Chapter 27
Isaac
The lights are off in the house except for the kitchen. I run up the porch steps, skipping three in the process and slam into the door.
I let out a small huff of a laugh and a slow smile pulls at the corner of my lips.
She’s locked me out. Cute.
She knows I have keys. Her locking me out isn’t about her protection. It’s not about keeping me out. It is about her being defiant. A tiny, desperate act of rebellion.
But a deadbolt isn’t going to stop me. She can lock every door and window in this house.
I’m still coming in.
I let her have the illusion of her being in control for precisely three seconds before sliding my key into the door, the metal scraping softly against the lock.
She thinks she’s provoking me. Thinks that she is in control. What she doesn’t understand is that I don’t lose control. Quite the opposite. The truth is, every time she pushes me, the calmer I am.
She mistakes my restraint for mercy.
I’m learning what makes her tick, teaching her to fight back. My Little firecracker enjoys pushing me, because she knows that I’m going to be making her tremble in my hands later.
I open the door but don’t call out her name. Closing the door behind me, I carefully walk to the kitchen. Plotting out every step of her punishment later. I’ve been itching to chain her up and tonight might very well be the night I make good on my word.
She thinks she’s playing with fire, not realizing that I’m the one holding the match.
There she is.
Sitting at the kitchen island, eating a bowl of Reese’s Puffs cereal and scrolling on the new phone I got her. Her caramel hair cascades over her shoulder, framing her face in the glow of the screen.
She pretends she doesn’t hear me in the doorway. I cross the room slowly, stopping beside her chair, before plucking the phone from her hand.
“Hey! I was watching that!” She glares up at me, dropping her spoon in her bowl and spilling milk across the counter.
“I told you that I would be driving you, Serena. So, explain to me why you are sitting here and not at the café.”
Her cheeks redden and she chews her lower lip. “Brunch… ended earlier than planned.”
I wiggle her phone in the air. “And you didn’t call me because…?”
“Because I don’t need a babysitter and I don’t need you controlling every little thing I do Isaac.” Grabbing the phone from my hand, she hops out of the barstool and pushes past me towards the foyer. “I already did that with Tyler.”
My jaw ticks and my tongue presses against my cheek. The fact that she can even say his name with the same breath feels like a fucking insult. That coward put his hands on her to harm her. To break her down.
Everything I do is to protect her. Build her up and show her what she is capable of.
I grab the back of her neck and spin her around, pulling her in close to me. “You think I’d ever touch you the way he did?” My eyes darken. “I drove you and keep you close because I don’t trust the world with you. Not because I need to cage you in.”
The truth is I would. Without a second thought, if it meant she stayed alive.
Her breathing stutters.
“If I wanted to control you Serena… you’d know.” Her eyes widen.
I back her into the wall next to us and my hand moves to her throat. My opposite arm resting on the wall above her head. Serena looks up at me and swallows. She doesn’t think I notice the subtle way her thighs squeeze together, trying to ease the ache between her legs, but I do.
“He hurt you.” I can feel her pulse flutter wildly beneath my thumb. “And you think that I’m the same.” I tilt her head to the side and kiss the soft spot beneath her ear. A soft moan settles in her throat beneath my hand.
My lips hover above her skin. “I know you took that uber to provoke me.” Her eyebrows rise slightly.
I step closer until there’s no space left between us. My forehead presses to hers. “Careful what you test, Mi Vida.” She arches her back and presses her hips into mine.
I pull away and she lets out a soft whimper of disappointment laced with need. Any other time, I would give her what she wants. Drag my lips down her throat to her pussy.
I would worship every inch of her until she forgot Tyler even existed. But she doesn’t get to have that satisfaction this time. Not after the stunt she just pulled.
I cup her jaw, forcing her to look at me.
“You don’t get to compare me to the man who broke you.
” I say quietly. My thumb brushes her bottom lip.
“When I’m the one who would break him for touching you in the first place.
You think I am controlling you? I am the only thing standing between you and men like him. ”
“What does that even mean Isaac?” Her eyes never leave mine. “Keeping me safe from men like him?”
My thumb stills. I shift my gaze away and her chin lifts from my hand. “You don’t get to say things like that and then shut me out.”
Shut her out? I’m not shutting her out, I’m trying to save her. If she knew that she was targeted on purpose, it would break her. “Serena, if you knew what I’ve done—”
“What? What have you done Isaac?” Her tone softens, trying to understand.
“Just drop it.” For a split second, I consider telling her. Finally breaking down the wall I spent my entire life building and telling her about the violence. The lines that I was forced to cross so long ago, that I’m not even sure when the point of no return was.
Every body that I have had to bury.
But then she would look at me differently, and I can’t stand the thought. I can survive a lot of things, but I can’t survive that.
Anger flares within her beautiful blue eyes. “You want to protect me?” Breaking free from underneath me, she grabs her purse and rests her hand on the front door handle. “Stop treating me like I’m fragile. I’m staying at my house tonight.”
My chest tightens. “Mi Vi-.” But she’s already out the door.
I stare at the door closing behind her. Every ounce of my being wants to go after her. Drag that beautiful smart mouth of hers that I love back here, pin her underneath me, and show her exactly who she’s dealing with.
But if I do, it’s only going to prove her point.
My jaw tightens. Serena already thinks I’m trying to control her, and she’s not entirely wrong.
I like having control. And I love the way her body responds when I take it from her. The way she pretends to hate it, but then melts when I tell her what to do. Better yet, when I don’t say anything at all.
But no matter how badly the darker parts of me want to pull her close, lock her away where nothing can harm her, I refuse to be the reason she loses herself more than she already has. She has already come such a long way in her independence and standing up for herself since that night.
I get the feeling that she has spent far too much of her life being diminished by the world who wanted to make her smaller, quieter, easier to manage.
I refuse to become another version of that. Despite every fiber of my soul wanting to put her in her place for storming out of here the way she did, putting herself at risk.
She deserves the space to stand on her own two feet without me trying to extinguish the fire within her just because it challenges me. Quite frankly, I revel in the challenge.
Letting out a rough sigh, I rub my hands down my face and stare at the door behind her. I should go after her.
I need to go after her. Not to punish or control, but to keep her safe.
My body shakes as I replay what just happened. The more I think about how she had the mind to compare me to Tyler, the more I can’t see through the anger. I know she’s just upset and it’s just her PTSD talking.
But that doesn’t make the words sting any less.
I would go to the ends of the Earth for her and bury anyone who stood in my way. Nothing and nobody can stop me from protecting her and having her in my life. The truth of the matter is that I have no life without her in it.
Watching her walk out the door broke something inside me.
Knowing it was because of me, because she didn’t feel safe, was worse. None of this matters if I’m the one she’s running from.
My phone buzzes in my pocket. I grab it and Theo’s name pops up on the screen, followed by a text.
Theo : I’ve got a location on Christian Blake. Do you want me to send it to you?
His timing couldn’t be more perfect. I need something to focus my rage on. And I think Christian’s face will do.
Me: Send it.
Theo : A please would be nice. Maybe even a thank you now and then.
Me: Just send me the fucking location.
Me: Please.
Theo: That wasn’t so hard now was it?
I roll my eyes and pocket my cell when the location comes through. He may be an annoying fuck, but he’s good at his job. And he’s also a good guy to have around.
I would never tell him to his face, but he’s like the little brother I never had. Sometimes his wise ass makes my day a little better.
And he cares about what he does. More than cares. He has a passion for hacking and enjoys using it to his advantage to help those who need it.
Theo and I met at the start of mine and Cole’s crusade to break up the trafficking ring in Seattle. We were working a job, and Cole had heard rumors of a hacker who exposed predators on the dark web. He hired him to dig into a high profile suspect we were hunting.
What would have taken us days, took him minutes. Since then, he has been our right-hand man and my best friend.
Theo is good people.
Gravel spits behind me as I peel out of my driveway. I may not be able to stop Serena from walking away. But I can stop Christian.
I am finally going to get my hands on the piece of shit who thought he could take what is mine. His first mistake was laying his hands on her.
His biggest mistake was trying to take her.
Bastard’s not going home tonight.
He’s not going to be going home ever again.