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So I straighten my shoulders and walk past him. “Thanks for the information.”
When I clutch the door handle, he says, “So that’s it? You just got what you came for, and now you’re leaving?”
“We had a deal. A mutual exchange.”
He grabs my arm and forces me to look at him. “Don’t tell me it wasn’t more than that.”
Our eyes connect in a heated battle, one that could strike fear into anyone’s heart.
He wants my love, but he knows I will never give it to him. “Sorry, but I’m not going to suddenly change my mind after what you did to me.”
His face darkens. “What’s it going to take then?”
I jerk my arm loose from his grip. “Everything.”
It’s the same response he’s given me when I asked him what else I needed to do to pay for my sins. But I want him to feel what I felt, to suffer as I did. And I know that’s petty … but sometimes being petty is the best way to get a point across.
Later that week
We haven’t spoken in days. I don’t even know how long I haven’t seen him. All I know is that I quite enjoying my free time, lounging about the house. It’s a shame I’m not allowed to go outside, though. He’s probably scared I’m going to try to run again, even though he has a ton of guards following me around wherever I go.
I rarely have some peace and quiet of my own. But at least it beats having Eli hover around me like he wants to eat me up. It’s already tough enough to ignore his stares, let alone when his eyes scream, ‘I want to fuck you into oblivion.’
All I know is that he’s locked himself inside his study, busy with work or something.
No one will tell me why. When I ask the guards, none reply. I don’t dare ask Soren. He scares me a little. And when I asked Tobias when I finally did see him come out of his man-cave, all he did was tell me to ask Eli himself.
But the whole point was to avoid him.
I sigh as I sit down on the staircase and stare up at the ceiling, wondering who made that beautiful painting.
Suddenly, the door to Eli’s study opens up. I don’t look, but I definitely hear the clicking of shoes on the floor, they’re unmistakable his, and they make my heart thump.
He stops near the staircase, and I can feel his eyes practically burning a hole into my skin.
“I know the story I told you was damning, but I wanted to be truthful with you.”
Because I asked.
I’m not sure he would’ve told me if I hadn’t made him.
And I don’t really think about it a lot.
“Are you going to talk to me?” Eli asks.
I shrug.
There’s no point unless I have something to ask, which I don’t. He’s made his plans very clear. And no story he tells me will change the way I feel about that.
“I know I’ve been very busy with work these days, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to see you.”
I don’t even respond this time.
After a while, he continues. “Do you hate me so much?”
Again, I don’t reply. It should be obvious by now.
He sighs out loud and sits down beside me on the stairs, staring up at the same beautiful painting that’s on the ceiling. I almost open my mouth to ask, but then I realize I was ignoring him just to give him a piece of his own medicine.
“I know you’re just ignoring me to punish me. And I can tell you that it has worked,” he says. “I hate it. I hate not talking to you. I hate not being able to touch you. To kiss you.”
The way he says it, with so much emotion that it takes my breath away, hurts my soul.
But I cannot ever let him get close again.
“Amelia … please,” he murmurs. “Tell me why.”
“You know why,” I rebuke, looking him dead in the eyes.
His nostrils flare. “You want to be salty the rest of your life, fine. But that doesn’t mean you should deprive yourself too.”
I snort. “I’m not depriving myself of anything. I don’t want you.”
“Lies,” he retorts.
“Lies or not, you still won’t get it.”
“What do you want from me?” he asks. “I bared my soul to you. I told you all my darkest secrets, and it’s still not enough.”
“I don’t think you have,” I reply.
His eyes twitch, narrow, and full-on rage blossoms on his face in the likes I’ve never seen. He gets up from the stairs, looking down at me. “You want me to be truly honest?”
I gulp at the sight of his powerful frame. With his slick dark brown hair combed back over his head and his navy blue pants along with those brown loafers, he looks like he came walking straight out of a James Bond movie.
