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“With all due respect, one simply does not invite a snake to their house and expect it not to bite them, sir.”
“Who are you and what have you done to my cruel, unfeeling husband?” A small smile touches his lips. “Enjoy this version while you can.”
“Do you want a date, Mrs. King?” “Maybe I do.” “Then maybe I’m making your wish come true.”
Once I’m done with Eli King, he’ll regret ever marrying me.
“Not sure what you’re talking about.” “You know exactly what I’m talking about. Suggesting or, worse, threatening me with an affair is the most foolish thing you can do. I draw the line at other men touching my property. Are we clear, Mrs. King?” “I’m not your property.” “You are whatever the fuck I say you are. Let’s not go down that road, for I’d hate to make you cry. Again.”
He said he’s always real, but a depressing thought keeps banging on the walls of my sanity. What if everything is still a figment of my unruly imagination?
“Lies can always be invented. I am not above shoving you back into the void you floundered in until very recently. You touch what’s mine, whether by actions or words, and Mia will disappear faster than the therapist.” His lips lift in a snarl. “Is that a threat?” “Only if you act foolishly. I’m presenting you with a warning because you’re family, Lan. A generosity you’re well aware I don’t offer to anyone who gets in my way.”
“I find you so extremely beautiful, it hurts to look at you sometimes.” “More beautiful than your ex-girlfriends?” “I’ve never had a girlfriend and even if I had, they wouldn’t hold a candle to you.”
“That’s all I remember.” I squint. “And only in fragments. It’s strange because I don’t have dreams.” Only nightmares that make me wake up in a cold sweat and refuse to ever fall asleep again.
“What I am sure about is that this push-and-pull game needs less pulling before it turns tiresome.” “What…do you mean?”
He nibbles on my bottom lip and sinks his teeth into the soft cushion. I tense, expecting the bite, the blood, the humiliation, but he sucks on the assaulted skin and conquers my tongue again. Like a savage.
“You had no business playing with my fire, Mrs. King, for you will not survive what I want to do to you.”
“I want to mark you, Mrs. King.”
“I want to hurt you, bruise you, and own you so thoroughly, you’ll be ruined for all other men. I want to feel your pain, see my welts on your porcelain skin. I want to choke your throat, bite your lips and nipples, and leave my presence across your whole body before I pound into your tight cunt so ruthlessly, you’ll beg me to stop.”
“This is your only chance to say the fucking words that will push me away for good.”
“Don’t…” “Don’t what?” “Don’t stop.”
“You have no idea what the fuck you’ve signed up for, beautiful.”
“Don’t be a flirt. I don’t appreciate others looking at what’s fucking mine.”
“Promise you’ll conduct yourself around the staff. You’ll act like my wife.”
“She’ll hurt you, you know.” “Good thing I’m the Tin Man,” I say over my shoulder and catch a glimpse of Cecily’s downward, sad smile.
But here we are, years after she softly and courageously confessed her feelings to a cruel monster, knowing I’d hurt her, and now I think about nothing but that infuriating woman.
“Hypothetically, I’ll claim you on his corpse so you recall who the fuck you belong to.”
“Last time I opened it, you cracked it to pieces.”
“It’s my attempt to remind myself that I shouldn’t be feeling this way. You have no morals, why should I?”
“No.” She stares out the window again. “But I would’ve moved all of your stuff to the garden and left it to soak in the rain.”
but I ended up like a mouse between the cat’s claws.
Eli’s smiling, but it’s hauntingly…sad.
“You’re perfectly tempting.” I swallow past the dryness in my throat. “I’m not changing. It took me a long time to get ready and feel beautiful. You won’t take that away.” “Ava…” “Either I go like this or I don’t go at all.” “Don’t go at all.” I release an exasperated sound. “Nope. I’m going. I didn’t get ready for nothing.”
“Don’t fuck with me, Ava. I do not appreciate sharing my things with others, am I clear?”
“Eli!” “Yes?” “You left finger marks on my neck.” “Good.” He stares at his handiwork. “That way everyone will know who the fuck you belong to.”
“I warned you, but you didn’t listen.” Gemma grabs onto Eli’s arm. “It’s okay…”
“Don’t you think you went overboard—” My words are cut off when his angry words roll off me. “Is he the fucker you cheated on me with?”
Cold. Harsh. Filled with rage.
Without him even having to do anything. As usual, he destroys things with his mere existence.
“Don’t you dare fucking stop. You took my virginity, so you better make this worth it.”
“Guess this means I didn’t cheat on you,” I whisper, my voice hoarse, my body aching everywhere. Down to my stupid heart.
He steps toward me. I hold up a hand. “Stay the hell away from me.”
So unless you’re in the mood to watch me go on a murder spree, stay fucking still.
I look away as my chin trembles and a bitter tear slides down my cheek.
Is this another cruel dream of mine? My stomach sinks at the very possible realization, but instead of surrendering to the gloom, I choose to live in the moment.
I’m going
“Don’t pussy-block me again. That’s totally against the girl honor code.”
He looks at me with renewed intensity. Nefarious intent. My own God of War.
Sangfroid isn’t only a way of life, but also the method Dad and Grandpa implemented in me from a young age.
Never wanted anything and didn’t get it. Never lost my cool. Started a fight or punched someone. If a person crosses me, they get eliminated swiftly and silently. Dirtying my hands is out of the question. Being obsessed to the point of madness should be entirely blasphemous. And yet the woman who’s looking at me with a spark of a challenge is single-handedly smashing all my principles into a fucking abyss.
“Surely, you know I’d never look at Ava that way. Matter of fact, she walked in on me on the verge of shagging her sister and saved me and the universe in time.”
She’s mine. Only mine. Body and fucking soul.
One, I genuinely dislike kids. They’re messy and illogical—my least favorite characteristics. Two, I’d be forced to share their mother with them.
“I’d understand if you wouldn’t, because I wouldn’t either, you know.” She places a hand on my chest. “If you dare betray me, I’ll ruin your life.” “More than what you’re doing already?” “This is mere foreplay. I’ll make you regret being born if you stab me in the back.” She drops her hand. “Can we leave now?”
How come a monster feels so safe?
