His nostrils flared in his anger. "Get out," he snapped to the woman and the man who were finishing up cleaning. I whimpered, following them with my eyes as the woman shook her head sadly. "Do you think it pleases me to know that you miss your mundane life? Look around you and see all that I have to offer you, Princesa."
"I want my family," I said. "All the money in the world can't replace them, and youforcedthis on me, Rafe. I want to choose where my life takes me, not have a man I hardly know decide for me." His hand caught my chin, the blood covering him feeling warm on my skin as he turned my face to his and crashed his lips onto mine. He devoured my mouth, building that desire inside me with just the furious strokes of his tongue against mine even though I wanted to bite his off. So I bit down in warning, hating the chuckle he released as he pulled back and tugged his tongue from my mouth.
"I am your family now. If you behave, perhaps there is a way that you can have a relationship with the family you left behind. But that cannot happen if I can't trust you."
I gasped, staring up at him with ever growing hatred. To use my family to control me was cruel, even for him.
He swung his feet up onto my lap, the shards of glass protruding from his flesh as he handed me the tweezers. "You've already bled me once today, little demon."
I glared at him, torn between wanting to shove the shards of glass further into his foot and wanting to help him in the same way he had me. He could have left me to deal with it on my own and let me bleed. Instead he'd shown me a moment of kindness that I might not have deserved considering I'd tried to bash his skull in.
I pulled the first shard free, dropping it into his open palm so he could place it with the others on the nightstand. "My mother was fond of those lanterns," he said, drawing my attention up to his face. "I don't remember much of her, but I remember that."
Hearing him say that made me instantly feel guilty. "I'm sorry," I said, the apology feeling genuine despite the circumstances. I knew what it was to miss a loved one, to treasure the things they left behind for fear of losing the last connection we had with them. I still had both my parents, but my grandfather's loss was something I felt every time I looked at the fossil he'd given me as a girl.
The one that I’d likely never see again.
"It's just a lantern," he said, leaning forward to touch his lips to my forehead. "You're far more important to me. I won't have you hurting yourself."
"Then let me go," I argued, holding his gaze as he chuckled and shook his head.
"No."
"Rafael!" I snapped, dropping his leg to the floor as I moved onto the next one. "You cannot be so hard up for sex that you have to abduct an unwilling girl. Please. Just let me go home."
His eyes darkened as the traces of amusement fled from his face. "Do not reduce what we have to sex," he warned as he pulled his foot from my hand and stood from the bed. There was still glass in one of them, but he didn't so much as flinch as he put his weight on it. "We both know that there is far more emotion between us than that."
I swallowed, wanting to deny the words. I would if he made me, but instead I just said nothing. I watched him in silence as he leaned into my space and touched his lips to mine gently. "I wouldn't abduct just anyone. I wouldn't put in the slightest bit of effort for anyone but you. Just as we both know you would jump off a cliff before you ever let yourself be taken by a man you didn't want. But you know as well as I do, you belong to me." He trailed his lips over my cheek, dragging the wetness of the tears I didn't want to cry as he moved to my ear. "You're mine to hurt. Mine to break. Mine to fuck, and mine to keep, Princesa."
He pulled away, holding my eyes as he made for the door. "Please, don't lock me in here again," I begged, shaking my head.
"I can't trust you in the main house just yet," he said, pulling the door open as I jolted to my feet.
"Please," I repeated. "I can't notdoanything, Rafael." Boredom was my worst enemy. In my boredom, I thought of all the things I shouldn't. I remembered all the details of the moments in my life that I regretted.
He closed the door behind him as he left. My hands touched the surface as I dropped to my knees and willed him to change his mind. "Get some rest," he said on the other side as he turned the lock.
I turned to sit, looking at the bloodstained bedding with disgust. I moved to the bathroom to clean the blood from my skin, and then I curled up in the chair he'd sat in as I slept. The cruelty I’d seen etched into the lines of his face since waking up in his bedroom stared back at me every time I tried to close my eyes.
Prying them open, I forced myself to focus on my breathing, and not the panic seeping into my veins with every moment that passed.
He had to let me out eventually. I just needed to wait for the right moment.