“You’ve had experience with both,” Drago dismisses without hesitation. “You can hold your own.”
I shake my head. “Drago, you sold me once. I won’t let you do it a second time.”
He grits his teeth so hard I can almost hear the grate of his grinding. “Where the fuck is your loyalty? Where the fuck is your sense of family honor?”
When I don’t answer right away, his expression flattens for a moment and then his eyes go wide.
“What?” I ask, suddenly nervous about the look on his face.
“Did he fuck you?” Drago demands.
“What… Who are you talking about?”
“O’Sullivan,” Drago growls. “Did he fuck you?”
“Fuck you. You don’t get to ask me questions like that.”
He moves faster than I’ve ever seen him move in his life. One hand, still streaked with blood from his busted nose, flies out and pincers around my throat. His breath is hot and sour in my face. “Did. He. Fuck. You?”
“No,” I spit in a hoarse rasp.
He stares at me for a long time, weighing my words. He must believe me, because he lets me go. “Did you let him get in your head?” he asks, his tone softening so much that I don’t trust it at all. “What lies did he tell you?”
I rub at my throat. I should run. But where would I go? Drago would catch me. I have no friends, no allies, no safe havens. No, I’m stuck here for now. Until I see an opening, at least.
“We didn’t talk much.”
“What the hell does that mean?” he asks, his eyes flashing, though his tone stays even. “You were too busy sucking his cock to talk?”
“For fuck’s sake, Drago,” I sigh, throwing my hands up. “I was his fucking prisoner. He didn’t really concern himself with me.”
“Okay,” he says, nodding fast as though he’s trying to figure something out. “But that doesn’t mean he hasn’t messed with you.”
“What are you trying to say?” I ask. “Are you accusing me of being a traitor?”
“How did you just walk out of his compound? I was watching. His men just let you through the gates.”
I tense slightly, but I decide on the truth—or something close enough to the truth, anyway. “He decided I wasn’t valuable anymore,” I explain. “And he doesn’t kill for the sake of killing.”
The words leave a bitter taste on my tongue. Decided I wasn’t valuable anymore. Yeah, I’d say that’s pretty accurate. The shame of his harsh “Go” as I offered myself to him is still rippling through my body like venom.
“Is that what he told you?”
“Yes, Drago, that’s what he told me.”
He seems to accept that at face value. “Fine. Whatever. It doesn’t fucking matter. What matters is that I’ve got you back now. And my plans can move forward. I just—”
“You’re a fool if you think that marrying me off to Rokiades is going to win you back your empire,” I tell him. “He killed one of your men. Do you know about that? The moment he marries me, he’ll kill you, too.”
Drago frowns at me for a second, but I can see his head spinning justifications for everything I’ve just said. “You’re mistaken.”
I shake my head, frustrated at the depths of his denial. “I’m not,” I insist. “Rokiades has no interest in sharing power with you. He just needs a Lombardi to bind our men to him. He can accomplish that with me. He doesn’t need you.”
“I am the fucking don!” Drago roars furiously. “He wouldn’t dare kill me.”
“You overestimate your importance.”
“And you need to shut your mouth about shit you know nothing about,” he snarls, inserting himself into my personal space again. He grabs my arm, and before I can stop him, he twists it hard. “You don’t have a fucking clue—”