Page 53 of King of Deception

“Is that cunt on the phone with your brother?”

“Yes,” I say, but Preston must hear me because, as I’m inching by him, his hand lashes out and grabs my ankle.

I manage a hoarse cry, and I hear Mason’s voice on the phone. “What the fuck was that?”

“Yapping dog in the hall,” Preston answers. “Listen, I’ll have Bella call you back in five. Just give us a minute to work this out.”

And then he hangs up.

I keep my phone buried in my hair, even as he keeps pulling me, sliding me on my back across the floor.

Then he drops down, straddling my hips with his, his knees coming down on either side of my waist as his hand comes to my throat again.

“Now, like I said, you’re going to stop being a frigid ice queen, you’re going to spread your legs, and you’re going to let me fuck you.”

I’m choking on a sob as I push out a hoarse whisper. “You don’t want me.”

“What does wanting you have to do with it? You’re fucking mine, Bella. You, and your shares, and your seat on the board. All mine. Which means you will do as I say.”

I’m gasping even as Preston eases back. “But I’m a man of reason…”

I stare at him. Gris has been silent and I don’t even know if he’s still on the line. That is until I hear the soft click of a car door.

And then the ding of an elevator door.

“What… what does that mean?”

“Why don’t you go clean yourself up? Wash your face. And put on something pretty.” Preston sneers. “You look like shit.”

He wants me to make myself pretty so that he can force himself on me?

Through the phone, I hear the ding of the elevator again. Is Gris on my floor?

Preston pushes himself up and starts striding toward the bathroom. “Oh yeah, and you’re going to have to call Mason and tell him that the wedding is back on.” And then he closes the powder room door.

“Gris?”

“I’m right here, sweetheart.” And then my apartment door opens.

Thank goodness.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Gris

My blood is ragingin my veins.

I’ve kept quiet, because I know that Preston doesn’t realize I’m on the phone. But I heard Arabella’s cries, the words he said to her.

I am going to kill Preston Wingate.

I don’t mean those words figuratively. I mean Killian and I are going to make him disappear. Gone. Vanished. No trace.

I walk into Bella’s apartment, through the kitchen and around the island, and stop dead in my tracks.

She’s lying in a heap on the floor, her face swollen and stained with tears, bruises blooming all over her body.

I’m not just going to kill him, I’m going to tear him limb from limb, scatter him so far across the world, they’ll never be able to reassemble his body.

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