Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 70097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
I stepped closer, my patience fraying. “I’m not deceiving you. I don’t see you as less than a person. You’re not a commodity, though the men in our world like to believe that women like you are… but you’re not. But you’re my wife. You belong by my side.”
“I belong to no one!” The scream erupted from her chest, raw and drenched in absolute fury. “Not to you, not to my father, and certainly not to this damn marriage that destroyed my life!”
“Your life was ruined long before you ever walked down the aisle to me, Serafina.” The words tore from my throat before I could stop them, and she physically flinched from them, as if I had actually struck her.
All color drained from her face before a flush of pure rage consumed her, her chest heaving as she dragged a breath through her lungs.
“You know nothing of my life,” she rasped, her voice trembling under the weight of her fury.
“I know enough.” I crowded into her space, towering over her. “I know you’re running from a ghost that has nothing to do with me. I know you’re terrified of the dark secrets you carry.”
“Back away from me.” She bared her teeth at me, like a kitten would. Cute, very fucking cute. But as much as I liked her defiance, now was not the time for it.
“Give me the truth. Tell me the real reason you pulled that trigger.”
Her eyes widened, and for a moment I wondered if I had pushed too far, too soon. A momentary flicker of vulnerability broke through her mask before I saw something physically inside her snap. A complete, absolute fracture of her composure.
“You want the truth?” She lunged at me, shoving forcefully against my chest. “The truth is, I despise you. I loathe every shadow of your existence, your family, your goddamn bloodied empire, and your suffocating control.” Her words, unhinged and laced with every ounce of her fury, slammed through me, each one a painful lash through my body. “I will never return to being your wife. Never.”
Her declaration struck like a lethal blow. Instinct took over; my hands clamped around her wrists, trapping them firmly at her sides as I pushed her back against the wall. Her body collided with the plaster with a heavy thud, and the sound ignited a dark, primal pulse through my veins.
“Never is a long time, Princess.” Never was indeed a dangerous word to speak to a dangerous man because we always saw it as a challenge.
“Do you want to know what I think?” she spat out softly, her voice dropping into a deadly, intimate cadence. “I see a man who cares nothing for my survival, only his bruised ego. I think you care more about your pride. About the fact that someone tried to kill your wife and that makes you look weak, vulnerable. It hurts your pride that you couldn’t prevent it, and that eats at you, because Adrian Salvatore doesn’t fail.”
She was inches away, so close I could catch the golden flecks in her hazel gaze, close enough that her sweet vanilla scent enveloped my senses completely.
“Is that the pathetic narrative you chose to believe in?” I murmured, my voice deadly quiet, though a storm raged beneath the surface. My jaw clenched as anger fired through my blood. “You truly believe I hunted you across almost four continents and slaughtered men merely because my pride was wounded?”
“I put a bullet in your chest. I know your ego bleeds.” Her eyes flared with pure defiance, her quickened breaths fanning hot against my skin, and I could feel the hammering of her heart, like a trapped bird against her ribs.
“Quite the opposite, my sweet wife,” I drawled. “Your murderous attempts are very… entertaining. It turns me on, and I’m starting to think it turns you on too. Verbally sparring with me. Provoking me. Testing my restraint. You enjoy getting on my nerves, wife.”
Her jaw tightened, her lips thinning. Ah, she didn’t like being called out.
“You crave chaos,” I continued. “It makes you wet, knowing how much I want you. Knowing how much I lack control when it comes to you, how unhinged you make me. You like the idea that I still get so painfully fucking hard for you even when I’m aware that you wouldn’t hesitate to put another bullet in me.”
“Let me go,” she hissed between her teeth.
“Never.”
Her eyes flared at my refusal, at the same word she had spoken to me before.
I released one of her wrists only to slide my hand down the length of her thigh, hoisting her leg up and locking it securely around my waist before she could process my intention.
The friction pressed her softness flush against all the hard ridges of me, and a sharp gasp caught in her throat as anger instantly dissolved into a thick, heavy tension.