Page 50 of All's Fair in Love & Wrath

Fuck. I lost her. That’s okay. She’ll get there in time.

“Please don’t say that. That’s not true,” she says, her eyes refusing to meet mine.

“What did you just say?” I growl, a little harsher than I probably should have. But there’s no way I heard her correctly.

“Don’t say things you don’t mean. That’s cruel.” She can’t be serious right now.

“The only cruel thing is that you seem to disagree with me.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about, Axel. I know you’re not blind. Look at yourself,” she says, waving her hand up and down my body from head to toe. I throw my hands out to the sides.

“You’re right, I’m not blind. And I’venevermet someone as beautiful as you are.”

Sienna shrinks in on herself, which shouldn’t be possible with how small she’s already trying to be. “That’s mean.”

This isn’t fucking happening right now. I move back into her space, careful not to cage her, but needing to demand all of her attention. I grip her hips, guiding her to sit on the bed. Then I drop to my knees in front of her, gripping her chin between two fingers, angling her head to look at me.

“What did I tell you? I don’t say useless shit. Words matter. You are, without a doubt, the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met. When you walked up to that table at the diner, I felt like someone kicked me right in the lungs. My world spun on its axis, because I’ve never seen someone as breathtakingly stunning as you.”

Sienna shakes her head from side to side, a few tearsescaping her eyes and trickling down her fair cheeks. My heart fucking shatters. This sweet, beautiful woman. How could she not see what I do? What I have from the moment I saw her.

“What did he do to you, Sienna?”

“He made sure no one would ever want me after him. He made sure that he’d be the only one who would ever accept me. He defiled me in so many ways. I’m damaged, Axel. Inside and out.”

I have to take a deep breath to keep the rage at bay. My focus is Sienna. But fuck, I need to up the timeline. I need to find Cain. He’s going to regret the day he was born after I’m done with him. I’m going to fucking kill him for hurting what’s mine.

“Talk to me, baby.”

“He drugged me just enough so that I couldn’t fight back, but I was conscious through it all. I felt everything, I saw . . .everything. I was a virgin, only eighteen. He raped me in a storage closet, over and over again, and when he was done, and I told him he didn’t ruin me, he threw chemicals at me that left me with these burn scars. I guess my screams were loud enough to make him flee before I passed out. Gage found me, and it really fucked him up. They took me to the hospital, and a police report was filed. The club would have taken care of it, but I was in bad condition. After that night, I couldn’t look at myself anymore. Malice is right, I bleach my hair. Just a desperate attempt to not look anything like the girl whose life was ruined all those years ago. But I can’t hide the scars. I can’t hide the fact that physical touch feels like a thousand knives against my skin and makes my stomach sour. He got exactly what he wanted. He ruined me. All to get back at my dad for something that happened in the past.”

I’ve done terrible things; I’ve seen worse. Hell, I just watched Malice skin a man alive without so much as a wince. Iread Sienna’s statement to the police and felt rage, but hearing it directly from my woman’s mouth? My stomach curdles with nausea, my emotions ruminating with a volatile mix of anger, rage, andwrath. Cain will suffer. And suffer slowly.

“Listen to me, baby girl, he didn’t ruin anything. You’re fucking perfect. He did something horrific to you, but that doesn’t define you or your beauty or your worth. He got exactly what he wanted, control over you long after he left your body. Don’t let him win. Fight like hell against it. This is your life, not his.”

“How can I when I cringe when I look at myself in the mirror, Axel? When touch feels . . .wrong?”

“Does it feel wrong when I touch you?” I know it fucking doesn’t. She’s denying it, refusing to see what’s right in front of her. To further my point, I run my hands up the outsides of her thighs, settling them at her waist, my thumbs swiping back and forth over her thin T-shirt. Her eyes flutter closed, and she sways slightly.That’s my girl.“No, it doesn’t, does it? It feels good.”

“Yeah, Axel, it does,” she breathes roughly. “I-I can’t explain why, though. I don’t know why it’s different.”

“There’s some deep part of you that feels safe with me, Sienna. That trusts I’d never hurt you, that I’ll take care of you and keep you safe. Would you be up for exploring that? I think it could help.”

Her eyes snap open, and she pulls that pretty, plush bottom lip between her teeth, eyes darting back and forth between my own. I know she’s searching for the hidden agenda, the lies . . . but she’s not going to find them. If I can help her work through this, nothing would make me happier, and it has nothing to do with my own selfish needs.

“What do you mean?”

“You know exactly what I mean. You strugglewith touch, with your self-image. Let me help you work through that. We’ll go slow, as much as you can tolerate at a time.”

“What do you get out of this?”

“Knowing I helped you heal from your trauma, getting to watch you take control back from your abuser, that’s enough for me.” I brace myself for her to recoil, to retreat, and tell me no, my mind already working out different ways to help her work through the trauma.

“Okay.”

Wait, what? “Okay?”

“Yeah, you’re right. It’s different with you, and I don’t want him to have this control anymore. I don’t want to live like this anymore, Axel.”