20
IRINA
Iwould kill him.
I would watch him bleed.
The rage consumed me, driving me toward the gym where Ivory said he’d gone to work out with the guys that morning. She trailed behind me, her face drawn in concern as I strutted my fucking ass across the walkway that led to the Bellandi gym space.
I shoved my way through the doors, appreciating the fact that having Ivory at my back meant nobody gave me a second glance. If I was with the lady of the Bellandi Estate, then I clearly belonged there, despite the fact that I’d come straight from the office.
Despite the stiletto pumps on my feet and the fitted dress that did nothing to protect me from the cold weather, I held my head high as the memory of the way Scar had last humiliated me in that gym washed over me.
Fuck that and fuck him.
“Miss Ryan?” one of the men said as he stepped up to intercept me. I strode past him, pressing a hand to his chest and shoving firmly until he had little choice but to get out of my way. Scar hadn’t bothered to turn his attention away from the two men who sparred in the ring, his eyes tracking over them as I stepped up beside him and leveled a glare at him that made grown men cower.
“I see Grant ran and told you what I did, like the little bitch he is,” he said, never taking his eyes off the arena.
“Look at me right now,” I demanded, waiting for the moment when he finally turned those dark eyes to meet my glare. His face remained blank, expressionless. As if I was a nuisance for intruding on his day when he’d hurt someone I cared about.
For what?
“You cannot keep other men from having me if you don’t even want me,” I warned.
“Fucking watch me, Butterfly,” he growled, the menace in his eyes deepening as he tilted his chin down to stare at me more intently. “But let’s get one thing straight, I am not staying away for my sake. I am staying away for yours.”
“Beating up my best friend in a parking garage is for my sake?” I asked, my voice rising with my disbelief. There was something wrong with this man, something in him that made absolutely no sense.
“You deserve so much more than me. So much more than him. When the day comes that you meet someone who deserves you, then I’ll let you go and walk you down the aisle to your white picket fucking fence and your life full of babies, but not a day before, cuore mio.”
“Grant deserves me,” I argued. He’d always been there, always watched out for me. If anything, it was me who didn’t deserve him. Me who could never give him the love he deserved.
“Grant is not ever going to happen for you, so let go of that notion now. You won’t like the consequences if you don’t,” he warned, reaching between us. His fingers trailed over the same spot on my jaw that Grant had touched in the privacy of my apartment, making my blood turn to ice.
But that was impossible.
“You do not get to dictate who I fuck,” I snarled, jolting back from his touch. He didn’t deserve to touch me. Not after everything he’d done.
“I do now,” he said, not bothering to elaborate as he crossed his arms over his chest. Something in his expression gleamed, a hint of what felt like enjoyment crossing over his face as he stared down at me.
“Scar, maybe—” Ivory interjected.
“Not your circus,” Scar snapped at her, the vehemence in his tone something I’d never heard him use with the other woman.
“Just stay the fuck away from me and Grant,” I said, shaking my head in disgust and turning on my heel. Ivory stepped out of my way, looking at Scar as if he’d lost his damn marbles.
Clearly, he hadn’t had many there to begin with, if he thought any of this was normal.
“Little Butterfly?” Scar asked, something in his tone stopping me in my tracks. I twisted to look over my shoulder at him, and his dark eyes glittered as they met mine. “You touch him again, and he won’t be breathing by the time I’m done with him. Do you understand me?”
“There’s something wrong with you,” I whispered, going still in shock. He couldn’t be fucking serious.
“You’re so beautiful exactly as you are,” he said, stepping closer until his finger touched the seam of my lips gently. “Don’t make me clip your wings.”
He dropped his hand away from my mouth, striding past me and exiting the gym without another word. I turned to look at Ivory, finding the same shock on her face as mine.