Dark Domination (Bought By the Billionaire Book 1) by Lili Valente Page B

believe Harley would hurt innocent people, but as the years passed, her twin reminded her more of their any-means-to-an-end father than their sweet Aunt Sybil—the woman they’d both sworn they wanted to take after when they were girls.
    They’d been eleven years old the first time they’d gone to stay with Sybil for the summer, desperate for a woman to look up to, a woman who wasn’t broken and sad like their mother or cold and efficient like Nanny Hammond or the night nurses who had sat watch outside their bedroom since they were infants. Sybil struggled with severe arthritis and other health problems, but she was always upbeat, excited to greet the day, and eager to spread light around her corner of the world. She exuded a quiet strength and was unfailingly kind.
    If there was one thing Hannah never wanted to fail at, it was kindness.
    But when did kindness become weakness? More importantly, when did her love for and support of her sister make her an accomplice, culpable for the suffering of the people caught in Harley’s warpath?
    She didn’t know, but she knew she and Harley were going to have a real talk tomorrow morning. It was time for Hannah to make it clear that while her love was unconditional, her friendship and support were not. If Harley couldn’t assure her that she was keeping her hands clean, then the next time her sister called in the middle of the night, needing someone to talk her down from her latest anxiety attack or assure her that everything was going to be okay, Hannah wouldn’t pick up the phone.
    Sometimes, anxiety isn’t meant to be banished by a gentle voice in the darkness. Sometimes, anxiety is the soul’s way of telling the body that there are dangerous choices being made, choices that could lead to pain, suffering, and destruction of the most beautiful things in your life.
    Hannah drifted off to sleep battling her own anxious thoughts and didn’t expect to sleep well. Even after four years of living in single dorms and tiny rooms in apartments she shared with friends, she still had trouble drifting off without her sister’s body close to hers. They’d slept in the same bed from the time they were born until the autumn Hannah left for college and Harley headed to New York City to set the art world on fire.
    Hannah’s high school boyfriend had thought the single queen bed in their shared room was strange and Harley’s boys of the moment had usually thought it was sexy—no doubt imagining what it would be like to be sandwiched in between the Mason twins while they did something more than sleep—but Harley and Hannah hadn’t cared what anyone else had thought. They simply rested more peacefully when they were close enough to feel each other’s body heat, to hear the soothing sound of another heartbeat, another indrawn breath, another exhalation through softly parted lips.
    Maybe it was the familiar smell of her sister’s almond lotion lingering in the air that soothed Hannah into a deep sleep, or maybe it was the gentle patter of the rain on the roof that began to fall around nine thirty.
    Whatever it was, Hannah was far past the REM phase, drifting in the slow, sticky waves of delta rest when she was suddenly wrenched awake by the feeling of a heavy body settling on top of her in the darkness and a huge hand covering her mouth.

CHAPTER TWO
    Hannah
    Hannah’s eyes flew open and her lips parted in a scream, but the enormous man straddling her pressed his hand tighter to her lips, muffling the sound.
    She jerked her arms downward, ready to fight him off, only to discover that her wrists were tied to the headboard. Terror rushed through her and her pulse sped, setting her heart to slamming against her ribs as she tugged harder on her bonds. But the rope biting into her wrists assured her she wouldn’t be able to fight her way free.
    She was bound tight, powerless to protect herself from whatever this man intended to do to her.
    “Relax, princess. It’s just me.” The man