Jealously reared its ugly head, which was totally absurd since I had no reason to be jealous. Emily wasn’t mine, and I never wanted her to be. So why did I want to pull the door open and beat Mr. Let’s Play Police in the face with something hard?
“Get rid of him,” I whispered at her side.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. For a brief second, I was worried she’d squeal and send her boy toy to the real cops for help. Instead, she lifted her shoulders and shot him with another fake smile.
“Now’s not a good time, Ethan.”
There was a moment of silence and then I heard him take a deep breath.
“What’s going on, Emily? You’re acting funny, and I must say, I’ve never seen you dressed so… Wait, is someone else here with you?”
I could hear the question in his voice. He was thinking what any red-blooded male would think if he was met at the door by a half-naked woman with mussed hair and wide eyes.
And then it hit me. He had to go, and I could make him go. Before Emily had a chance to say anything, I swung the door open, ripping it from the chain.
“Look, dude, you need to go. Emily’s with me now. Sorry.”
His eyes widened and he opened his mouth to say something, but I slammed the door in his face before he could. A real man would have beat on the door. A real man would have kicked it down. Ethan obviously wasn’t a real man.
Had she been mine and things were different, I would’ve ripped the fucking door from its hinges, but there was no noise except for his footsteps as he took the stairs down.
I peeked out of the blinds and watched as the pussy policeman made his way to his rich-boy SUV and drove away.
When I turned around, Emily stared back at me, her face red with anger.
“I can’t believe you just did that!” she screamed.
I couldn’t help myself. A smile spread across my face.
“Oh, please. I did you a favor. What a pussy boy.” I chuckled.
“Don’t call him that.”
“Why? Does it bother you to know he didn’t even fight for you? Poor Emily, unloved by Ethan.” I joked.
Tears filled her angry eyes and I felt bad for teasing her.
“Oh, I’m loved. I don’t think I could say the same about you, but I’m definitely loved.”
Her words cut through me. She was right. Not many people left in the world loved me. Almost everyone I’d ever loved was long gone.
I snapped. “Oh, is that right? Who loves you, Emily? Certainly not pretty boy Ethan since he just walked away and left you in my hands.” I taunted.
A single tear slipped down her cheek. I was making an impact and it was wrong, but I liked it.
“My father loves me,” she said with a glare.
“Your father doesn’t know shit about love. He’s the son of a bitch who—” I stopped myself, not ready for her to know that part yet.
“What? What did he do?”
“Your father’s a very bad man. He’s going to suffer and you’re going to be the one to help me destroy him.”
There, now she knew. Now she knew her part in all of this.
She jerked back like I had just slapped her, and her eyebrows pulled together. “What? You’re out of your mind. I’m not helping you do anything to my father,” she spat.
“Look around, Red. You don’t have a choice. I’m running the shots here and if you want your father to live, you’re going to do exactly what I say.”
Her face paled and her lower lip trembled. “If I want him to live? So if I refuse to help, you’re going to kill him?”
“Exactly.” There was no trace of hesitation in my voice. “Your father took something from me, and I’m about to take everything from him.” My eyes narrowed to angry slits as I issued my promise. “Including you.”
Shock paralyzed her for only a second before she matched my stance, and her voice was a low grumble.
“There is nothing you could do that would ever, ever take me away from my father.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that, Red. Your father’s not the almighty man you think he is and I’ll prove it to you, and then… you’ll help me prove it to the world.”
She gasped. “You actually think I’m going to help you with your twisted revenge plan for my own father?”
“I don’t think. I know.
25
Emily
Sin stood watching as I packed a bag full of essential items. With Ethan coming to the door, Sin said he couldn’t take the chance of someone else showing up. So I put my shoes on and prepared to leave my apartment without a clue to where I’d end up.
“Are you ready to go yet?” he asked impatiently.
“Hold your horses. I’m almost done,” I said as I tied my hair back in a ponytail and slipped on a pair of flats. “Where are we going anyway?”
“You ask too many questions. Just hurry before another one of your sexually unsatisfying boy toys shows up dressed like an astronaut or something equally crazy,” he said sarcastically.
Ethan showing up dressed like a cop was embarrassing, but more than the embarrassment was the anger I felt toward myself for not taking the chance to relay a message to Ethan when I had the chance. He could have been my savior. My apartment could already be surrounded by real cops ready to save my ass.
I didn’t bother correcting him. My personal life was none of his business. I stood and grabbed my bag. Making sure everything in my apartment was turned off, I walked behind him to the front door.
“When we get outside, don’t pull any stupid shit. If you do, you’ll only make it worse on yourself. Understand?”
I nodded my understanding.
“Say it, Red. I want to hear you say you understand.”
“I got it,” I growled.
I was already over being treated like a piece of shit and after all of his comments about my father, I was done. As soon as I got a chance, I was gone. It didn’t matter what threats he made. I needed to get away from him.
With him following closely behind me, we made our way down the stairs to the bottom floor. My duffle bag was heavy, but I turned down his offer to carry it for me. The last thing I needed was for him to think I was weak. I had to stay strong, and even if I wasn’t, I had to portray a strength that could frighten him into not hurting me.
Of course the whole strong, independent woman persona I was passing off went to shit the minute my shoe caught a piece of jagged concrete and I tripped down the next stair.
Thankfully, I missed my skull and only my ass caught the hard step beneath me. Also, it was a good thing Sin had been in front of me. Instead of falling down an entire set of stairs, I only fell down three.
He reached out and grabbed my hand to pull me up.
“I told you not to touch me again,” I snapped as I pulled my hand from his.
“I’m just trying to help you up. Let me help.” He reached for my arm again, but again I yanked it from his grasp. “Damn it, Emily, let me help you.”
As much as I hated to admit it, I loved the way he said my name. It was the first time he’d called me Emily without disdain behind it. I was so used to hearing him call me princess or Red, but the way he said Emily made my heart skip a beat.
Still, I had to remain angry. If I let something as simple as him saying my name melt me, there was no way I’d make it out of this alive.
“I don’t need your help. I don’t need anything from you except for this whole stupid mess to be over. I just want my boring life back. And I’d give anything to never have…”
“To never have what? Say it. Say it, and I promise I won’t touch you again.”
Lifting my head to meet his dark eyes, I put as much venom as I could into the bite. “I wish I had never kissed you, and when this is all over with, I hope you rot in hell.”
“Wish granted, baby. I’m already permanently in hell.”
He walked away from me, tortured, but I refused to feel sorry for him. A second later, he was backtrack
ing angrily and standing in front of me.
“I mean it when I say I won’t touch you again, unless,” he hissed, leaning over me and taking my arm in his firm hand. He pulled me to my feet so fast I had no time to react. I landed against his hard chest, knocking the breath from me. “You beg me to, and when you do, I won’t stop.”
Gripping his fingers tightly and twisting until he let my arm go, I practically hissed at him. “That will never happen.”
He shook his head and chuckled softly to himself. “Never say never, Red.”
The next thing I knew, I was in the back seat of his old car and headed in the opposite direction from town. Ten minutes later, he parked and pulled me from his car. I struggled against his hold, but it was useless. He was so much stronger than me.
I’d hoped that someone would’ve seen my struggle and at least called the police, but no such luck for me. We didn’t pass a single person as we made our way into a grimy brick building and to his front door.
As soon as he opened the door, the smell of old beer and ass reached my nose.
“For love of God, what the hell is that smell? Are you hiding old drunk hookers in there or something?” I asked as I pinched my nose.
“I don’t know. Do you consider yourself an old drunk hooker?” he said as he shut the door behind us and locked it.
The room around me was dark and empty. Not a single picture hung on the walls and the only pieces of furniture were an old plaid couch that had seen better days, a nasty-looking bed with scattered sheets, and a few tables that held an insane amount of liquor and beer bottles.
“Alcoholic much?” I asked sarcastically as I eyed the room.
He didn’t respond. Instead, he pushed me farther into the room. “Keep moving,” he snapped.
The smell seemed to get worse the farther we moved into his space. I actually gagged. Everything I’d eaten rushed to my throat and I had to choke it down.
“Seriously, Sin. Open a window or something. I think I’m going to be sick.”
He sighed and pressed past me to throw open a window and let a breeze flow through the small apartment.
“Happy?” he snapped as he turned around toward the kitchen. “It’s not that bad.”
“Not that bad? You must not have a sense of smell at all. It’s seriously awful.”
I sat on the couch and watched with my duffle bag gripped to my lap as he moved around the space, picking up empty bottles and trash.
It wasn’t long until daylight dissolved into night. Thankfully, he allowed me to shower. His bathroom was small and had no windows. Not that I would’ve tried to escape three stories up. Not to mention, I could hear him breathing on the other side of his bathroom door.
Once I was done, he tied me to a chair while he got his own shower. I tried with all my might to get loose, but he must have been an army man once upon a time because he tied tighter knots than a sailor and took the shortest showers known to man.
An hour later and I was tied to my captor in a bed that could’ve used some fresh sheets without even being the slightest bit tired. I laid lay there bouncing escape ideas through my head as he softly snored.
I tried again to pick at the knots, but all that got me was jerked to the side when he turned abruptly in his sleep. Soon I gave up and let sleep take me away. I was almost out when Sin began to thrash around in bed and call out for Chelsea again.
Sweat dripped from his cheeks and pain marked his expressions. Reaching out, I pressed my palm against the side of his face.
“Sin, wake up. Everything’s okay. Just wake up.” I shook him a little.
After nudging him a few times, he jumped up in bed as if the sheets were on fire. He was shaking like he’d just visited the depths of hell, and his face was pale in the moonlight that broke through the dark curtains that hung next to the bed.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
He quickly unknotted himself from me and walked across the room. Though he hid in the darkness, I could still hear his breathing. And then something came to me. Chelsea… she had something to do with my being in his apartment. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I knew she was responsible for his erratic behavior.
Walking over to the small window in the room, he pushed it open and leaned onto the window seal as he stuck his head out and sucked in air like it was the last time he’d ever breathe again.
I already knew the subject of Chelsea was a bad one, but I couldn’t help myself. “She’s the reason you’re doing all this, isn’t she? Chelsea, whoever she is, she’s the reason you’re so easily throwing your life away.”
His body went tense in the moonlight, and I knew I’d hit a nerve.
“Believe me, what I’m doing isn’t easy. Nothing about this is fucking easy, and you don’t know what the hell you’re talking about so why don’t you just shut the hell up.”
Anger rippled from him like steam in a cold room, but I didn’t back down.
“No. I won’t. Do you think she’d be happy with you? Do you think this is what she wants for you? I don’t know her, and I sure as hell don’t know you, but I don’t think she’s going to be happy about this when she finds out. And she will find out, Sin. Everyone will.”
He exploded, making me push back into his bed.
“She’s dead!” he roared as he turned on me. His teeth gnashed as he growled like an angry beast. “Chelsea, my beautiful, amazing daughter, is dead, and your pitiful excuse for a father is the reason for that.”
26
Sin
My eyes burned from my fury. She’d pushed too hard and I could feel myself cracking in front of her. Just hearing her say Chelsea’s name made me feel sick. His blood moved through her veins and therefore, she had no right to even think about my daughter, much less speak her name.
I hadn’t meant to say so much to Emily, but anger makes you do stupid things.
“Your daughter?” She choked.
I could tell by her expression that she’d thought Chelsea was a girlfriend or someone insignificant. I could tell by the rush of tears to her eyes that she felt like shit for pushing too hard, but I didn’t care about her feelings.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered.
A tear bounced from her lashes and splashed onto my sheets.
“Don’t,” I barked. “Don’t you dare apologize to me. It will only piss me off more.”
I started toward the bathroom, but she jumped from the bed and stopped me.
“What does my father have to do with your daughter? I’m confused, Sin.”
I didn’t answer. Instead, I stepped into the bathroom and slammed the door behind me.
I’d left her alone and untied. It was my luck she would run from my apartment, screaming, but at that moment I didn’t give a fuck. Let her call whoever she wanted. I was angry enough to take on the entire police force.
I was surprised when I opened the door to find her still sitting on my bed.
“You didn’t run off?” I shook my head.
She didn’t know about the lock I put on the front door, which meant she thought she had a chance to escape, yet she hadn’t taken it. What did that mean? Why hadn’t she run and saved herself from me? Saved me from myself?
“Stupid little princess,” I said rudely as I turned and went toward the kitchen for a beer.
I knew I was being a dick, but I wanted her to hurt as badly as I was.
When I reached the refrigerator, I was pissed when I saw there was nothing in it but a few bottles of water and some food. Constance. Her nosy ass had come over and taken away what I used to numb the pain.
“Fuck!” I growled as I pulled at my hair. When I turned back around, Emily was standing there staring back at me.
“What’s wrong? No liquor to drown yourself with?” She snarled.
“I’d watch it if I were you,” I said as I began to dig through the cabinets.
I needed something, anything to dull the pain ripping through me.
“What are you going to do? Smac
k me around?” she asked with a shitty smirk.
She was pushing my buttons on purpose, and it was time I pushed back.
“No. I know that’s probably what you’re thinking and all, but I’m not your father. I don’t like to inflict harm on innocent girls,” I shot back.
Her face turned red and she lifted her arm like she was about to hit me.
I moved quickly.
“Do it.” I growled, inches from her face. “You know you want to. Hit me!”
She shook as her body vibrated with anger against mine. I hadn’t realized I was so close. The tips of her breasts brushed against my chest, and all I wanted to do was push her up against the kitchen wall and fuck her until she couldn’t remember anything but the echo of my name.
I’d been too wrapped up in the rise and fall of her breasts that I missed it coming. Her tiny palm cracked across my cheek with everything she had and my head snapped to the side.
I narrowed my eyes and slowly turned my head toward her. My jaw shifted and I rubbed the line of my jaw with my hand. She didn’t back down from my gaze, and that fucking turned me on.
“Do you feel better?” I asked, my voice dangerously low.
Whether she wanted to admit it or not, a small tingle of excitement ran down her spine.
“Yes,” she spat.
“Good. Now it’s my turn.”
Her breath caught when I gave her a shove hard enough to push her back into the wall. Her eyes flashed in the darkness of the room as she watched me descend on her.
My mouth came down hard on hers and the thrust of my tongue and element of surprise was enough to break through the barrier of her lips. I filled her mouth, sweeping my tongue over hers, and she tried to hide the low growl deep in her throat by fighting me.
Her fists pushed against the wall of my chest, but I was stronger than her and I wasn’t going anywhere. Struggling only worked toward my advantage as her body fought not to give in.
“Ouch! Damn it!” I hissed, pinning her to the wall with my hips so I could pull back. I ran my tongue over my bottom lip, tasting blood. “If you wanted to play rough, all you had to do was say so, Red.”
The Wrath of Sin Page 10
