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“Don’t get too drunk. It’s business.” I said to him.
And I meant that literally as much as I meant it figuratively. It was easy to get high on the power and the women, but you couldn’t let it consume you. This life gave you no second for peaceful bliss when one mistake could end with you in a ditch and your family’s empire crumbling.
It was a life of thrill and uncertainty. One that either ended with you sitting on billions or a tale for others to learn from.
My family wouldn’t be a cautionary tale.
Chapter Fifteen
MIA
When Elizabeth called it night, I went to the bathroom, ready to wash the day’s activities and gunpowder away.
I could not wait to get out of that dining hall. I felt like the slightest wrong move would cause chaos to ensue. And it did for a bit. Until Elias smolder the fire that was his father.
His father had a crazed look in his eyes like he was a madman but unlike me, Elias remained calm. Even going as far as saying that he was scaring me; his wife. The simple term of endearment caused my heart to flutter.
I looked in the mirror at my reflection. My skin seemed more vibrant and my eyes as well. My body looked even more plump. I would blame it on the sun, but I knew it was due to the man that slept next to me at night.
That wall I so desperately wanted to keep around me, to prepare for a flare of his temper, was weakening. Something I convinced myself would not happen.
The reminder of why sitting on my back. I turned slightly to the mirror to see the ugly, healed gashes, some overlapping.
I slowly guided my fingers over them, my back wanting to run from my hand as if it still felt the harshness of Ilya’s whip.
A lone tear dropped from my eye. My body would never be the same again.
Suddenly, the creak of the bathroom door, caused me to quickly grab the nearest robe to cover my naked body, never mind it smelt like Elias; his strong, masculine scent immediately taking hold of me.
In front of me stood my husband, his shirt sleeves rolled to his elbows and the button of his slacks open; the zip the only thing stopping me from seeing what his cotton trousers barely hid before.
Stepping closer to me, my back now against the sink, he reached his hand out to wipe the tear that left a streak on my face.
“Why?” he asked his voice low, almost like he was in pain watching me cry.
I stared at his chest, afraid to meet his eyes. When I finally did, his eyes weren’t trained on me but on the small of my back that was exposed by the huge robe that slipped from my shoulder.
His fingers gently pushed the robe from my shoulders until it pooled at my waist, my heavy breasts, now rubbing against his clothed chest. My nipples hardened at the contact.
Slowly, his cold, rough hands traced the scars one by one causing my body to shiver. I held my breath as he continued until he reached the last of my scars that ended at the slit of my ass.
When he finished drawing his personal map, his eyes met my own; the darkness that settled in the already dark orbs enough to scare me.
“Breathe.”
And with one syllable, my chest started to resume its natural rhythm.
Using his huge hand, he caressed the small of my back, the other holding the side of my face as Elias said, “I cannot promise you love, but rest assured that as long as you are my wife, no harm will ever come to you, my sweet Mia.”
I gulped but nodded, my eyes saying the words that I could not.
Somehow his words made me feel safe and protected. It filled me with the one thing that I knew had the power to destroy me:Hope.
My hands slowly itched to the loose knot that I tied hastily to hide my body from him. I pulled it, letting the robe fall to my feet, my body completely naked for my husband to see.
His eyes darkened more if that were possible as he stared at me.
His hands dropped to his side, and he stepped back. If it wasn’t for the obvious bulge in his slacks, straining his zip, I would’ve thought he wasn't aroused by me.
