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“Fuck you, Rhett.”

“Eat something, Laine.” He picks up his coffee and turns his back to me.

“I’ll eat when Ryker tells me to. Since I belong to him now.” I storm out of the kitchen because the tears are coming and he doesn’t deserve them. I don’t want him to see how heartbroken I am.

The shower became my place to cry instead. I press my forehead against the tile and sob with the water running so no one hears. And I hate myself for every second of it because I never thought I’d be the type of woman who cries over a man. My father made sure I knew better than that. But Rhett made me believe I was worth more than what my body could do, and then he took it back. That’s worse than never believing anything different than what I’ve always been told.

After I cried all the tears in my body, I can’t take it anymore. I fight for what I want. And I have to make Rhett admit that he feels something for me. Even if I have to piss him off. I’ll take his anger. I’ll take him shoving me against a wall and gripping my throat and calling me a brat. Anything that proves the man who owned me is still in there.

I walk down the hallway toward his study. The door is closed and I can hear voices. Rhett and Ryker.

I stop with my hand on the doorknob.

“It’s done.” Rhett’s voice is clear through the door. “She was a fun distraction. A fantastic fuck with a tight little cunt and a warm mouth I enjoyed while it lasted. But that’s all her body is good for.”

My hand falls off the doorknob.

The floor drops out from under me, and my stomach lurches. I press my back against the wall because my legs won’t hold me. My vision tunnels and all I can hear is my father drilling the same thing into my head. That’s what I am. That’s what I’ve always been. A fuck. A cunt. A Dove to be passed from one man to the next when that one is done using me.

My father was fucking right. My body is the most valuable thing about me. I hated him for making me believe it, but Rhett confirmed that it’s fucking true. Fuck them.

I don’t wait to hear what Ryker says. There’s nothing Ryker can say that changes what I just heard. I can’t fucking stay here. I won’t face Rhett every day for the rest of my life. I won’t give him the fucking satisfaction. I’d rather take my chances on my fucking own.

I grab the nesting doll from the shelf and shove it in my pocket, then hurry upstairs to pack a backpack with whatever clothes I can stuff into it. Then I go to Rhett’s bedroom. I know where he keeps cash in his nightstand. It’s where he also keeps the toys. I open the drawer and take what’s there. It’s a thick fold of hundreds. I don’t count it. I grab his watch from the dresser too. I can pawn it if I need to.

I take the back stairs, not wanting any of the staff to see me and alert Rhett before I have a chance to get a head start. I know he’ll see that I left as soon as he checks the camera feeds.

I’m through the side door and across the grounds before I let myself feel the weight of what I’m doing. The night air is cold on my face, and I’m wearing leggings and a t-shirt and a backpack stuffed with what I could fit. That’s everything I have to make my way on my own in this world.

I’m going to fucking run. Because I can’t stay in that house for one more second.

I gave him everything. My virginity. My trust and my fucking love. My body in every way he asked for. I let him tie me up and spank me and fuck every hole and swallow his cum and beg for more, and I did all of it because even in this fucked-up world, I thought I was his. Because he made me believe I was more than what my father raised me to be.

Well they are both goddamn wrong.

So I run. It’s time I did something for myself. This is my fucking life no matter what the Council has to say about it.

I hate Rhett Bradley for making me love him and thinking I had a chance at something better. And I hate myself more for knowing that I always fucking will.

Chapter Eleven

Rhett

Ryker stares at me from across my desk. His whiskey is untouched and his jaw is set, and I can see the exact moment my son decides he’s done with my shit.

“You’re so fucking full of shit.” The contempt is dripping in his tone, and it’s earned. “You’ve created this fucked-up situation and you keep making it goddamn worse.”

“What the fuck do you expect me to say, Ryker?” I already know I’ve destroyed everything. I don’t need my son pointing out all of my fucking shortcomings. I destroyed everything then, and I’m destroying it now. But at least, this time, she has a fucking chance.

“Admit that you love her.” He stands up and plants his hands on my desk. “Stop being a pussy about it and be with the woman you love.”

“Sit the fuck down. You don’t get to speak to me that way.”

He sits, but his expression doesn’t soften. “I’ve done every fucking thing you’ve asked. I agreed to marry her. I fucked her, knowing what it was doing to you. This isn’t some woman we picked up at Velum for a good time. Do you think I like fucking hurting you? I hope she’s pregnant, so you can just marry her and raise the child as yours. She loves you. You love her. And I’d get to do what I fucking want. This isn’t that fucking hard.”

“I can’t give her what the Council needs.” My hands are fists on the desk. “I can’t give her children. They’ll kill us both and hand her over to someone else. You know that.”

“Then get the fucking vasectomy reversed.”