Free Scarred (Lost Series Book 2) by LeTeisha Newton

pull me toward him.
    “This will not be easy on you, River.”
    “I don’t want easy. Easy doesn’t taste right.”
    He chuckled, and it was the first time I heard him laugh. Warmth spread through me, as stupid as it sounded. I made him happy. Me. I made Pantera happy and he wanted me. No one else could claim that. I belonged to the man most women feared.
    And I wasn’t so sure I could ever say I hated it again.
    “So be it.”
    I gave up my soul. I gave up, with barely a whimper, the woman I was trying to be. I failed myself. Forgive me, but somehow, I just didn’t feel that bad.
     

 
     
     
     

    Best laid plans…

10
    Ethan
     
     
     
     
    Y ou have something that belongs to me. I want it back…
    I stared at the note next to a picture of River in a hospital bed, IVs in her arms, gauze wrapped around her stomach, and my dark clad form bending over her as I wiped tears from her face. I couldn’t be sure if the man who sent this had audio from that room, but it was safe to assume Derrick, River’s ex, had found out who I was.
    “Who is this man?”
    Pavel shrugged before he answered. “The man you didn’t want to know anything about.”
    I stared at him a moment before letting the picture slide to the desk. I couldn’t punch the fuck out of the old man for stating the obvious. Well, I could, but I respected him too much to do so. Through everything, Pavel had always been by my side. It was him, in that God forsaken prison, who helped me find my way from East End ass to bratva captain, and I was never going to forget that. Still, it didn’t sit well with me that the little shit who touched the woman who now belonged to me was threatening me.
    Oh, he didn’t say it in so many words, but I knew a threat when I saw one. I just chose not to use any fucking words when I did it. It wasted valuable energy that would be better served killing something. I hadn’t touched River in three days, giving her time to come to terms with the possibility of our relationship, and trying to come to terms with the fact I liked having her at my beck and call without fighting me every step.
    This asshole coming out of the woodwork wasn’t going to shake up my peace.
    “I want to know everything there is to know about this bastard. Where he comes from. Who his family is. Where he shits. Everything. And then I want you to get rid of whoever allowed him to get to me.”
    Pavel nodded and left the room. I wasn’t a man to be questioned and he knew it. Still, this could work to my benefit. River wasn’t near ready to fight this man, and I wasn’t going to let her anyway. This gave me the opportunity to move things along sooner rather than later. I wouldn’t be the man I was if I didn’t get information from the horse’s mouth, so to speak.
    “Vadim, have River brought to me,” I yelled. Vadim was never too far from my office door, and when I heard steps echoing I knew he went to do as I asked.
    River.
    Everything lately came back to her. My desire, my needs, this fucker coming for her, and my peace of mind. Every second I wanted to take her, possess her, but I stopped myself every time. She was dangerous. She was weaker than me, and she needed the edge of pain and control in ways I could never allow someone to give me. But she fascinated me, and reminded me of a past I tried hard to forget.
    Somehow I knew she would rip the light from deep inside of me, force me to look at it, and deal with it, if I let her in. And I never wanted the light to touch me again. But yet, I couldn’t walk away from her. I wouldn’t. And there laid my dilemma. I wasn’t a man to run from anything, but in many ways, I was running from her.
    As my office door opened I drank her in. She was in a pale yellow off the shoulder sweater with black yoga pants. Her face was devoid of any makeup and her hair was wild around her shoulders. She was perfect. My little doll. Mine. And some fucker wanted to take her from me. I wasn’t going to let that