He cups my head, his fingers gentle on my scalp while his gaze bores into mine. What I see in his eyes makes me shudder. In contrast to his light touch, he looks at me like he wants to crack me open and break me apart.
“Here’s the thing you don’t understand, Violet. It doesn’t really matter what Gus says. Tonight, you’ll be sleeping in my bed. Tomorrow, you’ll wake up in my bed. And the next day, and the next.”
A shiver runs through me.
He searches my eyes, but he’s not looking for emotions. He’s not interested in my feelings. He’s evaluating them like an artist studying a subject to assess the color. “Tomorrow, my darling, you will say I do.”
I pull away and step to the side. “Why will I do that?”
He doesn’t break our eye contact as he takes his phone from his pocket, activates it with his thumbprint, and holds it up to my face.
My heart stops beating. A flush heats my body. A video of me that’s been taken from a webcam plays on the screen. The poster on the wall behind me is a dead giveaway. I’m sitting at Leon’s desk, the recording damning evidence of my crime.
My gaze snaps back to his. My throat is raw, my voice hoarse. “What do you want?”
He pockets the phone. “I told you what I want.”
“Why?” I exclaim. “You have nothing to gain. If you think Gus will give you preferential treatment because you’ll be part of his family, I have news for you. Gus has never seen me as his family.”
“Only a pawn?”
I don’t reply.
“What do you think will happen if you don’t marry me?” He utters a humorless laugh. “Do you believe your stepfather will let you do what you want? He’ll sell you to someone else, making sure he gets some value for the money he’s invested in you.”
The statement is like a slap in my face. He’s referring to the expensive operations Gus paid for. Although, it’s not as if I don’t know that or if it isn’t true.
“You can have any woman you want. Why me?”
His grin is cruel and arrogant. “I don’t need a reason.”
No, I suppose not. But I’m not stupid. If blackmail is the motivation, the only reason can be revenge, and the only revenge he can get if he won’t tell the truth about what I’ve done is to hurt me like I’ve hurt him.
The revelation turns my knees weak. He’s forcing me into a relationship to punish me. What a sick objective for tying someone to you—for life. Unless he plans on killing me, which I doubt. If he wanted to kill me, he could’ve done so already. No, he wants to make me pay for my crime. He wants to make sure I suffer. This is infinitely worse than marrying me for a partnership.
He delivers his next words like the lash of a whip. “If you want your family there to witness the exchange of our vows, you have twenty-four hours to inform them. Department of Home Affairs. Randburg. Tomorrow at three. If there’s anything personal you don’t want the moving company to pack, you have ten minutes to get it.”
Speechless, I can only stare at him. This can’t be happening.
“I’ll take your silence as meaning you have nothing you’d like to pack.” He turns toward his car. “In that case, we can leave straight away.”
“Wait.”
He stops, looking at me, waiting like I asked.
If he shows Gus the footage and tells him what I did, Gus will confront Elliot. If Elliot is busted, he’ll give Gus the photos of my mom. Which leaves me with no choice. My knees wobble under the weight of the knowledge.
In the end, Leon wins, just like he said he would.
I feel like breaking down and crying, but I can’t show weakness. I can’t let him know how rattled I am. I’m vulnerable enough as it is.
“I have some things to pack.” My stomach bottoms out as I say the words, because uttering them is as good as verbally agreeing to his terms. “I can’t just leave like this. I have to tell my mom.”
“Then you better get started.”
Unable to look him in the eyes any longer, I climb the steps to the porch. I’ve never felt smaller or more ashamed. Humiliated.
He reaches the door before I do, opening it and standing aside for me to enter.
Just as we walk inside, my mom exits the lounge with a tray in her hands.
“Leon,” she says, looking between us with concern. “If you don’t mind me saying so, this is a surprise. What’s going on?”
He wraps an arm around my shoulders, pulling me against him. “Violet and I have happy news.” Hooking a finger under my chin, he turns my face to him. His lips tilt up, mimicking the happiness he mentioned, but the smile doesn’t melt the ice in his eyes. If anything, those dark pools turn colder, the deep brown color looking like black frost on a winter’s day as he says, “Isn’t that so, my darling?” before pressing his lips on mine.
I freeze, turning into a stickman in his embrace.