C7, PT. 3

She lifted her chin. “You think you can keep me locked in your tower forever? That no one will notice?”

“The idea has merit.” He didn’t break eye contact as he covered her hand on the table. He ignored the way it balled into a fist. “The princess attracted a dragon. He guards her vigilantly, making sure no harm comes to her.”

“He locks her in the highest room in the tower, yet she stares out her window, longing for freedom,” she mocked.

He brushed his thumb over her white knuckles. “The dragon’s lost many things. He wants to enjoy the limited time he has with her.”

“What will happen to the rest of his hoard if he spends his time locked in the tower with her?”

He leaned forward and ran his tongue along her lower lip. “Everything else is inconsequential. She is his hoard.”

“What will the dragon do if a prince shows up to save her?”

He nipped her lip, making her jolt. “He’ll be incinerated.”

She was referring to Mo and Johan hopefully staging a rescue mission, but she should have used a different label. “And if she begs to leave?”

He picked up her hand and forced her fingers to unfurl. He examined the crescent marks on her palm before he raised her hand to his mouth. Her fingertips twitched as he lapped the indentions in her skin.

“He’ll drown her in riches and find inventive ways to persuade her to stay locked in his lair with him.”

She snatched her hand back and ran her itchy palm over her thigh. “Knowing what I know, how can I trust you?”

“I showed you the files on your family so you’re aware of the other factors at play. You trust me when I say I’ll help your sisters? When I promise to look out for your niece and nephew?” He paused to give her time to contradict him. When she didn’t, he planted one hand on the back of her chair and the other on the table, boxing her in. “You trust me with your family and in business, but not yourself?”

As always, he was cutting through her arguments and getting straight to the heart of the matter—a truth she hadn’t even admitted to herself. When he chose, he could be as dangerously astute as her father. No, she didn’t trust him when it came to her. And she didn’t trust herself with him. She gave up everything for this man once before and was terrified he could drive her to that point again—to ignore what was right in front of her face and believe what she wanted to because she loved him beyond all reason. The emotions he evoked in her were terrifying. Euphoric highs and soul-destroying lows. And their chemistry was worse than ever. Even now, she could feel it buzzing in the air between them, urging them to be skin to skin, so they could fall into that addictive madness so few ever experienced. She wanted normal, sedate. He was the furthest thing from that.

“You’re going to destroy me,” she whispered.

He cupped her cheek and brushed at a tear before it could track down her face. “I can’t destroy you without destroying myself.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means we start here.” When she shook her head, he murmured, “Do you see nothing of the man I used to be? Nothing worth taking a chance on?”

Her breath hitched. “There’s so much I don’t know.”

“You know more than anyone else,” he countered.

“But I still don’t know what your secret is.”

His hand dropped like a stone and his earnest expression melted into the familiar impassivity she hated.

“You’re so careful and methodical. You say my father stumbled across your secret by chance. You’re not one to leave evidence, so what was on that disc?”

His body was rigid with tension. She didn’t let that stop her from reaching out to stroke that intimidating face that made her weak with desire and fear.

“Was it hundreds of pages of investigative reports like this?” Her eyes slid to the paperwork on the table before coming back to him. “Or was it a video?”

The sunlight hit his eyes, making them shimmer like obsidian coins. He had the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen. There was no trace of brown, no matter how many times she had him look into the light. They were fathomless pools that showed any who looked into them only a reflection of themselves, and rarely anything of their owner’s thoughts.

“You make sure you know everything there is to know about everyone around you. You’re privy to their darkest secrets. Does anyone know the real you?” She ran her hand down the side of his neck before landing over his heart. “Will you ever tell me what you did?”

“Is that what it’ll take?”

She was so stunned, she couldn’t speak. His hand covered hers, pressing down so she could felt his heart thundering away while his face remained stoic and composed.

“When I can trust that you won’t use it against me, I’ll tell you.”

“You’ll…?” she choked before she rocked forward and grasped his sides. “I promise—”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” he said, throwing her line from the night before back at her. “You wouldn’t hesitate to use it to get out of this. I don’t blame you, but after all I’ve done to bring us here, I’m not going to hand over the weapon that’s kept me in prison for four years.”

Would she use his secret against him to gain her freedom? Could she be as ruthless as her father? Possibly. His concession to tell her in the future was nothing short of miraculous… unless he was saying it to placate her and give her false hope.

“I’ve been as open and honest as I can be,” he said in a driven undertone. “There are things I can’t tell you, that you’re better off not knowing.” He gave her a severe look when she opened her mouth to protest. “It’s for your own safety. Your father didn’t tell you everything. Lyle and your sisters can’t either. But, what I can, I’ll share. And I want you to do the same.”

When her brows came together, he clasped her nape and squeezed lightly.

“We’re a unit. If something happens with your sisters, Lyle, or anyone else, I want you to come to me. I’ll deal with it.”

She couldn’t imagine running to him to tattle on her family, but she wasn’t going to argue. She nodded. He massaged to show he was pleased. If she wasn’t so intent on the conversation, she would have leaned into his strong fingers to ease the ache in her neck.

“I’m already working with your sisters to recover Hennessy & Co. I’m watching the group Rami made a deal with. Years ago, I vowed we’d return to New York and restore your name in society.”

She made a face. “I don’t care about that.”

“I do. It benefits all of us.” He rested his forehead against hers. “I want what we had. I want you to want me like you used to and not feel guilty about it. Nothing I’ve come across compares to you. Having you beneath me, taking my cock, listening to you moan my name… I’d pay millions for the privilege—and I have. I’ll pay whatever it costs to have the girl who jumped in my arms at her graduation, who couldn’t get enough of me and who made me believe I could be someone else, someone better. Give me this year.”

“And by the end of the year, you think your obsession with me will have run its course, and you’ll be done with me,” she stated flatly.

“Do you want more?” He brushed the backs of two fingers down her swollen throat. “Do you want a man like me controlling every aspect of your life?” He eased his lower half closer, spreading her thighs to accommodate him. “The rules you’d have to live under, the things I’d make you sacrifice because of who I am…” His expression was dark, taunting, fire and ice. “Trust me, it’s better this way for the both of us. You want freedom, that’s something I’ll never be able to grant you. So, I ask for a year to heal with I broke in you, to make up for the damage I swore I wouldn’t do, and give you what I owe you. Do we have a deal?”

**This is a raw draft of Bitter Confessions. Please do not share or distribute.

Copyright © 2024 Mia Knight. All Rights Reserved.