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  I stumble backward, unsure as to how she could still fucking feel this way. “The dress is yours. You are coming to this wedding as my date. It’s obvious to me that you still see yourself as nothing but a whore. I don’t think it matters what I do or say, that won’t change.”

  “What does that mean?” she asks, her lips trembling with each word.

  I close the distance between us, grabbing ahold of her cheeks with my hand and holding her head still. I watch as her eyes widen and fill with fear. Good. She should be fucking scared because I’m goddamn livid with her right now.

  Leaning forward, I murmur to her, “It means you’re going to be treated like my whore, Giovanna. It’s what you keep waiting for, right? It’s what you think I’m bound to do. Fine, fuck it, you’ll get what you want.”

  Releasing her, I turn around and walk away. Shaughan is standing near the dressing room entrance, his eyes darken as he looks at me. He opens his mouth, but I beat him to it. “Buy her the dress. Take her home. She isn’t to leave again.”

  “Aidan,” he warns.

  Holding up my hand, I stop him from continuing. “Don’t question me,” I snap. “Tell her that the alarm is to be set. I get notifications every time it’s turned off. It doesn’t get turned off unless I fucking do it from now on.” I don’t wait for him to respond, I walk away.

  Once I’m in my car, I take my phone out of my jacket pocket and send Shaughan a text.

  THE BAR. THIRTY MINUTES.

  SHAUG: YOU’RE AN ASSHOLE. SEE YOU THEN.

  Without responding back to him. I start the engine and head toward the bar. We still haven’t found the product from Casey, the traitor security guard. No amount of torture or searching has yielded a fucking thing. I’m on edge, my mood sour, and pissed the fuck off. If I don’t get my shit back soon, I’m going to lose my fucking cool.

  Unfortunately, the ones that will be subjected to my wrath will be my brothers, my children, and Giovanna. And, it looks like Giovanna’s about to get a taste of it. She’s on fucking edge with me already.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  GIOVANNA

  I sit down on my newly delivered sofa alone. Shaughan dropped me off yesterday, told me I wasn’t allowed to leave, or unarm the alarm, and I haven’t heard from him since. I also haven’t seen or heard from Aidan since he walked away from me in the dressing room yesterday. I expected him to come over last night, but he never showed.

  This morning, I shook off the bad vibes and decided to do some yoga. Then I unpacked my clothes from their bags. I fucked everything up, again. It seems to be something that I’m rather good at, a trait I didn’t even know that I had until recently.

  I don’t know what to do, or what is going to happen next. The blank television screen stares back at me, but I’m too jittery, too nervous to turn it on. I don’t even know what I would watch. I’m not a TV person. I’m not a book person either, I only got into them when I was staying in the condo and bored out of my mind.

  I’m not a person who has ever had time to do anything for herself and now, I just feel completely awkward. I’ve felt this way from the moment I left Madam Carmella, all of the recent changes have me feel unbalanced.

  What feels like an hour later, but probably is only ten minutes, the front door opens. I watch as Aidan unarms the alarm before closing the door and locking it. His eyes meet mine and he gives me a chin lift.

  “Strip,” he demands.

  His tone is stern, and there’s a bite to it that I’ve never heard from him before. I quickly take my clothes off. Stripping down until I’m completely naked, not wishing to test anything. I watch as he quickly sheds his own clothing, toeing off his socks and shoes as well until he’s standing completely naked in front of me.

  My eyes widen when I watch him bend down and strip the belt from his slacks. “You’ve decided your life is going to be a certain way. When you did that, you made a decision for me as well,” he announces.

  I gulp, wetting my lips with my tongue as he stalks toward me. “On your knees, chest to the couch, bend over,” he grinds out.

  “Aidan,” I whimper.

  He leans over slightly, and I can feel his body heat, but he’s careful so that no part of him touches me. “Remember when I told you that I would give you pain?” he murmurs.

  I nod, my eyes sliding closed and I try not to tremble, or cry, or do both at the same time. Slowly, I drop down to my knees, thankful that the carpeting is soft. I lean over the sofa cushion, resting my cheek and chest against it as I stick my ass out.

  Aidan grunts behind me. I can hear him moving around a little. I close my eyes, holding my breath and waiting in anticipation of what’s to come. I hear it before I feel it, the whip of the belt and my entire body freezes as it lands across my ass.

  I hiss, careful not to make any other noise. Aidan does it again, once, twice, three times. He doesn’t stop. His blows land on my ass, moving down to my upper thighs until I get to the count of ten in my head. Only then do I hear the belt softly land on the floor.

  My hips are wrenched backward by his hands, and his cock fills me without warning. I let out a sob, unable to hold it in a second longer. He fucks me, it’s merciless. If I thought that he fucked me hard back when he first started coming to me, and I was bruised for days, I didn’t know what a hard fuck was.

  Every time he thrusts into me his thighs and hips slap against my newly forming welts. It sends a new zing of pain throughout my body and I whimper.

  Aidan reaches around me, his cock still pumping in and out of my body, and he begins to touch my clit. I open my mouth to beg him to stop, but nothing comes out. He plays with my clit, pinching it, and firmly rubbing circles against it until I’m on the edge. I shouldn’t even want to come. I hurt, I ache, all of me is screaming in pain, and yet I’m so close that I feel like I’m about to fucking explode.

  Without warning, without a word, Aidan slaps my clit, and that is when I come apart beneath him. A sob rips through my body as I begin to shake. My pussy clenches around him, attempting to keep his cock inside of me but he doesn’t allow it. He continues to thrust into me until I feel his release fill my body.

  Aidan lets out a long moan with his dick buried deep inside of me. He doesn’t stay there for long. Silently, he slips from my body. I’m completely wrung out, unable to move as I attempt to catch my breath. I’m also afraid to move, afraid that my ass and thighs are going to hurt too badly.

  I hear the front door slam, lock, and then the alarm beeps with a notification that it’s been set from Aidan’s phone. Turning my head to the side, I look around—I’m alone. He’s fucked me and left me, used me like the whore that I am. Just as he said he would.

  The unshed tears in my eyes spill down my cheeks.

  I want to hate him.

  I should hate him, but I don’t.

  Instead, I hate myself. I couldn’t just let shit play out, I had to insist that I was nothing but a whore to him, remind him that I was bought and paid for. I ruined everything. Completely ruined every dream I ever had, that could have possibly come true.

  AIDAN

  I glance up at the house from my car. I’m a fucking asshole. The worst kind. I laid hands on my Giovanna. I fucking hit her with my belt. I’m no better than my goddamn father. I don’t deserve her, not even a single bit. Growling, I push the car’s start button and shift into drive before I speed down the street.

  “Aidan,” my brother’s voice calls through the speakers.

  Clearing my throat, I find the words. “Send Keanna over to the house. I need someone to check on Giovanna.”

  “I can pop by on my way home,” he offers.

  “No,” I bark. “A woman.”

  There is silence on the phone for a moment. My brother makes a noise in the back of his throat before he speaks. “What did you do?” he rasps.

  I sigh. The weight of what I have done is too fucking much for me to even think about. My gut tells me to turn around, but I can’t, not yet. “Send Keanna
over, she has the alarm code and a key?” I ask.

  “Yeah,” he grunts then ends the call.

  I drive toward my own home, knowing that the only people who will be there will be the staff. Once I’m parked in the driveway, I run my fingers through my hair and close my eyes. I’m a fucking asshole. My shoulders shake as my body trembles. What the ever-loving fuck is wrong with me? Slamming my hands down on my steering wheel, I scream.

  Stumbling out of the car, I walk straight into the house and head toward my office. I slam the door closed, but don’t bother locking it. Nobody will even dare to bother me with it closed.

  I grab a bottle of whiskey and don’t even bother with a glass. I suck down my first gulp straight from the bottle. Then another, and another, until I collapse in my chair.

  My body is lifted from my chair and my legs swing to find purchase as my eyes fly open. There staring back at me is the angry glare of my brother, Shaughan. Something moves behind him and I see that not only is Mannix here, too, but so is Lachlann.

  “Let me the fuck down,” I growl.

  Shaughan doesn’t put me down, instead he walks forward, slamming my back against the wall so hard that I lose my breath, then he releases me. I fall to my ass, my eyes wide, and completely confused at what’s happening around me.

  “I should take my gun out and shoot you in the goddamn head,” he growls.

  I open my mouth to respond, but Mannix’s voice beats me to it. “I should take mine out and shoot you in the chest just to make sure you’re dead,” he mutters.

  “Oh, then I get dibs on your fucking dick,” Lachlann shouts.

  Scrambling to my feet, my back straightens at their words. “What the fuck?”

  “You’re a piece of shit,” Mannix coolly replies. “You don’t deserve her.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?”

  Mannix takes a step forward, pushing past Shaughan to stand in front of me. He looks not only supremely pissed off but disappointed as well. In my still drunken and sleepy haze, I can’t put all of the pieces together.

  “Keanna called Shaughan for help. She couldn’t get Vanna to the bathroom by herself. Vanna couldn’t fucking walk there on her own. When Shaughan saw the state she was in, he called us. Now, after having the doctor come and take a look at her wounds, we’re here. All three of us want to know what the fuck is wrong with you?”

  I lift my hand, running my fingers through my hair as I let out a sigh. Fuck, I didn’t think I hurt her that badly. I knew I hurt her, but fuck, I didn’t think it was that bad. “I took everything out on her,” I whisper.

  “Everything?” Mannix asks, his voice low and even, only relaying a hint of the anger within him.

  I nod, letting my head fall back against the wall with a thud. “Everything. Casey, his bitches, the loss of that shipment and our fucking money with it. The way she refuses to see herself as anything but my whore. I bought her, yeah, but I also introduced her to my kids. I know she wants more than to just be a prostitute, and fuck, I want to give it to her. But goddamn, she won’t open her fucking eyes,” I shout.

  Mannix snorts. “Why would she see herself as anything but a whore, Aidan? You’re expecting more from her than you’re giving. Have you taken her out, done anything you would do if you were courting a different woman? Has she ever even been on a date that wasn’t part of her job? Has she kissed a man before and then not had to sleep with him? Has she held hands while you just watched a movie? Think with your goddamn brain and not your dick, for once. You already fucked up with Fallon, are you so blind that you’re willing to fuck up with Vanna and risk losing her, too?”

  “I didn’t fuck up with Fallon, she spread her legs for other men,” I growl.

  Mannix shakes his head. “Maybe Fallon would have always cheated, she was a selfish little bitch anyway. However, she had more opportunity because you fucking ignored her. Now, you’re beating your woman? You don’t get your shit together, I’m going to start thinking you’ve turned into Dad.”

  Without another word, all three of my brothers turn around and walk out of my office. I’m left standing against the wall, feeling like an even bigger jackass than I already did. I glance over at the clock on my desk and cringe.

  It’s after eight in the evening, which means all the kids are already either in bed or winding down for the night. I’ve missed an evening with my family, and with my woman, because I’m a goddamn asshole.

  Grabbing my keys off of the desk, I start to jog out of the room, and toward the front door. My son Caleb is standing in the living room, his eyes narrowed on me. “I heard what you did,” he practically growls.

  “What I did?” I ask.

  He shakes his head, crossing his arms over his small chest. “Yeah, I heard Uncle Mannix say that you hurt Giovanna. Why do you have to be such an asshole?” he asks.

  My eyes widen, unsure of what to tell him. I’m glad that he feels he can be so open with me. God knows that if I would have asked my father the same question, he would have beat the shit out of me on the spot. Caleb knows that I never would. Clearing my throat, I run my fingers through my hair.

  “I hurt her,” I admit with a nod. “But right now, I’m going to go to her, and I’m going to fix it.”

  “We like her, Dad. All of us. Don’t fuck this up,” he shouts. I reach out for him, but he takes a step back from me. Tears well in his eyes and he just shakes his head from side to side. “She’s nice and pretty. We all really like her.”

  “Okay, son. I’ll fix it, I promise.” I nod.

  Without another word, he turns away from me and runs up the stairs. I feel like an even bigger asshole, something that I didn’t realize was even possible. I need to fix what I’ve done. Not only for Caleb but for me as well.

  I messed up. I let my emotions control me and I hurt the woman that I truly care for. I do care about Giovanna. Fuck, she’s made for me, a perfect fit for the man I am today. I can’t lose her.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  GIOVANNA

  The bed shifts, but my eyelids are too heavy to open and see who it could be. Not that I don’t already know, because I do. Keanna and Shaughan gave me some pills to take. I thought they were painkillers, but I’m fairly certain they weren’t. I’ve been extremely groggy and unable to really move much since swallowing them.

  A warm hand runs down my arm and then wraps me up tightly, resting on my stomach. I can feel his body behind mine, but he doesn’t make a move to touch me anywhere else. “I’m sorry,” he says against my shoulder, his lips resting there.

  I try to reply, but I can’t. My body relaxes again and finds sleep.

  What feels like seconds later, my eyes finally pop open. It takes only a moment before my mind is flooded with memories of yesterday. I pinch them back closed again and grimace at it all. I thought that Aidan’s pissed off punishment was the worst of my day, but it wasn’t even close.

  Keanna came in, cried, and tried to help me to the bathroom, but I was too weak to take myself. The life had been drained out of me completely. Then she called Shaughan who happened to have Mannix with him and all of my dignity vanished. They also brought their other brother Lachlann, completing the humiliation of Giovanna Rossi.

  All three O’Neil brothers saw me completely naked, welted, and bruised from Aidan. All three O’Neil brothers were fucking pissed off. They fed me some pills, cleaned me up, had a doctor examine me, and put me to bed. I don’t remember anything else after that, I completely passed out. That is until Aidan came to me much later.

  I feel his hand slide up my stomach, cupping my breast and squeezing gently. He’s awake but hasn’t said anything yet. He also doesn’t shift his hands at all. My body is tight as I anticipate his movement, but nothing happens.

  “I’m an asshole. I took out more than I should have on you,” he murmurs. “You didn’t deserve my anger or my frustration yesterday, not like that.” I blink, hard, surprised that he’s apologized. He doesn’t have to, not really. He doesn’t
have to say a damn thing to me, because at the end of the day, he owns me. “Talk to me, A rùnsearc,” he mutters against my skin.

  Rolling onto my stomach, I turn my head to face him and I search his pretty blue eyes with my own. His brows are knitted together as his eyes search my own. “Tell me, tell me what this is,” I demand.

  He reaches forward, tracing his finger down the side of my face. “This is undefinable, Vanna. We are undefinable.”

  Leaning forward, he brushes his lips across mine, then returns back to his place beside me. His hand rests on the side of my neck while his eyes continue to search mine.

  “I’m not an easy man. I’m not a good man. I won’t pretend that I am. Not to you, or anyone else. All I can tell you is that I feel something for you that I’ve never felt before in my life. I don’t know how to deal with it.”

  His admission, it’s everything and nothing all at once. I wrap my hand around his wrist and give it a squeeze. I don’t know exactly what to say, my words are lodged in my throat, a million questions buzz around in my head, begging for release.

  “I want you at my side, Giovanna, not only here in private, but out there in the world, too. You’ll be my date for Shaughan’s wedding, you’ll be my date for every party I’m invited to, family or public.” He leans forward, pressing his mouth to mine again. “You’ll be my woman,” he rasps.

  I gasp at his words and he takes that opportunity to fill my mouth with his tongue. He kisses me, no, he doesn’t kiss me. He consumes me. He makes love to me with the stroke of his tongue and I allow it.

  No, that’s not right either, I don’t only allow it, I revel in it, I treasure it, every single second of it.

  When he’s finished, his forehead presses against mine and he catches his breath with his eyes closed. “Do you forgive me, A rùnsearc?”