He scowled. “If I give you an order, you will follow it.”
She stared at him for a moment. “Why do you want me in our room?”
“You were shot,” he yelled.
“Yes, but I’m feeling good, just extremely bored and going out of my mind. The doctor took the stitches out and told me I was healing very well and to just take it easy for a few days. Tell me the truth. It has nothing to do with me being hurt, so what is it?”
He paced back and forth and then stopped and looked at her. “I think you know.”
“You just don’t want to look at me?”
“Yes,” he barked.
God, this pain was so much worse than being shot, and she was fighting to hold back her tears. “May I ask why?”
“I just don’t.”
“Why have you stayed away?”
“Because I don’t want to be with you.”
She inhaled and pressed a hand to her stomach. “I see. What did I do to deserve this?”
“Fuck.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “You exist.”
Jesus. She hadn’t thought the pain could get worse. She couldn’t prevent the tear from falling and refused to wipe it away. She saw a shadow of emotion in his eyes before they went blank.
“So, where does this leave us?” she asked.
“You follow my orders. That’s all I want from you.”
“Should I look into a divorce?”
She thought he was going to lose it, but he pulled back.
“You’re mine, and you’ll always be mine.”
“But if you can’t stand to be with me or even look at me, what’s the point?”
“God damn you. There doesn’t have to be a point,” he bellowed. “You’ll do what I say.”
She relaxed back and stayed silent because she had no idea what to say to that. She had no idea what she did, but she knew she deserved better.
“Did you hear me?” he asked.
She nodded.
“Go back to our room and stay there.”
She stood, walked past him without looking at him, and opened the office door to see Aria, Angelica, and Faith. She wondered how much they’d heard and felt her face heat with embarrassment as she walked past them.
Only when the bedroom door closed behind her did she let the tears fall.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Dominic watched her walk away and felt his emotions swell at the devastation on her face that he’d put there. He just didn’t know how to pull himself back. He used his antagonism to cover his fear, and she was taking the brunt of it.
Fuck, the things he’d said to her were horrible, and he hated himself for saying them, especially when he didn’t mean any of them.