The Marriage Debt (De Vos Mafia #2)(66)

She pauses to look at me. The compassionate look on her face is something I haven’t seen before. At least not directed at me. And it silences the beast inside me that wants to chase after that fucker just for attempting to snatch her away.

“Thank you,” she says, blushing. “That means a lot.”

My brows furrow. “Is that why you’re helping me now? Out of guilt?”

I don’t want to sour the mood, but I know damn well what kind of relationship we have. What I forced her to be. “I thought you hated me.”

“So? I can’t help the people I hate?”

Laughter spills out of my mouth. “That’s a really strange way to show you hate someone, Jill.”

“Yeah, well, it’s just as strange as kissing and fucking someone you hate.”

Fucking. Just that one word triggers all the delicious memories of her tight ass wrapped around my length. The first time I took her and made her my own. I even made her come from my cock. And I can’t fucking wait to be the one to claim her virginity too. To be the first to enter that tight, wet pussy and come inside.

I would’ve done it right there on that fucking desk if it wasn’t for that fucker ruining our fun with those loose shots.

But now that he’s out of the picture, all I can focus on are those pretty pink lips and the collar around her neck, signifying my ownership over this beautiful fucking girl.

Our eyes connect, and the moment feels like it lasts an eternity. Neither of us moves away from the other.

“I don’t hate you,” I say, my voice as heavy as my heart, as I release her from my grip. “God knows I fucking tried.”

“You said that before,” she mutters. “But I thought you were messing with me. Just like you were when we were kids.”

My eyes narrow. “When?”

She sticks the gauze with a little tape to my wound and then sighs. “Stop pretending you don’t know. You were such a bully to me. From day one, even when we were little kids. You stole my crown and kept taunting me again and again every time we met. You even invited that girl over just to shove it in my face that you were hooking up. Not to mention that poor bunny I tried to save that you just—”

I plant a finger on her lips.

Everything she said is true. And she still doesn’t see.

Me.

“You don’t know me. At all.”

I get up and grab her hand, dragging her to the back door in my office. I open the door and grab her shoulders to push her forward. “Look.”

Her pupils dilate, and her jaw drops. Because in there, in that mid-size closet with a tiny window, a whole fucking pen filled with expensive bowls and beds and playthings exist. Along with a fuzzy little creature hiding in the cotton ball-shaped bed in the corner.

That bunny.





Chapter 27





Jill



* * *



Age 14



* * *



I look at the bunny chewing off something that’s on its foot. It seems stuck, and I don’t want it to suffer, so I get up close really gently to try to help it. There’s wire stuck around its little paws. No wonder it’s so agitated.

“What have you got there?”

Luca’s voice makes me shriek and fall on my butt. “Oh my God, don’t scare me like that!”

When I look up, the bunny is gone. Of course it ran off the second it heard my shriek. Dammit.

Luca snorts. “Chicken.”

Enraged he’d scare me like that, I punch his foot. He cries out in pain. “Fuck! Why’d you have to do that?!”

“That’s what you get for scaring me,” I retort, but my eyes immediately widen the second I notice where the bunny went. “Look at what you did!”

It’s right there, in the water up ahead.

Shit.

“What is it?” Luca asks, peering into the water like he doesn’t realize what he just did.

Asshole.

“A bunny. It got stuck, and I almost had it pulled out until you scared it away,” I hiss.

What do I do now?

I can’t just let it die in the water.

“A bunny?” he scoffs. “That’s why you’re behind the fence? Because of some bunny?”

How dare he? I get up and put my hands against my side. “It’s not just a bunny. And it deserves help.”

He shrugs it off like it means nothing. “Bunnies can swim.”

“Not when their paws might be broken,” I reply, watching the bunny try to claw its way up a branch. “And if you’re not going to help me, back off and leave me alone.”

I return my attention to the bunny, but Luca is not walking away even when I hoped he would. I try to reach for the bunny, but it’s no use. I can’t get close enough without ruining my dress. My mother will kill me if I get it wet at this fancy party.

Suddenly, Luca pushes me aside and pokes the bunny with a stick.

“Hey!” I try to push him.

Right then, the bunny falls into the water.

My heart beats in my throat, and I hold my breath.

Luca holds the stick like a dam to stop the bunny from washing away.

“Don’t hurt it!” I yell at him, but he shoves me away. “Asshole.”