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But he was stronger. He was quicker. Eli grabbed my wrist and whipped me around to face him so hard that my neck snapped backward. I sucked in sharply, fear pounding through my veins.
“Knock this shit off!” He gathered me closer to him, not as an intimate maneuver, but as a punishment. "I don’t want to have to tell you again. You need to fall in line, Cora. This partnership can work. But only if you fucking try a little.”
I struggled to release myself from his iron grip. “Let go of me, Eli! This isn’t right!”
Pounding broke through our scuffle. At first, I couldn’t tell where it came from. Was Eli pounding me against the wall and I was just too shell-shocked to realize? But when Eli looked toward the door, the pieces clicked together.
“Who are you expecting?” he asked.
His question gave me a window of opportunity. I ripped my arm from his grip and flung myself toward the door. I gripped the handle, tugging it open before Eli could intervene. Whoever was on the other side was my ticket to safety. I didn’t care who it was or what they wanted.
I just needed out.
I watched as a wide hand pushed open the door in slow-motion. I couldn’t even utter a cry for help before the boxy frame I knew too well filled the doorway.
Axel.
I opened my mouth to say something—anything—but all that came out was a squeak of relief. Axel surged inside the doorway. Realization crashed over his sharp features in waves—first confusion, then recognition, followed by seething rage. His lips curled, something primal sliding into place. His brawny shoulders stretched at the seams of his button-down as he grabbed Eli by the front of his shirt, hauling him against the wall. Eli landed with a thud.
“Oh, what a fucking treat!” Eli spat. His eyes were wild, the only thing betraying his fear. “Should I even fucking ask why this loser is on the property?”
“Cora, go into the other room,” Axel said, his voice gritty, eyes focused on Eli.
“Why should she leave when the circus is just starting?” Eli’s gaze grew twisted and dark.
“I don’t want her to see what I’m about to do to you,” Axel growled, his face inches from Eli. I didn’t know how Eli could be locked against the wall and still find it in him to talk shit to Axel’s face. Eli’s razor sharp tongue was his main weapon, but it wouldn’t do much if Axel put his fist into Eli’s face. Physically speaking, Eli had always been soft. That’s what growing up in the board room created. His muscles were merely for show; just another part of his presentation, like the silk ties and chemically whitened teeth.
Axel drew his fist back.Thatwasn’t for show. I knew how many fights he’d gotten into as a teen. As a young man.
“You’re such a fucking piece of shit,” Axel snarled, spit hitting Eli’s chin. “You never deserved her in the first place.”
“And you do?”
My heart pounded against my ribs. “Eli, just leave! Please!”
“No. You’re my wife,” he said, gripping Axel’s closed fist as if that could somehow prevent the impending punch. “Who’s to say this heathen won’t try to fuck you in the other room once I leave?”
The irony was almost funny. The only heathen in this room was Eli. The only man I’d ever feared trying to fuck me against my will. The true villain who’d always expected the world around him to bend to his will. Tears pressed at the corners of my eyes as the realization washed over me. My father, too, had always forced me to bend to his will while maintaining the illusion of choice. And maybe that’s why he saw such a great colleague and co-conspirator in Eli. He was just as ruthless. Just as dedicated to the outcome, no outside participation required. A gaslighter in Gucci. Part of me wanted to laugh, but the rest of me was stuck watching what unfolded by the door.
“Watch your mouth,” Axel warned him, a few wisps of his hair coming undone from his hairstyle.
“That’s what you came here to do, right?” Eli goaded him, struggling against Axel’s grip. “Fuck my slut of a wife?”
Axel slammed his fist into Eli’s jaw with enough force I heard the sickcrrrackof shifting bone. Eli’s eyes rolled up into his head for a moment, and a whoosh of air left him.
“Is that all you got?” Eli taunted, struggling against Axel’s hold. He broke through and lobbed a punch, but it didn’t go far. Axel dodged it easily and slammed his thick forearm against Eli’s collarbone.
“I said watch your fucking mouth,” Axel shouted, spit flying. “You don’t talk about her like that. Not now. Not ever again. And if you fucking try, I’ll make sure you can’t show your pretty face in the board room for a fucking month.”
“Ooh, is that a threat? You want to give me another love tap?” Eli nearly cackled.
“Eli, you are acting insane!” I shouted, my voice hoarse from all the emotions he’d brought to the surface.
“Looks like I have good reason, huh?” Eli laughed bitterly, wrenching himself out of Axel’s hold. He lunged for Axel, landing a punch into his cheek. Axel stumbled but recovered quickly, pinning him back against the wall.
“Eli, just leave,” I pleaded. But my words withered in the flames of the conflict between the two men.
“As soon as you leave, we’re calling the cops,” Axel said in a low, threatening voice. “You’re getting a restraining order put on your ass.”
