Free Controlling Interests: A Step-Brother Romance (The Legacy Book 2) by Lana Grayson Page A

new form of torture. Darius didn’t even have to attack me to destroy my courage. My chest ached. I coughed. Groaned.
    I was not losing another breath on Darius Bennett.
    “You okay?” Reed offered his hand.
    He’d touch me.
    No .
    I pushed him away before he helped. I pretended that it was pride and not fear of being touched by a Bennett that drove me to my feet.
    Christ. Darius hadn’t even raped me, but I still sickened with damp sweat and the crawling, shuddering itch of grimy hands and chapped lips.
    Max swore and rose, wincing as he rested his weight against the table.
    I didn’t know what to say or how to say it or if I needed to say anything. I flushed and hated the heat on my cheeks. “Max, you touched…it made me remember...”
    He wasn’t mad. Why wasn’t he mad?
    “I get it. Wasn’t thinking, baby.”
    “No.” I didn’t want him to get it. That only made it worse. I edged further from Reed. “I…it’s fine. Goddamn it.  Sorry. I’m sorry. I didn’t... Sorry.”
    “Stop apologizing.” Reed spoke too softly. “It’s okay. We understand.”
    “No, you don’t.”
    “Sarah, you’re allowed to be upset.”
    No. I wasn’t about to let myself panic over what Darius tried to do. It was done. It was over. He was a monster, and he could do nothing more to terrify me. Nothing .
    If I got upset, he’d win. I wasn’t giving him that much power.
    Reed called my name until I met his gaze. I hated the sympathy in the charmed green of his eyes.
    “Don’t try to be brave. He almost raped you, Sarah.”
    “Yeah, well, so did you!” I snarled, but the words ripped through my chest, as though the truth punctured my lungs.
    My step-brothers silenced. It was the wrong thing to say. I didn’t mean it, and yet I did.
    Fuck. Everything was wrong. Ruined.
    And it was Darius’s fault.
    “I won’t let him get in my head,” I said.
    Reed didn’t give up. “Sarah, he hurt you.”
    “So? I’m not going to live my life afraid of where the bad man touched me.” I brushed the hair from my face. “He won’t control me. I refuse to fear Darius Bennett.”
    Saying it didn’t make it true.
    Only one way to get my closure. I unceremoniously dressed and faced my step-brothers.
    “I’m going to meet with him.”
    Max laughed. “The fuck you are. We’re calling Nick. I have no idea what Dad plans to do with you.”
    “And I don’t care. This ends now.”
    Reed took my wrist as I turned to stalk after Darius. “You’re not going in there alone. Not after what happened last time.”
    “He won’t try it again.”
    “How can you be sure?”
    The thought sickened me. “Because he already taught the lesson.”
    Max’s expression darkened. “He’s not in it for the lessons, baby. He wants to hear you scream.”
    “I live to disappoint him.”
    “Fuck.” Max hobbled after me and pointed at Reed. “Call Nick. Get him home before she gets hurt. I don’t feel like killing Dad today.”
    Now there was a possibility.
    A bloody, horrible, deliciously appealing possibility.
    Before his tortures, I never considered ending a life. But some people didn’t deserve the chances they had or the souls they damned.
    “I’m going alone.” I didn’t wait for Max to limp after me. “I’m owed an apology.”
    Too many fears nauseated me. Too many unspoken threats stuck in my throat. I suffered too many nightmares and offered myself to his sons in too many ways just to pretend I was safe.
    But no safety existed in the Bennett Estate. Nothing they did was right, and yet, I still surrendered to the lesser Bennett evils if only to prevent Darius’s cruelty.
    Or did I submit to my step-brothers because I enjoyed it?
    Christ, I didn’t know anymore, and only blood would offer clarity. Spilled or betrayed, it didn’t matter. Darius intended to hurt me, and so I’d make my very existence a reason for him to hate waking each morning. 
    I’d ruin Darius Bennett before he ruined me even if I had to offer my body