Page 20 of All's Fair In Love & War

What I wanted… No! What I deserved was a partner, a man who didn’t just admire my strength but made space for it, one who respected my voice without needing to reshape it into his own. Someone who didn’t think silence was loyalty, and dominance was love.

But what did I have?

I wasn’t sure yet.

Because in moments like this, when I was laid bare and angry and asking to be seen, not as a soldier or a symbol, but as a woman, he didn’t soften or even look remorseful. When my feelings didn’t rattle him and my voice didn’t move him, I had to ask myself if I was married to a man who didn’t value my mind, didn’t respect my place beside him, and didn’t care if I broke right in front of him. Because if so, I’d have to stop treating him like a husband, and start treating him like every other man who ever tried to keep me small.

And if it came to that?

He’d lose.

Just like the rest of them.

“You want to be the Don?” he asked, stepping closer. “Then act like it. You let Jax punk you with one question and flinched when Rio started circling. You looked like prey, Tatum.”

“Oh, get the fuck out of her.” I waved my hand, shooing him out of my face. “I only looked like prey to you because you’re just like the rest of them.

Naeem’s jaw ticked, just once, but I saw it. It was a small change in his expression, and a flicker of something dangerous moving behind his eyes. He didn’t like being lumped in with them, and I didn’t give a damn. He needed to feel it.

“You really believe that?” he asked, voice quieter now, but heavier. “That I’m just like the rest?”

I folded my arms. “You act like them, talk over me like them, and challenge me in front of my people like I’m an inexperienced soldier instead of yourwife.So yeah, Naeem, at that moment, you were no different than Jax or Rio. You just had better shoes.”

Naeem moved closer, diminishing the space between us, but I didn’t back down. His presence was suffocating, but I was too far gone to care. My pride and my fury were enough to keep me standing.

“You don’t think I know how beautifully brilliant your mind is, or see your resilience? You think I don’t know how hard you’ve been working to hold your family together?”

“If you do, then why do you keep trying to manage me like I’m incapable?” I snapped.

“Because Ican’t affordto let you fall,” he growled. “Because if you fall, we both lose.”

I stared at him, heart pounding from more than just anger now. It was from exhaustion, from disappointment, and from the part of me that still wanted him toget it.

“I’m not asking you to catch me,” I said, quieter this time. “I’m asking you to trust that I know how to land.” I sighed and rubbed my hand down my face, desperately trying to keep my tears at bay. “Tonight, I was more than prepared for what they had to throw my way. I didn’t need your help, and even if I did,I should’ve been given time to process the question and think it through.”

“You don’t get that luxury in a room full of men like them.”

I clenched my jaw so hard it hurt. “You don’t think I know that? You don’t think I feel every stare, every doubt, every moment when they question why the hell I was at the head of the table? I didn’t need you to protect me. I needed you to respect me enough to let me fail if that’s what it took.”

He was right in front of me now, tall and still and goddamn unmovable. “Respect you?” he repeated, eyes narrowing. “You think I’d put my name next to yours, tie myself to your family, and riskeverythingif I didn’t respect you?”

“You didn’t respect me today.”

He stepped in closer, and I refused to back up.

“What I did,” he said, his voice dropping low, heavy with warning, “was keep them from eating you alive. You were so focused on protecting your pride, you didn’t notice the way they were circling, but I did, so while you sat there worried about looking strong, I made sure they didn’t smell blood and go in for the kill.”

“I don’t need you to be my mouthpiece, Naeem.”

“And I don’t need you to act like being my wife makes you untouchable.”

“I didn’t ask for this marriage,” I said, my voice sharp enough to cut through whatever illusion he was still clinging to. “Your mama blackmailed me into it, remember? I didn’t want a ring, a title, your last name, or to play wife—and I damn sure didn’t sign up to be someone’s shadow in my own house.”

“You could’ve fooled me,” Naeem snapped, his eyes narrowing. “You sure played the part in front of my damn family.”

I scoffed, heat prickling under my skin. “Because I had to. But you? You didn’thaveto undermine me in front of my men—again. You didn’t do that for the family or business. You did that shit because you wanted to swing your dick around and show everybody who was in charge.”

His mouth twisted as if I’d spat in his face, and his eyes narrowed, his voice was low but filled with fire as he spoke, “Iamin charge. Of this family. Of the Bulgari name. And ofyou, Tatum. Don’t ever forget that.”

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