41. Scarred For Life
Scarred For Life
“Ilove you, Ribelle ,” I said, pulling my wife’s lower lip from between her teeth and kissing it. “Stop worrying. I’ll be back before you know it. Sean will be dead, and you can finally come back with me to Rome.”
My reassurance didn’t erase the worry in her eyes, but she nodded, grabbed my shirt in her fists, and pulled me back to her lips.
Within seconds, I had her pressed back against my bedroom wall, grinding against her as her little whimpers into my mouth made me lose my goddamn mind.
I had zero self-control when it came to this woman.
She reached between us, fumbling with my belt as I groaned, unable to deny my Bella Ribelle anything she wanted.
“You’re going to make me late,” I husked between kisses as she wrapped her small hand around me.
“I’ll make it worth your time,” she teased, flashing that sassy smirk. I grinned, bracing my hands against the wall as she dropped to her knees and took me into her perfect mouth. My kryptonite.
A loud bang on my bedroom door made her pop off me, and my head snapped towards my brother’s voice behind it.
“Sani, put your dick away. Soldiers are ready to go. Get Maddox.”
How he knew I’d have my dick out was beyond me.
“Give me two minutes,” I shouted. Aria arched an eyebrow with a sultry smile, then licked up my length and took me to the back of her throat. “Ah, fuck. Th–Thirty seconds,” I corrected.
“For fuck’s sake,” I heard Gio mutter under his breath as he stormed away.
A minute later, I left my room and my insatiable wife, heading for the stairs.
I paused, peering over at Soraya’s closed door.
The unease in my stomach tightened. For reasons unknown to me, my little sister had acted as if I were worse than the plague since Ireland.
She didn’t answer my calls. When she replied to my texts at all, they were always short and blunt.
I’d always been her person. I thought she knew she could come to me for anything.
When we brought her home, I was fully prepared to be her rock, the one she could unload her trauma on and who would make her feel safe again.
But she couldn’t even look at me, let alone be anywhere near me.
She seemed more comfortable with Liliana than with me, so I forced myself to give her space.
I thought she might not want to be around men for a while.
But learning about her reckless love notes to Malachi made me rethink whether I really knew my sister at all.
She’d been hiding things from me long before she was taken.
Despite her coldness, I couldn’t walk into a deadly situation without at least saying goodbye to her. I raised my hand to knock on her door but froze when I heard a male voice. Low. Rough. Not my brother.
At first, I thought I had imagined it. Then came a deep groan.
Every muscle in my body locked tight. Another deep grunt and a muffled cry propelled me through the unlocked door.
My jaw clenched so hard it hurt when I saw the tattooed body of a man on top of my sister.
In her bed. His naked, tattooed ass clenched with every hard thrust. His hand covered her mouth, and her eyes were closed.
That Irish bastard.
Every protective instinct I’d ever had exploded out of me in one go. I fucking lost it.
I launched myself across the room. Maddox barely had time to look before I ripped him off her and tossed him onto the floor.
“What the f—”
Soraya yelped as I pummelled his face with my fists. Pain shot through my knuckles as they met bone, but I didn’t stop.
“Sani! Stop! Get off him!” Soraya shrieked behind me.
Maddox landed a kick to my stomach, knocking me off him. His fist connected with my jaw, slamming my head into the floorboards.
Fuck, I’d forgotten how lethal this prick’s right hook was. It didn’t matter. Nothing would stop me from killing him for touching my sister.
“Maddox! Stop! Both of you! No!”
Maddox threw one more punch, then stumbled backwards, forcing himself away. His black eyes blazed with unhinged rage as his shoulders rose and fell with heavy breaths. I scrambled to my feet, ready to dive at him again, but Soraya blocked my path, her body wrapped in nothing but a bedsheet.
She slammed her hand into my chest and yelled, “Sani, leave him alone! What the fuck are you doing storming into my room without knocking?”
The anger in her tone made me pause and look at her. She was seething, which didn’t make sense. I threw my arm over her shoulder and pointed at the Irish rapist, seconds from his death. “He breaks into your room and rapes you, and I’m the problem!”
Maddox’s eyes flashed with equal parts rage and hatred as he stepped forward. Soraya shot him a glare over her shoulder, and he halted, staring at her.
“Take your fucking eyes off my sister before I pluck them out of your head,” I roared.
“Sani!” Raya’s hands resisted my attempt to reach him again. “He wasn’t raping me! We were having sex. Consensual sex.”
I froze. My eyes darted between them, trying to make sense of it. My sister was a virgin (apparently no longer). He was an Irish maniac. “With him? Why?”
Maddox wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and started to laugh. An unhinged, psychotic laugh, as if the whole situation were hilarious, which only gave me fresh ammunition to make his death as painful as possible.
Soraya sighed, lowering her head before forcing herself to look back into my eyes. “I love him.”
My head reared back so far that I was surprised my neck didn’t snap. “You—You what?”
“I love him,” she repeated slowly and calmly, like I was a child.
I blinked. The words weren’t registering. I looked at Maddox, standing there naked with his massive cock swinging between his legs that had just been inside my sister. I dry-heaved. Retching, I turned my back on them both.
“Sani?”
“Tell him to put some fucking clothes on. I can’t have this conversation with his dick staring at me.”
There was some shuffling in the room as I pinched the bridge of my nose and took deep breaths. I didn’t close my eyes, too terrified of what might replay behind them. My sister was having sex with that Irish psychopath? And she loves him? Cristo. I hadn’t even had a coffee yet.
“Okay. You can turn around,” Raya said. When I did, I found her in a slip dress, standing in front of him wearing only a pair of shorts. His arms were wrapped around her as if she were his possession. I ground my jaw and exhaled.
“When did… this…” I waved towards them. “...happen?”
“In the bunker,” Raya answered.
“Sounds like Stockholm Syndrome, Raya.” I paced in her room.
“What’s that?” Maddox grumbled, low enough that I’m sure he was only speaking to her.
“It’s a psychological response some people have towards their captors or abusers, where they develop feelings for them. They bond, show empathy, and sometimes believe it’s love.”
She pinned her gaze on me when I scoffed because… hello.
“Maddox wasn’t my captor, and he didn’t abuse me. He was a captive too, and he was abused by Sean more than I was. So it isn’t even remotely the same.”
“Right,” I said, returning to my pacing and sizing the asshole up.
“So you expect me to believe you fell in love with a wall of muscle and violence who only communicates by glaring, grunting and homicide? Fuck me, you do know how to pick them, Sorella. First that sex-trafficking prick, and now… whatever he is.”
Maddox growled, baring his teeth at me like a feral wolf.
My arm shot out to prove my point. “He’s growling at me. Soraya, you can’t be serious about this guy?”
“Yes. I am,” she snapped, fire in her eyes as she lifted her hand to his forearm, wrapped around the front of her chest. She leaned back against his chest, a slight smirk playing on her lips. “And I like it when he growls.”
Brilliant. I’d lost my sister to a fucking werewolf.
I stared at his smug face, narrowing my eyes. “Do you love her?”
His smile dropped. “Yes.”
I shook my head. Dammit. He didn’t hesitate at all.
I rubbed my hands down my face. This couldn’t be happening. Wait… “What about Aleksandr? You’re getting married in four days!”
She swallowed, and Maddox’s arms tightened around her.
“I know,” she replied sadly. She turned in his arms and cupped his face in her hands. “You need to get ready to leave, and I need to talk to Sani.”
He nodded once, leaned down and kissed her. I looked away, folding my arms.
“When you face McKenna, remember who you are,” she whispered against his lips. “Maddox Moriarty. My monster. Not his.”
He kissed her harder, and I clapped my hands once to break them apart before they went for round two in front of me, and I really did have to kill him.
When he left the room, I stared at my sister as she sat in her window seat and patted the cushion beside her.
I shook my head. No chance I could keep still. I needed to move my legs.
“Raya, what are you thinking!”
She sighed. “You weren’t meant to find out like this.”
“You think?” I shouted. “I’m scarred for life.”
“Then you should knock next time.”
“Next time?” She couldn’t be serious. Her lips curled at the corners, and I realised she was messing with me. I kept pacing, hands on my hips.
“Who knows?”
“Lili. And Olivia.”
I swore under my breath. “Gio’s going to lose it.”
“He doesn’t need to find out.”
I frowned, stopped pacing, and faced her. The sadness on her face as she picked at her nails made the scolding words die in my throat. A tear slipped from the corner of her eye.
“I know I have to marry Aleksandr. I don’t need a lecture, Sani. I know what I promised, and I’ll go through with it.”
I licked my lips, my stomach sinking because, regardless of what caused it, I couldn’t bear to see that look of pure devastation on her face.
“Maddox will leave after he’s killed Sean.”
I squinted at the door he’d just walked out of. “Moriarty doesn’t strike me as the type to let you marry another man, Raya. Not only has he got no moral compass, but werewolves are known to be possessive.”