I can see now that the rejection is weighing on her more than she’d like to admit. It’s the fuel behind her current rage.
“Renata…” I say softly, getting to my feet.
She turns away from me stubbornly. “I was a fool. Right from the beginning, I was a fool.”
“Renata—Ms. Lombardi,” Aisling says, correcting herself quickly. “I’m sorry… This… It isn’t what it seems like.”
“Are you serious?” she scoffs. “Are you fucking serious?”
“He’s concerned for you—”
“Don’t!” she screams, her eyes turning into throwing stars. “Don’t you fucking try and spin this to make it seem like he gives a shit about me. He doesn’t and neither do you.”
“I understand you’re angry—”
“Why the fuck are you talking to me like I’m a psycho?” she demands. “Stop trying to calm me down. Just fucking stop!”
I take a deep breath and walk around my desk. She doesn’t back away from me, but I can tell she wants to. She just doesn’t want me to think she’s intimidated.
Is it possible that I had her naked in front of me less than an hour ago? Even now, I’m astounded at my own willpower. At the strength it took to tell her to run. To deny what I wanted, even when she was telling me to take her the way I’ve dreamed of endlessly.
Or maybe it wasn’t strength at all. Maybe it was cowardice.
I’m not quite sure at the moment, and until I am, I need to stall whatever is happening between Renata and me. One thing’s for sure though: all the progress we’ve made so far has gone to shit in the last few minutes.
“You were the one that told me that I have the control,” she says, her voice low, but gaining traction. “Isn’t that right?”
“That’s right,” I say with a resigned nod.
“But I’m your prisoner, aren’t I?” she continues. “At the end of the day, I’m the captive. You’re the captor. There’s no equal power dynamic. How can there be one when the scale doesn’t exist? There’s just you, Kian. And I’m the one on my knees in front of you.”
I suppress a sigh. She’s fucking smart, I’ll give her that. If she’d been the Lombardi heir, I’d have had my work cut out for me. It would have been an even playing field.
“That’s not true, Renata,” I say, playing into her hands.
“No?” she asks, raising her eyebrows and regarding me coolly.
I can still sense all that spark and fire lying just beneath the surface. Ready to erupt at a moment’s notice. She’s waiting for my move.
“No,” I reply. “You’re not my captive.”
“So if I want to walk out of this mansion right now, I can?” she asks.
I take a beat before I point where she entered. “There’s the door. Go.”
The words drop between us like a bomb. But it makes no sound. Her eyes go wide for a second and then she nods slowly.
“Then I’m leaving,” she says, still waiting for the other shoe to drop. “Are you going to stop me?”
“No,” I reply, shaking my head. “As I said, you’re free to go.”
“Your men won’t stop me?”
“You have my word,” I tell her. “I’ll send my instructions down to the main gate. No one will stop you. If it’s what you want, then walk away.”
She lingers a moment longer, as if to make sure I’m not going to laugh in her face and tell her the whole thing was just a massive ruse. “Okay then,” she says. After one more beat of hesitation, she turns and walks away, her back rigid, her jaw angled upwards in pure defiance.
The door slams shut behind her. I breathe out and lean back against my desk. “Fuck.”