Page 78 of Brutal Knight

I stop in my tracks before I leave, frustration and fear roiling in my chest. I know better than to make decisions in a moment like this, but one thing is clear to me.

“You’re fired,” I say, looking the blonde woman in the eye. “Put your fucking clothes on and leave.”

I don’t wait for an answer. I leave her there in the office and follow Willow out.

CHAPTER29

Willow

I don’t see anything when I walk away. It’s all a blur of strobing lights and neon, red and green flashing like alarms. I don’t remember the lights looking like this before. I don’t know if the club always looked like this, or if I just didn’t notice.

What I do know is that I don’t feel nothing. I’m not numb.

In fact, I’m pissed.

I feel like I was hanging onto a cliff and someone just ripped my fingers off and watched me fall. The room spins while I run through it, searching for an exit. I just need to get out.

The flashbacks come all at once, cruel, bombarding me endlessly. Dmitri is the last thing I’ve wanted to think about in weeks, and suddenly, he’s the only face I see in my mind.

It’s like watching a shitty movie. Every memory of my time with Dmitri comes back like a low-budget film, the reel flickering in my mind. Scene after scene plays out just like the one that I walked in on less than a minute ago.

I’m no stranger to walking in on a moment like the one I just saw. In fact, I’m so used to it that I shouldn’t have been surprised.

But I was, and that’s what hurts more than anything else. It’s what makes me so fucking mad.

With Dmitri, it was never a secret. He never tried to be discreet, never tried to pretend he was anything better than what he was. From the second we were married, there was no doubt in my mind about what Dmitri was doing. Who he was doing.

He cheated on me openly. Everybody knew Dmitri would shove his cock in whatever woman he wanted to, even with me locked up in his home. I did his bidding every waking moment of my life, and even that wasn’t enough. He’d fuck anyone that caught a passing glance.

Sometimes, he’d bring women home when I was there. I walked in on him fucking someone in our bathroom once. Her legs were in the air and he was screwing her on the counter. I didn’t use that counter to put my makeup on ever again.

He even fucked a woman in front of me once.

I was home, in the bedroom, right where he always expected me to be. Where he wanted me to be, on the off chance he actually wanted to take from me.

Dmitri came in with some woman I’d seen at an Assembly party once. He took her into the room across from our bedroom, left the door open, and fucked her up against the wall. He took one look at the open door and the hallway between us, and he made sure I could see her face as he fucked her.

I was too terrified to move. I sat there and waited until he finished with a groan, and then I ran, slipping out of the bedroom and racing downstairs so fast I almost broke my neck.

Dmitri never cared that I knew. In fact, he rubbed my face in it.

I just thought Connor was better.

I thought he was different. After all the time I’ve spent with him, I believed Connor was nothing like Dmitri. I believed that Connor would treat women right, would respect me, would be faithful. I thought he fucked me well because he loved me, because he cared.

But maybe I was wrong. Maybe he does that for every woman—makes them feel special, gives them everything they want, even though it means nothing to him.

I don’t know what’s worse anymore. Maybe it was a mistake to let myself hope. Maybe it was a mistake to trust him in the first place.

Connor hasn’t been physically violent with me, but what if this is the turning point? What if he’s suddenly a different man the way Dmitri was, once we were married?

I can’t help the mingled anger and fear I’m feeling. I just want to get away.

I slip out the back of the club, finally out of the dizzying chaos of the music and lights. The door opens into an alley, dark and narrow. I can barely see through the tears in my eyes.

I don’t want to cry. I feel so stupid, so betrayed, as I start walking away.

The door bursts open behind me, making me jump a little. I almost don’t want to look back. I know I should run and get away before one of the O’Reilly brothers or their bouncers finds me.

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