Chapter 12

MIRANDA

Darrenand I eat our crème br?lée in companionable silence after Dylan walks out the door. Meeting Darren has been a nice surprise.

I was so nervous all the way over here. What if Darren didn’t like me? I know how important he is to Dylan, being the only family that he has left that he’s close with.

But things have gone so well that all the nerves in my stomach have finally settled.

After the last bite, I settle my spoon back in the empty bowl and smile Darren’s way. “Well this really was lovely. It’s been great getting to know the little brother Dylan talks about so much.”

“Oh?” Darren asks, eyebrows going up. “He talks about me? That’s funny because I was lying earlier. Before today, he’s hardly ever brought you up.”

I frown. “I’m sorry?” I must have heard him wrong.

“Nothing to be sorry for. I’m just saying that Dylan never talks about his whores much.”

My jaw literally drops open. Did he just—? It’s several long seconds before I shut my mouth with a clack of teeth.

I shove my chair back. So Dylan’s brother is a total jackass. Okay. Well, I’m getting the hell out of here.

But Darren stands up right when I do. And as I skirt the table and head for the door, he grabs my upper arm in a grip so crushing I cry out.

“Where you headed in such a hurry, whore?”

I yank to get away but it’s no use, his hold is like iron. “Let go of me,” I spit. “Or I’ll scream.”

He just grins cruelly. “All the catering staff left before Dylan did. No one will hear you. Besides, I thought you liked it rough.”

Fear makes all my arm hair stand on ends and my stomach upend. Did Dylan tell him about…? Is that why he thinks this is okay?

Darren wraps an arm around my back like an iron bar and yanks me against his chest. He’s hard. I can feel him against my leg.

I scream. Or try to.

But the next second, his big hand is covering my mouth and he’s shoving me against the nearby wall. My head bangs painfully against the brick and he’s all but smothering me, his hand is cutting off most of the air to my nose as well.

No. No. This isn’t happening. It’s a nightmare.

Wake up. Wake UP, Miranda!

“Oh yeah, you like it rough, don’t you, little slut?” Darren breathes into my ear. “But then I’ve experienced it first hand, haven’t I? I’ve already had your mouth around my cock.”

What—?

Tears squeeze out of my eyes as I fight against his grasp. He just shoves me harder into the wall.

Not like Dylan does. With Dylan, it’s just enough so that you feel his leashed strength. But Darren pounds my skull into the wall repeatedly until I’m lightheaded. I fight but it doesn’t matter. He’s huge and his grip is bruising.

“Bryce always told me how well he’d broken his slut.”

I freeze at my ex’s name. No. Oh God, no. Please, no, don’t let—

“But I wanted to see it for myself. Lucky for me, Bryce never minded sharing.”

No, no, no. I whimper into Darren’s hand but he just keeps talking.

“Remember the night Bryce had you in the leather hood and on your knees? When there was a room full of Bryce’s friends?”

No. No.

“I was one of them. I was there.”

My body sags in his grip. I can’t help it. Oh God.

Darren laughs at my response. “Your boyfriend passed you around like you were a common whore that night. I liked it best when he ordered you to suck my cock while another man fucked you like you were a dog.”

“Bryce said we could do whatever we wanted as long as we didn’t leave marks. Do you remember that? Do you remember how eagerly you licked and slurped at my cock? I shoved it down your throat so far you gagged. But you still. Just. Kept. Sucking. You were such an obedient little slut.”

He laughs and I want to throw up. He was there that night. He— And I— I’m going to throw up.

He laughs even harder as he watches my face. But then all the laughter dies from his features as he leans in and licks my cheek. I wrench my face away but he just grips me tighter.

“I’m feeling in the mood for a repeat, whore. On your knees.”

My eyes shoot open wide. No way in fucking hell am I—

His hand comes off my mouth as he starts to unbuckle his pants.

“Fuck you!” I shout at the top of my lungs. “You stick anything in my mouth and I’ll bite it fucking off.”

Black fury enters his eyes and that’s all the warning I get before his fist swings. He lands it in my gut and I double over, wheezing at the pain.

I want to scream for help but he’s just knocked all the air out of me. I gasp as he shoves me to the floor.

I scramble away from him and he doesn’t immediately come after me. Only because he knows he doesn’t have to. There’s no way I’ll make it to the door before he catches me again.

Shit. Shit. How do I get out of here in one piece?

When he takes a step toward me, I hold up a hand and wheeze, “Don’t. Don’t, or I’ll tell Dylan.”

Darren just laughs. “Who do you think he’ll believe? His baby brother? Or the lying whore he’s only been fucking for a few weeks? Especially when he finds out you used to date the man who almost ruined him. Bryce tried to burn his life down.”

I shake my head in disbelief as it all clicks into place. “And you let him.”

Darren shrugs nonchalantly. “Without dearest big bro in the picture, the company is all mine. Dylan’s useful but he’s not necessary. And his ethics can be tiresome at times.”

I can only stare at him. “You’re the monster he’s terrified his father turned him into. But it’s not him. It’s you.”

Darren tuts. “It’s true that Dad saw quickly enough that Dylan was weak. So he turned his attentions to training me to be the man Dylan never could be.”

“An abusive asshole, you mean.”

Darren’s eyes narrow and he crosses the distance between us in two strides. Then, before I can even get a handle on what’s happening, he has me up off the floor and shoved against the wall by my throat.

“I’d be careful how you speak to me, bitch.” Spittle sprays on my face as he speaks and I shut my eyes and wrench my head to the side.

He just keeps talking. “Now that I have your attention. Convince him to accept the contract with your company. The old processors worked just fucking fine.”

My eyes shoot open at that. Of all the things I expected him to say, that wasn’t one of them. This is about their product line? But no, looking into his cruel eyes, I can see it’s about far more than that. He was willing to ruin his brother years ago. He probably doesn’t give a shit about which processor they use in their robotics line, he just hates the fact that Dylan had an opinion and overrode him.

And now, if I do what he says— “Dylan might think the only reason I wanted to be with him in the first place was to try to talk him into making a deal with ProDynamics. No, I can’t. I won’t—”

Darren socks me in the stomach again and I cry out uselessly at the pain even as I realize what he’s doing—hitting me where it won’t leave obvious marks. Just like his father taught him, no doubt.

“If you don’t, this gets leaked to Buzzfeed, bitch.”

Darren yanks his phone out of his pocket, pushes play on a video, and shoves it in front of my face.

You like that?Dylan growls on the video. It’s dark but I can still make him out, bent over me on my Corvette in the garage from that very first night. You like it when I fucking defile you?

The video is so clear I can see his hand as it drops to plunge a finger into my backside.

I can’t help the cry that escapes my throat as I look back to Darren. How did he even get this footage? It’s not grainy like it would be if it were from a security camera. It’s color, even.

He just smirks at my confusion. “I hoped throwing the two of you together that night might spark something. But you both performed beyond my wildest expectations.”

“How did you—” I wheeze, my eyes shooting back to the video. The angle, and how clear you can see Dylan’s face. Then I get it. “You had someone following your own brother?”

“For about a year now,” Darren says. “And this was the first time the Golden Boy slipped up. Then again, Bryce did create you to be the perfect victim.” Darren rubs a thumb over my bottom lip and I jerk back.

But he’s not done. “Not even my brother could withstand you. Not back then and not now. Because oh, did I forget to tell you? At Bryce’s party, that time while I was fucking your face? Dylan was the one fucking you from behind at the same time.”

His words do what all the blows in the world couldn’t.

I go limp. Darren sees it and smiles bigger than he has all afternoon.

He pulls back and shoves me to the floor again. I crumple to the ground.

Of course I always knew it was a possibility. Most of the time when Bryce invited his friends over and passed me around, he didn’t bother blindfolding me, but there were a few nights like the one Darren is talking about where he did.

And Dylan was there. Dylan was there the night when… the night when—

I shut my eyes, refusing to think about it any more right now. Because that’s exactly what Darren wants and I refuse to give this evil bastard a fucking inch.

Darren looks like he’s about to reach down for me again when his phone pings with a text message. Looking annoyed, he glances down at it, then starts tapping out a reply.

He finally puts it back in his pocket and eyes me critically. “Looks like we’ll have to finish this another time.” He crouches over and gets in my face. “Two weeks. You have two weeks. If Dylan doesn’t okay the contract with ProDynamics in two weeks, then I release the video and ruin him so he no longer has a say in the company’s dealings. One way or another, I’ll get my contract, do you understand, whore? You decide how.”

He stands up, towering over me. “You can let yourself out.”

And then, because it’s what bullies do, he kicks me while I’m down one last time for good measure before he chuckles and walks out of the house.