Chapter 40 #2
“Not enough? Fine.” He writes out another check before handing it to me, and I stare at the numbers scribbled with my mouth hanging open. He can’t be serious. What the hell is this? Bribe money?
“Will one million dollars suffice?”
I’m going to be sick. The room threatens to spin.
He continues. “You’ll get a new identity so that my son can’t track you. On top of that, your family’s tuition fees will also be covered if you agree to disappear.”
“You’re bribing me?”
“Call it what you will,” he comments, glancing around the rundown gas station as if it’s beneath him. “It’s money you can’t pass up. It will secure your family’s future.”
“All I have to do is move away?”
“That’s the gist of it. I expect you to stay away from my son and never set foot in Bleakmoor again.”
I study him more closely. There’s something he’s not telling me.
It’s the first time I’ve seen Kane’s father look nervous.
Then again, that might not be the case, but something’s off.
Usually, I’d feel a lot less powerless around a man as powerful and intimidating as him, but that’s not what’s happening here.
Surely, if it were up to him, he’d make me disappear in more convenient ways.
Yes, his family is rich, but one million dollars is still a lot to give up, even for a man with his family’s wealth. So why the trouble?
“And what if I say no?” I ask carefully.
His face stays a neutral mask, but he can’t fully hide the rigidity of his shoulders or the slight flare of his nostrils. “You’d be foolish enough to turn down a million dollars, Miss Holt? Think about what it could do for your family.”
I hold out the check. “Your money is no good to me, Mr. Ravencourt.”
He looks at me, at the check. Then he rips it out of my hands with a furious expression, corners me against the cooler, and presses his lips to my temple.
“He’ll grow bored with you, sweetheart. Once he’s worn that tight little cunt in and it’s nice and loose, he’ll drop you like yesterday’s trash, and what then?
Hmm? You’ll be right back where you started: on the streets, with a deceased mother, a deadbeat father, and a brother who is probably in prison. ”
He continues. “And what about that delicious sister of yours? She’ll work the strip club, dancing for men like me in between sucking cocks and spreading her cheeks for a few bucks. I bet a gullible girl like her won’t turn down a million dollars.”
We lock eyes, and before I know it, he takes my mouth in a hard kiss, grabs me between the legs, and squeezes.
The bell above the door jingles, and I bite his lip hard enough to draw blood. Fuck him if he thinks I’ll let him touch me like this. Whether he realizes it or not, money can’t buy everything, and power doesn’t give him a free pass to sexually assault me. I won’t let him.
He rears back and curses. I caused some damage when I bit him, and now there’s blood on his chin as he presses his thumb against the bleeding cut. But before he can examine it, I slap him across the face, watching it whip to the side.
God, that felt good. What a fucking asshole.
Ava and Summer stop short in the doorway, but I barely glance at them or their surprised expressions as I cradle my burning hand. I hit him much harder than I realized.
“You’ll regret that,” he threatens.
Bring it on. A man like him is too proud not to retaliate in some way, but I also believe Kane told the truth when he said he had resolved the situation. Kane’s father tried to bribe me. When that didn’t work, he attempted to intimidate me. That’s what that was.
A scare tactic.
But I’m tired of being told what to do by powerful men with money. Whatever Kane did to get his father off my back, it worked. And now the man is desperate and afraid of losing power.
“I love Kane.” My sharp tone bites. “And I don’t want your money. Touch me again, and I’ll let your son know just what a pervert you are.”
And there it is… a barely visible tic in his jaw that’s there and gone. But I saw it. And it’s the evidence I needed.
“You want to play games, little girl,” he sneers, straightening up and adjusting his sleeves. “I’ll play, Miss Holt. But know this, I’m going to choke you to death with my bare hands one day, and then you’ll wish you’d taken that money.”
I won’t rise to his threats. He’s cornered for reasons I don’t understand, but it’s a kick to see him squirming like a worm on a hook.
I step even closer, lowering my voice. “No, you won’t.”
He grinds his teeth, barely breathing.
I go on. “I love your son, Mr. Ravencourt. Do you know why? Because he’s twice the man you are. Then again, you’re not a man, are you? You’re nothing but a small-dicked coward whose own family hates him.”
“Slut!” he growls under his breath as I walk away after snatching the check, ripping it up, and throwing it at him.
What an absolute jerk. He can call me every name in the book and try to intimidate me all he wants. But if he thinks I’m going to run crying because he touches me like some disgusting old pervert, he’s badly mistaken.
I was born and raised in the Fall. We’re made of tougher stuff than that. He’s not the first predator I’ve met, and he certainly won’t be the last.
It’ll take much more than that to keep me from the man I love, even if his father is a class-A prick.
And there it is.
That word.
Love.
I love Kane Ravencourt, and I’ve loved him since the moment he set his eyes on me and stole my heart, and I still love him now. So what the hell am I doing? If I can face his father and stand my ground, why am I so scared of my own feelings?
My sister was right.
What am I actually doing?