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"What happened to you?" I can tell he’s trying to esti

I lift the cane and swing it around once He has to take a step back to avoid getting nailed in the face "War happened tointo save hiive hilances over at Rissa She’s moved behind me

I hold out el I’ll be there in a minute"

As she walks back down the driveway, Jonah steps out and opens the door for her Andreatches with rage filled eyes and then he looks back at me Then his eyes dart back over to the Bentley at the curb

Yeah, I’ot iven her the house as an incentive not to talk about you to the press But hear ain, talking will be the least of what I’ll do to you"

"You’re trash You’ve always been trash and I don’t knohat you’ve gotten into lately," he gestures at the car, "but you’ll still be trash when that finally runs out Rissa knows that and I do too"

I chuckle "What I’uilt couess you’d know all about that And it’ll be hard for ive it a try Maybe I’ll start by buying the biggest engageer Either way, stay away from her"

I turn and walk down the drive Jonah holds the door open so I can climb in next to Rissa When we pull off, Andrew is still standing out front staring at us

Rissa turns to me "Why did you tell him that? That there was someone else Now he’ll think that we’re … It’ll only s worse He’ll never leave now"

"It doesn’t o back there anyway The man is obsessed with you Not that I can blame him since I am, too We have a lot ht"

She lets out a sigh It sounds so defeated that it hits ht in thelike Andrew"

"It’s true Not that I want to clai in cooing on here I knohat it’s like to be consuo back to that house There’s a reason he told you to stay there and it’s not just to keep you quiet It’s to keep you under his control"

"So now I’ to stay at your house and be under your control?" Her eyes flash in the dihts of the streetlamps as we travel over the quiet streets

"Haven’t you learned by now that if there’s anyone in control between the two of us, it isn’t me? You have the reins here, Rissa You always have"

She trembles as she absorbs my words I pull her closer and she tucks intoher face into my shirt I run a hand up and down her back, until her shivers stop After a few h and I look down to see that she’s asleep

"I told hiel, because it’s true You arethe words to resonate in my soul as I speak theo"

The pain starts before I even open soutside I don’t even need to get up and check This bu the weather

Placing one hand on the mattress beside h h day When it starts this early, it’s always a rough day I glance at the clock It’s three in theI didn’t even sleep for two hours this tiht Rissa straight upstairs and got her settled I’d uest roohed "Well, at least I know that for sure"

She was so tired that she didn’t even chide me when I helped her out of her clothes so she could sleep more comfortably She’d just sat there as malleable as a child as I drew her T-shirt over her head and helped her out of her jeans She wasn’t trying to enticeseductive But the sight of her rounded curves in the plain cotton was the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen

If she hadn’t been tired, I’ainst the front of my slacks but she just curled up on the pillow Then she’d placed her hands under her cheek and gone right to sleep So trusting Especially after the restrained violence of the scene with Andrew, it was an honor that she trusted me that et there, I’htly nauseated My stomach rolls as I toss back four pills with a cup of water If Rissa weren’t here, I’d take a fewbut the idea of her seeingI ever want her to see For some reason she still looks at me like I’e