Two Can Play (Celeste and Dominic) novel Chapter 300

Chapter 300

But just bear with it, okay? The sex will likely be rough, and it will hurt. I wish there was a way I could prevent this, but it is out of my hands. Nothing is more important than you being alive right now, and Sparrow is our only solution.”

Tasha was quiet for a long time after I finished. The clock above the concierge desk ticked away the seconds, and I’ could feel the deadline approaching like a physical weight pressing down on my chest.

“So, in the end, you became a whore for me. You let men use your body for me. You risked your life over and over for me. Because of a promise you made to a mother I never knew.” Her lips were trembling.

“Lynette loved you so much, Tasha. If she were here right now, she would tell you herself. She would hold you and never let you go.”

Tasha closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, there was something new in her expression, something that looked almost like peace. “The woman I grew up with, I knew she was my stepmother. There was no way she could be my real mother.

She was horrible to me. I was a maid in that house, slaving every day for her and her children. And then one day, Big Bryan showed up and took me away. I did not know what he wanted from me. I even thought that life with him was better because at least I got to eat well.”

She laughed, a small bitter sound. “But thanks to you, I now understand how much danger I was in. And you made it possible so I would not go through it. You are so good to me, Scarlett.”

“It is fine.” I wiped at her tears again, careful not to smudge what was left of her makeup. “Come on, do not ruin your face, Natasha. I will do anything for you. That goes without question. I love you so much. I am your only blood family left, the only one I know of, and I will always have your back. I want you to remember that.”

She nodded, and we looked at each other for a long moment, and then we made up our minds and stood up together, hand in hand, and walked toward the elevator that would take us up to Sparrow.

The penthouse was exactly as I remembered it from the night before, vast, glittering, obscenely luxurious in a way that made you feel both awed and slightly nauseous. Sparrow welcomed us at the door with that same sharp, assessing gaze, and when his eyes settled on Tasha, I saw something flicker in them that made my stomach tighten. Interest. Genuine interest. I had dressed her too well.

“You wait here,” he told me a few minutes later, and then to Tasha: “You come with me.”

And then they were gone, the bedroom door closing behind them with a soft click that sounded to my ears like a gunshot.

I paced the living room like a caged animal, my mind racing through every possible scenario. What if he hurt her too much? What if she froze and couldn’t move an inch? I had read Sparrow’s file, or what little of it existed…the man did not sleep with the same woman twice, preferred a different bed partner every night, and had a reputation for being brutal even by the standards of men who made their living through brutality.

If he hurt Tasha too badly, if he broke her the way he must have broken so many others, I would never forgive myself. I would spend the rest of my life finding a way to make him pay, even if it killed me.

The minutes crawled past like hours. I checked the time. I checked it again. I considered pressing my ear to the door, decided against it, considered it again, and was halfway to the door when I heard Sparrow’s voice, loud and furious, cutting through the penthouse like a blade.

“Scarlett!”

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I rushed into the room before my brain had time to catch up with my feet, and the first thing I saw was Tasha scrambling past me, half-dressed, her face flushed red, her eyes wet with tears. She fled through the door without a backward glance, and I felt a complex rush of emotions, terror that Sparrow was angry, relief that Tasha was unhurt, confusion about what had gone wrong.

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