She’s fire and ice. I could burn her in gasoline, then step into the fire and burn right along with her. She’s grown a backbone since I’ve been gone. It’s hot. I want to fuck her even more.

“Should I bring her back, Boss?” He’s trying to hide his smirk.

She gave me the finger and then proceeded to walk away even after coming all this way. It doesn’t surprise me, though, considering what she’s just heard. Quinn needs to keep his mouth shut and next time let me explain what’s going on.

“No, I’ll get her.” Taking off after her, she doesn’t walk fast because her heels are so fucking high. When did she start dressing like that anyway? When I first saw her, I was shocked. She’s changed in the year I’ve been gone. But then again, so have I. I’m not the same person that left. No. I’m a little dirtier, even grittier than before. Now I have kills on my hands, and many collections as well. She won’t look at me the same way if she knows who I’ve become.

Her bag clings to her side, her small frame hasn’t changed. She’s still very much the girl I fell in love with. Even if our love wasn’t meant to be.

Just as I walk up behind her, her hand comes to my face, and she sprays. Something goes in my eyes, and I scream at her. She laughs then I hear her heels clicking again. I can’t see shit. My eyes are stinging, but I know this driveway, and I know her. Taking a blind step in her direction, I feel my hand go around her waist as I sling her little sexy body over my shoulder, and start walking back to the house. She isn’t going to leave that easily. We have things to discuss, things to organize.

“Boss.” A wet cloth is placed in my hand as she laughs. She tries to get down, but I’m not letting her go so she can run away. Wiping at my eyes with one hand, she makes it impossible.

“Take her.”

“Oh, no you don’t,” she says. I can feel her move as I hand her to Quinn. Quinn grunts, but I know he has hold of her because she swears at him as I clear my eyes so I can see her better. When I look at her, she’s smiling up at me, cheekily.

“Does it burn?”

“It’ll burn when I whip your fucking ass,” I say, relieving Quinn and picking her up. Carrying her inside, she doesn’t even try to fight me now, she just lays down my back, her hands clutching my shirt as I shut the door behind us. Walking up the stairs, I take her to my room then lock the door with a key and remove it, so she can’t escape. Things need to be discussed. Plans need to be made.

My hands rub along the door, my knuckles white from the conversation I just had with Michael. He wants her tomorrow. I don’t want to give her to him but there’s no choice. My payment wasn’t enough. He was sneaky and stole what’s mine without me knowing it.

When Michael told me I had to choose, Livia made the choice easier by telling me she was pregnant. The MC want a life for a life and Livia’s I couldn’t give because that would be two lives—hers and the life of my son. So that’s why I’m here. To collect what was once mine, or practically mine. My Barbie.

She’s enticing. She just doesn’t realize it. Saskia’s so blind to the way she looks that sometimes I want to shake her to make her see. But that’s also the appeal of Barbie. She doesn’t flaunt it, well, she never used to. Now as I look at her in her short dress and high heels I’m thinking otherwise.

“Where’s Stiles, Barbie?”

She shakes her head, crossing her legs in front of me. Her eyes look everywhere but me. “Barbie, don’t ignore me. I’ll spank your ass, otherwise.” I see her move, just the slightest amount. She wants me to. “You want me to fuck you, don’t you, Barbie?” She tries to not move, but I see her legs clench. Walking to her, I lift her chin up with my middle finger. “Do you want me to fuck you, Barbie?”

She spits at me, her saliva touches my neck. “Fuck off, Ryken. Go back to your pregnant fiancé.”

I step back, reaching for a tissue and wiping the spit away. “I could fuck off, if you spread your legs,” I tease her just a little bit more. She does so, spreads them to reveal a white pair of lace underwear.

“Does your fiancé do this for you? Or do you have to search elsewhere for it?” Saskia reaches between her legs, touches herself. As I take a step toward her she slams her legs shut and smirks.

“You fucking little devil.”

She knows it. Especially, now I see that smirk on her lips.

“Where’s my cousin, Ryken? Why isn’t she here with her family if she’s pregnant?”

I shake my head, I’ve wondered the same thing. “You answer mine, and I may consider answering some of yours. Quinn already told you more than enough.”

“Oh, you mean the part where you own me? Or where you traded me?”

She’s angry. I understand her anger, but I like it when she’s angry. It makes my cock harder. She watches me adjust myself with no shame whatsoever, then looks back up to my eyes. “Oh, Barbie, no matter who you think owns you, I’ll always outbid them when it comes to your heart.” She shakes her head at my words. “Now tell me, where is Stiles?”

She shrugs her shoulders. “How the fuck am I meant to know?”

“You mean to tell me you two aren’t a thing?”

She shakes her head as she looks at me, still very much angry, her brows are scrunched together tightly.

“Well, that’s surprising. Livia told me just last week you two were very much a thing.”

She rolls her eyes at me. “Of course, she would.” She says it with such attitude.

I’ve never seen her so outspoken. I like it. It’s making my cock fucking rock hard.

“Where is sweet Livia anyway, preparing for the birth of your child?” she asks, crossing her legs to the other side, spreading them just enough so I can up her dress, then closing them smirking.

“Law school, and no... she’s only just found out about the baby”

She nods her head, rolling her eyes at the same time.

“And you? I’ve heard you’ve become your own businesswoman?”

She nods her head, a real smile now on her face. Obviously, that makes her happy.

“And your mother?” I ask, remembering she lived with her, but I’ve never seen her.

“She’s still in the same place. She’ll never leave.” Her hands touch her thighs and it takes everything in me to not reach out and touch her.

“I’m happy, Ryken. Why did you come back?”

Scratching my chin, I look at her. Is she really happy? I know I’m not happy knowing that she’s not in my bed and I can’t touch her anytime I want. How could she even be remotely happy? “For you. I came back for you, Barbie.”

“You shouldn’t have.”

Leaning back so I touch the door, my back hits the wall. “You sure of that? If I didn’t, he would have come to find you. Who would you rather find you, Barbie?”

“You,” she replies honestly.

Nodding my head at her, my eyes stay on her.

“Stop looking at me like that.”

“Like what?” I ask her, smiling.

“Like I’m your last meal.”

“But you are.”

She shakes her head, standing from the bed. “Your fiancé should be.”

She goes to step toward the door, but I’m blocking it. “You opened up your own shop, Barbie, and you called it Barbie’s Beauty.” She smiles. “Do I get a commission for that name?”

“What can I say, the name kind of stuck.”

Her smile makes my heart, that hasn’t beaten for a very long fucking time, suddenly beat again. For her. That smile could light up a dark night’s sky.

“And you haven’t had sex... for how long?”

Her eyes go wide. “Don’t act all innocent on me, Barbie. Especially to me. If you remember I fucked you on a rooftop.”

Her eyes go dark, and she looks down to the floor. When she looks back up at me her eyes are blank. Like she just removed all her feelings in one fell swoop.

“Oh, I remember that night very fucking clearly, Ryken. Do you?”

I step away from the door, so my body is touching on hers, and she doesn’t move or back away. She just continues to breathe as she stares at me.

“I’ll never forget that night, Barbie.”

“You did your final job that night on my heart.”

Shaking my head at her. “That night was the only thing that got me through the last year. You were the only thing that got me through, Barbie.”

“You love Livia. Why are you doing this?”

My hand touches her silky soft skin again. She doesn’t pull away this time, and I remember how rough and demanding I was last time I had her. She probably didn’t deserve that night, but I needed that night to survive. She was the only thing I saw when I closed my eyes then reopened them. It was her, as it always will be.

“I do love her.”

Pain flashes through her eyes so fast before she hides it again.

“But I love you, too.”

She shakes her head, my hand dropping from her face. “You can’t love two women, Ryken. You just can’t.”

“Who are you to tell me who to love, Barbie?”

“When does he come for me?” She changes the subject. “What is the plan?”

This is the part I’m not looking forward to. I was hoping to avoid it to the very last minute. But to Barbie, I cannot lie. No matter who else I lie to, to her it’s near impossible.

“He comes in two days, for collection.”

She staggers, then sits on the bed. She looks up to me, pure shock on her face.

“And you are just going to hand me over?”

My head nods, even if it doesn’t want to. “It’s my job to do so. She’s pregnant, Barbie, they can’t have her. The child will be my heir.”

“I could go to the police,” she says in hope.

I shake my head. “You would be dead the minute you left. No trail to them then. They have connections. We have connections. I would very much advise against that.”

She shakes her head and starts walking in a circle. “My business,” she says as a tear rolls down her face.

“Quinn will find a replacement.”

She shakes her head. “It’s mine. I built it from the ground up. You don’t understand. You have been given everything your whole life. I had to work for that business.” My hand reaches out to touch her, but she pushes my hand away. “Don’t touch me, Ryken, I mean it.”

My hands go up in surrender. “Let me help, Barbie.” Tears are now streaming down her face.

“You can’t help. You could never help. We should have listened from the beginning. We should have stayed away from each other. But no, we had to cross that line, we had to fuck up both of our lives.” She wipes at her face angrily as she looks to me. “How long for? How long will I be gone?”

I look down to the ground then back up to her. “He has you for six months.”

“Nope. No fucking way.” She reaches for the knife on my bedside table that I used to eat my apple this morning then puts it on her wrist and slices. My body moves to stop her before I even realize what she has done. Blood starts to drip all over my white floors, and her eyes are filled with tears.

“Quinn.” He’s unlocking and opening the door before I can cover her wrist. He looks to her then to me as I wrap it, and grabs the knife, taking it away and coming back with a first aid kit.

Looking up, she smiles. “I could make it so much easier for both of us. Just look away, Ryken, look away.”

Shaking my head, I stand, walking to the door as Quinn walks in then I walk out.

Leaving her bleeding on the floor.