Page 40 of The Enforcer's Possession
I didn’t understand it.Didn’t understand him.Nor did I understand how both could exist in the same person -- the violence and the tenderness, the dominance and the care.
“Why?”The word escaped before I could stop it.
His gaze met mine.“Why what?”
“This.”I gestured at the bath, at him kneeling beside the tub like a servant instead of the man who owned me.“Why be gentle now?”
“Because you’re mine to care for as well as mine to punish.”He continued washing, moving the cloth down my back.“I don’t damage what belongs to me beyond what’s necessary to teach a lesson.”
“How considerate.”
His hand stilled against my spine.“You’re angry.”
“I’m confused.”I pulled my knees up to my chest, wrapping my arms around them.“You hurt me.Then you fuck me.Then you bathe me like I’m made of glass.I don’t know which one is real.”
“All of it is real.”He resumed washing, his touch remaining gentle.“The punishment was real because you broke the rules.The pleasure was real because you’re beautiful and you’re mine and I wanted you.This is real because I take care of what belongs to me.”
“I’m not a pet.”
“No.You’re my wife.That comes with responsibilities on both sides.Mine is to protect you, provide for you, and discipline you when necessary.”His hand moved to my hair, carefully working shampoo through the strands.“Yours is to obey.”
I closed my eyes and felt tears start again.Silent this time.Just exhaustion and overwhelming emotion that I didn’t have names for.
He finished washing my hair, then helped me stand and wrapped me in a towel.Dried me with the same care he’d used washing me, paying special attention to the marks on my skin.
When I was dry, he produced silk pajamas -- deep blue, soft as water.Dressed me in them with efficient movements, then lifted me again.
“I can walk,” I protested weakly.
“I know.”But he didn’t put me down.Carried me back through the bedroom and down the hallway to my room instead.My cage.
He pulled back the covers with one hand and laid me down with care.Tucked the blankets around me like I was a child being put to bed.
I stared up at him, this man who’d married me, who controlled every aspect of my life, who’d just proven exactly how thoroughly he owned me.
“Will there be a next time?”I asked quietly.
His smile was slight.Knowing.“Probably.You’re too defiant to learn a lesson from just one punishment.But that’s all right.I’m a patient man.”
He leaned down and pressed his lips to my forehead.The gesture was tender in a way that made my chest tight.Then he stood and moved to the door.
“Sleep,” he said.“You’ve had an exhausting day.”
The door closed behind him, and I heard the lock engage from the outside.I lay there in the dark, my body aching in places I’d never ached before, and felt tears slip down my temples into my hair.
After several minutes, I pushed back the covers and moved to the full-length mirror in my closet.Turned my back to it and looked over my shoulder as I pulled down the pajama pants.
The marks were already visible -- dark lines across my backside and thighs where the belt had struck.They’d be worse tomorrow.Deep purple bruises that would take days to fade.Evidence of what I’d cost myself by trying to escape.
I traced one welt with my fingers and felt my breath catch.Not from pain.From something more complicated.More disturbing.
Because part of me, a part I absolutely refused to acknowledge in daylight, had craved every second of what Dante had done to me.The pain.The dominance.The way he’d broken me down until I’d admitted truths I’d wanted to keep hidden.
I’d spent three hours free today.Three hours making my own choices, wearing what I wanted, going where I pleased.And it had felt good.Felt right.But standing here now, examining the marks Dante had left on my body, I felt something else entirely.Something that made shame burn hot in my chest.
I wanted more.Wanted him to push me further.Wanted to test the boundaries again just to see what punishment would follow.Wanted him to prove his ownership over and over until I couldn’t pretend anymore that this arrangement was just business.
I returned to bed and curled on my side, pulling the blankets up to my chin.My body was exhausted but my mind kept racing, replaying the afternoon.The escape.The freedom.The capture.The way I’d broken.
