Page 105 of Ruthless Desire

The slap cracks across my cheek before I even register him moving, snapping my head to the side with the force of it. I gasp, more from shock than pain, my hand flying up to cup my stinging flesh.

Dante grips my chin, forcing me to meet his gaze. "You have no rights, Natalie. No privacy, no secrets, no thoughts or feelings that don't belong to me. I own every fuckin' inch of you, inside and out."

Tears blur my vision, equal parts fury and humiliation. "Fuck you, you sick bastard. I'm not your goddamn property!"

His laugh is low, mocking. "Still clinging to that defiance, hmm? Even after all this time, all the ways I've claimed you?" His hand slides down, fingertips grazing the side of my throat. "Well, if you won't accept it willingly, I suppose I'll just have to fuck it into you. Again and again, until it's seared into your very bones."

My pulse pounds beneath his touch, fear and arousal twisting in my gut. "Dante, don't. I'm sorry, okay? I won't do it again, I swear-"

"Too late for that, solnyshko." He shoves me back onto the bed, crawling over me with leonine grace. "You need a reminder of who you belong to, of what you are."

"And what's that?" The words slip out, barely a whisper.

Dante's smile is razored, ruthless. "Mine. Now and forever, in every way that matters."

Then his mouth is on me, brutally insistent. I whimper into the kiss, torn between resistance and shameful desire as he takes, plunders, his tongue sweeping into my mouth like he's trying to consume me whole.

His hands are everywhere, roughly palming my breasts, hiking up my skirt to delve between my thighs. I hear the rip of lace, feel the cool air on my exposed flesh a split second before his fingers thrust into my traitorous heat.

"Always so fucking wet for me," Dante growls against my lips. "No matter how hard you fight it, this needy little cunt knows its master."

"Gonna fill this pussy up," he pants, each word punctuated by a jagged snap of his pelvis. "Plant my seed deep in your belly, Natalie. Breed you like the bitch in heat you are."

Horror crashes over me, turning my blood to ice. "No!" I gasp, even as my treacherous cunt clenches around him. "I won't let you, Dante. I'll never give you a child, you fucking psycho!"

His eyes darken, a dangerous glint flashing through them, but I can’t stop myself. The anger, the fear—it all comes spilling out. "I would never bring a child into this world, especially not with you as its father."

For a moment, the room is deathly still. Then, in a flash, his hand cracks across my face, the force of the slap nearly knocking me off my feet. My cheek stings with the heat of the blow, but the pain only fuels my anger.

"You think you can talk to me like that?" Dante’s voice is a growl, his hand gripping my chin, forcing me to look into those cold, merciless eyes.

His lips curl into a cruel smile, and he leans in closer, his breath hot against my skin. "You really think you’re in control here, don’t you?" His voice is a dark whisper, sending a shiver down my spine. "But you’re not. You never were."

The realization dawns on me like a punch to the gut, and I feel the blood drain from my face. "What did you do?" I ask, my voice barely more than a whisper.

He smirks, enjoying the fear he sees in my eyes. "While you were so busy thinking you had any say in this, I’ve been switching your pills with fertility medication. You’re nothing without me, Natalie."

A wave of nausea rolls over me, but I force myself to stay upright, to keep looking him in the eyes. I won’t let him see how deeply he’s cut me, how much this betrayal hurts.

"And if I didn’t want children?" Dante’s voice drops to a cruel murmur, his lips brushing against my ear as he speaks. "I could’ve had you coked up and complicit, doing lines off my dick instead of giving me grey hairs from all your bullshit."

His words hit me like a slap, the sheer audacity, the depravity of it all. My heart pounds in my chest, my skin crawling with the realization of just how far he’s willing to go, how much control he’s wrested from me.

"You’re a monster," I whisper, my voice trembling with barely-contained fury. "But you won’t break me."

He pulls back, his eyes narrowing as he studies me, as if trying to figure out how much more I can take. "Break you?" he sneers. "No, moy voron. I’m not trying to break you. I’m just reminding you who’s in control here. And it looks like you need to be reminded of your place. Of your purpose."

Purpose? The word penetrates the haze of lust, unease pricking at the base of my skull. But before I can question him, he's pressing me into the mattress, the thick head of his cock nudging at my entrance.

"I'm going to fill this tight little pussy up," Dante purrs darkly, rubbing himself through my slick folds. "Pump you so full of my cum, it takes root in your fertile young womb."

Horror crashes over me, turning my blood to ice. "What? Dante, no, you can't mean-"

"Oh, but I do, moy voron." His grin is feral, triumphant. "I've already started replacing your birth control with fertility drugs. Soon, this flat belly will swell with my child. My heir."

Bile claws up my throat, revulsion and terrified anticipation warring in my veins. This can't be happening. He can't really intend to... to...

But the look in his eyes tells me he's deadly serious. That tying me to him irrevocably, breeding me like livestock, is his endgame. Has been all along.

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