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I almost stagger back at her words. I scan her face, trying to see the truth, hoping it’s not, but seeing no lie.
“For what purpose?”
Elena tilts her head to the side and gives me a smile that is without joy. “She wants me pregnant. As soon as possible. She said if I seek another doctor out, she’ll kill my family. I know we have to have children, but I didn’t expect to be knocked up right away. I thought we’d have some time… together.”
Anger burns through me. Not because of what Charlotte’s done. I would expect nothing less from that meddling bitch, but because of the look on my wife’s face. The wobbly movement of her chin, the way she won’t meet my eyes. She’s fucking upset.
That sends a wave of rage through me. One I’m not sure I’m going to be able to control.
I release my hold on her. “Wait here.”
She grabs my arm before I can move, a plea crossing her expression. “Kane, don’t.”
I turn back to her, my fingers cupping her jaw. Then I kiss her head. It’s strangely intimate, more so than if I’d taken her mouth. It feels like claiming her as mine. It feels like telling the world she’s mine.
Which she is.
She has my surname.
She will live in my home.
She will bear my children—when she’s ready, not when Charlotte determines.
I grit my teeth. She couldn’t leave well enough alone, even for one day. I scan the room and see my mother is standing near the cake with my father, deep in conversation. I can only imagine what they are plotting now. Ash burns through my gut as I push through the crowd of guests. I ignore their murmurs of disapproval as our first dance song continues to play in the background.
As I approach my parents, their gazes move off each other to me.
“You’re supposed to be—” Charlotte starts.
I push into her space. I want to tear her fucking throat out. She must see the rage in my face because the usual smug look is replaced by one of uncertainty.
Anthony immediately steps between us, his hand pressed against my chest. Her white knight. He’d defend her to the death, even if she was wrong. “What the fuck are you doing?”
“Stay out of this,” I order before turning back to my mother. “Don’t ever interfere in my wife’s medical treatment again.”
She laughs. It only fuels my anger, but my father is a wall, protecting his fucking wife from my wrath. “Kane, you’re not stupid. You know to secure our future you need to have a son as soon as possible. I was simply making sure the girl knew her duty.”
“If and when we have children, it will be Elena’s choice. Not yours. And that ‘girl’ is my wife. Show some fucking respect.”
“And I’m your mother.”
“Not for a long time. Oh, and if you ever threaten her family again to keep her in place, I’ll fucking destroy you.”
As I turn, my brothers are there, their eyes questioning, but it’s not them I focus on. It’s Elena. She is standing behind me, holding the skirts of that stupid dress my mother put her in, her eyes shiny and bright. The gratitude in her expression nearly drives me to my knees. I’ve never been anyone’s saviour before, but right now I am hers.
I reach out my hand to her. “Shall we finish our dance?”
She nods, her gaze sliding past me towards my mother before finding me again. “Yes.”
I lead her back onto the dance floor, my arm wrapping around her waist as we resume our formal position. It doesn’t feel as awkward as it did before. She relaxes into my touch, and I find I do the same.
“Thank you,” she says after a moment.
“For what?”
“Sticking up for me. I didn’t expect you to go against your own mother.”
“Charlotte doesn’t have the right to determine the course our relationship, Elena. I’ll not have you held to ransom by her.”
