because it’s fucking true and telling the truth hurts like a bitch, my eyes well up with tears. I hurriedly look down, glowing with shame at being so fucking weak in front of Caesar.
“Eyes on me, Nyx.” Savage grabs my chin, wrenching my head up to face him.
I do so reluctantly, knowing just moving my eyes would spill those gathered tears. He stares at them as they race down my cheeks, as they curve to the edges of my mouth and disappear inside.
“I never said I wasn’t going to find them.” His eyes search mine, like he’s trying to dig up some clue to who I really am.
Good fucking luck. I’ve been on this earth more than two decades, and I still don’t even know.
“But?” I snap, tugging my chin free. “Come on, I know there’s a fucking clause you’re going to throw in there, so just do it.” I shove my hands into my armpits as I glare at him.
“A life for a life,” he says.
“How much longer do you want to drag this out?” I frown at him as I blow out a breath. “You’re worse than O’Brien. Just tell me what the fuck you want.”
It’s like I flipped a switch.
Fury swirls in his black eyes. He grabs me around the waist with one hand, the other latching on to the back of my neck.
Savage crushes my body against his, ducking his head so close to my mouth I instinctively close my eyes and part my lips for a kiss.
But his lips glide over my cheek, my jaw, and brush my ear.
“I’m going to put a child in you,” he growls.
I melt in his grip. He’s never spoken to me like this, not in all our days together. It’s not the words he uses, but the steely determination in his voice. The way he holds me like I’m nothing more than a doll.
Know why it’s so much fun playing with toys, Nyx?
They don’t have a choice but to play along.
But I do have a choice.
And I’m so fucking done with everyone assuming the Gray sisters are just life-sized dolls.
“I’ll give you whatever the fuck you want, Papi, but Sullivan won’t give my sisters back if Sergio’s still alive.”
“I told you…photos can be faked.” His voice is a sinister rasp in my ear, like the very Devil is tempting me.
“And your uncle will roll over and play dead because he’s just such a nice guy?”
“I’ll make sure O’Brien gets what he wants.” He slides his hand from the small of my back, around to my belly. “All you have to do is spread your legs and take my cock like the strong, brave little girl you are. Can you do that for me, Nyx?”
I feel sick.
There’s a gut wrenching panic building inside me, a hopeless desperation I thought I’d never have to feel again.
It makes the scar on my hip pulse in time with my racing heart.
He catches my earlobe in his teeth, and bites so hard I gasp. “Time’s running out.”
“Yes, you fucking asshole,” I whisper, squeezing my eyes shut and hoping that will keep my tears inside. “I’ll have your demon spawn.”
It doesn’t.
“Good girl.” He pretends to release me, but before I can step away, he clasps me in a fierce hug. It would have been sweet, maybe even comforting, if I couldn’t feel how hard his dick was.
“One last thing,” he murmurs against my hair. “Until the day that baby is delivered into my arms, you’re mine .”