Chapter 0094

I’m just so mad in this moment, as I continue to care for my horse. So angry and sad at myself all at

once. And sore, physically sore, where I fell on my chest and stomach.

Poor little rich girl, I think bitterly, my inner voice rich with sarcasm. Seriously, Jerome aside, what the

hell did I think I was playing at? And what business did I have feeling sad, when so many people –

Jerome included – had it so much worse than me?

After all, he was going to get the brunt of the punishment for this. I was going to skate on by. Because –

again - I’m the daughter of a major crime lord, and engaged to another. And Jerome is a nobody. I feel

horribly guilty as I think about it, where my choices lead him.

“Fay,” Kent’s voice surprises me, then, as he lets himself into Heathcliff’s stall.

I’m too angry to speak and just glare at him before continuing with my chores, hanging up my saddle

and then collecting my brushes to groom Heathcliff after his ride.

“Fay,” Kent is angrier this time, clearly insisting on my attention. But he can damn well wait until I’m

finished with my horse.

When I don’t reply, I can hear the anger grumble in his chest. But he leaves the stall, leaving me alone

to finish my work. In silence, I brush my horse, clean his feet, and check his water and hay to make

sure that he’s all set for the night.

I’m grateful to see, as I give Heathcliff his final parting kiss on his nose, that my horse has come out of

everything unscathed. He, unlike me, is again perfectly calm, happily relaxing in his stall.

But when I lock his stall door behind me and see Kent just outside of it waiting for me, his arms

crossed, I could burst into flames I’m so damn mad.

“What the hell were you thinking,” I hiss at him, striding right up to him so that we’re only inches apart,

glaring up into his face. “I could have been seriously hurt – Jerome could be seriously hurt –“

I can see what my accusations do to him. His temper was clearly hanging by a thread when he arrived

here today – but now? He totally loses it.

“God damnit Fay,” Kent says through clenched teeth, advancing on me, his chest bumping into mine

and forcing me back a few steps. “He was touching you –“

“What do you care if he touches me!” I yell at him, working to hold my ground as he advances. “Who

cares – it was just a little flirting – what, every time someone flirts with me you’re going to punch them

in the face?!”

I widen my eyes then, feeling a little reckless. “Well then get ready, Kent,” I seethe, “because your

knuckles are going to get really sore.”

“You are engaged to my son, Fay Alden!” Kent grinds the words out from between his teeth. “If you

even so much as look at another man, it is an insult to my family –“

“Oh come on, Kent,” I say, laughing again, which I can tell really gets him going. His teeth are bared

now, his brows drawn together with fury. “You’re going to pretend that this is about Daniel? That you

punched Jerome for Daniel’s honor?!”

I cross my arms then, shaking my head, and laugh in his face.

“You’re really going to pretend,” I say, pushing it, “that this wasn’t about how you want to be the one to

–“

He grabs me then, unable to stop himself, fisting the front of my shirt in his hand and pulling me close

to his face.

“You are mine, Fay,” Kent says, his words violent, possessive, dangerous. “No one touches you.”

Our faces are close in this moment, our bodies pressed against each other, so close that I can feel his

rageful heart pounding in his chest. But it’s no match for mine.

“Really, Kent?” I say, my challenging words no louder than a whisper. “We’ll just see about that.”

Then, roughly, I push him away.

Surprised, perhaps, Kent lets go of my shirt.

I move away from him, but I don’t run. I’m not finished.

“Fay, I –“ he says, nervous to see me here.

“Drive,” I say, crossing my arms over my chest and staring out the windshield.

“Seriously, Fay,” he tries again, so I turn to glare at him as well.

“I said. Drive.”

A command. From the mafia lord’s daughter. The future Donna of the Lippert clan.

Without another word, Jerome does as I say and drives me home.