Zane left, gently shutting the door behind him.
I was angry, and more than a little scared, staring back at Daniil, and I only waited a heartbeat before hissing, “Get the fuck off me.”
His teeth bared. Definitely a damn shark. “Will you keep your mouth shut, Ms. Forter?”
Slowly, knowing I shouldn’t, but not able to stop myself, I opened my mouth wide.
I left it that way. Fuck you, old man.
His nostrils flared. He glared, his cheeks flushing, right before he shouted, “Are you as crazy as your fucking hair? I could break your neck, shoot you, suffocate you, beat you, or slit your throat, all without a second thought. And yet, you still try to piss me off?”
I squirmed, my heart in my throat. He had officially scared the shit out of me. He stared with a look I had not seen in his eyes before. His gaze told me he was telling the truth. He would murder me without an ounce of remorse. I could not breathe with him on me, and I pushed as hard as I could against his chest, digging my heels into the mattress, shoving back. All that got me was…nowhere…and a laugh from him.
Still chuckling, he gripped my face. I tried to jerk away, starting to hyperventilate, but he just gripped tighter, his fingers digging into my scalp. “Do you really think you can get away from me that easily?” He shook his head. “I told you last night you would only get hurt doing that, and now look at you. You can barely breathe; you’re so scared.” He chuckled as if it was the funniest thing he had heard.
I gasped, “You’re crazy.” I had slept with a crazy man. An old crazy man.
What the hell had I been thinking?
A full-fledged freak out was on its way. I could feel it, staring up at the man with death eyes and a laughing mouth. It began to edge out, a complete breakdown like I had not had since my father had caught me having sex that first time. I had to get away from this man.
He clamped a hand over my mouth, just as I was getting ready to scream. His smile was instantly gone, only a stone cold killer staring back at me as he murmured quietly, “Now do you understand who I am, Ms. Forter? Will you keep your mouth shut?”
My breath was coming hard and fast, and I felt like I was going to faint, but I was smart enough to nod. Yes, I would keep my mouth shut. Especially, as he lay on top of me with a hard cock and my death in his eyes.
“Good.” He took his hand off my mouth, rolling off the bed and me. “Maybe you’re smarter than you appear.”
I quickly brushed the tears away that had escaped, and holding the blanket against me, moved until I fell off the bed. On the side he was not on. It hurt my knees, but I kept low, reaching a trembling hand under the bed, grabbing anything I felt and yanking it out until I found all of my clothes and duffle. I was trembling so badly it was difficult to get my clothes on under the cover, and my stupid tears would not stop flowing, but I did it as fast as possible. I needed to get away from the violence he promised.
When I had my bra, panties, and dress on, I grabbed my heels, slinging my duffle over my shoulder and brushed the blanket aside. I did not glance anywhere near him as he stood silent, watching me, as I raced across the room, banging into the dresser where he had hid my glasses. Yanking the drawer almost all the way out, I grabbed them, managing not to crush them as I put them on. They instantly fogged from my tears and heated skin, and I had to yank them back off. Fuck it. I did not need to see perfectly to leave.
Not looking back, I ran out of the room and down the hallway. The bodyguards were sitting on the couch, watching TV. All three of them observed me as I raced across the living room, fumbling with the door handle and fighting a losing battle with wiping my tears away. I hated it when my dad’s advice was right. Go looking for trouble, which I did on a normal basis with my job, and it will find you even sooner.
I threw the door open and raced out of the room…only to run into a wall.
A Zane wall.
Starting to fall, he grabbed my arms, easily keeping me on my feet.
I jerked out of his hold when I was steady, wiping tears away again with the back of my shaking hand that held my shoes and glasses. I glanced away from his completely shocked face.
Yeah. It was me.
He recovered well enough, clearing his throat. “I was going to tell the women that exited his room that I was honest in my threat.” He paused, staring. I would not look at him, but I could feel his penetrating gaze on my face. “I’m still honest in it, but I don’t think you need to hear that.”
My chin wobbled as I remembered what Daniil had said.
The ways he would kill me.
After having sex with me the night before.
My eyes burned as fresh tears fell, and my throat clogged so hard I had to clear it. I nodded once before dodging past him and running full out down the hallway without a clue if it was even the right direction, my black dress pressing against my front and blowing out behind me. I just needed to get the fuck away.
“No way, Elizabeth. Everyone’s busy. They have their assignments. You begged for this. Now you have it. Suck it up,” my editor, Clifford, barked into my ear. Then he hung up on me.
I gazed at my phone, jumping as someone bumped my arm outside the arena entrance.
I could not calm down, and it appeared, I could not get out of this fucking assignment.
I cursed, throwing my phone into my purse. I dug through it until I found the aspirin at the bottom and a water bottle with just enough moisture left in it to down as much medicine as I dared. My head hurt; my eyes were dry and scratchy-to go right along with my throat-since I had bawled while I was in the shower.
Now, I had to go back in with the man that had made it all possible.
Throwing my empty water bottle into a trashcan, I pushed my sunglasses up on my nose; I had put my contacts in, making my eyes hurt worse. I could not let anyone see how horribly blood shot my eyes were even after the puffiness had gone down from my crying jag. The vodka had certainly not done my body good. I pulled at my half-turtleneck, sleeveless ribbed blouse, making sure the fucking hickie Daniil had given me on the bottom of my neck was covered. The damn thing was huge with tiny little bruises of teeth marks around it where he had bitten me before sucking.
I sighed and rolled my neck, opening one of the doors to the event that was already taking place inside. I was an hour late. Other than the sunglasses, I, at least, appeared like a professional, my wild curls excluded since they were an aberration to human kind. I knew there was music blaring inside, but after stepping into the room designed for this morning group sparring defense event, I immediately wanted to leave.