Dmitri’s hand cracks against Willow’s face so hard her head snaps to the side.
“You’re a fucking disappointment,” he hisses. “A useless, backstabbing cunt. Did you think you’d actually get away? Did you think he’d take you in? That he’d protect you? He’s already got one bitch warming his bed. Did you want to join her?”
Willow sobs, her chest heaving. “No, n—”
“You went and told them. You fucking told them, and for what?”
His hand wraps around her neck, squeezing tight, and I can’t keep my mouth shut. Not when he’s hurting her.
“Hey. Stop it! Leave her alone!” I call, raising my voice. It’s unsteady, but I’m loud enough to draw his attention.
Dmitri turns. I can see the anger, the dark violence in his gaze. He’s beyond pissed. He’s at the edge.
I was tied up here worrying about how he’d eventually hurt me, maybe even kill me—but he’s already at that point. He’s already that far gone.
He stalks toward me, and I clench my hands, fully prepared for him to hit me. My entire body tenses, my teeth grinding together as I try to keep the fear from showing on my face.
You can do this,I tell myself.You’re stronger than him. He’s just an asshole with a power complex.
He stops in front of me, and I hold his gaze. There’s a flat darkness to his eyes, making them look like a shark’s. I can see myself reflected in them, no light in the dark irises.
Dmitri reaches out to hold my chin. It’s a softer touch than I expected, but his gaze is cutting. I wonder if he’s trying to show me just how dangerous he is, how quickly he’ll turn against me. Does he think I’d try to save myself by offering him whatever he wants?
Like hell.
He turns my face, his hand cold on my skin. “You know, I’m going to enjoy breaking you.”
I keep my mouth shut. I can feel anger and violence rolling off him. I don’t want to risk pushing him too far. As much as I want to weather the storm, I don’t want to provoke him. I have a child to protect, and the only thing standing between Dmitri and my child is me. My body. If he hurts it, that’s the end.
“When I was younger, I had so many fantasies about you. I wanted to claim you as my wife. I thought you’d make the perfect toy,” Dmitri muses. He turns my face like he’s inspecting a horse, distant and coldly calculating. “But after Aiden took your virginity, the charm was gone.”
“He didn’t take it,” I say, unable to hold my tongue. “I gave it to him. And I’m so fucking glad I’m married to him and not you. Because he actually cares about me, just like he did back then.”
Dmitri tilts his head. There’s a small, twisted smirk on his lips.
My stomach turns. What is it he knows that I don’t? What is it that he’s not telling me?
I don’t know why he chose me back then, or why he decided it was me he had to have. I don’t think I really want to know. All I need to know is that he’s a terrible person, an awful man and a worse husband.
How his twisted mind picked me doesn’t matter. It happened, and now I’m here. That’s all.
I just have to survive him.
“You know, I can’t take you as a wife,” he says, drawing the words out. “But I don’t mind using you like the whore you are. I have no problem with that.”
I swallow bile.
Dmitri’s smile softens, but the fondness in his eyes isn’t comforting. It’s stomach-turning. He’s not smiling at me. He’s smiling because he’s thinking about what he’ll do to me.
“In fact,” he murmurs, “I think I’ll enjoy it.”
Everything in me is screaming to get away. I know I can’t, but the wild, animal instinct for survival rises anyway. Dmitri will find out about my child one way or the other. Maybe if I manage to hurt him now, Willow will come to her senses, and she can help me fight him off.
It’s an insane hope, but it spurs me. I kick at Dmitri, but he sidesteps my foot, laughing.
His laugh makes goose bumps spread over my skin, my stomach souring. He’s going to smile at me this entire time. Right up until he kills me.
“Yes, I really will enjoy this,” he snarls, even though he’s still smiling. “I’ll make you scream, you little—”
