Page 79 of Deviant Illusions

“You’re not my husband.”

“I am.” I shrug then taunt, “Wife. Congratulations. You were always meant to be Mrs. Delilah Xandros, but everyone made you believe that it would be because of anyone other than me.”

My win is short-lived because she allows her tongue to deliver the most brutal blow.

“I’d rather have been sentenced with Asher. At least he was the devil I knew.”

She steps back, ready to fucking run, and I kick my leg out to trip her. With my foot between her legs, she stumbles, and I sit up to grab her neck. Those eyes burn as she pushes against my chest. I pull her closer, our noses touching, and my voice darkens as I dare her, “Say it again.”

Her lips part.

I pulse my fingers around her neck, cutting her off. “I’ll allow you to leave me after this, but make no fucking mistake, koukla mou. You will always belong to me. I’ll even let you have a family with some prick if that’s what you need, but there will never be a day that you aren’t my wife.”

There’s a strange look in her eyes as she leans into my palm, placing her knee between my thighs, and lightly counters, “Not if you die.”

I may be more fucked up than I thought because I smile. “Immortalize me, my pretty girl. Let everyone see that I was your husband when they pass my gravestone. It’s the only achievement that I have.”

Delilah softens in front of my eyes but she’s stubborn. “Let go of me, Kane. Your arm will be hurting, and I need to bandage it.”

She pulls my fingers off her neck and takes in a shaky breath as she slides off the bed. There’s dirt and blood staining her hair, clumping the strands together, and it stops her from hiding behind it as she searches through the pockets of the medical bag, then pulls out a thick roll of gauze. The gloves are next and she’s careful not to touch the outside of the fingers as she puts them on before she opens the packaging for the bandage and wraps it around my bicep.

“Delilah?” I brush her hair over her shoulder and whisper, “Will you lay with me?”

She doesn’t look at me as she coolly says, “No.” The gauze stretches around my bicep and she only looks up once it reaches the end of the roll. “You hurt me more than anyone else in my life. And I’m no stranger to pain, but you did the exact same thing everyone else did, so no, I won’t willingly lay with you when that would be like cuddling a starved snake and expecting it not to bite me.”

“But you wanted me to fuck you,” I say more to convince myself that a part of her doesn’t hate me.

“I wanted to forget,” she scoffs. “That’s all I’ve ever wanted.”

“Me too,” I admit. She gives me more of her attention without sniping at me, so I keep talking in the hopes I get to keep her. “I know what it’s like for there to be memories that haunt you and they hurt, more than when you originally experiencedthem, but it hurts even more because every single one of those memories holds pieces of you. So for me, I’d like to forget too.”

“I never hurt you. Never. You planned all of this. Now we’re stuck with your creepy fucking family when I only ever wanted to get you away from everyone.”

She stands, pushing her fingers through her hair and pulling at the strands.

“Everything I did was because of a stupid mistake. Afoolish firethat I can’t put out, but I only wanted to saveyou.And now?” She laughs, shaking her head and gutting me. “Now you’re the person I want to fucking forget.”

There’s a metallic tap and I quickly grab the front of her t-shirt, pulling her closer and trapping her between my thighs.

“What the fu?—”

Slapping my hand over her mouth, I hold her even tighter as the clicks get closer. Her eyes widen as she tilts her head, following the sound that hits our door.

“Kane,” Helene croons. “Come on out, sweet boy.”

Delilah shakes her head as she widens her eyes, trying to tell me not to move. I gently kiss her forehead and pick her up, carrying her into the bathroom.

“Don’t,” she mumbles into my palm.

I need her to be safe. Either way she’s going to hate me, but this way she’ll be safe and I’ll be able to keep these sick cunts away from her. All the shit I’ve said to her, the way she is, it’s not because she’s twisted or reveling in causing pain. It’s because she believes that’s all she’s worth. I have the opportunity to show her different. To prove to her that she’s more than a fuck or a body.

I place her in the bathtub and kiss her crown. “Stay here, my pretty girl.”

She grabs my wrist, her nails digging into my skin as she hisses, “You’re staying with me.”

I nod and peel her fingers off me then quickly turn. If I look at her, those huge fucking eyes, I’ll give in. Lennox informed me of the agreement, that I need to get her pregnant, keep her leashed, and fall in line with whatever Helene wants or there’d be punishments.

Rowan’s punishments are burned into my soul. I have no fucking idea what his mother will come up with.

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