SWNOVELS Brutal Savage: Chapter 23
Rogue just texted me that they’ve arrived at the warehouse. I drop the phone on my desk just as my brothers walk in.
“Hey. What’s up?” Fionn settles on the sofa.
“What are we doing here?” Cillian takes a spot beside him.
“I need you to do a deeper dive into Elara.”
“Why?” Fionn asks.
“Elara isn’t her real name. It’s Evelyn Connors. I need to know what she’s been running from and why. Look up her parents, grandparents, friends. Anyone you can find. She’s from New Jersey, I think. So start there.”
“You think she’s involved with something?” Cillian drops his elbows on his knees.
“I hope not.” I spin my gold band on my ring finger. “By the way, you’re coming over for dinner tonight.”
“We are?” Fionn leans back into the leather.
“I’ve gotta tell everyone else that I’m married,” I mutter.
Cillian chuckles. “Don’t look so excited about it. It’s a good thing. Now Dad can leave you the fuck alone.”
“Right…until he starts pestering me about something else.”
“Well, I, for one, can’t wait to get to know my sister-in-law.” Fionn grins. “Feels like I already know her from all the photos and shit we’ve gathered on her so far.”
“Yeah, and make sure she never finds out.”
“She won’t. But listen, why don’t you also ask Grant to look into her? He can find anything.”
I consider that. Grant Westfield is a friend of Gio Marino, Iseult’s husband. He’s the best hacker around. It also doesn’t hurt that he owns Westfield Enterprises, which created the most popular cellphone currently on the market, and some other tech shit like memory chips. His company is also very heavily involved in AI. He has access to everything. And not all of it is legal. Rumor is when he was in high school, he hacked the CIA database. He’s a damn genius. I hate getting someone outside the family involved, but it could help.
“That’s a good idea. I’ll do that. Though I want you guys looking into her too. Don’t pass it on to our IT guys. I don’t want anyone knowing anything about her.”
They both nod just as my phone rings, and I find Rogue on the caller ID.
“Yeah? Everything okay?”
“No, sir. We just left the store. Apparently, the women were insulting her while they didn’t think she heard. She’s very upset.”
“They what?” My fingers curl at my side. “What did they say?”
“She wouldn’t tell me.”
“I’m on my way home.” I hang up the phone, ready to rip those women’s throats out.
Vera owns the Carolina Herrera store in Boston. She’s known my family for years. And she has the audacity to insult my wife?
“I need you to do something for me,” I immediately tell my brothers, knowing that woman will regret what she did.
I write down the address and give them the instructions.
Fionn grins. He lives for this.
“What did she do?”
“Hurt my wife.”
“Should it look like an accident?””
I nod.
“We’ll get it done.” Cillian starts to rise.
Vera’s about to learn a very hard lesson about what happens when you fuck with what’s mine.
ELARA
When we pull up to the driveway, I find Tynan’s SUV already there. He’s home? That’s odd.
With Brody beside me, I step inside the foyer and find him pacing. As soon as he sees us, he rushes forward.
“Are you okay?” He clutches the side of my neck, his thumb tilting up my chin. Concern fills every inch of his face.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Why?” My pulse thumps louder at his touch.
“Rogue told me.”
“Oh, that.” I wave off his concern, while my heart twists as though their words put a knife into it. But I don’t want him to know it hurt me. “I’m fine. I just didn’t want to give them any business if that’s how they treat their customers.”
“Brody…” He roughs his hair. “Why don’t you go see Ruby in the kitchen? She made you a snack before dinner.”
He nods and gives me one last long look before he rushes away, leaving me alone with my concerned husband.
That’s a strange feeling, to have him act as though he cares. Never had a man do that before.
“Elara, look at me.” He nestles my face in both hands. “What did they say? I need to know.”
I shut my eyes for a moment, grabbing on to his wrist. “Just that they don’t know what you see in me, that I’m probably a gold-digger and too unattractive for you. That you must be blind and how Vera’s daughter should seduce you.”
“Her daughter? What a joke.” His wrath sparks in his irises, simmering and deadly. “You do realize you’re the most beautiful woman that I’ve ever laid eyes on, right? I’m not just saying that.”
My stomach clenches, but I shrug in response, emotions coating my eyes.
“Say it, Elara.” His thumbs glide across my cheeks. “Because I need you to know that and accept it. You’re beautiful.”
A faint smile paints my lips. “Okay, yes, I’m beautiful.”
My heart thuds faster when his mouth nears mine.
“You’re so damn beautiful.” His body moves closer, pushing me up against the door. “I could never do better than you.”
Lips fall to my throat, latching on as I gasp, my fingers raking through his hair as he lays kisses over my raging pulse.
“Tynan…we shouldn’t, not when someone could walk in.”
A growl permeates through the room. “Let them.” He grabs the hem of my dress and starts dragging it up. “I like this. We need to get more.”
“It’s the only one I got before I left. And I didn’t pay a dime.” I grin with a moan as his finger snaps into my cotton thong and he shoves it to the side.
He hungrily peers down at me with a proud smirk as he eases a finger inside me, causing my eyes to roll back. “That’s it, baby. Let me touch you.”
Then he’s thrusting inside me, deeper and deeper, yet slow enough for me to feel everything.
“I love how wet you get for me, little serpent. I can’t wait to watch you lose yourself when I’m inside you.”
Those words, they send a pulse throbbing to my achy center.
On instinct, my hand wraps around his thick length, and I feel something through his trousers…
“Are those…” My eyes expand.
“If you’re wondering if I’m pierced, yes, I am.” He chuckles huskily. “And I’m gonna enjoy watching you take each one.”
“Oh, God…”
His fingers slide in and out in a hurried rhythm, while his other palm snaps around my throat, squeezing until every bit of air I take is with his permission.
“You drive me crazy, Elara. So fucking insane,” he growls against my ear, and I combust into flames.
His grunts, the way he thrusts into me, the feeling he gives me when he owns me and controls my body the way only he can…I can’t get enough of it.
That hand wrapped around my throat only intensifies it all.
“I want to flip you over and fuck you up against this wall. But I won’t.” The pads of his fingers squeeze deeper into my neck. “Not until you ask for it.”
“And what if I never do?” I’m barely able to get the words out.
His chuckle is rough, coated with his own arousal. “Oh, you will, babe. And I can’t wait for that day.”
When his thumb plays with my clit, the pleasure becomes too strong, and I’m unable to stop myself from moaning, the air filling with my desire.
I can register Rogue talking to one of the guards right outside the door, can hear Ruby saying something to Brody in the kitchen. Anyone could walk in and find us like this.
Except I can’t stop myself, my groans dripping in ecstasy. He eases his fingers out, then back in halfway, edging me in the most torturous way.
When the sounds I make start getting louder, he clasps a palm around my mouth and smirks.
“When we’re in our bedroom, I’ll let you scream my name as loud as you want, but right now, be a good girl and keep quiet.”
With his gaze aligned with mine, he pistons inside me, hard and deep, until I’m shaking and whimpering, biting his palm to stop myself from screaming his name.
He doesn’t stop, keeping me prisoner against the door as he shatters me to pieces, my unending release washing over me until it ebbs and flows to a steadier rhythm.
My exhales scatter in waves as he slides out of me, filling my mouth with his fingers, forcing me to suck them as he watches with intensity.
“Fucking gorgeous,” he grits, his own desire evident in his tone.
He removes his fingers and I can’t seem to catch my breath.
Dragging my dress down, he takes my hand in his, bringing the top of it to his lips. “Come on, take your shoes off and relax for a bit before my family arrives and drives you insane.”
I let out a weak laugh, still dizzy from that orgasm. “I have to call my grandma and tell her the delightful news. I haven’t told her yet.”
“I think she’ll be happy. Oh, and I already called her earlier and invited her over.” He looks smugly at me. “Unlike you, she actually likes me.”
“Yeah, that’s what I’m afraid of.” Then it hits me. “Wait, did you tell her we were married?”
“Nah.” He shakes his head. “I figured I’d leave that to you.”
“And what do you suppose I tell her? ‘Hey, Gran, remember that scary man from the café? Well, he kidnapped me and made me marry him. Surprise!’”
“I’m sure you’ll come up with something a bit more romantic.”
“How about, ‘I woke up in his bed wearing a four-carat ring.’”
“Hmm.” He considers it, a playful look on his face. “Now we’re getting somewhere.”
I roll my eyes. “You’re annoying.”
“Wasn’t annoying a second ago.” He runs the fingers that were just inside me over his nose.
My face turns crimson.
This is gonna be a long night.
Hopefully Gran doesn’t say anything too embarrassing.