AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Jonathan’s jaw clenched. “I’ll give you half an hour to figure this shit out. If I don’t like what I hear when time is up, she needs to leave, too. Understood?”
Aiden wanted to shout that Jonathan could go fuck himself. He wanted to punch that domineering expression off his fucking face. To carry Liv up to their room, lock the door, and never open it again.
But Jonathan had the final say on everything that went on in the Manor. He always had.
Shoulders rigid and hands fisted at his sides, Aiden nodded. “Understood.”
Pinching the bridge of his nose, Jonathan muttered, “I’m getting a fucking headache,” and strode from the room.
Aiden watched the kitchen door swing back and forth on its two-way hinges. When at last it stilled, he heaved a deep sigh and forced himself to face Olivia. “Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“Bullshit.” He tried not to feel guilty when she winced at the anger in his voice. There was no way he could accept a total copout answer like that—especially not with Jonathan breathing down his neck. “This isn’t a request, Olivia. You heard what Jonathan said. I need answers.”
She blinked, and two more tears made slow trails down to her chin. “I don’t know what to tell you.”
Christ, this was getting him nowhere. Biting back an angry retort, he instead tried to come at it from a different angle. “Unless I’m very mistaken, you’ve never punched anyone in your entire life.” At his expectant look, Olivia shook her head. “Answer me verbally.”
Hugging herself even tighter, she whispered, “No, Sir, I’ve never hit anyone before.”
“So why her? Why now? She’s been trying to goad you all week, and you’ve managed to stay perfectly behaved. What happened this time to make it different?”
She gave the tiniest of shrugs and refused to say another word.
“Fine. We’ll do things your way.” Running a frustrated hand through his hair, he started toward the door. “Olivia, come.”
CHAPTER12
Olivia
Fuck.
That had been so goddamn stupid. She should’ve ignored that jealous asshole, grabbed the first edible thing she saw, and gone up to her sexy Dom. She’d be in bed right now, kneeling beside him as he fed her tiny bites, living her fucking dream.
Instead, she would be thrown out in half an hour. There was no doubt in her mind.
She’d never see Aiden again, and would spend the rest of her life wondering what could’ve been if she’d just walked the fuck away.
And for what? Why had she let Stacey get to her like that? She hadn’t been lying to Aiden...she genuinely didn’t know. She’d been trying to ignore her like the good girl she wanted to be, when all of a sudden, she saw red. Next thing she knew, her hand hurt like a motherfucker, and Stacey was slapping and scratching and screaming.
Olivia glanced at her right hand. It was swollen as all hell, the skin split on the first two knuckles.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
She followed Aiden forlornly up the stairs and to their suite, not daring to say a single word in her defense. What could she possibly say?
As soon as the door was shut behind them, Aiden stripped her down, removing her damaged lingerie coldly and efficiently. Then he led her over to the couch, jerked her down over his lap, and started spanking.
No warmup, no breaks. Not so much as a single word. Nothing but constant, hard slaps, one cheek after the other, over and over and over until she was reduced to nothing but the pain.
Olivia didn’t try to fight him. She simply buried her face in the couch cushion and sobbed, knowing she deserved every single stroke and so much more.
When he finally stilled, he waited patiently for her to get herself under control, his hand resting on her inner thigh. It was several minutes before she could stop the sobs ripping through her entire body, though she tried desperately to be quiet for him the entire time.
At last, silence fell over the room like a heavy, smothering blanket. Aiden stood, lifting her with him and setting her on her feet. “Come,” he said again, leading her around the edge of the couch until she stood facing its arm. “Don’t move.”
The disappointment and fury in his voice were even worse than the spanking had been. She had to fight the urge to start crying again.
