Page 72 of Brutal Knight

“Yes. You need to take control of the Syndicate, before it falls apart completely.”

I can see the conflict in Willow, the battling desire to fight her father and the need to run from this. I know it must be her worst nightmare. But she’s getting clean, and she has me, and I hope she understands just how hard the family will fight for her. For us.

“There are men who worked for Dmitri who would be too happy to try to leap in and take power,” I remind her. “But you can’t let them.”

“Why would I? It’s mine,” Willow replies slowly. I can see the determination settle in her, hardening like steel. “And you’re right. It’s time I take it.”

CHAPTER27

Willow

With just a few words, everything springs into motion. I’m no longer frozen in place. No longer running. Instead, I turn and face the Raven Syndicate head-on.

More than anything, it helps that Connor is at my side. I need someone to support me as much as I need guidance through the intricacies of the syndicate.

I grew up in this world. I know the way this business works, and I know the way deals work. I know how to say the right words and meet with the right people. But I’ve been so out of it since I married Dmitri that all that knowledge is fuzzy. Having Connor at my side, I know I don’t have to second-guess anything.

And it’s too much work to do alone.

Together, we’re reshaping the Raven Syndicate. It starts from the ground up, with the paperwork and business decisions that have been on hold since Dmitri’s death. The documents are practically piled up now.

It’s simple at first, but it matters. Without this foundation, I know everything will crumble.

I don’t know what I expected when I agreed to take back control. But the second I made the decision, Connor was right there with me. He doesn’t hover over me or talk over me, either—it’s as if I’m a partner. An ally.

It means more than I can ever tell him. His support makes me feel like I’m giving something back to him, contributing to this alliance in a way that really matters.

It also feels like I’m giving back to Connor after all he’s done for me, from taking me from Dmitri’s basement to denying my father at the doors of the church.

Without Dmitri or my father around to beat me into the ground, it feels almost like I’m flying. There’s a confidence growing within me, a surety that I can handle things. It feels more and more like I’m finally directing my own life, deciding my own fate.

Without all the pain and abuse, the cravings for Demerol or numbness start to fade. I’m so consumed by work and what needs to be done that I hardly think about drugs at all anymore. I’m starting to crave Connor instead of drugs, instead of emptiness.

I’m starting to feel alive.

Business takes up so much time, but it’s not everything. In between the paperwork and meetings, Connor and I slip away and find time for ourselves.

I haven’t had sex this good, this constant, ever. I’ve never felt the kind of attraction I feel with Connor. It takes over everything, blinding me to anyone and anything else. All I know is how much I want him and how much he seems to want me too.

That’s the thing. Connorwantsme.

I still can’t believe it every time he leans in, every time he touches me. I keep waiting for him to pull away, to get tired of me or turned off by my scars. But he doesn’t.

If anything, it’s the opposite.

After a work meeting one afternoon, Connor shoves the papers off my desk and lifts me onto it. I barely have time to toss my work folder aside before he buries his face between my legs.

He does this with as much passion as he does everything else, single-minded in his need to make me feel good. I have to clamp a hand over my mouth so I don’t scream, my other hand uselessly searching for something to hold onto as waves of pleasure hit me.

"That's right," he growls. "Fuckingfeelit, Willow. Let go for me, angel."

He uses his tongue and his fingers, following every move of my body. He chases down each fleeting spark of pleasure until he finds what makes me twist on the desk. Then he attacks that spot with focus, making my eyes tear up with the force of the pleasure I feel.

I end up with my fingers in his hair when I come, almost lifting off the desk with the power of it. And then Connor pulls his cock out and fucks me on the desk, my back sliding across the surface every time he rams into me.

I used to have a memory of before, with Dmitri, in an office, but that memory has been burned away. I set it on fire and let the ashes go, replacing it with images of Connor, memories of us in the office.

It’s not the last time he uses the desk, either. Another time, I say something, and he takes one look at me, and I know what’s going to happen.

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