Free His Ward by Lena Matthews Page A

through his hair to keep himself from wrapping it around her pretty little neck. She was purposely testing his patience, but he would not give her what she wanted, which was for him to blow up just so she could prove he was the bad guy. It was unnecessary. He knew already what type of man he was, which was just one more reason he needed to keep a wall between them. “You know, I’m getting real tired of your mouth.”
    “And I’m getting real tired of your controlling ways. So I guess that makes us even.”
    Misha clenched his jaw so tight, pain shot up to his temple. “I don’t try to control you.”
    “That’s because you don’t have to try. You’ve perfected it to an art. I mean you’re so damn good, I didn’t even realize just how wrapped up in you I was.”
    “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
    “Are you kidding me? Misha, you control every aspect of my life, from where I work, to where I live, to my bank accounts. The one part of my life that was just mine, that belonged solely to me, was my personal life, and bam, you just steamrolled right over that as well.”
    “He. Hurt. You,” Misha bit the words out. “Or did you somehow manage to forget that? Better question, why are you so quick to forgive him, someone you barely know, but not me, someone you’ve known for practically your entire life?”
    “Because he doesn’t matter to me. You do, and what you did hurt me, far worse than he ever could.”
    Her words stunned him into silence for a moment. If she’d wanted him to feel like shit, she’d succeeded, which was a miracle because he still didn’t think he was in the wrong for doing what he did to Troy, but now he was questioning the way he went about it. And that was something he wasn’t happy about. Misha wasn’t one to deal in what-ifs. “Tionne…”
    “No, look, my eyes have always been wide open where you’re concerned, and while I knew you weren’t a saint, I never thought you were a liar. At least not to me.”
    “I could not sit back and do nothing,” he said huskily. “Do you want me to say I’m sorry?”
    “No, because that would be another lie,” she said simply.
    “No, it wouldn’t be, because I’m truly sorry I hurt you .”
    “But not sorry you hurt him.”
    Misha didn’t even bother to lie. “I’m not even a little bit sorry about that.”
    “Misha,” she gasped.
    “What? You want me to be honest, right? No more lies. Well, here it is.” Misha pulled his hands out of his pocket and held his arms out. “This is me being a hundred percent honest with you. He could have died by my hands last night, and the only thing I would have felt was satisfaction at a job well done.”
    Tionne place her hand over her heart and took a quick, sharp breath. “Misha!”
    Despite the look on her face, he continued, needed her to know just how far he would go to do what he felt was right, even if it was wrong. “His life means nothing to me. I don’t give a fuck about his future career endeavors, and his emotional well-being is irrelevant. Irrelevant! And the worst part, the part you’re really going to hate, even now, seeing how upset you are, is I would still do it again. The only thing I would do differently is I wouldn’t have made you a promise, because even then I had no intention of keeping it.”
    Tionne stared at him, wordlessly, blankly, for several long seconds, before she finally blinked. “Wow.”
    “You wanted honesty,” he said with a lot more ease than he felt.
    “Well, that was honest, if nothing else.” Tionne let out a little laugh and shook her head.
    Tension that Misha didn’t even know he was holding melted away at the sound.
    “What am I going to do with you?”
    Forgive me came to mind, but he didn’t let the words slip out. “I don’t know. What do you want to do?”
    “Strangle you, or bludgeon you, or bang you over the head with a frying pan, or maybe—”
    “I get it. Cause me great pain. Got it.”
    “You hurt