Redemption (A Dark Romance) (Fragile Ties Book 3) Read online

  Fragile Ties — Book Three

  Jennifer Bene

  Contents

  1. Lianna

  2. David

  3. Lianna

  4. Lianna

  5. David

  6. Lianna

  7. David

  8. Lianna

  9. David

  10. Lianna

  11. David

  12. Lianna

  13. David

  14. Lianna

  15. David

  16. Lianna

  17. David

  18. Lianna

  19. David

  20. Lianna

  21. David

  22. Lianna

  23. David

  24. Lianna

  Jean-Luc

  About the Author

  Also by Jennifer Bene

  Text copyright © 2020 Jennifer Bene

  All Rights Reserved

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  ISBN (e-book): 978-1-946722-58-4

  ISBN (paperback): 978-1-946722-59-1

  Cover design by Laura Hidalgo. https://www.spellbindingdesign.com/

  Created with Vellum

  Fragile Ties Series

  Destruction

  Inheritance

  Redemption

  About this Book

  "No one will tear us apart."

  Everything would be easier if he could just tie her up. Lock her away and keep her safe. Well... from everyone except him.

  But that's not how love works.

  David chose Lianna over his hate. Every part of her. Love of his life. Heiress to a dangerous crime family. Prior focus of all his rage and obsession, and current focus of his... everything.

  Her family is the only thing standing in their way. But family isn't everything, no matter what they say. She may share their blood, but those can be fragile ties when put to the test. In the end, it's who we choose that matters.

  And he will always choose her.

  This book is dedicated to two people who helped carry me through every difficult word to write in this series. Katie, who loved David from the first moment she saw past his rough exterior and who has always been Lianna and David’s biggest cheerleader. And Livia, who quite literally held my hand from across the country and helped make this final book happen when I wasn’t sure how to get out of bed. Without you both, David and Lianna would have never found their happily ever after, and their story would have never ended so beautifully.

  Thank you for loving me… and my crazy characters.

  For everyone who has followed the journey of Fragile Ties, thank you for your patience. I hope you enjoy the end. It’s a wild ride.

  One

  Lianna

  The chain rattled as David pulled it taut, stretching her arms before he locked the links together. It wasn’t really uncomfortable, not yet, but the leather cuffs were already digging into her ankles, and now her wrists were feeling the strain too. In a matter of minutes, she’d pull on them no matter what logic said, and then they’d start to hurt despite the soft lining.

  “How many times do I have to remind you to do what I tell you?” David asked, tracing a finger lightly up her side, gentle until he grabbed her nipple between thumb and forefinger and pinched hard. She bucked, angling her head back as she whined and bit down on her lip. “Answer me, Lianna.”

  “I don’t know,” she whimpered, the pain amplifying as he twisted the trapped bud, sending scattered shocks through her nerve endings. “Fuck, please, David…”

  He released her nipple to grab hold of her face, hand cupped under her jaw so his fingers could dig into her cheeks. Tawny brown eyes stared down at her as he tilted his head. “Is it complicated to obey me? You’re a smart girl, so… I don’t think it should be this hard.”

  “I’m not a puppet,” she ground out, glaring at him.

  “Oh, but you are mine. Pretty strings or not.” He smirked, a lopsided smile that made him too damn tempting. “Of course, I much prefer you in chains. Don’t I, angel?”

  Pushing her face to the side, he let go and plucked at the chain holding one of her wrists. She didn’t say anything in response, just balled her hands into fists as she turned to look at him again. David was still looming over her, the smirk lingering he was enjoying this — which he definitely was.

  “I’ll ask again, since you seem to be having trouble listening today.” David stood, moving to the dresser to grab the crop, his perfectly carved chest and abs taunting her as he slapped the crop against his palm. “How many times do I need to remind you to obey?”

  “This isn’t going to get you what you want, David. It never works and—” She yelped as the crop landed sharply on her thigh, a stunning streak of pain that made her clench her teeth to bite back the cry.

  “Oh, I think it works quite well.” He chuckled low, trailing the crop over the fresh welt on her thigh, up over her hip, her stomach, and then he rested the little tip on her breast. “Want to try and answer me again?”

  “Fuck off,” she growled, trying to prepare for the pain, but as the leather popped against her nipple she still whined through her teeth, jerking against the cuffs, making the chains rattle. A second snap landed on her other breast, and she arched off the bed. “David, please—”

  “God… you know how much I love the way you look in chains.” The crop slid down, between her thighs, and he shifted his hold to stroke the leather through her folds. “And the fucking sounds you make…”

  She stiffened, thighs straining to pull together, to protect herself, but it was impossible with how wide the chains held her apart. At his mercy, vulnerable again.

  “And look at that”—a quiet, dark laugh interrupted him as he stared between her thighs—“you’re already wet.”

  “That’s not me,” she snapped, but she couldn’t take her eyes off the sight of the leather moving back and forth between her legs. The texture of it sliding through the damning wetness, rubbing against her clit with each shift of his hand as he played her all too well.

  “Oh, I know that. This is all me, angel.” David grinned and removed the crop, landing it hard across both thighs. She cried out, unable to bite it back with the way her body jolted from the teasing pleasure into the bright strike of pain. “Is that it? Do you do this shit just to push me? Just so you can get punished, make me hurt you? Because I can see you like it, Lianna. You’ve already soaked my crop.”

  There was no way to answer that. No good way to answer that, so she just pressed her lips together, felt that delirious hum buzzing through her veins as the pain faded into a dull ache and left behind a dizzying rush.

  This was fucked up.

  They were fucked up.

  And the fact that she was chained down again, spread wide for him to torment, was just further evidence of it.

  David didn’t bother pushing her to answer, he just landed another stripe of the crop below the first. Both thighs. She yanked against the cuffs, hating herself for enjoying the way the leather dug in as she pulled, for the way her pussy squeezed around nothing as the buzz amplified inside her. Another strike, and then another and another until she was whimpering, arching off the bed as brilliant lines of pain marked her thighs
from hip to knee.

  “Fuck!” she cried out as he suddenly shoved two fingers inside her, immediately adding a third as he leaned over her and groaned.

  “So wet.” He pumped his fingers in and out, teasing her as she gasped for air and twisted as much as she could, but there was nowhere to go as he stretched her with each push of his fingers. “You can’t lie to me, angel. I know you like this. You want it. You want more, don’t you?”

  “Stop,” she whispered, clenching her eyes tight as he slid his fingers free to focus on her clit in damning swirls that pulled a moan past her lips despite her best efforts to stay silent.

  “Mmm, I love it when you say that,” he growled, forcing his fingers back in as she whined, hips rocking with the rough rhythm he set. “Beg me.”

  “No,” she growled, opening her eyes to find his face just above hers, and then he kissed her. Hard. Teeth nipping her lips before he parted them to dip his tongue in and taste her, taking control with his fist in her hair so she couldn’t turn away. Couldn’t argue. Couldn’t fight. All she could do was accept it, melting under him as he continued to move his fingers back and forth, occasionally slipping them free to rub her clit until she was moaning against his mouth. Desperate and needy, because he knew her body too well. He knew every inch of her. She nipped his lip back and he growled, nipping her back a little harder, a flicker of pain before he soothed it with another shattering kiss.

  “Such a naughty girl,” he whispered against her lips. “Taste.”

  His fingers were in her mouth before she could even react, the sweet tang of her pussy coating her tongue as he forced them to the back of her throat. She choked, gagged, but he didn’t stop. He only eased back for a second before thrusting them again, smearing saliva and her own wetness on her chin — and all she could do was take it.

  “Suck,” he demanded, holding his fingers still so she could seal her lips around them and trace them with her tongue. A low groan rumbled in his chest as he stared down at her, eyes so much darker as his pupils dilated. “Fuck… I’m going to make it hurt, angel.”

  She nodded, breathless as he yanked his fingers free and dropped his pants. Then he was on top of her, capturing her mouth in one more brutal kiss before he broke it to look between her thighs.

  “Go on, tell me you don’t want it,” he taunted, meeting her eyes with that small smirk tilting his lips.

  “Please don’t?” It was barely a whisper, and it didn’t mean anything as he groaned and lined up, stroking the head of his cock through her folds, brushing her clit, which only made her arch.

  “Again,” he growled, bracing one arm beside her ribs as he stared down into her eyes. Close enough to feel him exhale.

  “Don’t,” she repeated, and he thrust hard, filling her in an instant, and there was no chance she could have bit back the moan. He stretched her perfectly, slammed deep on the next thrust and sent her head spinning as she yanked on the cuffs. Trying to reach for him, to hold on as he started to move. No easing in, no gentle caresses, he just growled and grabbed a fistful of her hair before he drove inside again.

  “Fuck, yes,” he groaned as he claimed her. “You’re mine, angel. All mine.”

  It was pointless to fight it. She nodded, gasped as he drove deep again. “Yesss...”

  “That’s right… and you love it when I make you take it.” His words were pushing her to the edge faster than the delirious friction he was building between her thighs. All she could do was nod, accept it as he caught her lips in another kiss, sealed together as his strokes brought her to the edge and shoved her off without warning.

  The orgasm crashed over her like a tidal wave, the riptide dragging her under as she moaned and broke the kiss, delirious with that first obliterating rush of ecstasy. Everything flashed bright, wicked and perfect, and then he bit down on her shoulder. Yanking her back to earth with a sharp ache that turned her cries into agonized pleasure.

  “God, yes, again,” he urged as he bit down, overlapping the marks he’d already left behind as he fucked her into the mattress. The chains rattled with each thrust, the bed rocking as a sweet ache took up residence between her thighs and she whined. “You’re so perfect,” he mumbled against her shoulder as he kissed a path over the painful spot he’d left behind, moving up her throat, and he tightened his hold in her hair to bend her head back sharply. He continued to kiss his way up so he could nip just under her jaw.

  “Not perfect,” she panted, unable to do anything as she stared at the headboard, caught in his control and powerless.

  Just how she liked it.

  “Don’t argue with me, angel,” he growled and released her hair, pushing himself up as he stared down at her. Circling his hips, he teased her by barely moving. Letting his hard cock stroke every inch of her pussy, but without the bone-melting impact of his thrusts. “I can drag this out. I can get you to the edge again”—he pinched her nipple, instantly twisting it to send a sharp pain sparkling out—“and just hold you there. I can wait until you’re begging me to make you come.”

  “No!” Pulling on the cuffs, she lifted her hips to meet him, and he tightened his hold on her tortured bud, drawing a keening whine past her teeth as she lifted from the bed. “Please, please, please…”

  “You beg so well, angel. Think you can be a good girl for me?”

  “That depends,” she said, barely able to focus as he released her nipple, only to take hold of the other and send a fresh spike of pain buzzing through her nerves.

  “On what?” he asked, and she opened her eyes to see him grinning as she squirmed on his cock. David thrust deep, holding still, pressed skin to skin, and she could only whimper as he let go of her nipple and sent her head swimming once more. “Come on, angel,” he purred. “Tell me why you won’t just be a good girl for me… Tell me, and I’ll make you come over and over.”

  Lianna grinned, unable to fight it as she rolled her hips against him. “It depends.”

  “That’s it,” he said, almost laughing as he leaned back to release the cuff on her right ankle, and then he twisted to repeat it on the other side. She just bit down on her lip, watching as his hard muscles moved under his skin, and then she moaned as he grabbed her thighs and bent her knees toward her shoulders, spreading her just a little wider. “This what you want?”

  “Yes, please,” she begged, whimpering as he thrust back in and circled his hips against her.

  Hooking her legs over his shoulders, David leaned forward, forcing her to bend as he pulled back and pushed in slowly. “I’m going to make it so you feel me all day tomorrow, angel.”

  “Yes, please.” She was nodding, pulling at the cuffs still around her wrists, trying to shift her hips against him to bring back that delirious friction, but he only gave her a shallow, gentle thrust. “Please,” she begged again, and he groaned.

  “Not fair, angel. You know how much I love to hear you beg.” He strained her farther, knees touching her shoulders as he rocked against her. “I like to hear you scream, and cry, and fall apart under me… You want that? You want me to make it hurt?”

  “Yes!” she shouted, whining as she squeezed his cock inside her, desperate and needy.

  “Say it,” he growled, jaw tensing as she lifted her hips to take him in again.

  “I want you to hurt me,” she whispered, a blush burning her cheeks as she said it, but it was worth it when he drove in deep, hard.

  Muttering curses, he planted his hands on the bed and forced her to take every brutal thrust, every deliciously ruthless plunge that had her aching deep inside in the best of ways.

  “David!” she cried out, moaning along with him as he fucked her mercilessly. Hard, fast, he spiraled her back to the edge in a breath, leaving her teetering on that vicious cusp between the perfect ache of his cock hitting the place inside that took her breath away, and the mind-blowing, glittery horizon that felt so close.

  “Come on, angel,” he panted. “You’re gonna fucking take it and come for me.”

 
; Pain blurred into pleasure, the ache between her thighs fading into a buzzing hum under her skin as she stole little gasps of air on quiet moans. Reveling in the way he groaned, losing control above her as their skin came together in fierce claps, she whined and pulled on the cuffs as everything inside her tensed. Taut and shivering as he thrust hard again and again and again, she cried out something — his name, or a plea, or a random mumble of letters — it didn’t matter as the golden strand inside her snapped and she came.

  Fierce bliss raced through her, a chaotic wash of pure pleasure that shattered all of the tension in a glorious crash. It was perfect, wiping out everything except for the incredible feeling of him surging inside her again and again until he locked up and she felt every twitch of his cock, each pulse as he came within her.

  “Fuck, Lianna…” he groaned, choked on the words, hips pressing her hard into the bed as she tried to remember how to breathe.

  Everything was floating, a perfect hum that seemed to vibrate every cell from the top of her head to the tips of her toes, and she weakly pulled at the cuffs because she’d forgotten they were there until she’d tried to wrap her arms around him. It made her smile, a soft laugh escaping past her lips, and David looked down at her with a sly smile.

  “What’s so funny, angel?”

  “Forgot about the cuffs,” she answered, almost breathless as he chuckled. Keeping himself buried inside her, he moved her legs off his shoulders and leaned forward to release her wrists. Her hips ached in a fantastic way, a perfect hurt to match the almost bruised feeling inside. As soon as she was free, she reached up, sliding her hands up his chest to rest on either side of his head. “You weren’t kidding, baby. I’m going to feel that tomorrow for sure.”