Page 15 of Cruel Master

His glare hardened. "If you think what I'm doing to you is harmful, then you'll be in for quite the shock if you break any of my rules,wife."

I shut my mouth and returned his glare.

He continued. "As I've stated before, you will refer to me as Master. If and when I decide to take you out in public, you will refer me as your husband or Sir."

"I can't call you Gaven?"

Gaven arched his brow. "Do you want to?" he inquired.

I shrugged. "It seems odd not to."

"Calling me by my given name is a privilege you've lost, Angel," he replied. "Perhaps when you've proven to me that you can behave, I'll let you do so again. For now, no. You will call me Master while we are in, and husband or Sir when we are out."

I knew what he was doing. In the five years I'd been away, I'd done my research on Gaven Belmonte. All the things I would have learned about him if we’d stayed together, I’d had to teach myself through other means. The man I'd married was no ordinary hitman. He'd been right when he said that he'd gone easy on me before. We'd only been married a mere matter of hours before I'd thrown everything away and gone on the run. I'd hardly known him—much less the type of man I was crawling into bed with.

Now, he was showing his true colors. He was a Dominant. He attended BDSM clubs. He had submissives at his beck and call. Oh, I hadn't been able to resist the temptation of spying on him. I'd kept away from North America and run when I thought he'd gotten close, but I'd wanted to know if or when he would go to someone else. Surprisingly, he never had. Or if he did, I’d never caught him.

So, now, I was being punished for that as well.

"And last, but certainly not least"—his voice was cruel and filled with relish. I already knew what he was about to say—"You will adhere to any and all sexual training, Evangeline Price. You will be trained as my submissive." He gestures across the room to the bookshelf against the far wall. I'd paid it little attention since I'd gotten here since it just seemed to be one of those things people put in a room to fill it out. Now, though, I let my gaze rest upon it in curiosity. "I've provided you with as much reading material on the subject as necessary. If you find yourself bored while you're confined to our bedroom, you may peruse those."

"Sexual training..." I repeated.

"Yes." He sent me a quick look. "We are husband and wife, after all," he said. "You'll need to perform those wifely duties of yours to my specifications."

Cold, direct, and demanding. That was the man I married, the Gaven that stood before me. "Just because we're married doesn't mean it's not rape," I pointed out.

Gaven's eyes flashed with something volatile, and before I had a second to inhale, he stalked across the room and was in front of me. His hand lowered to my face and then slipped back into my hair, fingers dug into the back of my skull as he yanked my head back.

"Oh, Angel," he said. "How little you think I know you. You and I both know that anything we do in this room, on that bed, any sexual activity between us will be consensual. You can spout those pretty lies all you want, but in the end, you'll never be able to deny me. I'm your husband, and soon enough, I'm going to be your fucking God."

8

GAVEN

Smoke lingered in the air above my head, drifting from the burning red end of the cigar sitting in the tray at my side. On the screen, Angel moved around the room. It’d been a few days since we last spoke. Despite my rules and intentions, I found myself unable to go to her on many occasions. I stayed up all night, working well into dawn just so I could watch her when she woke. I’d decided that leaving her to her own devices—albeit locked in—was an appropriate way to let her get accustomed to her new circumstances.

I had other work to do as well now that she was back where she belonged. There were meetings—other Families to contact. Now that the woman who would carry the Price heir into this world was back in my possession, the things I’d been putting off for the last few years needed to be put into action.

Since Raffaello’s unexpected death and Jackie’s subsequent takeover of the Price Empire, the Price Family’s influence had ebbed and flowed. It hadn’t gotten worse, but it certainly hadn’t grown. Not like I had. With Raffaello’s right hand now mine, the undercurrents of potential war were rising to the surface.

I could have let it go. I didn’t necessarily need the Price Family’s assets to attain the power I sought. The principle of it was, though, that I was owed something more. Plus, I had the suspicion that if Jackie were to find out that Evangeline was back in the picture and that she would soon be taking her place at my side as she was meant to, there would be a whole new world of enemies to prepare for.

Angel hadn’t said as much, not when I’d asked, but I was by no means a stupid man. It hadn’t taken the full five years to piece things together, but I was sure that Jackie was the true culprit behind Raffaello Price’s death. She’d framed her sister, cast her out, and used the chaos to seize control. It had all been smartly planned on her part. I could respect a cunning woman willing to do what it took to be on top, but I couldn’t allow her to be a threat to my own, and Angel was just as much mine as the child she would soon be carrying in her womb.

Movement on the screen brought my attention back to the present. I turned my gaze to the images of my wife as she huffed and puffed, pacing back and forth across her room.

She was bored. I’d watched her off and on for hours. She read many of the books that were stacked against the far wall across from the bed. She’d tried to hide in the bathroom, but it hadn’t taken her long to find the cameras there. I was more surprised that she hadn’t tried to disable them. She very well could have, but perhaps my punishments were working. So long as she didn’t try to escape, I would give her small freedoms such as this.

So far, she had been allowed to watch television. She’s fallen asleep and woken up again. She’s eaten the meals brought to her.

Now she paced. Back and forth. She turned, and my eyes skimmed down to her full, round ass. It was nice, I had to admit to myself, to have her right where I wanted her. Her tight little body was completely on display for me.

Sure, she attempted to cover up within the first day. When no clothes could be found, she’d tied the sheets from the bed around her body. The next day, she’d discovered no sheets or blankets available. Nothing would keep me from viewing what I owned.

On the screen, she finally stopped pacing and turned, looking up at one of the cameras placed in the corners of the room. Angel's arms arched up and crossed over her chest, plumping her breasts up, not that she seemed to notice. She glared at the camera with fiery intent.

That, too, I’d missed. Her grit and determination. Her fight. I’d once thought Evangeline Price would be far easier to control than her sister, but what made my insides tighten every time I looked at her wasn’t the thought of simplicity, it was the arousal of my baser instincts. Of holding down and forcing a woman with such ferocity to bow to me.

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