Chapter 5
TROY
The second time I lay eyes on Sage Lovett, she’s curled up on my chair…
Like she belongs here.
She doesn’t.
“You’re in my seat.” My voice is slow and deliberate.
She startles, eyes going wide, mouth parting slightly before she clamps it shut.
She sits up fast, scrabbling to get away from me, utterly terrified.
One of my books crashes to the floor. It’s an old one that hasn’t been repaired yet, brittle at the spine.
It breaks when it lands, and a few of the pages scatter like leaves.
I glare at her.
She shrinks back.
I came here for peace. For a moment of quiet in the dread and chaos that my life has become. I hadn’t expected to find the ghost that’s been haunting our halls since morning—opening doors, rifling through cupboards, spying through my goddam keyholes like she owns the place.
“Sorry. I mean…I didn’t mean to.” She panics, voice scratchy from sleep, rushing to pick up the fallen book.
“Leave it,” I snap.
She freezes. “Sorry.”
My jaw clenches when I take in what she’s wrapped herself in…my bloody sweater. And there’s a damp patch on the leather armrest where her head must’ve been.
“Since when did we get married?”
She blinks at me, confused. “What?”
“You’re wearing my clothes, drooling on my furniture. What else did I miss? Should I carry you over the threshold?”
Her eyes drop to my cashmere and the stain on the leather. She’s white as a sheet and looks like she might be sick at any moment. She’d better not.
I told Mundel to get rid of her. Why is she still here?
“Why are you even here, Sage. If that’s even your name.”
“It is my name.” She stares at me like I’m a monster
Of course, it’s her name.
I had it confirmed before sunrise. Her birth certificate, passport, and driver’s licence were all neatly delivered by Mundel this morning. If only he’d followed through on the rest of my damn orders.
Sage Amelia Lovett.
Nell’s supposed sister. I didn’t even know she had one. Even if that’s a lie, she’s Richard’s daughter, all right. But what is she really here for? I want to hear it from her lips. I want to see what lies she’ll spit before the truth comes out.
At least now I know, Nell kept a lot from me.
But Nell is dead.
“Why are you still here? I told you to leave.” My words come out through gritted teeth.
She gnaws her lower lip and looks right into my eyes. “No, you didn’t.”
“Didn’t get the message last night?” I hiss.
“Well, yes, but...” Her voice is soft.
“Then you are leaving, as soon as the water taxi arrives. I’d go pack if I were you.” I start walking toward my office, hoping that by the time I get to the door, she’ll have left the room. When I look back, over my shoulder, she’s still sitting there, not moving.
But she’s looking at me like I’m a demon: her breath shudders, shallow and uneven; her fingers are curled into the fabric at her lap, white-knuckled like she’s bracing for a blow; and her demeanor is too quiet, trying not to draw attention, like she’s too afraid to move.
Unfortunately, my demon loves it when they’re scared shitless.
But I don’t have time for this. For her. She’s not on my list.
I give her an insidious look, ignoring the devil as he whispers in my ear, But you have all the time in the world to chase her down.
“My father said I had no choice.”
“Well, congratulations. Now you do.”
She stares back, unflinching. “But the contract…the one in your office.”
“What?”
“Y-You already agreed with my father. I’m one of the conditions of the sale.”
My mouth twitches. I want to laugh, but that would make this seem like a joke, and it’s not. The conniving bitch has been in my office.
“Whatever game you’re playing, Sage,” I say, voice low, for her own good. “I’d be cautious if I were you, that you know exactly what the rules are.”
“You keep saying that. I’m not playing a game. My father…he told me you wanted this marriage. That you even asked for it. The condition was your idea.” She sounds so innocent when she speaks. I can see why men are drawn to her.
Why I am.
I shoot her a look sharp enough to cut. “And now, you know different, and yet you’re still here?”
She opens her mouth and then hesitates, her eyes glassy, face bright red. Clearly, she doesn’t know what to say to that. I’ve just caught her out in one of her lies, and she’s at a loss as to what to say next.
I get as far as the door when she finds her voice again. “Please, I can’t leave.”
Oh, yes, you can. I calmly turn around and walk back the way I came, only this time, I move toward her and cage her in, one arm braced on either side of the chair.
This time, she does flinch.
She reminds me of those songbirds my mother kept in the cabin, caged, fluttering against the bars, too stupid even to try to escape. The cat would slink in, sending them into a frenzy. But they wouldn’t stop singing.
Why do I feel like the damn cat?
“What did you say?”
“I-I can’t leave.” Her voice is barely a whisper.
Brave. Little. Thing.
She straightens up, as though steeling herself, but keeps nibbling her lip. Honestly, it’s like she’s pretending she’s not absolutely terrified of me, and it’s amusing as hell.
Cocking my head, I glare down at her. “Do you know what they say about me, Sage?”
Her big brown eyes stay locked on mine. “Yes.”
“Then you know what I’m capable of?”
She wets her lips and gives another nod. I can practically feel her body shaking, and a thrill shoots straight to my cock.
“Then you know that if you stay here, you’re mine to do with what I like.”
“You”—she drags in a breath—“don’t scare me.”
“I find that hard to believe. You’re trembling.”
“I’m not.” Her brow furrows, and she rolls back her shoulders, trying to stop herself. It’s almost adorable, if it weren’t for the fact that her family ruined mine, and she’s not as innocent as she looks.
“Really?” I reach up and brush the back of my fingers down her cheek. She sucks in a breath as I do. “You’re really not scared?”
“No,” she whispers.
“You don’t care if you marry a monster?”
“No.”
“You don’t mind if I ruin you in ways no sane man would?”
She inhales but doesn’t say anything else.
“Because I will…if you stay here.”
I let my gaze roam, slow and considered, taking my time to linger in places she’d find offensive, let her feel what it’s like to be seen by the monster everyone thinks I am.
They’re right, in that respect.
The demon inside me loves to hunt.
And just seeing her like this, beneath me, breathless and exposed…vulnerable. Looking up at me with those big Bambi eyes, uncertain about what I might do, makes me want to push her to the edge.
Seeing her in my bed last night brought it all back. My dreams have been taken over by visions of breaking her, destroying every soft part she thinks I can’t touch.
And now.
Her reaction to me is making me so damn hard.
That’s why she needs to leave.
If she believes any one of those sick rumors about me at all…
That I hunt women like prey, keep their bones as trophies. That I’m a goddam cannibal.
She’ll run screaming to get as far away from here as she can before the devil in me decides he’s had enough. I may be sick and twisted on the inside, but I can hold myself back.
Just.
But she hasn’t moved.
Only her jaw clenches, and she shifts in her seat under my scrutiny. She isn’t running away like she’s supposed to, as any sane woman would. But all that means is she’s bloody stupid, just like Nell was. Richard’s daughter obviously needs more convincing.
I lean forward and say softly in her ear. “I eat girls like you for breakfast.”
She shudders under me, as I draw back and allow the mask to slip, letting a cold smile creep onto my face, a dark promise of what I will do if she doesn’t take the damn hint. The horror in her eyes is almost satisfying…
Exactly what I wanted. Needed.
Really, I shouldn’t like it.
But, fuck, I do.
She squeezes her eyes shut and exhales. When she opens them, the fear is still there. Her eyes are wild with it. “Didn’t you do that already?”
Her whisper of a question throws me.
I narrow my eyes at her. And then it comes back to me, as my eyes stray to her lips, and her mouth parts.
I kissed her.
I shouldn’t have.
She stares back. And then she does something that nearly undoes me. She tilts her chin, just a little…defiant and familiar. Like Nell used to.
Okay, I’ve had enough. I’m done talking.
I grab her by that chin, forcing her to look at me. “Just do as I say,” I grit out. “I want you gone by tonight.”
I sound so goddam pathetic, but I’m out of insults. With that empty threat, because that’s what it is, I get up and turn to walk away before the madness in me decides to slice Richard’s daughter apart, piece by piece.
“If I don’t? Are you…going to hurt me, too?”
I round on her, wrapping my hand around her delicate throat, an echo of last night.
“Don’t tempt me, Sage. I’m not a nice guy.” The venom is on my lips as I say her name. My cock strains at the thought of using her sweet mouth in other ways, to prove that I’m not.
I shouldn’t have kissed her.
Some small part of me might have felt sorry for her, but that part of me is long gone.
Especially when she looks up at me, not shying away, not trying to break free. It’s like she’s daring me to lose control. I desperately want to force her back onto this chair, tear that pretty dress from that divine body I know she has, and fuck that petulant mouth until she’s screaming my name.
I want to make her feel what I feel.
Regret.
My hand tightens, crushing her slowly. Her cheeks flush as she stands there, practically shaking, her eyes alight with something fiery, something…
I once admired in Nell. But she also looks at me like I’ve already slit her throat, and she can’t quite believe that I’ve done it.
It’s a look I crave, and she’s giving it to me on a plate.
Good. I’ve finally got through to her.