out of the diner proved to be easier than I thought. I’d almost gotten her to the car idling across the street when her shock faded, and she remembered to fight back. It was the middle of a weekday, so the roads were mostly deserted. Even if it weren’t, there was no one in Blackwood Keep brave or foolish enough to help her. Grabbing her around her waist, I tossed Tyra inside Jeremy’s back seat before following her in. Jeremy didn’t utter a word or even bother to take his eyes away from his phone. The fucker casually pulled off with a yawn as if we hadn’t technically kidnapped someone in broad daylight.
Of course, this hadn’t been my plan when I asked him to stop so I could grab a quick bite. I wasn’t expecting to find her in the diner on a goddamn date less than twenty-four hours after she destroyed my Lamborghini. I didn’t miss the way she stared through the back window, her expression frozen in horror as the diner, hospital, and everything else quickly faded from view. Jealousy had me pulling her into my lap and tightening my grip when she tried to get away. She could worry about her boyfriend later.
“Are you insane? Let me go, Rees!”
“You started this, Bradley.” In her ear, I whispered, “You can’t bow out now when it’s starting to get fun for me.”
“Fuck you.”
“You definitely seemed in the mood,” I retorted with a hint of violence. I couldn’t get the image of the way she’d dared to look at another man. As if she hadn’t once looked at me that way. As if I hadn’t sacrificed everything to save her life. Fuck her would be the correct sentiment.
Without having to be told, Jeremy drove us to the beach house, and after he parked, I sat there wondering if it was wise to get out. There was no telling what I would do to Tyra once I got her alone.
She fucking kissed him.
She’d been writhing in his lap like she was two seconds from riding his dick right there for all to see. At that moment, I wanted nothing more than to tie cement blocks around her ankles and toss her obstinate ass in the ocean. If I killed her, I’d never see her, touch her, or smell her sweet scent ever again. But then…neither would he.
Opening the car door, I pulled her out and started for the house that had once been our Eden. I didn’t bother pleading with Antonov not to tell my father about this. I knew he would if he hadn’t already.
Fuck it.
Watching Tyra through that diner window, I realized I had nothing left to lose. Once inside the beach house, and only after closing and locking the door, I set Tyra down only to catch a right hook to the face. I deserved that. When she tried again, I caught her wrist, bending it back and making her whimper in pain.
“This would be considered self-defense,” I taunted as I walked her back toward the couch. Pushing her down on it, I climbed on top of her, forcing her to lie flat on her back. “Choking every bit of air from your lungs if you tried that again, might be considered murder.” I held her gaze as I smiled. “I’m willing to risk it if you are.”
“Vaughn,” she said, sounding calmer than I expected. “You have to let me go. I have to get back—”
“Your boyfriend will be well-rested when he wakes up,” I snapped before she could finish.
“He’s not my boyfriend, and you had no right to do that to him!”
“I had every fucking right unless you want to tell me you destroyed my Lamborghini on your own?” She stilled, and I had my answer. “Didn’t think so. You’re lucky I didn’t break both of his legs.”
“For helping me destroy your car or for kissing me?”
“To pay him back for kissing you, I’d have to kill him, pip.” Crooking my fingers under her chin, I held her defiant gaze. “And make you watch.”
She froze—stunned at my threat or maybe the fact that I wasn’t bluffing—before anger took over. “So, what should your punishment be for letting my sister blow you?”
I stared at her for a long while before shaking my head at her cluelessness. Selena had been a pawn and nothing more. Just as Tyra had been my father’s. Even if I bit the bullet, literally, and told her the truth now, I knew Tyra well