I don’t . . . want him.
The obsessive woman who possessed my body and fell for him all too soon comes rearing her stubborn head.
I. Want. Him.
It’s official. I have split personality disorder.
“I hate you, Vic. Let me go home,” I murmur. If Victor releases me, I will leave. That should satisfy this impulsive bitch who threatens to take over. “Just let me go.”
“Little One, Madeline Elliot is not my fiancée. Never was.” Victor wipes gingerly at the tears streaming down my cheeks. It’s as if the touch of my tears unleashed his humanity. His tone is a caress to my heart. “Little One, I will not let you leave. I will not allow it.”
“You're a liar,” I whisper. I implore my eyes to close—not fall captive to his hypnotic blue gaze. Yet, my brain’s still not in total submission.Are you satisfied, stupid? He doesn’t want you.
“Do not ever call me a liar.” With his hand at my throat, Victor leans down to capture my mouth. I snap my neck in one direction, offering my own snooty decline.
“What’sMaddyto you, if not your fiancée? I'm young, not dumb!”Debatable.“Or was this engagement orchestrated by your entire family? Everyone at the party’s aware but you? Your mother confirmed it.”
I gasp and try to turn my head away. He’s still holding my neck with one hand. His other hand turns, knuckles stroking my cheek.
“Luxury, I initiated a proposition a while ago. We never announced the engagement. No publicized announcement indicates no engagement.”
Find a crack in his defense.While I’m alreadyall in, I fear that with time, I won’t be able to convince myself of my sole deal-breaker—cheating. I only have the one now since Victor already broke the other one—lying—when he turned out not to be the man I thought he was.
I dig deeper. “Dr. Finch,you were a liar upon our first introduction. Now, I operate with a woman’s intuition.Maddystared at you like a woman in love.”
“Don't concern yourself with my emotional friend.”
Heart cleaving in my chest, I count that as an admission of guilt.
They share a history.
“Your friend, Vic? She is in love with you.”
“We've been friends since we were teens. That’s all.” Victor’s forehead is still kissing mine in such an intimate way. “The marriage was to be one of convenience. As soon as I laid eyes on you, I knew there would be no marriage, regardless of anyone else’s desires.”
Slowly opening my eyes, I disconnect our touch, sliding myself against the textured wall, ultimately to be stopped by an antique table. Victor, the damned devil, shifts over, too.
This is all a game to him—where I’m taunted, twisted for his amusement. “Victor, you’re saying what I want to hear. You can’t oppose your Queen.”
Again, his erection antagonizes me, a powerful persuasion. Victor’s hand that was lightly squeezing my neck moves. His rough, callused fingers graze my jawline. He snatches a thick mass of my curly hair at the nape of my neck. Victor yanks down on my hair until my chin juts up.
“I’ve attempted to reason with you.” Victor’s voice chills over like an ice storm. “Luxury, you’ve verbally granted yourself, your entire bodyto me.You are forever mine.” He bites my lower lip with such force I wait for a taste of copper. Victor spins me around. My hands slap the tabletop for security. He reaches for my collar and tears the dress at the seams. The material drops to the floor.
A long beat passes. I wait, expecting pushing, tugging, hard love.
“What is that?” Victor hisses, hands about my hips. He turns me slowly.
My curious gaze finds where his livid one has landed—red fingerprints. A few moon slivers where nails dug into my bicep.
“I’ve not touched you there, Luxury. What is that?”
I run a hand over the blemish. “I told you. The guards.”Your friggen mother.
“Did you gather their names?”
“You can’t—”
“What were their names?” he orders. His dangerous, glacier gaze traps my earthy brown eyes.