24690 by Alaska Angelini, A. A. Dark Page A

ruin what we shared and I’d destroy her. I knew it just as I knew what I was feeling was nothing but an illusion. Love did that to people. It gave them a glimpse of the sweetest dream, only to show them what a fool they’d been to trust in it. I wouldn’t do that to either of us. This I could hold to in the hard times. I couldn’t hold a corpse unless I wanted to become Master Yahn.
    No. I wouldn’t be like him. Today I’d say goodbye to my slave. It had to be done. West would be back any day now and the last thing I needed was him knowing about us. It was better this way.
    “Up. Go shower.”
    I broke away, practically dumping her on the bed. Twenty-four-six-ninety stretched and sat up. She didn’t test my patience. She crawled from the bed, stiffly walking into the bathroom. I knew she was hurting. I’d known it when I went back for her the day before. I couldn’t help it. I couldn’t control this obsessive need to have her with me.
    The water came on to the sink and I knew she was brushing her teeth. Fuck if I didn’t have her a toothbrush resting in my holder. I did. I had had it there from the second day when I practically dragged her from bed at five in the morning. I made her shower and get ready here. Then I fucked her, took her back, only to go and get her a few hours later. I should have just kept her here. I would have gotten to spend more time with her than the stolen hours where I’d broken down throughout the days.
    When the sink turned off and the shower started, I opened the door, taking my spot in front of the sink. My eyes lifted to the reflection of her nude body under the spray. The glass shower gave me the perfect view. A view I was never going to forget.
    “Will you come back for me later?”
    I shoved the toothbrush in my mouth, refusing to answer. When I was done, only then did I lean against the counter and give her my attention.
    “No. I will not come for you anymore.”
    Her head spun to me and she reached out, wiping over the glass where it was starting to fog. The wideness of her eyes, the shock she held in them, was damn near crippling.
    “Ever again?”
    My head shook and I swallowed hard. “West will more than likely win the bid on you. I’ll cover the amount, but no one will know that. He’s to have you.”
    Her head shook as she continued to stare at me.
    “It’s for the best. He’ll be a good master to you.”
    Again, she silently said no with her head.
    “It has to be this way, slave. It will be this way.”
    “But I chose you. You asked me, and I told you who I wanted.”
    My teeth clenched and my chest felt as though it caved in. “The choice is not yours. You have no choices here. You are no one. How many times do I have to tell you that?”
    The door to the shower flew open and water dripped from her body as she stomped in my direction.
    “My master told me who I am. I am Everleigh Davenport, daughter of the former billionaire, Henry Davenport, CEO, and owner of Northway Airlines. I am not, no one. I could have been someone. I was someone! Your father and that bastard of an owner I had took everything from me.  I demand a say. You owe me that!”
    Instinct brought my hand back, but for the life of me, love wouldn’t let me strike. She was right and the truth was something I’d locked away from the beginning. I didn’t want to look at her like a human being. I wasn’t raised to. This fortress and the responsibilities had been pounded into me since I was too young to know the difference. My father’s fists were a constant reminder of what was and what was supposed to be. Whitlock was my responsibility and if I so much as brought it crumbling down, I was surely a dead man. The men behind these walls had money and power. More power than me on the outside world. I was trapped with this curse and there was nothing I could do about it. Nothing I would do about it. Whitlock was here to stay. Even if I did end this, the men here wouldn’t stop. They wouldn’t do