Page 32 of Velvet Chains
He needs my help?
That’s rich, coming from the man who caused all this fucking mess from the beginning!
In a flash of desperate anger, I open my mouth and bite down on his palm, sinking my teeth into the fleshy mound as hard as I can.
“Fuck! Laur!” he yelps, jerking his hand away.
For a split second, his grip loosens, and I seize the opportunity.
I wrench myself sideways, slipping out of his grasp. He scrambles to grab me again, his fingers clawing at my arm. I reach out for the door, but in a heartbeat, his hand wraps around my wrist, pulling me back. He slams me against the wall and pins me with his body.
“How dare you,” I hiss, my voice trembling with barely contained rage.“How dare you come here, today of all days, and ask for my help? After everything you’ve done, everything you’ve put me through.”
He has the audacity to look shocked, hurt, even. As if he’s the victim here, as if he’s the one who had his life ruined by the person he trusted most.
“Laur, you don’t understand,” he pleads, reaching for me again. “I’m in deep shit. I’ve got people after me, dangerous people. I just need—”
“I don’t care what you need!” I snap, slapping his hand away. “I don’t care about your problems, your debts, your lies.”
“Shhh, keep it down!” he hisses, panic edging his voice. “Just listen.”
I freeze, my breath caught in my throat, trying not to breathe in his toxic presence.
How could he? Lie about everything, cheat me into nothing, push me to the edge? And after everything, show his face to me, the same man who handed me over to the Bratva like I was nothing?
I’m so mad that tears start to build up, ready to fall.
I’m breathing hard, my chest heaving with the force of my anger.
He stares at me for a long moment, something like regret flickering in his eyes. But it’s gone just as quickly, replaced by a cold, calculating look that sends a shiver down my spine.
“Look, Laur, I went back home.”
Home?
“Home?” I echo the word like acid on my tongue. How dare he call that home after everything he’s done, after the way he left me high and dry?
“I mean, your place, and I… I can’t find the red ledger. Did you hide it somewhere?”
My jaw drops, disbelief and betrayal hitting me like a sucker punch. This is why he’s here, risking his neck to see me? For some fucking ledger?
Tears sting my eyes, blurring my vision. Three years of marriage, and it turns out I don’t know this man at all.
“Laur,” he shakes me, his grip tightening on my arms, “tell me!”
“I will never tell you,” I spit out, anger rising in my throat like bile.
“They’ll kill me and find you and kill you… and your new husband. If I don’t give them the ledger…”
“Them? Who are they?”
I’m trembling now, fear and fury warring inside me. But I refuse to cower, refuse to give him the satisfaction of seeing me break.
“David… No, Dave, tell me!” I demand, my voice cracking.
He looks away, guilt and something else—something darker—flickering across his face.
“Look at me!” I struggle to wrench my hands free from his iron grip, my skin crawling at his touch.
