Controlling Interests: A Step-Brother Romance (The Legacy Series Book 2) by Lana Grayson Read Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Lana Grayson
his waist. “No need for qualifications, my dear. Come, sit right here.”
He helped her to the seat at his left—the only setting without a knife folded into a linen napkin.
He should have removed mine.
My father took her hand. I thought his touch would bruise her skin. “I want you to meet some very important friends of the family.” He gestured across the table. “Bryant Maddox, Jacob Fisher, Clyde Leonard. These men help to make the Bennett Corporation great. They…share our vision for the future.”
In more ways than one.
They plotted with my father, but they had the class to admire Sarah with only polite smiles so close to their wives.
“She’s the very image of Mark Atwood, isn’t she?” Bryant said. “Uncanny.”
Sarah stiffened. “So I’ve been told.”
“I almost miss that ol’ son-of-a-bitch,” he said. “Made business…exciting.”
Exciting was not the word I would use to excuse the behavior of a man who murdered my mother and nearly killed my brothers.
“Does she take after her father?” Bryant winked at Sarah.
“No,” she said. I knew better. “But, I assure you, I am very much an Atwood.”
She might have replaced Atwood with warrior , arsonist, or fool , and her words would have been just as powerful. The conversation turned one-sided, and Sarah appeared content to sit in cold silence.
That pleased my father. Sarah was meant to be little more than a table setting, a pretty little blonde feature meant to elicit compliments and parade his ultimate authority over her family, her name, and her body. He hadn’t raped her, but she’d bear our scars for the rest of her life.
“A toast!”
My father raised his glass as the caterers wheeled in silver dishes brimming with pulled pork and smoked briskets, barbecued chickens, roasted lamb, and racks of salty ribs. A breeze blended smoky and sweet, and the blossoming roses and meticulously tended garden aided to the refined beauty of the party. He tugged Sarah to her feet and locked his arm with hers.
“I am the luckiest man in the world today,” my father said. “I’m surrounded by loyal friends dedicated to the Bennett family and Corporation, and now? I am blessed with not just three, but four children.”
I’d break the raised champagne flute. Sarah’s hands curled into fists.
“My darling daughter has completed this family, and I know she’ll unite both the Bennetts and Atwoods. In her time here with us, she has brought us nothing but pleasure, and I’m sure her new brothers would agree.”
I didn’t look away. My father’s stare needled my spine in suppressed rage.
“This family has grown, and I foresee only more joy in the future.”
The board members prematurely clapped. Sick, every last bastard.
“The Bennetts consider family the most important investment in this world, and our little Sarah is the penny that shines brightest. I hope that she, and all my sons, will one day be as proud of their children as I am of them.”
Deceptive monster. The board cheered, and the others in attendance toasted with their champagne. Every tink of the glasses ruined Sarah with our madness. They celebrated her captivity and inadvertently blessed our endeavor to breed her.
The guilt poisoned me as sure as my seed infected her.
I threatened the men who demanded her conception while each and every day I forced the same expectations upon her, betrayed her body, denied her control. I meant to save her life.
I wanted to possess her company.
I dared to love Sarah Atwood.
And yet I let the spectacle continue, if only because I knew of no other way to save her, no alternatives to protect the empires I forged for my future.
My head pounded. The tension did little to aid my conversation with the board as the caterers served the courses. Reed caught my gaze, mimicking an explosion with his hands. He waited for Sarah to blow. So did I.
But Sarah Atwood survived her time in our prison through sheer force of will and an unbreakable
He helped her to the seat at his left—the only setting without a knife folded into a linen napkin.
He should have removed mine.
My father took her hand. I thought his touch would bruise her skin. “I want you to meet some very important friends of the family.” He gestured across the table. “Bryant Maddox, Jacob Fisher, Clyde Leonard. These men help to make the Bennett Corporation great. They…share our vision for the future.”
In more ways than one.
They plotted with my father, but they had the class to admire Sarah with only polite smiles so close to their wives.
“She’s the very image of Mark Atwood, isn’t she?” Bryant said. “Uncanny.”
Sarah stiffened. “So I’ve been told.”
“I almost miss that ol’ son-of-a-bitch,” he said. “Made business…exciting.”
Exciting was not the word I would use to excuse the behavior of a man who murdered my mother and nearly killed my brothers.
“Does she take after her father?” Bryant winked at Sarah.
“No,” she said. I knew better. “But, I assure you, I am very much an Atwood.”
She might have replaced Atwood with warrior , arsonist, or fool , and her words would have been just as powerful. The conversation turned one-sided, and Sarah appeared content to sit in cold silence.
That pleased my father. Sarah was meant to be little more than a table setting, a pretty little blonde feature meant to elicit compliments and parade his ultimate authority over her family, her name, and her body. He hadn’t raped her, but she’d bear our scars for the rest of her life.
“A toast!”
My father raised his glass as the caterers wheeled in silver dishes brimming with pulled pork and smoked briskets, barbecued chickens, roasted lamb, and racks of salty ribs. A breeze blended smoky and sweet, and the blossoming roses and meticulously tended garden aided to the refined beauty of the party. He tugged Sarah to her feet and locked his arm with hers.
“I am the luckiest man in the world today,” my father said. “I’m surrounded by loyal friends dedicated to the Bennett family and Corporation, and now? I am blessed with not just three, but four children.”
I’d break the raised champagne flute. Sarah’s hands curled into fists.
“My darling daughter has completed this family, and I know she’ll unite both the Bennetts and Atwoods. In her time here with us, she has brought us nothing but pleasure, and I’m sure her new brothers would agree.”
I didn’t look away. My father’s stare needled my spine in suppressed rage.
“This family has grown, and I foresee only more joy in the future.”
The board members prematurely clapped. Sick, every last bastard.
“The Bennetts consider family the most important investment in this world, and our little Sarah is the penny that shines brightest. I hope that she, and all my sons, will one day be as proud of their children as I am of them.”
Deceptive monster. The board cheered, and the others in attendance toasted with their champagne. Every tink of the glasses ruined Sarah with our madness. They celebrated her captivity and inadvertently blessed our endeavor to breed her.
The guilt poisoned me as sure as my seed infected her.
I threatened the men who demanded her conception while each and every day I forced the same expectations upon her, betrayed her body, denied her control. I meant to save her life.
I wanted to possess her company.
I dared to love Sarah Atwood.
And yet I let the spectacle continue, if only because I knew of no other way to save her, no alternatives to protect the empires I forged for my future.
My head pounded. The tension did little to aid my conversation with the board as the caterers served the courses. Reed caught my gaze, mimicking an explosion with his hands. He waited for Sarah to blow. So did I.
But Sarah Atwood survived her time in our prison through sheer force of will and an unbreakable
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