Craving My Ruthless Ceo novel Chapter 33

Chapter 33: Cut Them Off

Anna’s POV

My eyes followed Roman to the doorway, where he stood with Thomas. They spoke in low voices. I couldn’t hear a word, but Roman’s body was stiff, his expression closed off, and Thomas kept glancing in my direction. I didn’t need to hear them to know it was about Drago.

My heart pounded.

What had they found out?

I should have told him the truth. I should have opened my mouth and let it all spill out, about how every sacrifice I made was for my mom and sister. They were the ones I was protecting.

But I couldn’t.

How could I tell Roman Blackwood, powerful, successful, from a world where family probably meant something more than being used and discarded, that my family was a mess? That they were selfish and careless and had abandoned me tonight without a second thought?

He’d see me as less than, as damaged goods from a broken home. And I couldn’t bear that, not from him, not after everything. Not after the way he’d looked at me tonight, like I mattered, like I was worth saving.

A part of me wanted to protect them too, despite everything. They weren’t the best family, God knows they were far from it, but they were still my family. The only one I had left since Dad died.

My thoughts still spun from everything that had happened tonight.

Drago’s hands on me. His foul breath against my neck. The fear that tore through me when I realized I was at his mercy, that he could have…

I shuddered and wrapped my arms around myself.

What stunned me most was Roman.

The way he’d defended me.

No one had ever fought for me like that.

And then he’d carried me out like I was something precious that needed protecting. He’d brought me here, into his home, a place no one talked about, a place no one was allowed.

Yet he brought me here.

He’d insisted on treating my wounds himself, his touch so gentle it melted away every bit of anger I’d felt toward him before.

I watched Roman’s expression shift, his face hardening. He turned away from Thomas, his eyes locking onto mine across the room. Whatever Thomas had told him had clearly set him off.

Oh no.

My spine straightened as he walked toward me. My breath hitched in my throat as he closed the distance between us.

He stopped directly in front of me, towering over me with his hands clenched at his sides, and the look on his face, God, I’d never seen him this angry.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” His voice was low, but I could hear the fury underneath. “That it was your mother and sister who borrowed the money from Drago? That they gambled it away and squandered the rest on shopping sprees? That they’re the reason you were in that club tonight?”

My mouth fell open, shock rendering me speechless for a moment. “How did you…”

“My men tortured Drago until he confessed everything.” Roman’s tone was matter-of-fact, almost casual, but his eyes blazed. “And he told me everything, Anna. How your mother and sister abandoned you the moment you showed up with the money. How they there to face that monster alone while they ran like cowards Successfully unlocked!

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Chapter 33: Cut Them Off

to save their own skins.”

Hearing it said out loud, so blunt and so true, made it even worse.

“I… I’m sure they didn’t mean to.” My voice came out weak, pathetic even to my own ears. “They’d been locked up for days. They were afraid. They just… they panicked. It wasn’t personal. They were just trying to get to safety…”

“No.” Roman cut me off, his voice sharp as a blade. “Don’t even bother defending those leeches.”

“My family are not leeches!” The words burst out of me, defensive and angry, even as part of me knew he was right. “They care about me. They were only afraid. Anyone would have been afraid in that situation. You can’t judge them for wanting to escape…”

Roman actually sounded angry, on my behalf.

“And you weren’t? Afraid?” He leaned down, invading my space, his eyes locking onto mine with an intensity that made me flinch. “Fuck, Anna. How can you still defend these people who abandoned you to almost get…”

He broke off abruptly, and the realization hit me, sending a jolt through my veins. Roman Blackwood, my cold, distant, impossibly controlled CEO, cared enough that the thought of what could have happened tonight actually hurt him.

The way he looked at me now, as if the mere idea of Drago touching me caused him pain…

My heart spiked in my chest.

I didn’t know what to say. I couldn’t find the words.

Because deep down, the part of me I tried to ignore knew he was right.

Mum and Bianca had never really cared about me, not the way family should. Nothing I did was ever enough. I could work myself to the bone, sacrifice everything, give them every penny I had, and it still wouldn’t matter.

I would still just be boring and responsible Anna. The one who cleaned up their messes and asked for nothing

in return.

Roman’s expression softened slightly as he watched me struggle, some of the anger leaving his posture. He exhaled, running a hand through his hair in a rare show of frustration before sitting down beside me on the sofa.

He leaned in too close. I could feel the heat radiating from him.

“Listen, Anna.” His voice was gentler now, but still firm. “I know you care about these people…”

These people. Like they were strangers. Like they weren’t my mother and sister.

But maybe that’s exactly what they were. Strangers who happened to share my blood.

“…but they clearly don’t feel the same way about you,” he continued, turning to face me fully. “They see you as a means to an end. A bank account. Someone who will always come running when they call, who will always bail them out, no matter what it costs you.” His hand moved, fingers curling into a fist on his thigh like he was restraining himself from reaching for me. “They’re using you, Anna. And they’ll keep using you until there’s nothing left.”

“That’s not…”

“It is.” He held up a hand, stopping my protest. “Your mother borrowed hundreds of thousands of dollars from a loan shark. Did she ask you first? Did she think about how it might affect you? Your safety? Your future?”

I bit my lip, unable to answer because we both knew the truth.

“And when the debt came due, when Drago came to collect, did she try to protect you? Did she offer herself up instead?” His voice dropped lower, rougher. “Or did she call her daughter, her child, and expect you to fix her mistake? To walk into a den of criminals and face God knows what, all alone?”

Each question was cutting away at the comfortable lies I’d been telling myself for years.

“Anna.” He said my name like a prayer, like a curse. “Do you have any idea what could have happened to you tonight? What that bastard was planning to do?”

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Chapter 33: Cut Them Off

The way he said it, the raw emotion in his voice, made heat flood through me.

“They don’t deserve your loyalty,” Roman said quietly, and now his hand did move, reaching out to cup my jaw, forcing me to meet his eyes. “They don’t deserve your sacrifice. And for your own good, Anna, for your own safety and sanity, you need to cut them off.”

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