Taming Pierce

32

☆
T A T I A
32 | for I am vengeance

I have never felt fear this deep.

I feel it in my veins as my heart freezes, my breath gets tangled in a web of suffocating thoughts, my legs turn to jelly, and my body starts to feel like it would melt like wax.

"Bride, you say?" Casteel sighs, sliding his hands into his pockets as he steps forward, his back to me. "That's a sad matter. I unfortunately can't return your bride to you because she is mine now."

His suit doesn't do a good deal of hiding the gun he has tucked in his waistband. The light from the chandelier above casts a dangerous glint upon the inch of black metal that peeks out.

"Let her go or else you'll regret it," Reece grits his teeth, looking every bit as pissed as he did when I first stumbled upon him.

That's where it all started. Me getting into that damn car. Fuck! Why was it supposed to be his? Why couldn't it have been of anyone else? Possibly a woman. Casteel would never harm a woman.

"Pfft...threats..." Casteel wheezes, rubbing a finger over the upper part of his lips. "You're threatening me? You realize who I am?"

He drops the question casually but I recognise the icy underlying threat in it. It makes my bones jitter in my body.

A small tug lifts a corner of Reece's mouth. "Liar, thief, kidnapper, stalker..." he drawls, slipping just for a second to his carefree self. "Anything else to add? Murderer, maybe?"

A wave of gasps rises from the gathering as people murmur between themselves. Mom steals a glance at me, her eyes carrying questions.

Casteel fists his hands, his knuckles white as he pulls them out of his pockets.

"I'm a gentleman," he declares, lying through his teeth.

"A gentleman with years worth of dirt under his rug."

Reece's shrug instigates the monster more. Casteel stares for some time, his jaw moving while his calculating brain searches for a remark that would hurt. His features relax after a while, his voice cutting through tense beats of silence.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves now," he says, grinning like a psycho. "You want to be Tatia's lover? That's fine by me! She can have you if she wishes to. My desire for her has nothing to do with her body, I assure you." He places a hand on his chest, showing how sincere he is. Reece furrows his brows, his jaw clenching and face turning red. "Although, it's a bonus I get."

"Stop talking about her that way," Reece snaps. "She's not an object."

And Casteel wonders why I love this man...

Casteel chuckles like he just heard a crappy joke. He turns to the Minister who hasn't stopped blinking at the scene unfolding before him.

"You heard that, man? He says she isn't an object." Casteel looks back at Reece, spreading his hands like a supervillain. "Mr. Pierce, everyone is an object to me."

I wish I had taken those karate classes Mom wanted me to take. I would have knocked the teeth right out of this bastard's mouth.

"Just who do you think you are?" Reece says, looking shaken by what he is hearing. He must have never dealt with a psychopath such as this.

"God," Casteel's answer is prompt. "And I don't fight wars with mortals. If your life is dear to you, you'll leave the way you came from."

"No."

Reece stays put as more soldiers round him up, their expressions angry and some cracking their knuckles as if waiting for Casteel's orders.

Casteel shakes his head, blowing a sigh. "Then feel free to stay and watch. I have no problem. Minister?"