Page 22 of Ben

Ben rubbed his chest, where he still felt the sting from his recent trip. He needed an outlet for his turmoil and emotions that he only felt around her because of her and his guilt for having hurt her, especially since it was her first time; he deserved the pain and the reminder of what he’d done. The pain had given him clarity, and he decided he would rather rip his heart out than hurt her again. He faced the fact that he’d been selfish for wanting to force her into having a life with him, and even now with his decision he didn’t think he could go through with it, but he had to try.

He heard his phone ping and fished it out of his pocket, glancing at the message on the screen.

Ambra and I have landed and are on our way back to her place; it won’t be long until she finds out what has happened. Damn you.

His fingers flew over the keys, responding to his brother.

Don’t kid yourself; you are just as ruthless as I am, and Carter would have done the same thing.

He waited and saw the … signaling his brother was about to respond when it suddenly stopped.

Ben made his way to the kitchen and took out the food waiting there for him from the chef. He warmed it up and then sat in the darkened kitchen, the only light pouring in from the sensors low-dimmed lights in the kitchen, eating his meal as he watched the news on his phone. It was late, and he’d assumed that Diamond was asleep or in bed at this point.

He put the phone back in his pocket and sighed; it was time to face his wife; time had run out. He made his way up the stairs and opened the bedroom door; he jerked to a stop. Diamond was sitting in one of the matching plush chairs with her feet on the ottoman, in a dark red jumpsuit, the extensions back in her hair and her makeup done, showing off her beautiful face. There was a suitcase resting on the side of the chair with her Chanel purse, and she was reading one of her favorite magazines that he’d bought a subscription for to be delivered here at the house.

She glanced up when he’d entered the room and placed the magazine on the small table beside the chair; standing up, she slipped her feet into the high heels that were waiting on the carpeted floor and rose to her diminutive height. Her expression closed off to him.

“What are you doing, Diamond?” He stepped further into the room and shut the door behind him.

“I’m leaving. My sister is probably—" She glanced down at her watch, then up at him, and continued. “Landed by now and is on her way home with Michael, I will get her to help me with figuring this all out and won−”

Ben found himself now standing over her. Diamond’s head was tilted back to look up into his face. He had been numb before, and now he felt as cold as ice.

“No.” Was all he could get out, struggling now to find the right words to say to her.

Her eyebrows rose, and her finger came out, and her manicured tip jabbed him hard in the chest.

“You do not get to sayno,and that is it. You left me alone fortwodays, sitting in this house all by myself, worried about what was happening to my account and with no one that I couldtalk to. I thought you would be different. Bryce needed me to be a—” then she shook her head. “If I wanted to be ignored and just look pretty, then I should have stayed with Bryce.”

“I am not Bryce.” He snapped out, now angry at the thought of her mentioning his name.

Her phone pinged, and she took it out of her pocket, glancing down at it and her fingers moving to respond when his hand covered hers, and he took it to see who was texting her, figuring it must be Ambra, and he was right.

Diamond glared at him and grabbed back the phone, reading her sister's message before her fingers flew over the keys, responding, and then she tossed her phone into her purse and continued as if they hadn’t been interrupted.

“Are you sure? Because you have been absent since we got married.”

“I was giving you time to adjust.”

She now narrowed her gaze. “You blackmailed me into marrying you and into your bed, consummating our marriage in this very bedroom, and now you want to give me time to adjust? Well, I can do that over at my sister’s.”

She bent to pick up the suitcase, and he took it out of her hands. Without breaking eye contact, he tossed it over his shoulder into the walk-in closet behind him.

Diamond’s dark brown eyes now glittered.

“That is not how blackmail works; you don’t get to decide the terms here; I do.” He said coldly.

His spitfire of a wife stepped to him, and her hand slapped him on the chest, hard, causing him to flinch.

She paused. “Why did you flinch?” And then studied his shirt intently.

Her eyes flew to his in surprise, and then she reached for his loose cotton buttoned shirt and began to unbutton it, exposing his flesh to her gaze. When she’d opened enough of the buttons, she spread his shirt gently apart and took in what he’d done.

“Why did you get this done?”

Her brown eyes were now dark and mysterious to him; he could not read if she was fascinated or appalled with what he had done to a part of his anatomy.

“I hurt you, and I didn’t mean to.” He said simply not knowing if he could make her understand that he sometimes needed pain to cope.

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