Violent Ends

“This is crazy.”

“No, it’s not. This is fucking survival, and you seem to think you’re playing with little fishes here. Guess what? You’re not. Maddox Denton will kill you. He’d kill anyone who stood in his way.”

“He doesn’t scare me.”

“And that’s why you need to be protected. Fear is not something to be worried about or even ashamed of. It’s not acknowledging that fear.”

She stared at Gabriel.

It was like her big brother was back, but she couldn’t bring herself to trust him, not yet.

“Are you afraid of him?”

“I know what he’s capable of as well. I don’t trust him. Father or not. He lives for the Denton name. He’s not even listening to reason anymore, even though not so long ago he lost touch with reality and he’s not been able to get it back.” Gabriel looked toward her. “I’m doing this to protect you. I know you don’t want it, but I’m not taking it back either.”

“What are you up to?” she asked.

“Protecting my family, what else. I know you don’t trust me, but I really don’t give a shit. We’re all Coltons. You think I don’t realize how dangerous that makes him. What he can do if he decides he’s had enough?” He shook his head. “I’m not going to do that. Owen, Wyatt, yourself included, I would die for each and every single one of you. Make no mistake about that. I’m playing nice to make sure you’re all protected. I know you don’t want to hear that.”

“It’s fine.”

Gabriel pulled up outside of her apartment. “Where are Owen and Wyatt?”

“I snuck out.”

“For fuck’s sake. You’re going to be the death of me.”

Climbing out of the car, Gabriel wouldn’t let her leave until he opened the door. He grabbed her arm, pulling her back into the room.

She hated it when he did this.

Once they were inside, he went straight to their apartment.

“You two fucks need to learn to pay better fucking attention,” Gabriel said, yanking her in front of them. “She could have died today.”

“Wait?”

“What?”

The look of shock on both of their faces would have been priceless if it wasn’t so scary what she went through.

Ignoring them, she went with Gabriel seeing as she had no choice. He was the one in control as he led her into the bedroom.

Gideon was already climbing off the bed, pulling on a shirt as well.

“Good, you’re getting dressed.”

“What the hell is going on?” Gideon asked.

“The short of it, you and Emma are getting married, today.”

Gabriel filled him in on what had happened.

Heat filled her cheeks as Gideon watched her. She’d put herself in danger today, but it hadn’t been her intention. From the look of both men, they didn’t care if it had been her intention or not; they were both still super pissed.

****

Gideon stared down at the ring on his finger, still feeling a little surreal. Gabriel had called their father and let him know it was done. Emma was now owned by him.

He glanced across the hotel room to where she stood at the window looking out. She hadn’t been given the option of a white dress or the venue, or anything.

It was just the two of them now.

Gabriel told them both they had to make this real.

No chance of an annulment.

This wasn’t how he wanted their first time to go.

He loved this woman more than anything else in the world, and at the first chance, he was going to hurt Maddox.

“You don’t have to be afraid. I’m not going to bite.”

She turned toward him. “I’m not afraid.”

“So you’re not thinking of ways to kill me?”

She chuckled. “No, not a chance.”

He got to his feet and walked toward her. He pushed some of her hair out of the way and stared down at her neck. There wasn’t much bruising, but there were some marks if you looked closely enough.

His father had wrapped his fingers around her neck and started to choke her, and it pissed him off.

Leaning forward, he grazed his lips against her flesh and she left out a little whimper.

“We can stop this at any time. We don’t have to have sex.”

“But what about, you know, the annulment?”

“I don’t give a fuck about it. I’m not going to force you to give me something you don’t want to give.” He pulled back, cupping her cheek, staring into her eyes. “I love you, Emma. That is never going to change. I won’t do anything you don’t want to do.” He brushed his lips against hers. “So you can do whatever you want. We can talk about it if you’re asked questions.”

He watched as she laughed.

“What about you?” she asked. “Are you injured?”

“Babe, something you should know about men, we don’t exactly care about what position we’re in if we’re going to get laid.”

“So you want to have sex?”

“I want to have sex if you do. I want you to want me, Emma.”