Smiling, I step closer to her. “With me, Princess, you will die of old age, safe in your bed. That’s a promise you can bank on.”
She neither smiles nor relaxes her stance. After a minute, she tries to hand the contract back, but I ignore it.
“I’ll stay with you. I’ll obey you, but I’m not signing this. I’m out.”
“Out?” I echo.
“Whatever proof you have, that should be enough to make him give you your restaurant, the casino, whatever you want. You have your leverage. You don’t need me.”
“Clara.” I clear my throat. “Without you, darling, anything I do will look like I’ve initiated a hostile takeover, one Alviero gave in to without a fight. Everyone with a stake in his business will wonder why, and while I don’t give two shits about his consequences, I do care about my own. I don’t want everyone I try to do business with from now until I die wondering if I’ll take their children if they don’t unilaterally give in. This isn’t the 1920s. We don’t get to do whatever we want, but daughters get married all the time.”
“Not to their kidnappers, they don’t.”
“He betrayed me. Right now, the appearance is lovestruck and denied the girl of my desires, I took you. In this case,fuitinais still useful, even in America.”
“Fuitinais illegal.” She backs away from me. “It’s not recognized in Italy anymore, and the courts don’t acknowledge it, especially not in this country.”
“It’s not the American courts I worry about.” A single step closes the distance between us again. I like the spark of concern that flares in the pools of her eyes as I approach her. Her chest rises swiftly as she sees the net I’m closing around her. She’s scared and has reason to be. I’m not a man of gentle passions, and the ones her very nearness is inspiring deep inside me are the least gentle of all.
“No.” She slaps the contract against my chest, leaving me to either grab it or let it fall. I grab her wrist instead. “No! This won’t work, and even if it did…” She hesitates before hiking her chin. “I-I won’t do it. I won’t marry you, Viktor. I want my freedom. I want to leave.”
“Marry me, Clara,” I insist. “I’ll give you all the freedom I can.”
She tries to take her wrist back, but I’m not about to let her go.
“I-I want to leave! S-someday… eventually… I want to be free!”
“Clara.” My tone lowers in careful disapproval. “Willful little girls are disobedient little girls. Do I have to punish you before you mind me?”
My sexual inclinations are well known in some circles. My closest friends and the women I bring to my apartment know exactly what I like. Clara doesn’t. I see the uncertainty in her eyes as she misses the bigger picture and zeroes in on what she’s used to fearing.
“You w-want to hit me?”
She tries to back away again, but I have her wrist in my firm grip, and I’m not about to let go. I can feel her shaking, even as she hikes her chin higher. Her defiance is as adorable as it is goading.
“Go ahead. I’ve been hit before. I can take it. It doesn’t matter what you do to me. You can’t keep me here indefinitely. The first chance I get, I-I’m running!”
She has no idea the brilliance of the flag she’s waving in front of me.
“You’re going to run, are you?” I ask, amused and invigorated, my inner bull zeroing in on her. It’s everything I can do not to grab her by the shoulders and slam her against the nearest wall. I can already feel her lips under mine, submitting as I clap both hands on her ass and kiss her senseless.
“The first chance I get,” she boldly insists.
Smiling, I pinch her naughty little chin between my fingers, forcing her nervous gaze to lock with mine.
“Clara, darling…”
She fidgets, refusing to back down but unable to hold still.
“How far do you think you’ll run once I take your clothes away from you?”
I feel her startle through my fingers and straight to my cock. That was invigorating, too.
“You can’t,” she whispers.
Reaching into my pocket, I withdraw my switchblade. Her eyes widening, she snaps her gaze from it back to me. She has no idea what I’m capable of.
She’s about to find out.
