Page 64 of Snaring Emberly
“What do you mean?” I ask, my voice guarded.
Dominic steps closer. “Your old man never had another daughter. Not one of his own blood, and he would have been so happy to see you turned out so nice.”
My heart pounds so hard that my rib cage rattles, and its reverberations fill my ears with hollow thuds. “You don’t know my dad. Nobody does.”
“Lena did. So did my uncle.”
“Who’s your uncle?” I whisper.
“I doubt that you would even know him. Once Lena left New Alderney, she made sure to change addresses so she couldn’t be found.”
My breath catches and a chill runs down my spine. How could he know this?
“Then who is my father?” I ask, trying to buy time and calm my rising panic.
He closes the distance between us and smiles, revealing gold molars. “Do you think I’ll give you that information for free?”
As his gaze travels down my apron, realization slaps me in the face. All this talk was an angle to get me naked. Lots of women have daddy issues, especially those with blank spaces on their birth certificates. Dominic probably pieced together a few facts he gathered about me and conceived this story as a way to get a free fuck.
I roll my eyes, attempting to gain a semblance of control. “Whatever you’re selling, I’m not interested.”
His shit-eating grin morphs into a snarl. He lunges forward, grabbing me by the throat in a grip that cuts off my air.
I part my lips to scream, but he clamps a hand over my mouth before I can make a sound.
“Pity,” he snarls. “I’d hoped to get some pussy before doing this, but you’ve left me no choice.”
Alarm punches me in the chest, infusing my veins with cold adrenaline. Terror floods every corner of my soul as I struggle to breathe. I thrash against him, desperate to escape, but he’s too strong. Sound catches in my throat, but it’s so strangled that it won’t reach Roman through two sets of walls and a shower.
“You were marked for death the moment your old man died,” he hisses. “If the boss didn’t kill you, then someone else would have put a bullet through your skull.”
I curl my fingers into claws and swipe at his eyes, but he grabs my right wrist and pins it above my head. His grip around my neck tightens, delivering an explosion of pain as I try to force out a strangled breath. My left hand continues to fight, but he easily avoids it.
“Some girls like to be choked while they’re fucked. It makes them see stars.” He carries me over to the wall and kicks open my legs. “It’ll be the last thing you’ll see before you die.”
Flames sear my lungs and my chest collapses. I struggle to suck in air, but his grip around my throat is too tight. My eyes bulge with each failed attempt to inhale, hurling my psyche over the knife’s edge of panic.
“Stop,” I rasp, the word barely audible. “Roman?—”
Dominic slams me so hard against the wall that my spine explodes in agony. My eyes squeeze shut, and tears roll down my cheeks.
He licks a path up the side of my face and growls, “Sam sends his regards.”
My head spins, and my consciousness sinks toward oblivion. Dominic’s face morphs into Jim’s, and my mind replays another episode of abuse.
Jim returning home from a long day of work, furious to find his father still at the house. The old man working Jim into a frenzy that I was giving him sass. Palpitations race through my heart as the memories flood, blurring the lines between present and past.
Dominic’s sneer dissolves into Jim’s snarl. That time his father goaded him into violence, Jim pinned me against the wall like this and fucked me in front of the old man.
I tremble and thrash, the same as I did when he degraded me in front of his dad. Back then, I knew it would end. Now, I can only pray that it will.
Black clouds my vision as Dominic, or maybe Jim, squeezes my neck tighter, and I run out of air.
My heart stutters.
This is it.
I’m going to die.