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The door flew open. Gennady stood there, his face flashing with shock before darkening like a storm cloud. "What the hell are you doing?"

I didn't look up, shoving a sweater into the bag with force. "What's it look like? Packing. Getting the fuck out."

"You can't leave!" He strode toward me, his towering frame casting a shadow that felt like it could crush me. "It's dangerous out there!"

"Dangerous?" I snapped, whipping around to glare at him, my red-rimmed eyes burning. "More dangerous than staying here? At least the threats outside are ones I can see!"

"Cassie, let me explain," he said, reaching for my wrist.

"Explain what?" I jerked my arm free, my voice sharp. "Why you were cozying up with her? Why you didn't push her away? Or why you lied to my face?"

"I didn't lie!" he roared, veins bulging in his forehead.

"Oh, so I'm blind?" I shoved a shirt into the suitcase. "I imagined you two getting all touchy-feely? I made it up in my crazy little head?"

He grabbed my wrist again. "Stop it! I said stop!"

"Let go!" I fought, twisting with all my strength. "You don't get to tell me what to do!"

"I do!" His eyes blazed with a fury that screamed challenged authority, mixed with something deeper—panic. "You're my woman!"

"I'm not anyone's fucking property!" I shoved his chest, my nails scraping his shirt. "I'm not some toy you can toss aside and pick back up when you feel like it!"

My words lit a fuse. His jaw clenched so tight I thought it'd crack. "Then stop acting like a damn child!" he bellowed, his voice shaking the walls. "Seeing a woman near me and losing your shit like a lunatic! What is this? Your own fucking possessiveness?"

"Child?" The word was a poisoned dart, hitting my deepest wound, snapping my last thread of control. "You call me a child? What's it called when you're all over her? A mature man's rational choice?"

"We weren't all over each other!" he shouted, his voice hoarse with rage.

"Her hand was on you!" I screamed, pointing at his arm. "Right there! And you didn't push her away! You let it happen! You were soaking it up—her touch, her concern, enjoying how it fucking hurt me, weren't you?" My accusations were wild, sharp, fueled by raw anger and heartbreak.

His face wasn't just dark—it was a storm. "You're being fucking ridiculous!"

"Ridiculous?" My heart shattered, the sound echoing in my ears. "I was up all night hating myself for hurting you, trying to figure out how to fix this! And what were you doing? Getting cozy with her, handling your 'important private business'?"

"I'm not with anyone!" He grabbed my shoulders, his fingers digging in so hard I felt them in my bones, his eyes wild with a wounded animal's desperation. "It's you! You're the one pushing me away! Rejecting every touch, every moment I try to get close! What am I to you? A fucking plague?"

"Because—" The truth clawed at my throat, desperate to escape—because I'm pregnant! Because I'm scared! Because I'm terrified you'll use this baby to chain me down even tighter!—but at the last second, reason yanked me back from the edge.

I couldn't tell him.

Not after seeing Ginnie, seeing him not push her away. How could I trust him now? How could I bare my most vulnerable secret to a man who made me feel so betrayed, so unsafe? The risk was too great—he'd use this child to lock me up for good.

My voice cut off, like a blade had sliced through it.

That silence lit a fire in him. "Because what?" he roared, shaking my shoulders, his eyes like knives, trying to cut through to my secrets. "Say it, Cassie! Give me a reason! One fucking reason that makes sense! Stop torturing me with your silence!"

I opened my mouth, but no sound came out. My throat felt sealed with molten lead. I couldn't say it. Not now, not like this.

My silence was like gasoline on his rage, proof of guilt in his eyes. "See?" he sneered, his laugh cold, dripping with mockery and crushing disappointment. "You've got nothing to say. Because you're just playing with me! You love this push-and-pull bullshit, don't you? Watching me suffer makes you feel powerful, huh?"

"I'm not playing anyone!" I screamed, the injustice of it drowning me.

"Then prove it!" His voice broke with a desperate, reckless edge as he yanked me into his arms, his grip so tight I could barely breathe. His eyes burned with a dangerous mix of pain and need, like he was betting everything on this moment. "If you feel even a shred of love for me, if you're not just screwing with my head, prove it! Show me with everything you've got!"

Before I could respond, his lips crashed onto mine, fierce and punishing, raw with desperation. Wilder than last night, more reckless, like he was throwing everything into this one act. I tried to push back, to fight the humiliating invasion, but my body betrayed me. Even in this pit of anger and hurt, I felt him—his scent, his heat, the electric pull that set my nerves on fire. That uncontrollable attraction made me hate myself even more.

It was like pouring oil on a flame.