6. Ronan #2
“Little bird, exactly what animals have tried to get into that cage of yours?”
I ran my fingers over her smooth cheek, unable to stop myself. She never looked away.
“Fascinating,” I said before I turned around toward the mess on the floor.
“Who is she? Really?” Knox asked me before I could even process another glorious fucking morning.
Sleep hadn’t come easy. I didn’t like her being in this house.
I didn’t like her being in my room, even if I’d pushed her ass to the couch.
Of course, with her came Jett. I could hear her toss and turn all fucking night.
I had Jett’s fucking arm across my chest far too many times.
I should have just let Jett have her. She’d already tried to auction off her v card, and why should I care?
Shit. Why did I care?
The coffee hit differently today, and I was chugging it praying it would fix my life.
“Ronan, what is up with you? Didn’t sleep? Your room was pretty quiet,” Talon said.
I held onto the coffee cup like my life depended on it, keeping it suspended in front of my lips.
“She was on the couch. Jett, you fucking snore,” was all I said.
I didn’t care about her and this coffee wasn’t fixing shit.
“What is she?” I asked.
They were all quiet, waiting for me to keep going.
“My arranged marriage.”
Talon choked and spit juice everywhere.
“What?”
I glared at Knox over the table.
“Thanks for asking, prick,” I mumbled into my cup.
Jett was finishing up the bacon and eggs, and my stomach growled as if to tell him to hurry the fuck up.
I ran my hand down my face, rubbing my open palm over my cheek for a moment too long. I sure as shit wasn’t as numb to her as I should have been.
All I could do was nod as I watched a fixed point on the wall trying to control my anger or confusion. Shit.
“I’m only as good to the Barones as any of their other kids. Illegitimate or not, I have to pay the price. She was supposed to be my price for being a Barone.”
What I didn’t say was I no longer wanted to kill her simply for being my arranged bride.
“Wait a fucking second. We’ve been stalking your arranged marriage?” Talon asked.
I shifted my gaze, still avoiding my boys.
“No and yes. The fucker, Harrington, crossed Barone senior when he took down Margaux Harrington’s family. I’d been against the fucking marriage and was more than happy to see her die. Except she didn’t, and the uncle took what was meant to be good old dad’s.”
I took a strip of bacon from a plate and chewed for a second, trying to buy myself time to swallow past this tightness in my chest.
“Margaux Harrigonton’s father was a lawyer and had a lot of sway over the good old senator’s choices. He was a smart fucker though. He tied something valuable to Margaux’s trust fund that can only be accessed when she’s married.”
Knox met my gaze as I looked up.
“I didn’t say I’d marry her. But I sure as shit will do anything to ruin Senator Grayson Harrington’s life. She is one of his pawns, except now, she’s ours.”
Everyone looked toward the hall.
“What is she doing in that shower? Jett, you had clothes delivered, right? She’s got to get back soon or our whole element of surprise for the senator is going to be blown,” Talon said.
Jett brought the plates over.
“Yes. I looked up what the fuck Audrey Hepburn would wear in that breakfast movie and requested that kind of shit from the department store. The shopper didn’t seem to have any issues. I dunno. The bags are in the bathroom.”
He grabbed bacon and started to walk out.
“Where the hell are you going, Jett?” I asked.
He looked over his shoulder.
“You seemed concerned. I was going to make sure she didn’t need any help.”
The fucker winked at me.
He didn’t have to go, and I didn’t have to chase him down, because before we could finish the conversation, she came in holding her shoes in one hand and the phone we’d given her in the other.
“This isn’t actually half bad,” she said and twirled.
It wasn’t that Virgin Mary shit her uncle put her in. No, it hugged her curves and yet somehow managed to look sexy while still covering that body of hers.
“What?” she asked.
I realized we were all staring at her.
“It.” Knox cleared his throat. “Jett did good, angel,” he said.
Chapter 7 Margaux
I couldn’t get in the elevator.
I backed away until I hit a hard body. I couldn’t go back. The second I stepped in, it would take me straight to the penthouse, and I didn’t want that. I didn’t want to go back. Except I wasn’t getting a choice.
“Maybe you just keep me kidnapped?”
I looked up and up, until I could see the man behind me looking down.
For most of the morning I’d been watching my feet as I walked in the new heels. I wanted to avoid them, afraid I’d start begging, and I didn’t want to beg.
I pushed against the body, Knox, knowing he would need to grab me before I could push him down. His hands rested on my shoulders, and I liked the way it felt. In fact, I smiled against the frustration for my uncle.
In fact, I’d smiled more in the last few hours than I’d done in years.
Even these clothes, they weren’t anything my uncle would approve of.
I actually liked them. The dress? Again, I didn’t hate this one.
Uncle might be pissed, or maybe he would just assume he’d somehow missed something the personal shopper had sent over, and he wouldn’t ever admit to a mistake.
It fit some of the same criteria, knee length. But it was more fitted. The neckline was high with a peekaboo shoulder.
It had been hard to discard the shirt I’d slept in. It smelled like Jett and the couch smelled like Ronan. I’d struggled to control the dreams that had owned my subconscious. I told myself the only reason they all made a cameos in my dreams was that my mind confused them for rescuers.
Reality though? I think I wanted to stay there for four wrong reasons.
“Angel not going to happen. Your dear uncle is a bit of a problem for the Barones right now and keeping you might ruin everything we’ve already put into place.”
I fought against his hold and turned to look up at him.
“I can help. I can be useful.”
Knox didn’t smile. I wasn’t exactly sure he was breathing. Was he even human?
“Stop staring at me,” he said. “And who says you aren’t already doing exactly what we need you to do?”
I curled my lip and stomped my heel as I turned back to the elevator bank.
My hand was heavy the closer I inched to the call button.
I tasted freedom last night. I had been close to ruining the value my uncle saw in me as a pure little girl.
Instead, not only was I still just as fucking pure, I was being forced back.
“I…But…” I took a deep breath. “Knox? Why are you guys bringing me back? How is this helpful?”
He reached for the button and pushed it.
“Ronan has a plan and this is part of it.”
The inside of my cheek hurt and I stopped biting it.
“Ronan? Why does he get to call the shots? Could you at least take me to the bathroom and fuck me now? I’d even settle for death. I can’t go back.”
I hated the way he didn’t even look at me. I’d be happy if they carved up my uncle and served him up as street vendor food. Anything. I was done trying to be what I wasn’t.
This was Margaux 2.0. When being direct didn’t get Knox to act, I went with the doe-eyed innocent little girl look I’d spent too much time practicing.
“Please don’t send me back. I’ll do anything. I’ll clean up after the next body. I’ll cook for you guys. Please just…”
My words died in my throat with the ding of the doors opening.
He stepped forward and I stepped backward. He stepped forward again, and this time I didn’t move. I smirked up at him, only to nearly choke when he pressed his body against me. He grabbed me up in his arms, and the next moment I was on the other side of the closing elevator doors.
I’d been so close to doing something for myself. So close.
Fine. I clenched my hands, hiding the way they shook with anger and maybe a little fear.
I jumped as his hand thumped against the doors and they opened again, stopping the elevator from ascending to my hell parading as heaven.
“Be a good little girl and we will be back. You’re meeting your fiancé soon.”
I locked my eyes with his and almost missed the way he moved. His finger hooked into the rounded collar of my dress and he pulled me to him.
“And, angel? Don’t let him touch you. You’ve already offered yourself. You’re ours.”
My mask of the perfect little virgin was firmly back in place.
The smile of a timid little flower. My cheek muscles were well accustomed to holding it, but today it seemed just a bit harder.
My uncle held my hand firmly around his forearm as we walked into a fancy restaurant where a piano played in the center and tables were sparsely placed, giving the idea of privacy, or maybe it was to space out the egos.
I hated the dress I was wearing and the stupid Mary Jane’s that made me feel like I was a ten-year-old.
My hair was perfectly curled to soft waves as it fell down my back.
I even had white gloves on as if dressing me like a delicate petal from a bygone era was going to prove to the world how much I was worth, and I supposed it did up here.
It did in a world where assholes created the rules.
“Behave, Margaux, and I’ll let you see Reina again.”
Through the fake smile came the sugary sweet voice that accompanied it. “Of course, uncle. Thank you.”
Those men had made it all work, and I hated them for it. I’d gotten my things back from Reina’s and the game last night. We’d made it back to my uncle’s before he was any wiser.
I didn’t know why, but the fact I did have two phones in my purse made it easier to pretend like I could follow the rules. Because really, I was breaking them just sitting here.
Four men were just a phone call away, and my uncle had no idea. The strange bloom of something other than revenge and fear and sadness in my chest confused me.
Hopeful?
Not alone?