Page 41 of Cruel Vows

SEAN

Ellie nearly slamsthe front door shut in my face, glowering at me when I push it open wider and follow her inside. Her eyes flash with anger as she whirls around, crossing her arms, though it looks more like she’s trying to hold herself together.

I lock the door and lean against it, waiting for her to say something.

The way she presses her lips tighter, a dimple popping out in her left cheek, makes it clear that she’s not going to be the one to speak first.

What a welcome relief from the way she normally runs her damn mouth.

Just when I’m about to tell her that Dad doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about, her hands drop to her sides. Her nails dig into her palms, and even from the distance I’m at, I can see the tiny crescent moons she’s leaving there.

“What the fuck, Sean.”

It’s not a question, it’s a statement, but it sums up everything that I’m sure is going through her head right now.

I know I should have pulled her away when I saw my father coming toward us. We were having a good night until he came over and ruined it for us.

Sighing, I shrug. “I don’t know what you want me to tell you.”

Her eyes are red-rimmed, though there’s no glassy sheen to them. She’s not sad or hurt.

She’s livid.

“I told you that cheating on me was the one thing I wasn’t willing to tolerate.” She seethes as she strides closer to me. She glares up at me. “You’re a dead man once I tell Aiden.”

She spins on her heel, flying up the stairs two at a time to her bedroom.

I follow her, temper flaring. “You think that you can just threaten to have me killed? Our families forced us to get married for an alliance, Ellie. The last thing Aiden’s going to do is kill me.”

A white overnight bag flies onto her bed, and she steps out of the closet, carrying several different pairs of jeans draped over her arm. “Fine. If he won’t kill you, I’ll kill you myself. Cut off your cock and choke you with it, maybe.”

I rip the bag from her hands as she tries to stuff the clothing into it. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

Ellie scowls, lunging for the bag and nearly tripping over the hem of her dress. She slams the bag back onto the bed and grabs the pile of jeans she abandoned, stuffing them into the bag.

“There’s something seriously wrong with you if you think that I’m going to be staying here after everything you’ve done. There’s no way in hell that’s happening. You want to go screw other women, I’m going to go find some man to fuck tonight, then in the post-sex clarity, I’ll kill you.”

Scoffing, I step into her way as she tries to head back to the closet. “You’re not going anywhere.”

“I’m sure as hell not going to stay here while you’re sleeping around with strippers behind my back!”

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I take a deep breath.

Right now, I don’t know what to say to get through to her. I could tell her that I didn’t cheat, but she’s not going to listen to me.

“Ellie, just stop and think about this for a moment.”

Drawers slam as she pulls out underwear sets, tossing them onto the bed beside the bag. “Why? You want to tell me that you tripped, and your dick accidentally fell into the stripper?”

“What if I didn’t fuck the stripper?” I start unpacking her bag, tossing the clothing back onto the bed. “Do you really think that I would go behind your back?”

“I think that Malcolm might have been telling the truth for the first time in his life,” she says, her voice cracking slightly.

Ellie turns her back on me again, grabbing a black quilted makeup bag from her vanity. She places it on the bed before snatching the clothes I took out and stuffing them back in the bag.

She gives me a sharp look that says she’s going to cut off my hands if I so much as think about pulling her clothing back out.

So I don’t.

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