Page 138 of Cruel Dominion

Now, I felt like I was nothing but a tiny spec in a sea of giants.

It was one thing for your trusted friends to tell you they liked your work. It was another to face the criticism of a hundred upper class art collectors, ready to tell you exactly how derivative you were.

I watched as patrons filtered in from the outside. Clutching their champagne, they examined each photo with expressions I couldn’t read.

Photographers snapped pictures of them in all their finery. Some frowned as they examined my photos, and a few laughed. I wished I could know they were having a real emotional reaction to the shots, or if they were laughing at me.

My stomach tumbled.

“Satisfied?” Carter asked. “Can I take you home?”

He brushed his arm against mine, a wolfish smirk on his face. That face made a shiver run down my spine.

I kissed him, knowing there were people with cameras around and not giving a single fuck. Seeing my name next to his on a tabloid site had been surreal the first time it happened. I always knew he was considered the city’s most eligible bachelor but I wasn’t ready for the attention, negative and positive, that the woman who managed to lock down a man like that ended up getting.

I received hate mail and congratulations at an almost 1:1 ratio. I couldn’t blame them. I was lucky. Possibly the luckiest girl alive.

“Am I interrupting something?”

I pulled away, seeing my mother standing there with a small smile on her face. My lips parted in shock as I self-consciously slid out of Carter’s arms.

“Mom, so glad you made it.” I swallowed, hands unconsciously going to my belly. She hugged me, pausing to say hi to the baby, and went to shake Carter’s hand.

He ignored it and pulled her into a bracing hug. She looked at me with wide eyes over his shoulder, and I suppressed an awkward laugh.

“I’m happy to be here, darling. I’m so proud of you,” she said, flattening out the creases in her blouse as Carter let her go.

I’d never seen in her a shade of lipstick so bold and red, and with the spider brooch on her blazer jacket she looked every bit the Spider-Woman the tabloids had named her. Over lunch all those months ago she told me she secretly loved the name and planned to embrace it. It seemed she had.

“Have you thought of names yet?”

I had, but Carter and I hadn’t discussed it so I shook my head. “I have an idea, but nothing official yet. You’ll know as soon as we do.”

Carter gave me a curious look before turning his attention back to my mom. “Have you had a chance to walk through the exhibit?” he asked.

His hand on my waist felt protective, and I put my hand over his, sliding closer to him as my pulse began to slow and calm.

“Not yet. I wanted to say hello first, I haven’t seen you since you were barely showing. But look at you now. You’re glowing.”

My cheeks flushed. At least she hadn’t seen me in the first trimester. I’d been a wreck, all too happy to let Carter barricade us into the villa to avoid seeing a soul while I was perpetually green with nausea and he had doctors coming to take my vitals daily.

“Thanks, Mom.”

“Well, I don’t want to keep you. I’ll take a walk around. Maybe we can do lunch this week?”

I nodded. Things would never be perfect between us, but they improved the longer we were without my father’s cage.

He turned to me when she walked away. “You’ve thought of names?”

Nervous energy raced through me, raising goosebumps along my arms. “If it’s a girl I was thinking maybe Brandy.”

Carter’s face went absolutely still with momentary shock before his eyes began to soften and I watched his Adams apple bob.

“Brandy Michelle,” I added. “It has a nice ring to it and honors two of the strongest women I know.”

His lips pulled up at one edge and he bent to plant a kiss atop my head. “It’s absolutely perfect.”

I closed my eyes, just breathing him in for a few heartbeats before I had to go back to being a nervous wreck in a room full of people who wanted my attention.

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