Tiger Mom (Killer Moms #4) - Eve Langlais Page 0,1

but with cold precision. He knew just how to verbally cut so she’d apologize.

She’d been doing that a lot of late. He always made it seem so logical that she was in the wrong. Always wrong.

Too tired to go out? She obviously didn’t value their time together. Didn’t she love him?

Of course, I love you, Ronin. The words fell with familiarity from her lips. And they used to mean something. She’d loved him in the beginning.

Now, she had to wonder if something was wrong with her because how could she love such a cold monster?

In her defense, it seemed romantic in the books she read, the movies and shows she watched. Alpha males were assertive, commanding, even violent if tested. But not many could argue their sexiness.

Even now, she wouldn’t deny Ronin’s good looks. When she’d come to China from the US to study, her friends had tried to convince her that Asian men weren’t hot.

She dared them to say that about Ronin. His body was a finely tooled example of physical perfection. Muscles honed. A few inches taller than she. His skin smooth.

But his better-than-average appearance didn’t indicate his character.

Given the things she’d gleaned of late, she’d come to the startling and chilling conclusion that Ronin might be a psychopath. A narcissist for sure. Definitely a control freak. And a mobster. A rich and very powerful one. One who could kill his cousin, a guy he’d grown up with, and casually brush it off.

Where did that leave her?

She clenched her fists rather than hug herself. He’d notice. She didn’t want him looking at her right now.

Chen grabbed the body, Aroon’s face, a man she’d seen more than a few times, slack. Dead. She couldn’t help it. Her gorge rose. She turned around and threw up. It wasn’t pretty. And it lasted longer than it should have before her stomach ceased heaving.

Damn Ronin for being by her side, a hand on her back. Concerned.

“Just let it out,” he soothed. “You’ll feel better.”

Except she didn’t feel better. She felt worse as she wiped a hand across her mouth and straightened. It occurred to her that Ronin had an ulterior motive in bringing her to witness Aroon’s death this evening. It was a warning to her.

See what happens if you don’t keep me happy.

Macey had been picking petty squabbles with Ronin of late. Little things that thus far he’d let slide. How long before he retaliated?

It chilled to realize that he might hurt her. Hurt… She kept her gaze averted from her midsection. It had come as such a shock, and yet when she’d missed her period, something that had never happened since she’d started having one, she’d immediately bought the kit. Only hours ago, she’d spent a few tense minutes in the bathroom with a pee-covered stick.

She’d read the box twice to be sure of the results, then had buried the evidence of the pregnancy in a garbage bag, which she took to the chute down the hall of her building immediately after.

Pregnant. With Ronin’s child.

I can’t stay. This man should never be a daddy.

“I think I should go home and lie down.” The truth, though? She didn’t want to spend any time with Ronin but knew better than to say anything aloud. She’d end up with another three-hour lecture, being berated and explained to, passive-aggressively, how she’d let him down. How he tried so hard. How much he loved her.

Sometimes, she thought it would be quicker if Ronin just slapped her. A quick burst of pain, an apology, and it would be over.

Then that wish had become a reality, and she realized the stinging pain wasn’t any better because it roused a burning shame inside her. She’d always been a girl to state that she’d never let a man hit her. A woman who considered herself equal to men. Yet when Ronin had left a mark on her flesh as punishment, she’d ended up being someone who apologized for her behavior. Then had sex with him.

How could she escape the vicious cycle?

“My love, of course, you need to rest. Come. My car is just outside.” He placed a steadying—vise-tight—arm around her waist and walked her to the exit door where he’d parked the car by the warehouse on their way to dinner. Given it wasn’t the first time he’d made this kind of stop, she’d thought nothing of it. More often than not, he left Macey in the car and popped inside for a few minutes. If he knew it