The Glass Slipper (Cinderella 3)

“Are you threatening us?” Lucian demands in a low growl.

“Gentlemen don’t have to resort to threats.” I pin Leo with a pointed look. “My father raised me better than that.”

Leo scoffs. “And what about your mother? She’s a real piece of work. How did she raise you?”

“You fucker.”

Lucian’s jaw tightens with fury. “You’re starting something you won’t be able to finish.”

They started this when they killed my father. Of course I can’t prove it, but I believe it. Who else has such a vendetta against my family? Regardless of what happened before, Leo opened up this can of shit when he thought it’d be okay to threaten something of mine. I didn’t sell him that building to protect Ash. I sold it because if he wanted to play, I was ready to fucking play. I’m only getting started.

“I believe your brother started this when he broke our contractual agreement,” I tell Lucian. “Keep your beast on a leash.”

Leo also rises from his seat, fury rippling from him in violent waves. Ash flinches but I remain unaffected. “This doesn’t end happily for you,” Leo snarls at me and then points a finger at her, “or for you, princess.”

Ash sucks in a sharp breath. I can almost taste the fear emanating from her. Poor girl is terrified. It’s time she realizes the world she’s playing in.

This isn’t a fairy tale.

This is war…

And only Constantines win those.

* * *

As soon as we’re squealing out of the parking garage and onto the busy street, I turn on Perry’s stupid classic rock station to drown out whatever it is Ash might want to say. It’s best she doesn’t say anything at all right now.

I need to think.

Leo Morelli ignored our deal. He was supposed to leave Ash alone in exchange for the ability to purchase the Baldridge building. It’s written into a legal goddamn document.

He didn’t listen.

Chose to terrorize her anyway.

She was upset and terrified after he filled her head with threats to make her comply. I’ll figure out every detail of what’s going on. And once I do, there’ll be hell to pay…for all those involved.

We pull into her apartment building an hour later after sitting in heavy traffic. She wisely keeps quiet. I shut off the car and climb out. It’s difficult to pry my gaze away from roaming down her smooth legs, but I manage to keep my dick in my pants for once. The ride to the twelfth floor is silent. Ash fidgets as though she wants to speak, but in the end, doesn’t. I wait for her to fish her keys out of her purse and then unlock the apartment door.

“Do you want to come in so we can talk?” She gnaws on her pouty pink lip that’s always so damn distracting.

“Talk?” A dark chuckle escapes me. “I don’t pay you to talk, Cinderelliott. I pay you to be my filthy toy.” I gesture toward the inside of the apartment. “Hence the whore apartment.”

Her whole body flinches as though I’ve physically wounded her. I, on the other hand, feel nothing. She’s a sexual investment, not my girlfriend. This is a dirty game, not a relationship.

“Don’t worry. I’ll let you know when I need my dick sucked again,” I clip out, turning on my heel so I don’t see the heartbreak in her eyes. It doesn’t affect me. I warned her. “Goodnight.”

The door clicks shut almost silently behind me. It cuts deep knowing that she’s going to spend the night in that apartment because of what went down tonight, but it doesn’t hurt me like it clearly hurts her. The gnawing I feel down to my bones is the sane man inside me reminding me this is why I don’t get close to people. They always fuck you in the end.

I vowed my heart would never be open to pain.

It’s impossible to break something that doesn’t exist, right?

If only I could explain the deep, gutting ache inside my chest.

I think they call that…regret.

CHAPTER TWO

Ash

Chirp.

I love my bird. Shrimp is the best little birdie on the planet. But, the one single sound he makes isn’t a pleased one. It’s angry. Hurt. Scared. This, above anything else that’s happened tonight, is the most upsetting. I’ve let Winston down. And, I’ve let my damn bird down.

Stupidly, I got swept up in the little fairy tale I’d imagined where I was a maid turned princess who perfectly fit into her filthy prince’s story. Winston, billionaire CEO and world’s hottest bachelor, gave me a fantasy not a reality. He offered me a world made of glass. I stepped into those new shoes, blinded by the shininess, eager to be his little plaything.

But the cracking has begun.

At the first sign of trouble, everything feels as though it’s going to shatter at my feet.

No charming prince will be sweeping me in his arms this time.