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“You aren’t leaving me.” In less than five large strides I’m in front of her, grabbing her arm so she can’t pack the bag anymore. “You can’t leave me.”
“The hell I can’t.” She tries to rip out of my hold, but I hold on tight. “Watch me.”
“I won’t be watching anything because you won’t be leaving. We made a deal.”
“Screw your deal!” she shouts, shaking her head as she continues to disappear into the closet only to come out with more stuff in her hands.
I snag the shirts away from her and hold them in the air.
“Don’t be like this. Just let me go,” she says tiredly, trying to reach the shirts as I hold them above her head. “Ari.”
“No. Not until you explain to me what happened. You aren’t leaving me.” I toss the shirts as hard as I can across the room and growl. “You. Can’t. Leave me,” I roar, pounding my chest as if I’m some sort of animal.
She lifts her hands in the air. “Why are we even fighting, Ari? We are fighting like a real married couple. We aren’t a real married couple. There is no reason to fight like this. We hardly know one another. I think this deal had good intentions but we both knew it wouldn’t work out in the end.”
“We are married. This is real. You think this—” I walk over to the dresser and pluck the stone to hold it in the air. “You think this will save you? Do you think this will protect you? It will get you killed even if you sell it. It is nothing. It is worthless when it is compared to your life. Do you want to know why this is wanted by Bianchi? Do you?”
I don’t give her time to answer.
“It’s an uncut black diamond. One this size goes for millions, Rosie. This isn’t a get-out-of-jail-free card. It will kill you. The people who want this will stop at nothing to make sure you’re dead, your family is dead, and everything around you is ruined. And it probably doesn’t stop at Bianchi wanting to find you. If anyone knows, if anyone sees you with it, they will try to take it from you. It isn’t worth it. You want millions? I have it. I’ll give it to you.” I toss the diamond on the bed, and she gasps, watching as it flies through the air, and lands safely on the mattress.
There was a moment of fear in her eyes when she thought it wouldn’t be safe. Even I wouldn’t destroy a stone this valuable, no matter how much I want to at this moment.
“I don’t want your money,” she whispers, staring at me with those fucking eyes I’m obsessed with. A tear breaks free and rolls down her cheek. “I don’t care about your money, Ari.”
“Then what? What do you care about? At this point, I’m wondering if you care about anything at all. You hate me, right? You can’t fucking stand me. Do you wish you never signed the contract? Am I that bad, Rosie? Just tell me and I can move on.”
“You’ve already seemed to do that,” she spits hatefully and then covers her mouth as if she didn’t mean to say that. “Never mind.” Rosie tries to walk by me to get to the closet and I lift her suitcase from the end of the bed and empty it on the floor.
“No. No more packing. No more running away from me. What did you mean by that? Tell me.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
I wrap an arm around her waist and spin her arm, yanking her to me until our bodies collide. A soft puff of air escapes her from the collision and her eyes slowly drag up my body until they latch onto my face.
Fuck.
I do love it when she looks at me like that. It’s the one time I get to see how she wants me. When all the walls come crumbling down and all that’s left is sexual tension.
“It matters. It matters to me.”
“I don’t hate you,” she begins, still trying to wiggle free of my hold. “It’s impossible to hate you, Ari. I’ve tried and I realized I wasn’t even mad at you but at myself. You don’t understand how life has been for me. It’s been a constant fight. I’ve worked myself to the bone. I’ve sacrificed everything for everyone and not once have I ever done anything for myself. So you were my outlet for all my rage.” The end of her sentence is drowned out by anger. “And I’ve realized that I’m done being used and walked all over. I’m done. I have no more fight left in me, Ari. So just let me go so you can get on with your life. Worrying about me is the last thing you need to do and the last thing you want to do. You have other priorities and that’s fine.” She presses her hand against her chest as if she can understand my position and responsibilities.
“My only priority is you,” I state and the fight that was gone just got ignited because a storm is brewing fast in those blue irises.
And I’m on the receiving end of whatever destruction she will bring.
Chapter Seventeen
Rosie
“Don’t lie to me,” I bite, his hand on my hip tightening when I try to pull free.
Even with one good arm, he is stronger than me, and the irrational part of me wants to see what he can do with all this strength.
“I’m not lying to you. Everything I’ve ever done so far is to prove how much I care about you. Every move I make. Every decision. It’s all about protecting you.”
I cock my head at him, wondering how he came up with that conclusion when he lets women touch him. “Do you think because you’re a powerful man you can have all the women in the world? I didn’t sign up to be a wife who gets cheated on and forgotten. You can either have that nurse or me, but you can’t have both. Remember the contract,” I remind him of the clause that states if either of us commits adultery, the contract is void.
