Page 80 of Pas de Trois
Chapter 19
Ezra
“Renata!” Anya yells from down the hall as she charges forward with her hand on her stomach. She looks ethereal in that blush-colored gown which sweeps the floor as she comes toward us.
I can wiggle my fingers and toes now, and I’m slowly getting feeling back in my arms and legs.
Anya lifts her chin a little higher and pulls her shoulders back as she meets Renata in front of Lorenzo’s closed door. “What are you doing with him?”
Renata’s head whips to the side to look at her. “I don’t answer to you, you self-righteous slut.”
Adrenaline kicks up, urging my limbs to wake the fuck up so I can fight for my girl.
Anya’s eyebrows draw together and she steps closer to Renata. “You have no right to talk to me like that. I am your equal now by name alone.”
Renata turns toward Anya, stepping close enough to touch her baby bump. “My dear, you have never been anything but a slave and a whore. A warm body for Nikolai to fuck, one who happened to have a pretty face and a talent for dance.”
It’s a good thing I can’t get up because I might beat the shit out of Renata if I could. But Anya doesn’t need me to defend her. She’s strong enough on her own, stronger than me.
“If that were true, then why did Nikolai go through the trouble of arranging a secret marriage with me? You’re just angry you’ve met your match in me, that you’ve taken on a new slave boy who prefers me to you.” Anya cocks her head to the side.
“Ezra is mine when he’s not your talent,” Renata insists. “He is a slave that Murphy put in my care. I make his rules and you know that.”
“Yes, you’re right. You don’t have the power of a Head of House, so you take your orders from an Irish man a decade your junior.” Anya smiles. “Thank you for the reminder.”
“Ezra’s time here is over,” Renata says with an eerie level of calm decisiveness.
My time here is over.
She pounds on Lorenzo’s door again and he finally comes to answer, opening it wide. He and Renata argue in Italian as I start to move, slowly working to get myself up off the floor. Luca sees me moving and grabs beneath my arms again, hoisting me into position on my knees. He hisses in my ear, telling me to stay put. I do because I don’t feel I have enough strength yet to get to my feet—it’s not like I could do anything if I did as I’m quickly becoming outnumbered here.
Renata and Lorenzo’s voices raise, and his girl Olivia appears beside him, asking in English about what’s going on.
“Stay in the room,” Lorenzo tells her as they both disappear from the doorway.
“Wait, what are you doing?” Olivia’s voice sounds frantic out of sight and soon after, Lorenzo appears in the hallway with Renata.
Holding a gun.
“What are you doing?” Anya demands, rushing to stand in front of Lorenzo, bravely putting herself in his path toward me. “Stop! What are you doing?” She puts her hands on his chest to shove him back and my heart stops.
“He raped her,” Lorenzo tells Anya, looking down at me with spitting fury. “He attacked them and raped her.” Anya’s mouth drops open in surprise.
“You lying, bitch,” I utter under my breath, pissed but not surprised that Renata would pull a stunt like this to get me killed.
Lorenzo glances down with a furrowed brow at Anya’s hands on his chest. “Get your hands off me.”
“Give me the gun. I won’t let you hurt him,” Anya demands, shoving at his chest.
He whips his free hand around and snatches hold of her wrist, squeezing it tightly and holding it up between them. “I said, get your hands off me.”
“Don’t touch her!” I shout, my heart jumping into overdrive and fearful nausea rolling through my stomach.
Anya freezes in his grip and I know why—because I see what she sees. Lorenzo’s face has shifted and suddenly, he looks like Vigo. He holds the same unraveled expression that shadows the features of his face—the same vicious fire that would burn in Vigo’s eyes. It’s the same violence, the same brutality, the same disengagement from his humanity.
Vigo still haunts her through the rage of his family.
Lorenzo tosses her hand aside and slips past her, coming after me. I flinch when he starts to raise his gun, but terror grips me as I watch Anya step after him again. I shake my head at her furiously. “Anya, don’t—” I start to say as she lunges for Lorenzo.
