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There was no point pretending; I opened my eyes.
The beautiful monster stood beside the open closet, his chest bare and terrifying physique on display. He was so powerful with all those muscles, and I was so weak.
But even Luca’s physical strength had been nothing in the face of Dante’s sadistic mental games. I wouldn’t have been surprised if Dante had allowed him to escape in the first place, just to tease him with a glimmer of hope before crushing it.
The madman shrugged on a white collared shirt, quickly securing the buttons before reaching for a black tie.
“I have to go into the city for business,” he told me, as though this was a normal domestic situation. “The house is yours to explore while I’m gone. Eventually, I’ll introduce you to the staff and you can run the estate, but I’m afraid I don’t have time until everything settles down.”
That was a mild way to say that he’d started a war within our own organization.
I hoped Luca still had men fighting for him. I hoped they were regrouping and making plans to rescue us.
The alternative—that we were utterly alone in this fight for our sanity—was too unbearable to contemplate.
“All I ask is that you remain inside,” he continued. “You can go for a swim in the indoor pool, or you can read if you want. I had your books brought over from your father’s house. They’re in our library, but you’re welcome to read anything of mine if it interests you. There’s a piano if you want to play. I’d love for you to fill this house with music again.”
My head was spinning by the time he stopped talking. It was all too much. He spoke as though he was offering me everything I could possibly want, but the implications were sickening. He seemed to know most of my hobbies. Who had told him? And my books. He’d put his hands on my beloved books and placed them in his own library. Thinking about it felt like yet another violation.
He cocked his head at me, and a dark curl tumbled over his brow. “You look pale. You should eat something.”
“I’m not hungry.” The ache in my stomach was nausea, not hunger.
He fixed me with a forbidding frown, and I shrank into the pillows. His doting behavior was unnerving, but his stern disapproval made my gut twist. The last time he’d looked at me with that dark expression, he’d bent me over the dining table and spanked me with his newspaper before feeding me from his hand like some sort of scolded pet.
He seemed to be remembering the same thing, because he said, “I’ve ordered breakfast for you. You will eat every bite.”
I dropped my gaze, breaking from his glittering emerald stare.
He blew out a sigh. “I have to go, little bird. Behave while I’m gone.”
I pressed my lips together to hold in spiteful words. Hatred pulsed through my veins like poison, making me feel sick. There was no way I could eat breakfast. If he was leaving, he wouldn’t know if I simply disposed of the food rather than eating it.
That small, defiant thought calmed me slightly: a tiny kernel of familiar control.
I flinched when he dropped a kiss to my forehead, and he sighed again, as though I frustrated him.
“I know you don’t understand me yet,” he said, his voice rich and deep. Sincere. “But I’ll protect you and give you everything you want. I’ll give you more pleasure than you can imagine. I know what I’ve asked of you so far has been difficult, but you’re strong enough to bear it. That’s what I like about you. It’s why I chose you for my wife.”
He touched two fingers beneath my chin and tipped my head back.
“Look at me.”
I didn’t dare disobey. I could scarcely breathe when he was so close. He seemed to take up all the oxygen in the room when he was near me like this, touching me with aching tenderness. With those big hands that were capable of terrible, violent deeds.
His shockingly green eyes pierced my soul.
“I’ll show you that I will be a good husband,” he said with the weight of an oath. “I’ll prove it to you every day. I promise.”
I wanted to tell him that a good husband wouldn’t do the awful thing he’d done to Luca and me yesterday. I wanted to tell him that he wasn’t my real husband at all.
But I didn’t dare. All I wanted was for him to leave so that I could try to find Luca. He’d been bleeding when Dante had dragged him away from me last night. Had anyone seen to his injuries?
I wasn’t stupidly hopeful enough to think that I stood a chance of freeing us both on my own, but I could at least comfort him. I could make sure he was strong enough to fight Dante in any way he could manage.
Dante ghosted a kiss over my lips. Mine felt frigid beneath his.
“We’ll discuss this more later,” he promised, pulling away. “I’ll see you as soon as I can get back.”
