Page 162 of Brutal Collateral

Or that she’ll be arrested if I don’t hand her over. Not that I would let that happen.

“Miller was a problem from day one.” Ava scowls, having to repeat a story I bet she’s kept locked in her heart all these years.

“Tell me.” I realize my fury was rooted in the fear of losing her over this. “Everything.”

“We were in a raft doing surf drills. He wasn’t helping paddle the boat. It was rough out there. We had to paddle twice as hard against the tide. But he made me do all the work to exhaust me for the next round of drills. Then he attacked me and tried to throw me into the water. We crashed into the rocks. The boat tipped. We both fell overboard. Before I even had my bearings, I saw...” She tears her gaze from my hungry eyes feasting on a confession she never told anyone. “I saw his hands flailing like he needed help. But he immediately disappeared beneath the surface of the water. The undertow pulled me in that direction, too. If I swam that way to save him, I could have been thrown against the rocks as well. But it washisfault we lost control.”

I believe that she didn’t do it on purpose, but I also know she’s capable of exacting that type of vengeance. Miller is getting even by threatening to manufacture witnesses out of the blue. He apparently has the power to force the Navy to open an investigation about a seven-year-old accident.

He might have political power, but I have financial resources to pay off or murder his witnesses. I’m also a fucking mob boss with an enforcer and a death squad who canconvinceMiller to withdraw his threat.

I just needed to know the truth. “Why didn’t you tell me this the day you saw him?”

Ava drops her hands to her sides. “I honestly thought he was dead. When I saw him alive, I figured he was okay. He knows what he did. He knows he sabotaged the drill and forced us to slam into the rocks. That’s why I was never questioned. Never charged. And if someone suspected otherwiseafterI left the Navy, NCIS would have been at my door in a heartbeat.”

I listen to every word, and it all makes perfect sense. Especially if Miller knew he was at fault. In all the time I was guarding the base, I saw a lot of candidates get hurt. It was par for the course. That training center ran on the vibe of individual responsibility. No one blamed someone else for their failure.

At the time, Miller might have had a rare crisis of conscience. He was fighting for his life, dealing with the news he was paralyzed. Revenge wasn’t on his mind.

Clearly, that wore away after so many years. Now he wants to punish Ava for an accident he orchestrated. He wants to hurt me for punching him. Something most guys would shake off. Not an entitled prick like Miller who thinks he walks on water. And to settle the score, he wants to takemy wifeaway from me.

“You saw him today?” she asks, finally. “He told you the crash was my fault?”

“Aye. He’s trying to sabotage the UN project.”

“Fuck it.” She waves her hands. “Let’s kill him.”

The air leaves my lungs in a sharp bark of laughter. What in fuck’s sake did I marry?

“Save that energy, that fight, for something else. You should have told me what Miller did to you, soIcould have had him killed before that horrible meeting today ever happened.”

“What can I do?” She looks at me with those big brown eyes I want to see go dark from my cock.

“You need to feel the pain of what I went through today listening to his threats, fearing I’d lose you.”

She visibly shutters, her cheeks flushed. “Today?”

“Not just today. Do you know what you’ve put me through all these months? You are on my mind all day, every day, and at night. You’re all I fucking want. Now, I’m going to punish you for that. With my cock. In your ass,wife. Get on that sofa, get on your hands and knees, and lift that damn dress.”

Her shocked look almost drags a laugh from me. “Are you serious?”

From the inside of my jacket, I remove a tube of lubrication. “I swiped this before I left the house. What do you think?”

“You’re a lunatic.”

“I’myourlunatic.” I place the tube against her lips. “And deep inside you’re just as unhinged as me.”

“That’s debatable.” She crosses her arms.

“You also understand duty and honor. And accepting punishment with grace. To me, that’s your ass in the air, an offering for me to take you in the most primal way a man can fuck a woman. To atone.”

She sucks in a breath.

“I’m going to fuck you like an animal and you’re going to beg menotto stop.” I unzip my trousers. “I will fuck you the way you need to be fucked. The waywefucked when you thought I was a stranger you’d never see again.”

“I don’t think so,” she says, stepping back.

I grab her dress and reach under the skirt to get at her pussy. “Then why are you wet?”

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