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“I admire your fire, but we have to learn to get along,” he said, as though he was the reasonable one. “You asked for a punishment, and you got one. I understand if you lose your temper with me sometimes, but I won’t allow you to hurt me.”
“And you’re allowed to hurt me?” she shot back, venom lacing the words.
“Yes,” he replied simply. “And I’ll make sure you enjoy it. Did I not make you come hard enough in the end?”
His dark brows rose in challenge, and she bared her teeth at him.
“I don’t want you to make me come. I don’t want you to touch me. I hate you.”
He sighed, exasperated. “It doesn’t have to be this way between us, little bird. You’ll come to understand me in time.” He released her face from his firm hold and pulled the domed silver lid from his plate. “Now, it’s time for you to eat something.”
“You make me sick,” she hissed, crossing her arms over her chest. “I’m not hungry.”
“Yes, you are,” he said dismissively. “You just don’t want to eat. But you don’t get to make that choice.”
His sharp green eyes suddenly pierced my chest. “She’s been starving herself, and you didn’t even notice.” He sneered. “You were never worthy of pretending to be her husband. You’re too self-absorbed to see what’s right in front of you.” He stroked a hand down her back. “I’ll always take care of my wife.”
My eyes raked down her slim body, noting how slender and fragile she was. I’d assumed she had a dancer’s form, and I’d never questioned how thin she was. She had generous enough feminine curves to distract me from the slight shadows around her lower ribs.
How had I never noticed?
“Is it true?” I demanded of her before I could hold the words in. My own face firmed into forbidding lines. “You’ve been—”
“Don’t talk to my wife!” Dante thundered, cutting me off before I could demand answers from her.
She cringed at his outburst, and he stroked her spine again, soothing.
“I’m not angry with you,” he promised her. “Luca needs to learn to mind his tongue, or Gabriele will lose his.”
My fists flexed beneath the table, and I clamped my mouth shut.
Dante cut into his steak and picked up a bite sized piece, lifting it to Nora’s mouth.
“Open up, pet,” he cajoled.
She shot me a shy glance, her cheeks flushing a deeper shade of pink. She was embarrassed for me to watch him feed her like she truly was his pet.
But if she was looking to me to help her avoid eating, she was mistaken. If I’d been free to do as I wished, I would have fed her from my own hand.
I’d been careless with my wife, every bit as self-centered as Dante had said.
But if our positions were reversed, I would’ve done whatever it took to ensure she was safe and healthy. And although I didn’t possess Dante’s sadistic streak, I could be a controlling bastard when I was intent on getting what I wanted. I would’ve bent her too-thin body over the table and spanked her if that was what it took to get her to eat.
“Remember what happened the last time you refused,” he reminded her sternly.
What had he done to her?
Whatever it was, the memory of it made Nora drop her eyes and part her lips, accepting the food from his fingers.
I felt like I was a voyeur watching something perverse. Because if she’d submitted to me like that, I would’ve fucked her hard and given her an orgasm in reward for her good behavior.
Loathing for Dante burned with the molten heat of a small sun in the center of my chest. He’d taken my wife from me. He was holding her and caring for her in the way I should’ve done from the very beginning of our marriage if I hadn’t been so preoccupied with securing my birthright.
Instead, I’d taken what I wanted from her on our wedding night and forced birth control on her to suit my own needs and desires. She’d told me that she hated me for it.
Dante had accused me of raping her. It wasn’t true.
It couldn’t be. I wasn’t that much of a monster.
