Page 48 of Fierce Pursuit

Ifmoy zaichonokwas as hungry for me as I was for her, then I was going to give her exactly what she craved. After her punishment, of course.

For too long, I thought of her only as my wife’s tempting younger sister, but she was a surprising puzzle, a woman full of secrets. And I wanted to know them all.

The train finally pulled in, metal screeching against metal as it slowed to a stop.

She stood from where she’d been curled into herself, trying to make herself small, trying to disappear.

I understood the instinct.

The smaller you were, the harder you were to spot.

Nervous energy practically radiated off of her.

I could taste her fear from here.

And so could everyone else.

People moved around her, their gazes shifting away, asif they could sense she was hunted. She had made herself too visible without even realizing it.

Too skittish.

Too obvious.

Marina stood in line, waiting to climb the few metal steps, and I gritted my teeth as two college idiots eyed her up and down.

Like she was a fucking meal.

Like she was theirs to look at.

My jaw ticked.

They were lucky they had no idea who they were staring at. If they knew what was good for them, they’d pray I didn’t come across them again.

Jealousy burned in my gut.

I had no patience for other men’s eyes on my woman.

I waited until she was on board, making damn sure she had actually gotten on and hadn’t tried some trick. Only when the doors were about to close did I finally move.

Calm. Measured.

I made my way down the platform, stepping onto the train at the very last moment.

I had planned for this. I pulled out my first-class ticket, purchased twenty minutes after I had figured out where she was going. I made my way to my private cabin. America’s train system was lacking, slow, inefficient, barely worth considering. So the cabin was small, but comfortable enough. Plenty of space for what I intended to do during this trip.

If I were traveling back to New York under normal circumstances, I would have taken my private jet. I wouldhave been sipping vodka, stretching my legs, enjoying the luxuries that came with wealth and power.

The train had its own perks.

Twenty hours where my little rabbit would be trapped with nowhere to run.

Twenty hours where she would learn her lesson.

She would take her punishment for fighting me.

Then she would learn to be grateful for my protection.

She would learn exactly what it meant to belong to me.

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