Chapter 3

Connor Tate POV:

The sight of Harley, her nightgown torn, her face pale with terror, hit me like a fist to the gut. For a split second, a primal, protective instinct surged through me. I wanted to kill the fat bastard standing over her.

Then Katerina gasped, a small, theatrical sound, and pressed her face into my arm. "Oh, Connor, this is horrible! Is she okay?"

Her touch was like a switch being flipped. The flash of concern for Harley vanished, replaced by a hot, righteous anger. This was Harley' s fault. All of it. If she hadn' t kidnapped Katerina, if she hadn' t tried to force an abortion, if she hadn' t been so damn difficult, none of this would have been necessary. I had to get my child back. This was the only way to scare her into compliance.

"Harley," I said, my voice cold, masking the tremor I felt just moments before. "You brought this on yourself."

Her head snapped up. Her eyes, those brilliant blue eyes that used to look at me with so much love, were now filled with a hurt so profound it was almost black. The pain in her gaze was a physical thing, and it struck me harder than her slap ever had.

"You... you did this?" she whispered, her voice cracking.

"I did what I had to do," I snapped, deflecting. "You left me no choice when you took Kat. You threatened my child." I gave Katerina' s shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

Harley let out a laugh, a broken, hysterical sound that echoed in the small, damp room. "Your child? The child you were going to pay to have scraped out of her womb just yesterday?"

"That was before you pushed me!" I shot back, my voice rising. "Before you threw our life away for some rich asshole! You humiliated me, Harley. You made a fool of me."

She just stared at me, the laughter dying on her lips, leaving behind an eerie calm. "I made a fool of you?" she repeated softly. "No, Connor. I made you. And you were the fool who thought I couldn't unmake you."

A chill went down my spine.

I ignored it and turned to the fat pig, Henderson. "Get out. I' ve paid you for your trouble."

Henderson licked his lips, his eyes still fixed on Harley. "But the deal was..."

"The deal is whatever I say it is. Now get out of my sight before I change my mind about letting you walk out of here at all." My voice was low and menacing. I had power now, and I wasn't afraid to use it.

He scurried away like the rat he was.

Katerina stepped forward, her face a perfect mask of sympathy. "Oh, Harley, I' m so sorry this happened. Are you alright? Connor was just so worried about the baby, he wasn' t thinking straight."

I put my arm around Katerina' s shoulders. "Don' t you ever touch her again, Harley. Don' t you ever come near my child. Do you understand me? This was a warning. Next time, I won' t be here to call it off."

Katerina cooed, "Connor, don' t be so harsh. She' s been through a lot." She was playing the peacemaker, the gentle soul caught in the middle. It was a good act.

"I will protect you and this baby with my life, Kat," I said, looking directly at Harley. "No one will ever harm you again."

With one last, lingering look at Harley' s shattered expression, I turned and led Katerina out of the room, leaving Harley alone in the wreckage I had created.

As we walked away, I could feel Harley' s eyes on my back. I remembered a time, years ago, when a drunk at a bar got aggressive with me. I was just a broke musician then. Harley, my quiet, unassuming Harley, had stepped between us, looked the man dead in the eye, and said, "Touch him and you' ll lose your hand." The man had laughed, but something in her voice made him back away.

Later that night, I' d held her and whispered, "You' re my protector."

She had smiled and promised, "Always."

That promise now felt like a ghost, a phantom limb that ached with a pain I refused to acknowledge. The boy who had needed that protection was gone. I was a king now, and kings didn't need protecting. They took what was theirs.

But as the door clicked shut behind me, leaving Harley in the dark, I couldn't shake the feeling that I hadn't just taught her a lesson. I had destroyed something irreplaceable.

The thought was terrifying, so I pushed it down, burying it under the fresh wave of anger and justification. She deserved it. She had betrayed me first.

I had to believe that.

Harley Pennington POV:

He left. He just walked away, his arm wrapped around her, leaving me in the cold, stinking room with the torn pieces of my nightgown and the ghost of his betrayal.

I slid down the wall until I was sitting on the filthy floor. I wrapped my arms around my knees and stared at the empty doorway.

He had promised to protect me. Always.

The boy I fell in love with, the one with fire in his eyes and a guitar in his hands, would have died before he let anyone lay a hand on me. But that boy was gone. Success and insecurity had poisoned him, twisted him into this cruel, entitled monster who saw me as nothing more than an obstacle, a possession to be punished.

The tears I thought I had run out of began to fall again, hot and silent. But these weren't tears for him. They were for me. For the fool I had been. For the five years I had wasted on a lie.

I wouldn't cry for him again. Not one more tear.

The door creaked open. One of my personal security team, a man named Marcus whom I' d had on standby, stepped inside. He had been tailing me since I left Connor, a precaution I now realized was horribly insufficient.

"Ma' am," he said, his voice gentle. He draped his jacket over my shoulders. "Are you hurt?"

He tried to offer me a sedative from the emergency kit, but I pushed his hand away. I didn't want to be numb. I wanted to feel this. I needed the rage to burn away the last vestiges of love I had for Connor Tate.

"I' m fine," I said, my voice raspy. I stood up, pulling the jacket tighter around me.

He would pay. They would both pay. Connor for his cruelty, Katerina for her greed. I had built his empire from the ground up with my money and my connections.

Now, I would enjoy tearing it all down.

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