Read Online Controlling Interests: A Step-Brother Romance (The Legacy Series Book 2) by Lana Grayson - Free Book Online
Authors: Lana Grayson
Tags: Psychological, Romance, Literature & Fiction, Contemporary, Action & Adventure, Crime, Mystery; Thriller & Suspense, Contemporary Fiction, Contemporary Women, Women's Fiction, New Adult & College
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gone, it was flaunted in front of my face by my father. He orchestrated the entire event, including revealing his alliances in a deliberate attempt to humiliate me.
And it worked.
I couldn’t share Sarah’s gaze.
“It means I just lost the takeover.”
“All alone, baby?”
I flinched. My sandwich flopped onto the floor. The iced tea nearly followed, crashing into the sink.
Max and Reed laughed as I peeled myself off the kitchen counter and hid my trembling hands.
“Not funny.” My voice hardly raised above a whisper. I flushed. Darius wasn’t even in the house, and I still tip-toed around the kitchen like a coward.
“What are you doing without your leash?” Max twirled the leather around his finger. Reed tisked his tongue.
“Nick freed me before he left for the office.”
“Isn’t he a sweetheart.”
I didn’t like wandering downstairs. Without Nicholas at my side, my steps echoed too loudly, the stairs ached my lungs, and the shadows reached gangly fingers at me. Groping. Petting.
Hurting.
If it weren’t for the empty fridge in Nicholas’s suite, I’d have stayed tucked away in the corner of his bedroom until I turned twenty-one.
I wasn’t an optimistic person—even with my billions, I couldn’t buy luck, bargain for my freedom, or sell the damn company which now depended on an imaginary heir. I had to be pragmatic. I’d never conceive a child, Nicholas’s takeover failed before he moved on it, and I was trapped within the dungeon of a monster as his little play toy.
Darius paraded me around the barbecue to his friends and partners, presenting me as a perfect daughter.
I couldn’t scream while the beast dared to touch, compliment, and degrade me.
No one knew what he had tried to do.
What he almost did.
What he would have done if Nicholas hadn’t rescued me just in time.
Suddenly, I wasn’t very hungry. Frustration curdled my stomach, but biting my lip drew blood. I imagined it wasn’t my own.
That helped.
Reed didn’t let me run. He tugged me into the dining room, setting my food aside to set me on the table. Max stole a potato chip. I pushed the plate toward him.
“You okay?” Reed’s dimple usually offered instant comfort, but it didn’t help now.
“Would you be okay?”
His fingers drifted over my arms, tickling where Nicholas had kissed in fierce silence as we showered. I wasn’t used to Reed so freely touching me. Neither was he.
“Nick asked us to…check on you.”
“He actually spoke to you?” I’d be jealous if I wasn’t worried. Reed’s fingers tangled in the dress straps. He brushed one over my shoulder. “He hardly talked to me this morning.”
“The takeover shit fucked with him.” Max drifted closer only to clip the leash on my collar. He tugged and teased me against his hand. “Don’t worry, baby. We’ll take care of everything.”
I didn’t doubt their commitment, but their solution would never work, no matter how much Nick hoped.
Tried.
In unforgiving silence, he took me that morning in the shower. I braced against the slippery tile as he burrowed himself within me again and again, grunting in a frustrated burst of muscle and force. It might have frightened me had I not recognized the adoration in his eyes. Except, after, the gold hardened, fracturing into an amber remorse. Nicholas left, angry and sullen.
But he promised to take care of me.
I didn’t need false hope. Their plan would never work. If I wanted to survive, I’d have to protect myself even without their breeding .
Nothing meant more to me than surviving. I had to live, if only so I could secure my future, my wealth, and my power from Darius’s defeat. I’d watch him crumble, make him squirm and panic, just how he humiliated me at the barbecue.
My revenge would punish Darius with the same fear and shame he forced on me.
Until then, Max twisted my leash, and Reed flicked down the strap of the dress protecting my curves from the hungry
And it worked.
I couldn’t share Sarah’s gaze.
“It means I just lost the takeover.”
“All alone, baby?”
I flinched. My sandwich flopped onto the floor. The iced tea nearly followed, crashing into the sink.
Max and Reed laughed as I peeled myself off the kitchen counter and hid my trembling hands.
“Not funny.” My voice hardly raised above a whisper. I flushed. Darius wasn’t even in the house, and I still tip-toed around the kitchen like a coward.
“What are you doing without your leash?” Max twirled the leather around his finger. Reed tisked his tongue.
“Nick freed me before he left for the office.”
“Isn’t he a sweetheart.”
I didn’t like wandering downstairs. Without Nicholas at my side, my steps echoed too loudly, the stairs ached my lungs, and the shadows reached gangly fingers at me. Groping. Petting.
Hurting.
If it weren’t for the empty fridge in Nicholas’s suite, I’d have stayed tucked away in the corner of his bedroom until I turned twenty-one.
I wasn’t an optimistic person—even with my billions, I couldn’t buy luck, bargain for my freedom, or sell the damn company which now depended on an imaginary heir. I had to be pragmatic. I’d never conceive a child, Nicholas’s takeover failed before he moved on it, and I was trapped within the dungeon of a monster as his little play toy.
Darius paraded me around the barbecue to his friends and partners, presenting me as a perfect daughter.
I couldn’t scream while the beast dared to touch, compliment, and degrade me.
No one knew what he had tried to do.
What he almost did.
What he would have done if Nicholas hadn’t rescued me just in time.
Suddenly, I wasn’t very hungry. Frustration curdled my stomach, but biting my lip drew blood. I imagined it wasn’t my own.
That helped.
Reed didn’t let me run. He tugged me into the dining room, setting my food aside to set me on the table. Max stole a potato chip. I pushed the plate toward him.
“You okay?” Reed’s dimple usually offered instant comfort, but it didn’t help now.
“Would you be okay?”
His fingers drifted over my arms, tickling where Nicholas had kissed in fierce silence as we showered. I wasn’t used to Reed so freely touching me. Neither was he.
“Nick asked us to…check on you.”
“He actually spoke to you?” I’d be jealous if I wasn’t worried. Reed’s fingers tangled in the dress straps. He brushed one over my shoulder. “He hardly talked to me this morning.”
“The takeover shit fucked with him.” Max drifted closer only to clip the leash on my collar. He tugged and teased me against his hand. “Don’t worry, baby. We’ll take care of everything.”
I didn’t doubt their commitment, but their solution would never work, no matter how much Nick hoped.
Tried.
In unforgiving silence, he took me that morning in the shower. I braced against the slippery tile as he burrowed himself within me again and again, grunting in a frustrated burst of muscle and force. It might have frightened me had I not recognized the adoration in his eyes. Except, after, the gold hardened, fracturing into an amber remorse. Nicholas left, angry and sullen.
But he promised to take care of me.
I didn’t need false hope. Their plan would never work. If I wanted to survive, I’d have to protect myself even without their breeding .
Nothing meant more to me than surviving. I had to live, if only so I could secure my future, my wealth, and my power from Darius’s defeat. I’d watch him crumble, make him squirm and panic, just how he humiliated me at the barbecue.
My revenge would punish Darius with the same fear and shame he forced on me.
Until then, Max twisted my leash, and Reed flicked down the strap of the dress protecting my curves from the hungry
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