Page 38 of Her Cruel Empire
“No.” She moves closer, each step deliberate. “You can’t. Because no explanation makes disobedience acceptable.”
The ambient temperature seems to drop to match the forbidden grounds I just walked through. This isn’t the Eva who touched me with careful hands and gave sexy commands.
This is the head of the Novak family, which I am beginning to believe is a criminal empire.
This is the woman the villagers cross themselves against.
“I’m not your prisoner,” I say, but my voice shakes.
Eva’s smile is as cold as her words. “No. You’re my property. And obviously I need to remind you of that fact.”
Chapter 13
Eva
Iwatch Robin standing there like a deer caught in headlights, pale and trembling and guilty as sin. My disobedient little bird.
Her defiance of my instruction wasn’t boldness, I’m sure. It was simply thoughtless. Naïve. She wandered off like some tourist exploring the countryside, not understanding that every step outside these walls could have been her last.
That makes it worse.
I advance slowly, deliberately, making each step a promise. A threat. Robin holds her ground, those wide blue eyes fixed on mine, and I want to shake her for her stupidity.
Or kiss her for her bravery.
“You disobeyed me.” My voice is steady, controlled. It gives nothing away of the chaos raging beneath my skin.
“I just?—”
“You. Disobeyed. Me.”
I reach her in two more steps. Close enough to smell her fear mixed with that sweet synthetic strawberry scent that I’ve come to associate with Robin. Close enough to see the pulse hammering in her throat.
This is necessary, I tell myself. For reestablishing dominance. For reminding her exactly where she stands in my world.
But beneath that rationalization? I’m scared.
Not of Robin—never of Robin. But of how much she’s getting to me. Of the way I ache to touch her.
Of how I cut my Zurich trip short because I just couldn’t stand to be away from her any longer.
I take her wrist—not hard enough to bruise, but firm enough to remind her who owns her. She doesn’t resist as I lead her through the halls, but she doesn’t cower either.
Her silence is worse than an apology. I want her to beg. To justify. To explain what possessed her to ignore my explicit instructions.
Instead, she just follows, her breathing steady, her steps matching mine.
The defiance, the scornful compliance, makes my teeth clench.
We reach her bedroom and I pull her in, then shut the door behind us with a bang that echoes off stone walls. Robin turns to face me, still wearing that infuriating calm.
“Did you think you could just wander off?” I step closer, backing her toward the wall. “That there wouldn’t be consequences?”
Her chin lifts slightly. “You said I wasn’t a prisoner.”
“Isaidyou were in danger.”
“In danger of what, Eva?” Her eyes flash. “Or areyouthe danger?”
